Li-PO quality vs price

[quarry44]

Being relatively new to electric flight,I see a very wide range of prices on li-po's.
how do you justify a difference of sometimes up to 300%?
I understand someone who flies contests etc. would want top notch equipment,but as a sport flier,I don't see myself paying $100 for a 2000mah battery.
I understand the C rating,but in many cases the cheap ones have the same rating as the top$ batts.
So are some suppliers ripping modellers off,or are there real differences in performance,durability,etc.?
Enquiring minds want to know

[RCModelReviews]

Yes, there is a *huge* premium attached to the "big-name" lipos.

Certainly, in some cases, those very expensive packs will outperform the budget brands -- but seldom to the level that the price difference would indicate.

If you're just a sport flyer then there's no point (IMHO) in wasting money on packs that you will ever come close to using the full potential of.

A Turnigy/Zippy 2200mAH 3S 20-30C lipo can be had for well under $10 and will, if treated properly, last for hundreds of charge/discharge cycles and at least a couple of years. A $30 pack will probably work just as well -- but you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference in performance or longevity.

I'd say, leave the expensive lipos to the guys who want to extract the last watt of performance from their exotic 3D helis or other high-performance aircraft.

Get some Zippy/Turnigy packs and just have a ball!

If you want more peace of mind then you could look at something like the GensAce packs. They seem tougher (more resistant to abuse) than the cheaper ones but they're still very reasonably priced.

[Kris]

Here is a video review/ test of Nanotech vs. Thunderpower batteries that will give some "price vs. quality" insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvIaLN4A ... fIb5W-84zf

[francoishaha]

thanks, very intresting topic.
I got to say i buy a bad "cheap" lipo 4s wich have 1 cell that discharg very fast, the company name: BQY
so i only use this battery for preflight tuning

[Kris]

thanks, very intresting topic.
I got to say i buy a bad "cheap" lipo 4s wich have 1 cell that discharg very fast, the company name: BQY
so i only use this battery for preflight tuning

Now that I guess you have seen what Nano-Tech batteries can do things will be a lot better for you in that department. Having said that i would not rule out Hyperion batteries also a very high quality product.

[RCModelReviews]

Having said that i would not rule out Hyperion batteries also a very high quality product.

But very expensive -- at least around here.

[Kris]

Here in Canada Hyperion batteries are reasonably priced, if you consider that they are supposed to last more cycles and are a quality product. However after flying HK's Nano-Tech for a while I would say that they are about the same quality, just takes longer to get them.