Blade research, 8 brands, what's best...

[pwoodyp]

LMAO should of know better than post with the safety police watching.... at any rate thanks I'm fine how are you.

[snjbird]

Home from a Thanksgiving feast extraordinaire! Before I left to go to dinner, I added a drop of Scorpion motor bearing lube to the top bearing, of the V2's -6, when I got home I did the bottom bearing. Next I started to look at binding the V2 to my X9303, All I did was copy my 450V1 settings to a new model on the radio. Once I powered the whole thing up I could see I needed to do a little work to get the Heli setup...
Took about 20 minutes of tinkering to get the heli setup to my liking... Swash needed leveling, and the head needed to be zeroed out. Once I had done that, the blades were a spot out of track, I needed to mess with the gyro a bit, the heli has a GY401 I played with the gain, and reset the rudder travel adjust to get the piro speed below light speed!

Before it got dark and to windy here, I had time to fly the White Aligns on the V2, I am always amazed at how smooth a 450 SEV2 really is, once those blades are in track, the heli quiets down and is such a joy to fly!

I did get the SAB blades mounted on the V1 and got them tracked in under the lights, they fit in the V1 grips fine, and fold up fine too. I'll try them on the V2 in the AM, but they look like they will be a good fit there too!

I have a two sets of the Extreme Productions Titanium turnbuckle style links for the 450s, I may have to try them as I do this test, they might make it easier to get the tracking sorted out... Through the years I have not had to much trouble tracking the V1, but the Pro, with it's single rod, may revile the necessity for a Turnbuckle style link?

[snjbird]

Today I flew 12 flights with the V1 and the Pro...

I was flying the SAB blades on the V1 and I changed from the Sonix to the G5 wide chord blades on the Pro. I did a bunch of "shake down" flying on the V2, I have been sticking with the Old white Aligns so far on this heli. I still don't trust the GY401, it is missing the front plate, and I have been chasing a occasional twitch in the tail. I have done some front flips and some side flips and it seems to hold, but I am hesitant to do to much fast backward?

So my findings for the day...
SAB blades.... the tag on the bag said these blades are 320s and they are 319 from bolt hole to tip... But the Align blades that come with the V2 and the Pro are still a little shorter than these blades. Next, the SAB blades are the thickest blades in the group 5.2 mm is more than a MM more than the Aligns blades. The weight of these blades is competitive with the others, and they fly like light blades, they are quick, and precise, they stop well and pop fast, they recover fast from bogging... I like them, and I am really enjoying them on the V1. I even did a few not so tall autos today with these blades and they did well, I had about 10MPH forward speed from 15 feet up, flying into the wind.

G5 Wide chords... The big bruisers of the group. The Wide blades are very nice looking blades, they have big bold lettering to let everyone know what they are! The fitment on the Pro was spot on, as I was mounting them I could feel the extra heft these blades have, they are Big and they are stiff, I was not sure just what to feel about them? The first flight I spooled up and kind of took it a bit easy, I did find the limits of the motor a few times, and the heli had a little bit of a hard time getting it's HS back, very different from the Align blades I had been flying! The heli did feel bigger with these blades to me, and with my good strong 30C packs the heli was still a blast to fly. I'm sure I could quite easily get used to these blades! I'll say they fly very different to how I have become accustom to flying the Pro... Before I was going to take them off I thought I better give them a fair shake, so I flew a couple more 30C Packs and the feel of the blades grew on me some more! Next I said well before I take these blades off, let me fly my Thunder Power 45C pack! Wow I found a good combo, the Wide Cord blades like HS, the heli was popping, barking and getting quick on the cyclic, I have to admit, the Pro Power Pack seemed a bit much with the Align blades, but it woke the Pro up with the G5s! So if you have the 45C packs and you like to have some solid, hard stopping blades with lots of bite, the wide chord blades might be for you.

I ran out of time to fly as My good buddy, and heli mentor came over and we setup his new 12S Trex 600ESP!

[Helipsyko]

Great thread snjbird, thanks for all the info, priceless
I think my 8s Pro will love the G5.

[snjbird]

Yes that is a good blade for that heli... I did a bunch of flying this weekend, flew the Radix on the Pro, still have the SABs on the V1 It has developed a bearing vibration, I've changed out the normal suspects, no luck, looks like I will be doing my upgrade to the Pro, I have the 2221-8V2 for it, and I'll put the M motor on the V1

[snjbird]

Today I did the spec out on the Carbontec blades...



