Ino-Lab 760mg, one year down the road...

THEY ARE TOTAL CRAP AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST.

On my first crash of the 700N, all 3 of them got exceptionally tight to even rotate by hand. A trip the local distro suggested that I might have gotten the servo case screws too tight, which IMHO, is total absolute rubbish because the servos were free before the crash and so the crash just suddenly tightened all the screws? Wow that is some magic. And not the mention that the crash was a super minor one that only cost like less than $300 including blades, which is really cheap for a 90size.

Post repair flights revealed that the ino-lab 760mg that I have are drawing an insane amount of amp in flight. More than 3amp. Considering that I am running 5.1v output on my regulator, a 4amp load on my regulator will mean trying to dissipate (7.8v-5.1v)*4amp=10.8w of heat, which is definately impossible for any R/C regulator in the market now, not even the very expensive ones which have got even smaller heatsink. What that means is that....the insane amount of amp draw resulted in a second crash, from what I thought was servo failure in flight when in reality was just my regulator going into thermal protection.

So how did I know it was the ino-lab and not the rest of the electronics causing the insane amp draw? Two signs...

1. The ino-lab's got exceptionally hot after a flight. Still remember the comment I made about the lack of a heatsink on the ino-lab being the weakest link? It has been proven by yours sincerely that it does indeed need a heatsink to be cool because if even the plastic case can get hot to touch, then the internal motor temperature is obviously going to be molten hot.

2. I shifted them to my raptor 50 and from the average 1.5-1.8amp draw, with just TWO ino-lab 760 on the cyclic, it shot up to over 4amp, 4.5 to be exact. Only god knows where all the current is running to. Perhaps you may wonder, how come the regulator didn't go into thermal protection this time round? Simple. I increased the output voltage to almost 6v, which means a whole lot less heat for the heatsink to move.

As such, this has proven to be an expensive lesson. $246 worth of servo for just 80 or so flights, excluding the cost of the second crash. Painful.

On a side note, this crash has prove to be a blessing in disguise in some other ways, as will come later on....well...a partial change in hobby. In fact, I am considering quitting from all online R/C activities, including the postings and forums....

My flight log for the months of may and june: 1/3 of a gallon in may and june, combined. So few that I have lost count. Oh well, in any case I was already disgusted by the price hike of almost everything at the local hobby shops.

The wreakage...been sitting there for months. Probably engine and bearings are wasted, but who cares. Canopy is semi-repaired by a half arse job.

From 90size

From 90size

From 90size

WAIT A MIN.... YOU CRASHED THE HELI AND ANY SERVO CAN GET DAMAGE IN A CRASH...HOW COME YOU ARE BLAMING THE INO-LAB??

My point is simple. If one or two servo conk out in a serious crash, it is user error. If all three servos fail( and fail in a weird way) from just a light crash that didn't even destroy the canopy, obviously something was not quite right with the servos in the first place. I have seen worse crashes on my raptor and the hitec never had such problem. Hack, even the $20 hitec 325hb on the throttle in the 700N didn't give me any problem after the crash. The futaba BLS251 on the rudder have the tail rod control pulled out from it when the boom ejected upon crash impact and all it took was just a small plastic gear replacement. So how can all 3 servos fail from such light crash?

Tarot CF 600mm main blades

This review is probably long long overdue....lol

Ok, got these blades from a friend a while back. These are suppose to be priced just slightly above the typical funkey FG blades, but are in carbon fiber instead of fibreglass. FG version of these blades are available too, but I did not test them out because the pair that I had had a little finishing problem.

From Blade

The packaging is really simple, no fancy label, no colourful box, just a sealed plastic bag containing a pair of blades, a holofoil sticker and a piece of foam sheet to prevent the blades from scratching each other.

From Blade

From Blade

The art design of these blades appeared to have been copied from the funkey sport CF blades, just of a different colour. These blades are the standard length of 600mm and so should fit all old and new 50size. Blade width is 55mm, which IMO is again the standard, nothing like the wide chord radix or the narrow chord GCT's.

The FG version is totally opaque while the CF version of the blades uses the typical see-through gel. Weaving of the CF version is pretty tidy and consistent and really not like some cheap CF blades. It is at least comparable to the Rotor Tech stuff that I swear by. Other than the glue smell and a little dull surface finish, these are pretty much like what we get from the popular brands. A bronze bushing has been inserted into the blade root at the factory. From my past experience, these are good to have, but not really necessary if the material is strong.

From Blade

From Blade

From Blade

From Blade

The blade tip is similar to the Funkey FG blades and Radix that I have been using, just with a larger diameter arc at the leading edge tip. Nothing radical like the Rotor Tech's, nothing primative like a straight cut tip.

From Blade

The airfoil of the blades seems a little thicker than the Funkey and Rotor Tech offerings, just a little. Shown here in the photo from top to bottom is: Rotor Tech 610mm, Funkey FG 600mm, Tarot CF 600mm, Tarot FG 600mm.

From Blade

Shown here is how they look like on my heli...beside the Radix 710SB. It is obvious where they got their inspiration of their blade art design from...

From Blade

SO ALL IS PERFECT? NO.

There are two obvious problems though. Firstly, the art design appears to have been hand painted and is in no way sharp and nice like the popular blades. Secondly, the finishing of these blades are still lacking. On my set, I found these...

From Blade

SO HOW DOES IT FLY???
Average. For someone who does 3D, these blades will probably be a little lacking when compared to those a lot more expensive options like Radix and Rotor Tech's. However, don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean that these blades will not do your 3D moves. In fact, these will do pretty much most of the moves you throw at it, just that you will need to manage the sticks really well for they seem to bog easier. It seems to be very different from what I typically fly.

If compared to the Funkey FG 600mm, these blades bog more, but have much faster cyclic and better collective bite. However, my friend who passed me these blades commented that he felt that the blades are not tracking well and might be due to the blades being out of balance.

To be honest, I feel that the Tarot CF 600mm is not a blade for all out 3D flying, especially if you are at the stage of trying to get the timing correct or trying to piece and link the different tricks. They will be decent and more than sufficent for someone who is learning the basic or doing sports flying including aerobatics flight.