3dmike
640cc Uber Pimp
As you all are aware the Lipo industry is a highly competitive market and they all say their Lipo's are the best on the market. Well they can't all be so we have to rely on members like Kevin Turner ( [MENTION=1106]kevinjulieevan[/MENTION] ) to share their experiences with us to weed out the truth. Kevin has been a staple in this community for a long time I know we all appreciate honest reviews so with that said here let's get on with the review and see how Yellow Jackets Lipos stacked up to some of the competition!
SIX CELL BATTERY REVIEW
My son and I have been flying for a few years now and currently our favorite/ most frequently flown planes are the 60 inch planes from extreme flight. we have both the mxs and the extra 300 and have found that whether we are going to the local field for a couple of hours or all day we always seem to bring a 60 inch plane with us. We use the six cell battery setup and as a result have put quite a few cycles on these types of packs. i've been trying to find the "best" pack for these planes. so far we have used four different packs and i've enjoyed comparing each brand and seeing how they hold up over time. the following is my experience so far using all these packs in the same application (60 inch planes using the stock torque motor in one and the motrofly motor in the other.
Products used in review for comparison:
nanotech 3300 65c 606g
nano-a-spec 3300 65c 574g
glacier 3300 30c 543g
yellow jacket 3750 40c 545g
I initially purchased the nanotech and nano aspec mainly due to price and wanting to try a high c rated pack. i've been trying to find alternatives to hobbyking due to really having no easy way to address warranty/customer service issues if a problem happens and of course i would like to support small US based businesses whenever possible . next i discovered buddyrc and have really enjoyed ordering from them and thought i would try the glacier batteries. and shortly therafter i heard about yellowjackets and decided to purchase some packs there as well. *disclosure* since that time my son and i were offered a sponsorship and thus a discount on future yellow jackets rc products so I just want to make sure that readers are aware of that as i know when i read product reviews i always want to be aware of sponsorships by authors.
Treatment of packs:
with six cell packs i tend to treat them well as they cost more than the three and four cell packs i use in smaller electrics. all of my six cell packs are stored in a cool area at storage voltage 3.8 to 3.85 per cell. i never ever ever overdischarge my six cell packs but all of these packs have been overdischarged on occasion due to the heavy throttle habits of my son and his apparent inability to hear the timer buzzer on the transmitter....and apparently he has sensory defects in his arms/hands as the transmitters vibrating alarm seems to be ineffective for him as well...... i usually charge at 2c but have been known to charge at 3c on occasion. i often parallel charge two packs at a time. i always balance charge. i never leave a pack fully charged for more than two days.
Performance:
all of these packs seem to perform very well from a power standpoint. very similar numbers on the watt meter with ground testing. other than the watt meter performance seems fairly subjective but personally i really can't tell a difference power wise when flying between packs although i did notice the slightly increased weight of the heavier packs but the planes seemed to handle it well. my son thought the 30c glacier pack maybe had a little less power at the beginning of the pack but that it that had more consistent power than the nanotech and nano-a-spec as they tended to have a noticeable drop in power towards the end of the pack. the yellow jacket seemed to have a consistent power output throughout the entire flight. i thought i would notice more power from the higher c rated packs but i'm guessing that my motor, esc, prop combo really isn't challenging these packs or that the c rating is inflated on the 65c packs. maybe a different setup would be a better stress test for these packs.
We first started with the 3300 size six cell packs but eventually migrated towards the 3750 size mainly for longer flight times and we were pleased to see the weight of the 3750 was actually less than the 3300 65c packs and the power seemed to be the same in our setups and we were able to lengthen our timer for longer flight times.
Longevity:
all the of the packs came with very low internal resistance numbers and they all seem to be holding up well from that standpoint. these packs are all close to one year old and all seem to be keeping consistent internal resistance numbers thus far. i have not been counting total cycles but i tend to fly all the packs about the same amount as i keep them in the same rotation most of the time.
Weight:
the heaviest batteries were the turnigy packs likely because higher c rated packs tend to be heavier. since my watt meter didn't notice any difference with the motor/esc/prop combo i'm using then i'm assuming anything over 30-40c may be overkill if you are using similar setups. i was impressed with the weight for the 40c 3750 yellowjacket pack. it weighed only 2grams more than the 30c 3300 glacier pack.
Cost:
well in my experience it's hard to beat hobbyking in regards to price and their US warehouses have shortened shipping wait times. the a-spec was not worth the extra cost in my opinion. that being said, as i mentioned above, i really like ordering from companies that are based in the USA, that ship quickly and that i can actually call on the phone or get an email answered if there is a problem.
Summary:
hopefully this review was useful for someone. obviously i like the yellowjacket and the glacier packs despite the higher cost compared to the turnigy batteries. my favorite one of the four is the 3750 40c yellow jacket pack due to the size , weight and performance in our 60 inch planes. i'll keep flying all these packs and maybe post an update at the end of 2015 season to see how they are all holding up. i'm guessing a much better review could be done by purchasing all identical c rating, identical capacity packs from all the manufacturers and following them over time as well as using them in a more demanding electric setup.