Here is the data, no flying yet as we are in liquid sunshine mode here in the sunshine state!


Weight 22.5g
CG 156mm
Total blade length 329mm
Bolt hole to tip 320mm
Blade thickness 4.2mm

I did fly the heli in the garage to track the blades, this set was out just a bit in either grip on the Pro. I think the color on this blade does kind of limit it's appeal, I do like the look, but not every one will. That is only a minor concern, but at $43.00 USD You would have to like yellow!

[minimalitia1]

what about these blades?

http://www.helidirect.com/325mm-pro-...er-p-10339.hdx

pretty cheap at 14$ i use these on my 450 and my 500. i did my first and only 6 backflips on these blades with my 450. to me they fly great but i am not that great of a flyer. mostly FFF

[snjbird]

This si the first time I've seen them in stock... I'll try and get a set!

[minimalitia1]

i look foward to reading your reviews on the 3d pros if you can get ur hands on a set.

[Michaelinpr]

It seems to be 50/50 with those blades. Some people have great luck. Me and some others did not. Had a blow out in my garage. Luckily it was on the ground but I still lost the grips and some linkages. I cant find any but there have been some threads on this issue. Cosmetically the are ok but not great. I will not buy them again. Not just because of the blow out but I have the sonix blades from HD too and I like them alot. Very nice looking for 18 bucks. I would recomend them to any one who is too afraid to trash a 40-50 dollar pair of blades with out sacrificing to much quality.

[snjbird]

Well it has been pretty nasty here in the southern peninsula! But Sunday we had a break in the rain and a not so bad flying day. So I took the 450s to the field and did some flying!

I had the Sonix blades back on the V1 they are a good match there, I have added a couple of the small stickers that come with the Align d blades, but there was very little sunshine at the field, we had a high overcast all day and only a few short breaks, when the sun was out it did outline the disk a bit better. Flying wise the Sonix blades are great, I had added the M motor from the Pro to the V1 and that bumped up the old dilapidated girls performance quite a bit too. The Sonix blades do not need ballistic head speed though. I have been flying them working on my "low work" and using some 25C packs that have 75+ cycles and the blades are good, just a guess but Avg HS of 2900?

Next I gave the Carbon Tech blades a good workout on the Pro, I had found that the blades were a little out of track when I first installed them, but by the second 3D flight they had come nicely into track, that always puzzles me? Again I did not want to add motors in the middle of this review, but necessity dictated, so this weekend was the shake down flying for the HK2221-8V2 motor as well! Turns out they play well together, The CT blades are quick and stiff, they stop well and make a nice amount of noise as you roll and flip. It may have been the power plant, but I found the Tic tocs a bit more manageable with these blades.

A friend stopped by the field and he flies a Furion, turns out he had a set of the SAB blades on it, looks like they are a good fit there too. I have seen a few of the Furions fly, but this time I had a chance to work on it a bit... It looks like a nice machine, but a little over complicated. By the time Miguel was ready to leave, he was saying he was going to sell it and get a Pro!

[myjojo]

Originally Posted by snjbird

Hello Heli Freaks,

I have been hearing a lot of questions about blades, so I have taken it upon myself to do a little research on them, and to post my findings…. This will be a running review and I look forward to finding out what the “Best Blades’ are!

Now that being said the results will be the best blades for me, I want to try to keep my research objective, so I am going to try different things to test the blades. Right now I have done some weights and measures to get the bottom line on 6 sets of blades. In the future there will be more but for now these six will be the base line for the testing!

I have

Thunder Power 325s
SAB 320s
Align 325Ds
Sonix 325s ( Heli Direct brand and the cheapest)
Radix 325s
Maverikk G5 325s


To start the review I got out my ruler, blade balance, and calipers, plus the old digital scale…






As it turns out different manufactures have different ways to measure the length of their blades.





I set the bolt hole to 325 and then looked at the blade tip at the trailing edge of the blade...





Hmmm. they are not all 325? In fact only 2 come close and they are the Thunder Power and the Maverikk.


So I took two measurements, total blade length, and blade length from the center of the mounting hole.


Total Blade length

Thunder Power 337mm
G5 336mm
SAB 331mm
Align 325mm
Sonix 326mm
Radix 325mm

From the bolt hole...

Thunder Power 326mm
G5 325mm
SAB 319mm
Align 315mm
Sonix 315mm
Radix 314mm

Next I put the blades on the balance and checked for the length ways CG.





