Blade research, 8 brands, what's best...

[snjbird]

Hello Heli Freaks,

I have been hearing a lot of questions about blades, so I have taken it upon myself to do a little research on them, and to post my findings…. This will be a running review and I look forward to finding out what the “Best Blades’ are!

Now that being said the results will be the best blades for me, I want to try to keep my research objective, so I am going to try different things to test the blades. Right now I have done some weights and measures to get the bottom line on 6 sets of blades. In the future there will be more but for now these six will be the base line for the testing!

I have

Thunder Power 325s
SAB 320s
Align 325Ds
Sonix 325s ( Heli Direct brand and the cheapest)
Radix 325s
Maverikk G5 325s


To start the review I got out my ruler, blade balance, and calipers, plus the old digital scale…






As it turns out different manufactures have different ways to measure the length of their blades.





I set the bolt hole to 325 and then looked at the blade tip at the trailing edge of the blade...





Hmmm. they are not all 325? In fact only 2 come close and they are the Thunder Power and the Maverikk.


So I took two measurements, total blade length, and blade length from the center of the mounting hole.


Total Blade length

Thunder Power 337mm
G5 336mm
SAB 331mm
Align 325mm
Sonix 326mm
Radix 325mm

From the bolt hole...

Thunder Power 326mm
G5 325mm
SAB 319mm
Align 315mm
Sonix 315mm
Radix 314mm

Next I put the blades on the balance and checked for the length ways CG.





Then I took measurements of the distance from the center of the bolt hole to the CG of the blade.

Thunder Power 171mm
G5 164mm
SAB 168mm
Align 166mm
Sonix 169mm
Radix 156mm

Next I put the blades on the scale and looked at the blades weight.




Thunder Power 22g
G5 31.7g
SAB 20.3g
Align 19.8g
Sonix 20.1g
Radix 21.8g

Since I have had loads of blades through the years I know that blade weight can vary from set to set from the same manufacture, 5 Grams +- is pretty normal...

The last thing I looked at was the blade thickness at the leading edge

Thunder Power 4.22mm
G5 5.1mm
SAB 5.2mm
Align 4.05mm
Sonix 4.15mm
Radix 4.06mm

Well looking at the results from the Facts, and these will be the only facts here, since every review is subject t the bias of the reviewer! I can draw a few conclusions

But I wonder what you Heli freaks would gather from these weights and measures?

I come into this review with a favorite, but there are some new blades here for me to try. If you have seen any of my other post on this topic you'll know I like the Thunder Power blades!

[ChrisH]

This is very good information snjbird. Stickied for future reference, and opinions on blades.

[pwoodyp]

I run the "SONIX 325's" Also ...

I HEAR they are just now starting to become very popular much to a certain
Helifreakers chagrin, who him being that was HFG{HaHa}

Fly GOOD, can't say they fly GREAT because I can't fly GREAT but I can
say they are easily DONE IN as the second pic shows. That was my second
set, I'm on my third although my first where in worse shape but I have no photos
of that mishap .... It's hard to quantify but the HITs where not that hard IMO...
I know my ALIGN w00dies would have survived is about all I can say... STILL
I do like the SONIX's allot and will continue with them hoping to grow into them
being the planed idea.

w00d

[snjbird]

Sticky status... Cool

Well wOOd, I know that CF blades suffer a different way than the old woodies do... I just have the one set, I have used "Sonix" stuff on other parts of my heli, and they make pretty nice stuff for cheep!

On with the test results...

I have 2 450s I plan to fly the blades on to make my judgment of which one is the best!

Heli #1 is my tried and true old V1!



Heli #2 is my new freshness 450 Pro



In the name of trying to be subjective I will fly the same 4 batteries through the testing, I have 2 Turnigy 30C 2200, and 2 30C Flightmax 2200s, in the end I will fly all the blades with some 40C and 45C packs, as some blades are better suited to higher RPMs.

Next certain blades work better with different head setups, so results will vary among those of us who use lighter faster paddles or different length flybar rods, I'll be using Align CF paddles, with a 2.5g weight on the pro, and stock plastic on the V1, both helis have 220mm flybars.

This morning I had a chance to fly all 6 sets of blades in the driveway, so I have a very basic impression of how they are working.

Here are my preliminary findings...

The SAB blades don't fit well in the pro grips, they are a little too long, inside the bolt hole, mods will be necessary to get them just right! ie; able to fold into the blade holder...

All the blades would track either straight away, or if they were out of track, I flipped them grip to grip and then they were spot on...

