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Discussion
FlexInovations F-100 Super Saber
This is my review for those who wish to purchase one of these. I have been flying for 45 years and have built about 3000 plus airplane, so I do know a little about these.
Upon receipt of any new airplane I start by opening all parts, but prior to touching with the hands or other items. I paint the skin with MinWax Acrylic. This began the first issue and I am listing the Cons. first. 1. The preparation of the plane at the factory, they did not mask as well as they should. Once the acrylic started the application as some will know it will run a little if too heavy a coat. Thus this allowed the overspray of red to run like blood on the fuse. Now my silver plane became a light pink. I stopped until it dried but the damage had been done. 2. Next, and the big issue was a servo lead to the left elevator (2) servos for the elevators. The lead when installing was plug to the servo in the rear of the plane. In doing so they ran the lead and glued into the fuse. The installer apparently didn't check to see if connection was made and working to the servo. One of the three wire pins was bent over thus not allowing for the servo not to work at all. This may seem minor, however, since the lead is burried into the fuse it required the EDF, ESC and the thrust tube to be removed and then cutting began on the fuse to relieve a pocket for a new lead to be installed. 10 hours later and a couple dings in the fuse it came to life. This could have been prevented at the factory by quality control. 3. The pocket at the root of the wing where it attaches to the body for the ribbion cable was too small. Thus it required a ream job on the pocket. Again something that should have been done at the factory. 4. The Aura box control on the 3rd flight gave up on the stearing gear. Thus no stearing. Almost drove it into the fence. Now the real problem customer service. Would not send out a new one. Said I needed to send this one in so they could find the issue. Well that maybe, but if they were efficient, and not have a customer wait for a 6 week turn around, they could have just charged me for another and then on return of the old one refunded the cost to the payment card. But I suppose that would be too easy and after I brought that to their attention, they stayed the course. So I almost through the Aura in the trash and hook up another gyro. After thought probably should have returned the plane period. 5. Flight time is 2 minutes. Their video shows 4-5 minutes. I was using stock set up with a 6s 5000 65c battery and another 70c battery from another vendor. Both came back after the flight with around 3.75 v per cell. Not bad, but under what I like to come back with. I did do a check on the pull of amperage and found that it was 108a with about 2500 watts. The ESC is rated at 100a. With that said it now has 7 flights on the bird and seems to be holding up, but I most likely will pull the ESC and replace with a 120a for insurance and to see if I can get a little more flight time. Pros: 1. The bird flies very well. It is very forgiving unlike the real bird. You can slow it to a crawl and will do high alphas. The take offs are like the real bird and the landings are some of my best for almost any jet. 2. The Thunderbird livery is very nice. 3. The bird is apparently a taft hobbies airplane and is well built (not as good as Freewing). It is a bit costlty in comparison to the Freewing for the same attributes. The plastic thrust tube is a great idea and the shot through the trust tube is clean. 4. Struts on the plane are very well done and they operate very well. In the end if this plane was sold by any other vendor I would buy it, but maybe without the Aura and maybe with a little better EDF. They are using a ChangeSun/Taft hobbies set up. I like others much better. Customer support is not the greatest, but I compare them with Motion RC which is by far into customer service to most others. Recommendation: Good for the beginner and pro. Just understand that on this bird from the beginning we are doing their R&D work for them at our expense. |
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Last edited by Mako Smith; Sep 18, 2020 at 11:34 PM.
Reason: Voltage error.
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I take all reviews with a grain of salt, just saying!
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I had an issue with the motor hatch and contacted Flex. Within 10 days I received a new hatch AND a new cockpit assembly and a full set of decals (only needed the decal to cover the hatch. So far for me Flex has provided excellent service and prompted me to order their 60E Mamba with night lights
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