i've jumped through dozens of loops to find the tail that best suits the cp; from stock, to outrunner, to geared brushless, and i'm still working on it. so far i found that although brushless motors have much more power and last longer, their slow startup time makes them not so dominant over brushed motors when it comes to tail rotors with hh. i'm now getting enough experience with these things to not rule out brushed motors as top performers. that's why i wanted to start this thread: to discuss whatever it takes to get the ultimate performance out of our tails (all the bling aside in this thread).
here's a background on my experiences with various tail mods (all 3S lipo):
i started stock, and went to a brushless main. i found the stock tail was underpowered, end of story. investigating gws dd motors and dual motors, i chose dd for performance and was pleased. after having a few tail motors fail, i decided it was time to go brushless/hh. that's when i found that in rate mode, the dd feigao with 3020 prop was solid, but in hh the tail would slap back when going from hard left to stop (c'mon brushless hh ppl, don't lie, your setup does it too).
disappointed with the results, i started my recent testing of the eflight 250 outrunner. my results proved that small outrunners don't have the quick accelleration from stop required to keep the tail in check.
still on a quest for the perfect tail, i ordered a feigao short can motor to use with the stock gear rotor (chopped 3/16" at the TE and lengthwise to 5" diameter). i found the setup to run very cool and it resisted slap back unlike the other brushless setups. i also noticed the tail seemed on the waggy side during left yaw only. it seemed like an effect related to slap back, and it got worse as gain was increased.
throughout my testing, i have to say the 30mm feigao dd w/ 3020 prop has the most raw holding power and works extremely well in rate mode. i found the geared 22mm feigao with the cut down prop is the best so far with hh.
next up?:
after my improved results going back to gears, tonight i decided to install my long can feigao with the geared setup. this time i'm using a stock tail rotor, chopped to 5 3/4" for clearance. haven't flown it yet, but my 910mAh tp pack is stuffed all the way toward the nose to balance it out.
after that:
i know that there have been a few ppl who have already documented similar experiences with different tail motors, but one thing i noticed about all of the threads i found is that ppl are biasing themselves to what they own (it's human nature, everyone wants to be happy with what they have). all i know is i don't care if my brushless is high tech compared to joe schmoe's brushed tail, if his performs better i want it. the problem is, joe is likely to say his tail performs better because that's what he's flying right now.
now that i have a phx10 (mounted on the boom for accurate timing), a multirole tail mount installed (can rapidly change from dd, geared, stock or 12mm), a phx link, both brushed motors, and both feigao motors on hand (not to mention several stock rotors cut to various sizes as well as a several dd props to choose from), i'm armed and ready to find the truth about the tail motor. the only thing i would need to complete my test matrix would be a brushed motor control so i can retest stock and brushed dd setups with hh.
feel free to post comments on and comparisons of all the tail motors out there (please comment on rate vs hh modes); i'll update this thread with any good setups i run into.
oh yeah, anyone know of a solid brushed esc that works well on tail duty? i'm not necessarily looking for cheap, since i prefer to have more settings to play with. these tail mods are finnicky as you know, the more settings to perfect them the better.