325mm Blades

Published: August 11, 2011
 
Choosing the right blade for your 450-size RC Heli. 325mm Blades, options for FRP blade choices and carbon fiber blade choices. Which is best for most of us?

Article

325mm Blades, 325mm FRP Blades, 325mm Carbon Fiber Blades

325mm FRP Blades
FRP main blade for electric 450 helicopter(325mm)

$3.62  

325mm CF Blades
CF main blade for electric 450 helicopter(325mm)

$7.95  

Blade selection for 95% of us 450-sized heli pilots should be a lot simpler than what it is. There are tons of choices and the prices can range wildly from $3 up to $60. So what do you do? Do you elect to go with the eye-candy being offered by the big name blade manufacturers like Radix, Sab, Edge, and others? Do you elect to pay what the OEM of your particular 450 bird re-brands and recommends? Or to you venture off on your own to find 325mm carbon fiber or 325mm fiber glass blades that work for you?

First, it is important to understand that the difference in high-priced blades vs cheap blades can be significant to a seasoned 3D pilot who is pushing the heli to its limits. It could be likened to a worn set of tires on a Formula 1 car vs a brand new set. To the typical entry level pilot who is just learning to hover and do circuits, though, he or she will never notice a difference. Even the sport pilot who has been flying for years and enjoys a lot of loops, roles, flips, inverted flight, and those types of smooth, "big-air" things, will be hard pressed to be able to tell much of a difference.

Where's the real advantage of one blade type over another for the beginner to intermediate pilot? Simple: crash cost. When you are a new, learning pilot and are not going to be able to tell the difference between the flight characteristics of expensive vs inexpensive blades, it makes more sense to break the cheep ones.

Our recommendation for the beginner to intermediate collective pitch pilot is to find a nice set of either fiber glass or carbon fiber 325mm main blades that will not break the bank. Learn all you can with them. Then, when you're an expert, buy the fancy ones.

These 325mm blade choices can be found all around the RC websites of the world. At the right we've posted a couple of recommendations for what we believe are some of the best blades for the money. Give them a try and see if you don't agree.