This lipo and others can be purchased here: http://www.yellowjacketsrc.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=62_67&product_id=54
SIX CELL BATTERY REVIEWMy son and I have been flying for a few years now and currently our favorite/ most frequently flown planes are the 60 inch planes from extreme flight. we have both the mxs and the extra 300 and have found that whether we are going to the local field for a couple of hours or all day we always seem to bring a 60 inch plane with us. We use the six cell battery setup and as a result have put quite a few cycles on these types of packs. i've been trying to find the "best" pack for these planes. so far we have used four different packs and i've enjoyed comparing each brand and seeing how they hold up over time. the following is my experience so far using all these packs in the same application (60 inch planes using the stock torque motor in one and the motrofly motor in the other.
Products used in review for comparison:
nanotech 3300 65c 606g
nano-a-spec 3300 65c 574g
glacier 3300 30c 543g
yellow jacket 3750 40c 545g
I initially purchased the nanotech and nano aspec mainly due to price and wanting to try a high c rated pack. i've been trying to find alternatives to hobbyking due to really having no easy way to address warranty/customer service issues if a problem happens and of course i would like to support small US based businesses whenever possible . next i discovered buddyrc and have really enjoyed ordering from them and thought i would try the glacier batteries. and shortly therafter i heard about yellowjackets and decided to purchase some packs there as well. *disclosure* since that time my son and i were offered a sponsorship and thus a discount on future yellow jackets rc products so I just want to make sure that readers are aware of that as i know when i read product reviews i always want to be aware of sponsorships by authors.
Treatment of packs:
with six cell packs i tend to treat them well as they cost more than the three and four cell packs i use in smaller electrics. all of my six cell packs are stored in a cool area at storage voltage 3.8 to 3.85 per cell. i never ever ever overdischarge my six cell packs but all of these packs have been overdischarged on occasion due to the heavy throttle habits of my son and his apparent inability to hear the timer buzzer on the transmitter....and apparently he has sensory defects in his arms/hands as the transmitters vibrating alarm seems to be ineffective for him as well...... i usually charge at 2c but have been known to charge at 3c on occasion. i often parallel charge two packs at a time. i always balance charge. i never leave a pack fully charged for more than two days.
Performance:
all of these packs seem to perform very well from a power standpoint. very similar numbers on the watt meter with ground testing. other than the watt meter performance seems fairly subjective but personally i really can't tell a difference power wise when flying between packs although i did notice the slightly increased weight of the heavier packs but the planes seemed to handle it well. my son thought the 30c glacier pack maybe had a little less power at the beginning of the pack but that it that had more consistent power than the nanotech and nano-a-spec as they tended to have a noticeable drop in power towards the end of the pack. the yellow jacket seemed to have a consistent power output throughout the entire flight. i thought i would notice more power from the higher c rated packs but i'm guessing that my motor, esc, prop combo really isn't challenging these packs or that the c rating is inflated on the 65c packs. maybe a different setup would be a better stress test for these packs.
We first started with the 3300 size six cell packs but eventually migrated towards the 3750 size mainly for longer flight times and we were pleased to see the weight of the 3750 was actually less than the 3300 65c packs and the power seemed to be the same in our setups and we were able to lengthen our timer for longer flight times.
Longevity:
all the of the packs came with very low internal resistance numbers and they all seem to be holding up well from that standpoint. these packs are all close to one year old and all seem to be keeping consistent internal resistance numbers thus far. i have not been counting total cycles but i tend to fly all the packs about the same amount as i keep them in the same rotation most of the time.
Weight:
the heaviest batteries were the turnigy packs likely because higher c rated packs tend to be heavier. since my watt meter didn't notice any difference with the motor/esc/prop combo i'm using then i'm assuming anything over 30-40c may be overkill if you are using similar setups. i was impressed with the weight for the 40c 3750 yellowjacket pack. it weighed only 2grams more than the 30c 3300 glacier pack.
Cost:
well in my experience it's hard to beat hobbyking in regards to price and their US warehouses have shortened shipping wait times. the a-spec was not worth the extra cost in my opinion. that being said, as i mentioned above, i really like ordering from companies that are based in the USA, that ship quickly and that i can actually call on the phone or get an email answered if there is a problem.
Summary:
hopefully this review was useful for someone. obviously i like the yellowjacket and the glacier packs despite the higher cost compared to the turnigy batteries. my favorite one of the four is the 3750 40c yellow jacket pack due to the size , weight and performance in our 60 inch planes. i'll keep flying all these packs and maybe post an update at the end of 2015 season to see how they are all holding up. i'm guessing a much better review could be done by purchasing all identical c rating, identical capacity packs from all the manufacturers and following them over time as well as using them in a more demanding electric setup.
This lipo and others can be purchased here: http://www.yellowjacketsrc.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=62_67&product_id=54