Then I took measurements of the distance from the center of the bolt hole to the CG of the blade.

Thunder Power 171mm
G5 164mm
SAB 168mm
Align 166mm
Sonix 169mm
Radix 156mm

Next I put the blades on the scale and looked at the blades weight.




Thunder Power 22g
G5 31.7g
SAB 20.3g
Align 19.8g
Sonix 20.1g
Radix 21.8g

Since I have had loads of blades through the years I know that blade weight can vary from set to set from the same manufacture, 5 Grams +- is pretty normal...

The last thing I looked at was the blade thickness at the leading edge

Thunder Power 4.22mm
G5 5.1mm
SAB 5.2mm
Align 4.05mm
Sonix 4.15mm
Radix 4.06mm

Well looking at the results from the Facts, and these will be the only facts here, since every review is subject t the bias of the reviewer! I can draw a few conclusions

But I wonder what you Heli freaks would gather from these weights and measures?

I come into this review with a favorite, but there are some new blades here for me to try. If you have seen any of my other post on this topic you'll know I like the Thunder Power blades!

Great job.

[snjbird]

Thanks for the kind words guys, I am having a blast doing all the mods and flying!

Today saw a little flying, it is perfect weather for it here…

I changed out some blades and did some work on the V2 trying to get it up to my standards.

I took the Rotor tech blades off the Pro and put them on the V1, this proved to me they are a better blade for doing tic tocs, they are blazing fast on cyclic! So If you’re the kind of pilot who likes quick roll and flip, and likes to do tic tocs the Rotor tech blades could be for you, oh yea I found them for 10 bucks cheaper than I paid too, here is a link!



I Added the Thunder Power 325s to the Pro, Just to keep the playing field level, remember these where my favorite blades coming into this test so I wanted to fly them and keep my palate clean, since these are the blades I am measuring the others against! Well, my opinion has still not changed the Thunder Power blades are awesome, After putting them back on the Pro I was reminded of how well these blades do! Lots of blades do one thing good, some do two things good, but the Thunder Power blades seem to do it all very good, they flip quickly, they stop hard, they track well, they have great lift, and auto ok too! The chink in the armor, they are less efficient, by the end of the flight you can feel the power lessen and I am assuming it is because the blades size.

So far I have been finding the blades seem to favor one heli over the other, some for simple things like the SABs they just don’t fit in the Pro grip, and others like the G5 needing lots of HS and power to push them through… The SAB blades are light and stiff and that seems to help out the V1 with it’s lack of Thrust bearings.

I just did two flights with my V1 with the M motor and the Rotor Tech blades, I used a 75 cycle 25C battery on the first flight, and the heli was quick and nimble, then a 45 cycle 30C pack on the second, and it was the best flight I have ever done with that heli… maybe any heli. I need to tach the head speed and find out what it is running, but the heli was thrashing around and making great blade barks, wish I had my camera man there! The Carbon Tech blades and the V1 are a good match, so is the M motor and 14 tooth pinion! The battery was 112` after a 3:39 flight, OAT was 77`
I had the light quartering from behind and the yellow of the blades was so easy to see, Wish all flight could be like that, or better!

[snjbird]

Sorry fellers double dipping!

[DominicD]

Double post like 34min apart, strange.

[snjbird]

Yup serious internet issues here!

[rolling18]

what do you think of the main blades sold on flEBAY?
any good ones ?

what about the black and yellow carbon ones?
are they the same as sold through real life stores?
i dont know what to get as a NooB
im running the black and yellow ones with no name on them from the Bay
4 sets for cheeep..

[cH@0s]

So what would you choose between the G5's and the Thunder Powers if the heli is setup on 4cell?

[snjbird]

Originally Posted by cH@0s

So what would you choose between the G5's and the Thunder Powers if the heli is setup on 4cell?

Right now I am way more used to the way the Thunder Power blades fly, so I would choose them. I would love to setup one of my helis to run on 4S and do a test. I would tell anyone who wanted to try 4S that either of those blades would be the best choice.

I have been flying the Rotor Tech blades for a few days and I am really liking them on the V1, if you look at the numbers they are light thin and have a close in CG, this makes for a very on axis heli, I like that!

[snjbird]

Well I just opened my box from good ol' Heli Direct, and took out a set of the 3D Pro blades, I'll do weights and measures after the Fun Fly, all my stuff is packed in the truck right now!