VerneK

Joe, I agree with Archie's comments.

Not commenting on any particular brand of batteries, my experience after nine years of flying electric leads me to expect 100 cycles on a set of packs regardless of manufacturer claims. If I get 100 cycles of useable competition flying on a set, I don't figure they owe me anything. Everything after that is a bonus. If I get less, I feel shortchanged. I take care of my batteries and monitor everything, particularly flight time, number of cycles, IR and all the rest. I've gotten some great batteries and not so great batteries, often times from the same manufacturer.

I long ago came to the conclusion that no two cells are created equal and there's not much our battery merchants can do about it other than change manufacturing suppliers as the need arises. Even feedback the merchants get from us is cloudy at best for them because they have no idea what we've subjected their product to. I guess what I'm saying here is don't put too much stock in endorsements for any particular brand, pro or con, unless you know firsthand what the owner subjected the packs to. As I'm sure you've read, one single case of over-discharge can greatly shorten the life expectancy of a pack, even though the owner may not see any immediate deterioration. The same guy may have long forgotten the over-discharge and then deem the batteries as bad after not lasting as long as he expected them to. How many seasons you get will depend on care, storage, number of cycles, and finally, how lucky you are in getting a pack made from a good batch of cells. All of that goes right down the drain if you don't take care of them as Archie suggested.

Verne Koester