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Pro 3D blade Review (updated
August 2010)
Inexpensive
Fiberglass blades that peform well is a bonus for any helicopter flyer,
especially at the beginning when your getting used to it.
But Carbon Fiber blades will really show what this helicopter is
capable of as well as have less tracking inconsistances compared to
fiberglass. These blades are sold by Xheli,
Hobbypartz
as well as HeliDirect.
Both Heli Direct offer flat rate $4.95 shipping within the U.S.A for
spare parts. Blades at HeliDirect are slightly more expensive
but
if your in a rush, they are on the east coast for local shipping to
that side of the country.
Carbon Fiber vs.
Fiberglass:
I
have flown 205mm (250 heli), 325mm (450 heli) , 335mm (450 heli), 430mm
yellow/black (500 heli) both
Carbon Fiber as well as the Fiberglass. There is not much to tell the
difference between CF and FG for the 205mm blades but for the 325mm and
335mm the difference is noticable. Tracking can be an issue
with
any fiberglass blade because they flex more. Plus Fiberglass is harder
to manufacture consistantly with all of that flex. Carbon
Fiber
will have less tracking issues and will respond quicker in flight.
Fiberglass blades (like wood blades) can fludder if stressed
in
high G manuevers like a high speed loop, quick flip or tic tocs. If you
are in a situation where you want to save $$ because you may crash
often becaus you are say a beginner or you are working on your inverted
low level hovering, you may want to think about the cheaper Fiberglass
blades. Fiberglass blades are good for sport flying as
well. Use CF for more roll rate and less tracking
issues.
325mm vs. 335mm in a 450:
Most
450 helis can accept the 335mm blades. The 335mm blades will
be a
little more stable, have less of a cyclic roll rate and will consume
more battery during flight. While flipping the helicopter,
the
335mm blades will allow the helicopter to "float more" in the manuever
and have the tendancy to drop out of the sky slower than 325 or 315mm
blades. 335mm blades will also stress the cyclic servos more,
so
if using 335mm blades, I recommend a seperate switching BEC and don't
use the built in linear BEC of the ESC.
430mm Blades tested on
EXI 500 (updated Aug 2010):
Since
the release of the 430mm version (black with Yellow accents), I have
put about 75+ flights onto my EXI 500 with them. They are
good
for sport flying and hovering. As you get into bigger blades, the flex
in the blades really show up in "biting" manuevers like continual flips
and expecially tic tocs. I had put most of those 75 flights
doing
inverted and inverted backwards training where I dont' really see much
of a difference between those and the $40 CF blades I was previously
using. They offered a TINY bit of more translational lift
which
at moderate forward flight speeds, meant I was using up less of the
battery. These are GREAT blades to use if your working on low
inverted hovering or say backwards or inverted flight and want to keep
your crash costs down. Or maybe your going to use these for flight
testing or your maiden flight and don't want to fly the expensive
blades you have right away. Under higher stress manuevers, they don't
perform was well as say Align CF blades. But these
inexpensive
blades have a place in my usage for sure.
Youtube
video of 335FG blades in a 450 helicopter set up for smooth sport
flying.
Short
video of 335CF blades
250
heli with 205mm FG blades