I don't seem to be able to get a set up that gives any decent flight time. I use the std 4 low, 9 mid and 14 top pitch settings per the manual on the 3d setup but it only flys with a decent climb rate for a couple of minutes then it gets bogged down past midstick which is a low hover. I have tried increasing the head speed by having it at 100% throttle from about 1/4 stick movement but the 2400nicad packs only last 4.5-5min. Is this the experience of others or am I overpitching/using crap batteries.

Cheers

All sounds about right.
The only other thing to try is the gear mesh, if set right you may pick up a little time.
Other than that move to a brushless motor.
The stock motor on mine wore out quite quickly, with a loss of performance to go with it.

adam