Yes it will accelerate, also has a reasonable pull out when hovering. I have measured RPM with 18x12 and 18x10, but to be honest I don't know those numbers anymore. Will remeasure next time.

I'm flying with Zippy Flightmax batteries which are among the best non-G3 batteries. Haven't compared batteries in this bird, these do fine. I have 20C and 30C batteries and it makes no difference. I would get slightly more power if i were to use Hyperion lipo's, but financially the Zippies are better. My oldest pack has close to 200 cycles on it and though it doesn't have the original 'oemph' anymore, it's still sufficient. I expect to get somewhere like 250 cycles on it before retiring it.

Keep in mind that unlimited vertical is NOT the benchmark for F3A. Try flying a looping in strong winds..