dave.levesque1

Greetings Everyone !

I really need advise on my purchase and i don't want answer like mustang vs camaro. I plan on buying a formula fastech OR aquacraft super vee 27 BUT i just can't afford the lipo's and the charger all together so i decided to stay with the NIMH battery for now and next summer i'll go lipo... I will use my boat on a big lake with usually some little chops maybee 2 inchs to 3... I don't want to swim to my boat every 5 minutes but if i have to sometimes is no big deals. My local hobby store tells me i can have really good performance of those boats even if i use nimh batteries. He said with 2 8.4 nimh 5000 mah i will be able to reach between 35 mph to 40 mph. Is it true ?! He said i should see around 12 minutes of runtime. I really care about the speed but i also care about the ability of the boat to handle the chops also. Speed is 60% important and chops 40% of the decision. Will i be really happy about the speed with nimh batteries ?!!!!! Witch boat from aquacraft super vee or formula fastech will be better and give more for the money... ?!!!!!


Please help this is my first experience with FE Boat and want speed and control will i get it with nimh and one of those 2 boats... ?!!!

dave.levesque1

I read a lot on the forum and a lot of person said the fastech were not a quality boat because of electronic... but the esc on the pro boat is better then the one in the aquacraft and the aquacraft has a better engine... WITCH ONE should i choose for speed, reliability, and chops control rare flips.....

BACKEMF

First please NEVER swim to your boat. many people have drown doing so. The boat makes a glitch and hits and/or cuts the swimmer and its game over, very dangerous.

I would help you more but, I know nothing of Formula Fastech??? I'll look it up and see.

SV27dayton

I own an SV and it's as fast as it can be. more speed means up-side down more than I care for. I can back off and keep it right side up but it's like haveing nitrous. You are going to use it and when you do it might cost you. I've seen pleanty of vids of the SV and many are like mine. The few FFT vids ive seen it appears to be more stable. I'd say if you are usually going to be in 1-2" chop most of the time you may want to opt for the FFT.

dave.levesque1

Thank you, any other advice would much appreciated !!!!!!!!!

bigcam406

im looking to purchase a fastech soon with the nihms.i was thinking of using the new maxamps 5000mah.kinda sucks that the runtime is only about 12mins though.thought with those batts the runtime would be longer.

monsterbrad

You have to remember that boats are all friction.
Plus Max Amps are good bats but there are better on the market.
I am not a Lipo expert by any means I prefer gas myself but these boats are very fast with Lipo power in them.
Just remember that if you are new to this the Lipo's don't like water so keep em dry as you can.

Stinger9d9

If this is your first FE boat then either one of those boats will be great for you. You don't need to run 8.4 volt packs though. They are still quite fast with 7.2 volt battery packs as long as you buy quality batteries.

The extra weight of nimh batteries will make the boat more stable too, which is really good if you are a beginner.

Here is a video I took a couple of years ago of my Supervee 27 which was completely stock except for an Octura X642 propeller.

All of these runs were on two 7.2 volt nimh packs...
[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGxTAxta9i0[/link]

As you can see. The boat is still quite fast without needing to use lipo batteries...especially if it is your first FE boat.

dave.levesque1

Interesting,

Will i get the same speed with the formula fastech or out of the box the super vee 27 is faster ?

doby

My Feedback: (1)

More realistic run times would be in the 5-7 minute range. You might get 12 minutes at 1/2 throttle (Maybe).
I have had 3 SV's and they are fun, but very tippy.

I am currently running Zippy 5000mah Lipos in mine, 28 bucks each. Maybe you might not want to waste your money on a dying battery technology (NiMh) when LiPos can be probably less money.

SV27dayton

You likin those Zippys doby? Are you running them in the SV? for 28 bucks sounds like you're running the 20C's. Any issues? Sorry for the short thread-jack but i'm intrested in real world experinece with these cheap lipos.

doby

My Feedback: (1)

I've been using 5 sets of the 20C packs (Zippy Flightmax) on my SV, BlackJack, Miss Vegas and they rock. They run the coolest fo any of the packs I have and put out just as much power as any others I have. I just picked up 2 sets of 4S 5000 30C Zips for use in my DF33 and so far after 3 runs, they are great. So far things look promising. For the price, its hard to go wrong.

NiMh are going the way of the dinosaur, don't waste money on them.

SV27dayton

Thanks that's what I wanted to hear.

