Ever since I got my CopterX Black Angel heli, I’ve been on a budget equipment run. I found some gems along the way. While the Fusonic digital servos weren’t exactly budget items, they proved to be good value units. Perhaps the biggest find was the XMHobbies G401B gyro. It’s a $35 gyro unheard of until now. And we know how that went.

I was on a high with my new heli until my Revolectrix 3S 25C lipos decided to go on retirement. One by one, they lost their oomph. Excellent and consistent lipos. They had a great run.

So the hunt began for budget lipos. I don’t know if you have noticed but there above our screens was a small banner for the $19 EZ Fly lipos from www.aero-nuts.com. This couldn’t have come at better time. I am no stranger to www.aero-nuts.com. I’ve used their black 3S 1000mah 15C lipos for my Honeybee CP2. Excellent lipos. Up until I sold my CP2, the lipos were delivering good power.

To cut a long story short, I pushed the BUY button and now I have my brand new EZ Fly 3S 2150mah 25C lipos! The lipos were sent by 2nd class air mail and yet, they arrived from Hong Kong in a record 1.3 weeks. Packaging was robust and the lipo survived the journey.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Part of my s.o.p. with new lipos was to inspect each cell’s voltage. Any cell below 3v and it went back to the sender. The EZ Fly lipo registered 3.86v per cell across all 3 cells. This was a good omen. A quick session on my dedicated balancer revealed a perfectly balanced pack. Almost as quick as I plugged the lipo in, it was over and balanced. The lipo weighed 175g. 5g lighter than my Revolectrix lipos.

I charged the pack at 1C or 2.1 amps. It’s an adaptive charger so it tapers off. Charging was a non event. I put back 1000mah. Looks like the cells were in good storage mode. Fully charged, it was time to roll!

FLIGHT IMPRESSIONS

It was a chilly (by my standards) 24º C morning and the field was empty and calm. weather was great and the sun had brightened the place up perhaps in anticipation of my new lipo’s maiden!

I spooled up and kicked into idle up while on the ground. I punched the CopterX Black Angel and she took off with a tremendous infinite power. No bog. Amazing. Power was very similar to but not quite 100% as my Revolectrix lipos when they were new. Maybe knock a few points off. I’m no good in math when I am all buzzed up. But they were definitely more powerful throughout the flight.

Next up was to make sure I was in stunt 1 so I did some noobish pitch pumps. Wicked. My CopterX Black Angel was alive! Time to rock and roll. I rocked while the heli rolled. Immediately cyclic had much more authority. The XMHobbies G401B gyro was doing its thing and I was in heli nirvana. Did some hurricanes and then slow piro circles. I loved the setup. Funnels were up next and it had more speed now and was noticeably steeper. Tons of power. I can imagine the red hot (figuratively speaking) EZ Fly lipo orchestrating the maneuver. The lipo did its job. flips, rolls, inverted backwards, I had power to bail out.

THE WRAP UP

I timed a conservative flight for 4 min. The flight consumed 1260 mah. Post flight readings showed a healthy 3.84v per cell across all 3 cells. The EZ Fly pack was barely warm. Considering the abuse it got, it was pretty impressive. In my experience, this was very close to a true 25C rating. I am impressed. Now, I will spend the rest of this lipo’s life to see how it performs over time. I am optimistic. I have a feeling I’ll be ordering a few more.