diomark said:
Almost ordered them, but it's just expensive enough that I'd love to hear your review first
These are the ones I ordered:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261340030834
They arrived today. I had a very quick preliminary flight with them - not scientific unfortunately, but it was super cold and dark already outside when I got home.
Details: I was worried that the props might not be keyed. But they're 8mm and indeed keyed to the DJI motors so they slot in just fine. These are the non-self-tightening variety so you can use them with your 1.1 or 1.2 or 1.1.1, you just need the appropriate nuts for your motor threads.
These are the carbon fiber clones. I don't have genuine P2V plastic props so I'm afraid I can't offer a comparison. I don't even know if they're cloned great, OK, or not even close.
I haven't balanced them, or checked to see if they're balanced (fat chance).
All four CF props weigh 28 grams. That's 7g each. My 8" CF props weigh 21g (5.25g each). My 8" DJI plastic props weigh 26g. So I assume the CF props are lighter than the genuine P2V props.
AUW: 1215g.
Battery: 4400mah 3S2P
Powered accessories: Tarot T-2D gimbal, 600mW vTX
Flight time with 8" carbon fiber props: 14 minutes 15 seconds
Battery drain: 80%.
NAZA Level 1 alarm at 12:07.
Voltage immediately after flight: 10.9v.
Voltage 5 minutes after flight: 11.0v
Flight time with 9" P2V carbon fiber props: 17 minutes 1 seconds
Battery drain: 82%.
NAZA Level 1 alarm at 13:30.
Voltage immediately after flight: 10.9v
Voltage 5 minutes after flight: 11.0v
Remarks: Whoa, nelly. Note that I haven't balanced these props or adjusted the gains yet. But this thing is like a bucking bronco. It flew backwards at me at takeoff, and when hovering it tends to drop 10 feet, stabilize, then fly up 8 feet. A minute later it'll fly up 10 feet, stabilize, and fly down 5 feet. Keeping it steady is playing a racing game.
I think my Phantom is uniquely and precisely balanced with its 8" CF props. It hovers well, and flies perfectly (no wobbles, no oscillations) at gain setting, 50%, 250%, and everything in between. That completely changed with the 9" props. I'll have to mess around and see what settings work before I can perform a real test. But it feels like it's on random-direction autopilot. More testing will probably have to wait until the weekend, but if I can't fix the stability, the extra 2-3 minutes is sadly not worth it.
I have gopro footage from the Phantom in the air for the full 17 minutes, but it's pitch black, just flying around the backyard and you can't really see the wild movements, it just looks like bizarre piloting.
The props look awesome on the Phantom though. The quad looks way more athletic.