RE: i need advice on batteries
I went over 25 years of flying RC without ever using a cycler. I finally got one last year, and I'm mainly using it for its peak charging of NiMh capabilities.
You don't ever really NEED a cycler as a sport flyer. Competition flyers need one to maintain records of there inventory of NiCds and NiMh packs... if you don't keep track of how old, last cycling and capacity when you have a punch of batteries... you will forget which is ghow old and which can and can't be trusted.
The sport flyer, who only has one or two sets of batteries, by checking his batteries at the end of each flight, can notice a marked decrease in capacity and toss the pack in Radio Shack's recycle bin. (my english teacher would have shot me for that sentance.. [&:] run-on-and-on-and-on[&:])