MartyH Elite Veteran Location: Cincinnati
My Posts This: Topic Forum | I'd take a Raptor over a Pantera every day. Actually, I have. I only kept one Pantera but I have several Raptor 30/50s and 90s. The Raptor 50 is lighter and flies like it. Parts are more readily available and significantly less expensive and in my experience they survive crashes much better. My Panteras generally exploded or bent EVERYTHING when they crashed. Despite another one of John's claims -that he "never sells framesets because Panteras are so tough", mine always broke the framesets. The Panteras developed significant slop in the swashplates either out of the box or soon thereafter. I have yet to even make a plastic Raptor swash wear. One thing the Pantera has over the Raptor is the 4mm flybar. I really like that and the stock paddles are quite usable. The big draw to the Pantera is price. Before the OS55 and Nova Rossi came along, the BBC was also a reason to consider the Pantera. Now, if you're doing hard 3D, the BBC is obsolete and one would be better served with the new larger displacement but lighter engines so the draw is the kit price. Not to be misunderstood, I might add a Pantera or two back into the fleet sometime down the road but for the rabid, blind supporters of this heli, take off the blinders and fly some other helis. You might not be back.
Marty, Raptor 90 3D, Freya and more |