[DominicD]

The Sonix blades from HD are HORRIBLE, ppl don't buy them, just let them sit in stock, being the great guy that i am i will take on job of using up the remaining stock

[snjbird]

Yes, Capi... the Sonix are the best deal in CF blades that I have found. No Cap, I won't subject you to the horrendous task of flying them all by yourself, I must help you!

As chance would have it, I have procured a 450SE V2 to help with the testing. A friend bought one a while back from another friend. He has a sick father and has not had much chance to fly it, so I asked if I could use it for this test, he said what's mine is yours! Cool, this heli is a bit of a power house, it has the 2221-6V2 motor and last time I saw it it had the old style Align CF Blades, so we can add one more to the mix!

[JAG1]

hey snjbird,this is a great read,cheers keep up the good work mate.

have you got a link to the sonix blades? i cant seem to find them.

many thanks.

[DominicD]

http://www.helidirect.com/high-quali...trex-p-576.hdx

[pwoodyp]

Originally Posted by snjbird

Well wOOd, I know that CF blades suffer a different way than the old woodies do... I just have the one set, I have used "Sonix" stuff on other parts of my heli, and they make pretty nice stuff for cheep!

hehe my Fly-Bar Cage and Swash both are made by SONIX... One time my entire Head was made by them... But at any rate yeah there's no doubt I really like their blades.... I prefer flying the Sonix's and given they are cheap enough I also have NO issues running them as a n00b over those same w00ds.

[DominicD]

I went thro about 10-15 pairs of blades this summer on the 450..... these blades have made it affordable.

[JAG1]

Originally Posted by HFG

http://www.helidirect.com/high-quali...trex-p-576.hdx

cheer's mate.it doesnt say sonix in the add! is that why they are hard to find?
can you get them any where else?

many thanks.

[DominicD]

Only lately have they come with the Sonix stamp on them, before that they were unlabelled. Not sure if you can get them anywhere else.

[snjbird]

Yes I got some of the HDX blades, now labeled Sonix, they have been affordable and seem like pretty nice stock! So far my only real complaint about them is, they are all black, and that makes them pretty hard to see... All the other blades have some white in one way or another on them, and that makes them much more visible!

[DominicD]

Fly lower and closer ... problem solved !

[snjbird]

I have been flying the Sonix blades on my V1 for about a week... That is my low 3D trainer, and yes, you don't need to see the blades as much there. On the other hand, if a Freak was kind of new to the hobby, the lack of a visible disk could be a demerit for a blades viability. That being said, with the money a RCer would save buying the Sonix blades, they could buy some of the holographic stickers and still be on the green side of the next lowest priced blade!


My 450 flying was cut short today, I had a friend call and he wanted to show me a new spot to fly, I only brought my .90 and just flew a couple of flights. by the time I got home I only had time for one more flight with the Sonix blades on the Pro. My first impression of these blades on the Pro is very favorable, they are quick, have a nice stop, and good pop. They sounded like they stayed in track, I did a small auto at the end of the flight, and they came up a bit short there... Kind of guessed that by the way they were flying...

[DominicD]

You can always add some small flashy stickers to the tips if you need the extra visibility.

[CDFrog29]

I will have my second PRO this week, I can compare some blades too if you would like.

[snjbird]

Thanks for the offer CD, do you have any different brands of blades?

I picked up the third heli for the testing, it is a V2 and in great shape, it did have the old style Align white blades. They are very close to the new D blades in weight and size... I kinda of figured this. The V2 has a 2221-6 on it and I think it is a 11 tooth pinion, I'm can't wait to get started on the flying, Looks like Fridays the day I'll get started, I picked up an 2221-8V2 for my Pro, I am going to do the flight testing on the stock Pro, then upgrade after I am done, I have HS5065MGs and the Scorpion motor, thinking about adding a Ice 50 Lite too! I have a 8th set of blades on the way... The Rotor Tech 320s

[pwoodyp]

I was going to cut open that damaged Sonix Blades so I could post and show y'all what all was inside the thing ... Trouble is upon inspection this morning I dicovered I can still fly it, LOL still flys good even with the damage ...

Anyways looking forward to what you find out about the Sonix Blades that much is certain

[Lipper]

Originally Posted by pwoodyp

I was going to cut open that damaged Sonix Blades so I could post and show y'all what all was inside the thing ... Trouble is upon inspection this morning I dicovered I can still fly it, LOL still flys good even with the damage ...

Anyways looking forward to what you find out about the Sonix Blades that much is certain

A few people have learned the hard way about flying damaged-yet-flyable blades. The moral of the story generally being... DON'T DO IT! There are some pretty serious forces acting on them suckers.

Ken