I was abusing them only to get a feel for how sensitive they were to...eh...less than optimal treatment. I think anyone could get a boatload of cycles with almost any pack if treated them like a cupful of nitroglycerin. My poor test specimens were flown in a 48" EF Extra EXP with lots of wide open, hard, 3D as well as practicing IMAC sequences. I also used them in a small e-jet. The point being that after over 100 flights (on 4 packs) I saw no degradation in capacity.

Not a scientific trial but just a simple torture test to get a quick feel if going electric would be worth it. Now that I'm a believer (or blasphemer depending on the size of your wallet), the next set of packs I get will be treated more rationally (thought those 4 are still running great).

If I had to pay $500 a pack for large applications (700-sized heli's, e-IMAC, 2M pattern) I absolutely would never do it out of fear of ruining said packs accidentally. There are many who drop $500 like I would drop a dollar, but the VAST majority of modelers out there can't or won't. Hobby City lipos make moving to electric, at last, something that's affordable - that old 'nitro vs. electric equation' simply doesn't exist when the packs are in this price range.