I put four flights last week on the contender. It was using a 600 mah battery. Took it home and finished out the charge on the cycler. Registered 193 mah left and cycles it with a full charge at 580. So I used less then 400 mah or less than 100 a flight. I could have reasonably pushed another flight out of the battery.

My hog bipe with 5 servos, 2 of which are high torque, after four flights It has never used more than 500 mah. It has an 1100 mah battery. So I could get 8 flights.

I really like having a cycler as it lets me know these things. The cycler gives me a little peice of mind about the batterys. I check them when new and cycle them three times to get an average. I record this twice a year. You can plot the loss of performance. When I get uncomfortable about them I'll buy others. So far after three years of flying I have not thrown any out.

Of course a bigger battery lets you fly longer and puts you well past safe should the battery start to lose life. Of course without a cycler eventually even a big battery could have an unexpected failure.