ryanwilson277

yes dave the sv is faster out of the box

Jimbo Go Go

Well, your forum made me "register" with RC Universe just so I could give you my answer! I have 2 SuperVee 27's and 1 Formula FasTech and I am purchasing another Formula FasTech. "Out of the box" I would rather have a Formula FasTech! The Deep-V Body is much more "seaworthy", much more stable in wavesandcornering, and "mine" never had all the problems the SuperVee's had with "lots of bouncing" and unstability (now with a few adjustments (relocating the batteries much more forward, adjusting the trim tabs, and adjustingthe prop angle) those problems are mostly solved). The SuperVee 27's take on a lot more water (that problem is mostly solved with "taping" the hatch). Both Supervee's take some time to get up and out of the water...the Formula FasTech gets out of the water immediately and gets going,...pronto! As far as speed is concerned, both the SuperVee 27's and Formula FasTech with NiMH are about the same, and my experience says the Formula FasTech may even be faster! BUT it has a lot to do withthe "condition" of the NiMH Batteries. You will need to get a battery discharger or charger/discharger to recondition the NiMH batteries.I have24 NiMH batteries (20 6-cell and 4 7-cell) for my Traxxas Rustlers and Stampedes and the same batterieswork in my boats, and I have purchased 4 Indi-16x7v6 (240 Volt) and 4 Indi-16x7-Pro's (120 Volt) @ Integy.com (don't know if they have any more 16x7-Pro's...I don't really care for their site, but their charger/dischargers work well)....also the Indi-16x705 works "o.k.".Also check out Camlight.com, and on the left columncheck out"Tech Tips", that will tell youalmost all you need to know about NiMH Batteries.AND my experience so faris....well, before I re-conditioned the batteries we ran the boats forabout 12-15 minutes, .....after, well,without question, 30 minutes and still running!!!! Also myTraxxas Rustler VXL (brushlessmotor, etc) now will do a"backflip" if I "gunit" with NiMH batteries re-conditioned!!! However, that's nothing compared to theRustler VXL with the LiPO battery (a Venom Li-Power 3s2p, only a continous 20C/Burst 30C rating)which will do a "backflip" if you "punch it" at any speed, even near the 70 mph+ it's rated at!!! (don't really know if I've reached the 70mph+ because it's too "scary" even at the speeds I've had it at,....not to mention the"room"/space you need to go that fast!!! I soon willbe gettingsome LiPO's for the Formula FasTech, ...according to a video at HorizonHobby.com, the speed isn't a wholelot faster, but it is even much, muchquickeron the "get up & go" withtheLiPO's!(just like the Rustler VXL).(I have no radar gun, but I read an article where someone did with a SuperVee 27 on a slow moving river...about 32mph upstream, about 35-36 mph across, and about 42 mph downstream).

Um....ok, now back to your question. The Formula FasTech design at the stern (the lip that extends out) also helps keep water out (but taping the hatch is still a good idea.....I use the colored 3M electrical tape...it's the best (I'm an electrician and have all the colors: black (of course), blue, yellow, red, white, green, purple, brown, orange, grey, etc)...Home Depot has most all the colors too! The Formula FasTech batteries are already located where they should be (aprox. the middle), and has a nice sealed plastic box for the electronics, BUT it has 27 MHz radio....that's the only thing I've changed so far...to 75 MHz radio control! (I've been in radio too long.....I know about the truckers with 1000 watt linears bleeding all over the citizen band (CB) frequencies (the R/C 27 MHz freq's are sandwiched in between the CB freq's).....oh yah, I got some of those "linears" also!) But not to worry, my Traxxas Vehicles also have 27 MHz and I really haven't had any problems with them or the boat on 27 MHz.

On the SuperVee's, I had to change the above mentioned adjustments plus I had to cut out styrofoam, remove the electrical box, and sandwich the styrofoam between the box and the hull and stuff more "everywhere" to keep it to float on top of the water (haven't had to do that with the Formula FasTech),...before the SV's would sink with only the bow of the boat sticking out of the water (all of the electronics in the water)!...now they float with everything flat on top of the water! (The Formula FasTech already does that "out of the box" besides the nice sealed box for the electronics which also helps with the floatation!) We've only flipped the Formula FasTech 2 times, and then only when we crashed with the SV's!!! (the SV's we've flipped many times). Oh yah, I also made 1 other minor change to the FasTech...I put a small amount of the spray "expandable foam" on the hatch (the kind you use to seal cracks in your house) to keep the hatch floating if it comes off. (We already lost one SV hatch because it came off all on it's own and didn't stay floating!...I put foam on SV's hatch lids now also).

Well, I hope my input is not too late for your decision,...I just happened across it looking for metal props for the FasTech (metal props for the SV's were easier to "come by"). Either way, both the Formula FasTech and the SuperVee 27's are good boats! AWESOME!!! But "out of the box" I'll take the FasTech any day!

ALSO NOTE: I took amp readings holding the SV's and FasTech in the water......about 50-60 amps for the FasTech and about 70-80 amps for the SV's! M-m-m-m-m....says something about the SV's motors?

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

a year old thread brought back... why? [:-]

FE_Chris

My Feedback: (2)

He's new...im sure he didn't know....

Jimbo Go Go

Oops!!!!!!!! Ya, your right. A year old thread and I';m NEW to all of this. Guess I am a little late with all my info HUH? But maybe the info will be useful for someone!

I also forgot to mention some other things, though: The SuperVee 27 water cooling system is poorly designed....NO water that we can see comes out the hole on the side of the SV's that we have! The "pick up" on the rudder is poorly designed and with the additional ESC cooling (a good idea but poorly "translated") is also creating higher resistance to push water through! The Formula FasTech water cooling system works fine, with a good stream of water coming out the hole on the side of the boat!

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

not even close of the cooling of the SV..
I have 4 of them and not one have an issue! you possibly had some blockage [:-]
my temps are always low even when I run 5s
the SV has outsold the FFT possibly 10 to 1 - That says a lot!

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

very strange?
you have to go back to page 33-34 to even find this thread, that's how far back the last post was of 5/6/2009 [:-]

dineli

And where or what is the problem with age of this question?
It's great that kind people like FE_Chris with experience do not care about age of questions but of importance and kindly reply with the aspect of helping newbies and other interested people, isn't it? Also people that read it months later (thanks, google and co.).
No, not too much newbie here, thank you. even though also that was of no importance...
IMHO

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

I NEVER SAID ANYTHING about the age of the original posted question! [:-]
and this coming from a brand new member with their first post..?
interesting

The SV27 is the much better boat, heck they even have their own race class!

dineli

Please check the date you and me joined the forum ... even more interesting, isn't it?

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

now your second post under this user name
even more interesting, isn't it.....?