RE: prop balancing
I bought a balancer and all but one of my props were out of balance. Like what was said above by RCKen as soon as you run through some grass or chip off some of the painted tips they are out of balance again. Im not taking the thing off and re-balancing it for a couple chips. At the field I really dont think its horrible to throw a prop on without balancing. But if I were at home I would take the time and check it since it only takes a couple mins to balance it. For a big prop on a larger plane I would probably be more diligent.