Regarding the capacity of the 4 cell Lithion batteries. With my old style 300 I was using a single 4,400mAh and Fromeco Super Regulated Reliaswitch for the flight system and a single 2,200mAh lithion and regulator for the ignition. I was getting an easy 10 flights before a recharge was needed. It made for a nice couple of days of flying without the need to recharge at an event. All the servos except the throttle were 8611's. BTW, all my Lithion batteries are wired up with larger gauge wire leads for minimal resistance. They can be ordered that way direct from Fromeco.

I'm not saying that it would always be that way, but the lithions will always outlast nicads and nimh batteries of the same capacity and they don't develop a memory. I have not found any need for a redundant battery system in planes under 35% as long as I used quality equipment and paid the normally required attention and checked the voltages once in awhile. IMO, any type of power box in planes under 40% is a waste of money and a lot of extra weight unless you're planning to do some pretty exotic servo installations.

With the new 300 coming in somewhere in the area of 16 pounds the only places that I would use carbon fiber products would be the main wing tube for certain due to higher strength, possibly the tailwheel if it was a good one (rcblimp), and the spinner if I had a balance issue. Like others I found C/F main gear to be a bit weak where the stock gear would take a lot of abuse. With the wing areas most of Tom's planes have the 300 will fly featherlight at 16 pounds with a 50cc gasser.

For the most part I guess I'm in the same category as Dntmn on this one. Save the money from the c/f products and use some of it to obtain a high end battery and regulator. system.