tony0707

Gentelmen ,
i have been working with nicad batteries for 25 years , build my own for 10 years
I sold my batteries ,that were slow cycled twice ,so they were ready to use by anyone
They were the only batteries available when i started in the hobby ,in 1980
i have never stopped using them , as i never had a problem with them ,in all my years flying, not once
My problems are detected ,in my shop on my bench ,not in the air
I know every possible aspect of handling these battteries and never charge over 1C
Yes ,i cycle them up to there potental when they are new ,before i use them
Yes ,you can peak charge if you desire to cut batteries usefull life in half ,which i have no desire to do
Half the usefull life of a battery pack ,is destroying the battery pack to me
i was throwing away battery pack faster than ,i have ever done in all my prior years flying ( wasting money to me )
I in fact, i thru the Acucycle Elite in the garbage ,as i tried to sell it but could not
The charger was more money when it first came out
Peak charging is worse , for NMH batts than nicads , and thats not good
That drove me back to using Nicads again
The Acucycle line is --Towers Own ,--so i do expect a degree of excellence if they choose to put there name on it
I use the Acucycle Pro and the Digipace one and two for years ,with excellent results ,so i was expecting the best from a Tower product
No body was home at Tower ,to make an ajustment for a battery Eating piece of garbage
You will not get good results, for any batttery this charger was designed to charge
Not Nicads,not NMH ,and not lipo ( as it does not have any feature to top off individual lipo cells)
Thats my story ,and i am sticking with it
Enjoy ,Happy Landings --Tony

franklin_m

I used to be a huge fan of Tower, but let my buyers club lapse and now actually buy almost nothing from them. I realize it's a personal decision for everyone, based on their own priorities, but here are my pro's and con's:

Pro's:
- Good customer service. Not great, but they have been generally better than average
- Free shipping on $150 or more orders if you're a buyer's club member

Con's:
- Fewer options as the Hobbico behemoth gobbles up more and more competitors, i.e. SuperTigre engines, or the Tower brand engines (like the .75 which is awesome)
- All but dropped serious helicopters
- "Brands" that appear and then disappear as quickly
- More stuff that looks to be slightly better than toy grade being "branded" as a hobby grade item

I'm buying more and more from HobbyKing. I've probably got 20 LiPos, from 1s to 6s, from 150mAh to 2700 mAh, and have yet to have a single one go bad. Bought four 200mAh 7.4V brand name Hobbico batteries and two of them went bad. HobbyKing stuff and Tower Stuff all used on same charger, a Hobbico one with a balancer. Only the Tower stuff has gone bad.

I also shop another US retailer, but they specialize in helicopters, so it's a bit more focused.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Have to agree on the tower engines, they were good, everyone has that one brand of engine they just hate and mine is Super tigre, I have had the worst luck with them, my last straw was a 90 or 91? Got it new, had trouble getting it to run right, an old friend told me what to do on it, got it purring, very first flight it came apart in the air, that was it for me! Honestly tower has never let me down, they like every other hobbies store is now drones, drones and more drones, and I hate drones!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

It's very simple,,, Stores stock and sell the items that sell,,, Stores that stock items that don't sell go out of business.. What Tower, HK etc, etc..stock reflects the state of our hobby,, as sad as many of us Balsa builder Dinosaurs think that is,, it just is and there is nothing we can do about it.

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

And I do understand all that, but I still hate drones! I like planes modeled after a P47, P51 Cessna etc. They are a work of art, the multi rotors are just right down ugly!