micro cessna 210 centurion or micro citabria

[ralph99]

ive been looking at both of these mico planes and would like to know your exdperiance and opinoin or why which is better. please state flight times, speed and which is just better for outdoor...and you get the point.....which one??

[clockworks]

I've had the 210 for 6 months, not got the Citabria. IIRC, the main selling point of the Citabria was that it'd fly slower - more lift from larger wing. To me that'd make it a better indoor flyer, but worse outdoors in any kind of wind.

I get around 12 minutes flying time, more if I take it easy and glide a bit. Charging takes 20-30 minutes. Get a spare battery and you can fly almost non-stop, although I like to take a 5 minute break to allow the motor to cool down.

It's an excellent plane to learn with. If you fly over grass (and keep away from trees) it's almost impossible to break in a crash because it's so light. It has enough power to loop from level flight. In fact it can do multiple loops without losing too much altitude - my best is 5 in a row.
It flies at jogging pace, plus/minus the speed of the wind.

2 things to be aware of -
It flies pretty slow, so it doesn't like winds over 8 to 10 mph. It doesn't have the power to overcome the wind, so it can get blown away.
Extreme aerobatics can strip the servos. My elevator servo failed after maybe 10 hours of flying, but I've repaired it. Not caused by crashing, as the elevator was unmarked.

[ralph99]

thanks but the thing about the cessna is that its got a 50 meter range and the citabria double...

[ontheedge]

I've had both. The Cessna is a little faster with a slighly smaller wing, thus is a bit better in a breeze. The Citabria will fly slower thus can be more maneuverable but can't handle the wind as well as the Cessna.

I still have the Citabria and sold the Cessna to a friend who is still flying it.

You mentioned those two planes. I have experience with the Ember (flew a friends a bunch of times) and the recently released Vapor (own one) so if you're interested in those, I can elaborate.

[clockworks]

I'd never noticed the range being radio range being quoted - I thought you meant the battery life.

I find the operating range of the Tx/Rx in the 210 more than adequate. Remember, it's a very small plane. A couple of times I've flown it to the limit of my vision (very good with spectacles) with no problems. Not much point in having a plane where the radio works, but you can no longer see which way it's going.

It wouldn't surprise me if Kyosho/Parkzone were being very conservative with the figures quoted for the 210, underrating the true range of the radio. AFAIK, the electronics in the Citabria are the same, so the range should be the same