daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

To start with my opinion is just that, an opinion. And I have not built 10 from each manufacturer so some of this could be non typical.

The AW plane, hardware and customer service are the best I have had to deal with. I had an issue with the elev halves and they sent out another pair right away. If I called I got an answer, if I emailed I got a response. The covering on the plane was perfect as was the paint. On the down side, it is an expensive proposition and there are many upgrades. CF wing tubes,gear and tail wheel are more money. As are decals and wing bags. For the price you should at least get the decals.

The 3DHS plane is a nice unit but there are differences. It's not apples and oranges but there is a difference. The covering on the 3DHS was out of place in a few spots and had some wrinkles. The wheel pants will have a short life as they are not well made and I had to reinforce one before installing. The canopy is up about 1/8" at the rear and cant be lowered. It's these little things that make a picky person like me take pause. On the plus side. The 3DHS plane has all the CF parts included as well as the decals and wing bags. It is also lighter than the AW and as mentioned above less money.
My beef with the 3DHS is really two fold. For one this plane has no instruction available. The site says to use the instruction from their Extra 300 as it the same as this Edge 540. Well it's not the same and using the Extra instruction is a best guess and has caused me to redo a few things that are different. The other thing is the service. I have two unanswered phone calls as well as two unanswered emails that are more than a week old. As much product as they are selling I am expecting a great flying plane and all of this to be forgotten. I have flown a few of their planes that belonged to others and was impressed with the product. I just hope their rapid growth does not increase the frequency of these problems.

To summarize, I feel the AW plane is a better overall quality product. The 3DHS is not junk by any means. I have had some ARFs in thas that were pretty but it ended there. Comparing flight characteristics is not as easy. The 3DHS plane will have a lighter wing load so if 3D is your only bag it may get the nod. If you are like me and do a mix of 3D and precision with some old school aerobatics thrown in, you may prefer the AW.

Thanks for reading, David

ameyam

Guess this is post is for people like me, especially the mix part

Ameyam

daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

It's a topic of discussion among the guys I fly with so I thought I would post it here.


david

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Why not just get an EF and be done with it?

Ok so it was a good lead in line.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

I have flown many 3dh planes and the quailty and flight performance was always sot on.the very best.ben sold the business essentially so I cant vouc h forthe owners.but ben was very good about fixing issues and I never had a single issue.if I buy a new bird this time it will likey be with extreme flight.service is excellent and the plnes are among the bestout there.I plana 30cc plane and will decide between the top 3 which are aw , 3dh and ef.my only concern with aw has historically the weight.but mark and folks like chris arevery dedicated to customer service.al of them are good at what they offer.

ameyam

Well I got a AW Extra 300 30cc last year and then I got a Goldwing Sbach 300 20cc. Didnt build either airplane due to health issues but had a look at both. The GW is much fragile and I will need to reinforce a lot. The AW will need no reinforcing, just some CA and a bit of fibreglass on the firewall. Its much sturdier. The new QB L series are much lighter I am told. It will never be as light as the GW but wont be as fragile either. Whether thats a good or bad point is open to discussion

Unless you are a pro, a lot of flights will go into setting up the airplane and you want to atleast have it last long enough to fly a couple oif seasons, so AW is better in my books

Ameyam

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

I would agree that GW is built light and fragile. I can vouch for GW and I would expect that GW would not hold up to severe flying unless quite a bit of reinforcement is done before. For my style of flying I don't have any issues. I was not overly impressed with the AW plane I had. For the size it was around 75 dollars higher than others the same size so I did expect more. I had a similar size GP plane that was built as well as the AW for much less money. For the most part it was only the AW manual that was really done well. Not to say I am against AW this is just my experience.

So far my plane of choice is EF if I am going top end planes as AW does not even fall in the same league with them. I have not owned some of the others so cannot share any insight on those. I have heard good things about others and 3DHS was at the top as well. I did see a Pilot Sbach a couple years ago and the build and quality appeared to be top notch. I do think we should make sure we add in price points when we compare. When I see a plane of the same size range costing two to three hundred more I have expectations of where that price goes.

All in all, an AW in the 20cc range should be a great plane and will probably have good support after the purchase. Personally, I don't think I would pay the extra price.