Optifuel

[moyesboy]

Does anyone here use optifuel?
Does anyone have any comments to make about optifuel?

I am considering it for contiuity of supply, and its produced in Huddersfield not too far away.

[Bond007]

I've had a good chat with one of the testers and he's done loads of developement work using the Eagle Tree data logging system, and it's a big thumbs up from him.

Quite a few in my club are now using it and they will be buying more when they need it, so they are happy with it.

I haven't tried it myself yet, but will give it a go when I next need some fuel.

Sean

[Mike W]

Guy where I fly uses it and says he cant see much diff over WC and magnum apart from its a little less smokey lol ....little less oil content than the others but he's been running it with a new set of bearings on his Hyper so time will tell .. .From what I seen as well it looks a nice clean fuel as well.. .plus its sold in full gallons and is produced by a UK supplier ... Will be switching myself when I use my last 5 gallons up lol ....

[p51]

I have used nearly a gallon of 30% through my raptor 60 and it didn't need any needle changes from the old fuel which was Wildcat 30%. The engine runs smooth and picks up well with Optifuel.

Pleased with it

[jiberjaber]

MT also may have a new fuel out shortly, it has been tried at our field and there was no need to change any needle settings over WC. I have a bottle to try still.

There is a chap flying Opti at our field, not seen any problems with his Hyper and T600.

I havent tried either, but I am having no engine joy at the moment anyway with just Magnum!

[steve3065]

Hi i switched from wild cat to optifuel and have used about three 5litre of 20% so far on two helis both with Os50 Hypers and made very little changes to settings and both have ran perfect so far.As it is made in the UK i was hoping for better continuity of supply thats why i changed.

[Ade_Law]

i have 5litres of optifuel 30 to try but stripped the knight for the servos to go in the 550 so havnt tried it yet. I did manage to try a few tanks of rapicon 30 and that was atleast as good as magnum so that might be worth a look too.

Ade

[BobJ]

Hi

In the process of testing it now but new son, time and weather have slowed this down, I did run about half a gallon though one of my 600's with it and it seemed good but the engine was old so I want to test it again on a good engine before drawing firm conclusions.
I will go as far as saying it's certainly a good quality fuel and a option but if it's as good as the top brands I can't say yet.

The Klotts oil smells nice too, not that you should be breathing in the fumes!

Cheers
Bob J

[Droid]

It works.... but although sold in 5 litres (at £30 a pop) the Rapicon 30% (£21 for 4 litres) is still better value and nearly comparible to magnum ( feels a little less torquey IMO). However if fuel prices continue to increase and Optifuel stays firm then it may become more viable.

[richieclarkie]

Running Rapicon 30% for a few weeks now. Got through about 6 gallons so far.

Bearing life seems not to be an issue in comparison to the Magnum or Wildcat. Power is close enough that I can't tell a difference. I would happily fly either Magnum 30% or Rapion 30%.

In reality I rekon all these fuels are very similar and differences come down to how much smoke there is and slight differences in tuning. I think we all know Marketing is key to selling your product. It's cool an English based company is selling fuel and Optifuel have badged their fuel very nicely and I wish them all the luck with their business too

Hopefully us heli flyers benefit from the competition that now exists. Will be good to see new plentiful supplies of Magnum again.

[moyesboy]

At the moment the optifuel still works out slightly more expensive than magnum, which I found suprising. I would have expected them to launch it at a price slightly under magnum (like rapicon have).
For me it would be slightly cheaper if one of our club members went up there and collected it - but they are not open sat so its not economic to take time off work for me.
Rapicon is in a metric measure that is between a US gallon and a UK gallon so its like the supermarket game with the 24 bottles of beer where they each have slightly different sized bottles for the same brand!

[SRH990]

After using Wildcat CY30 last year I swapped to MT Bekra 30 and noticed no real difference, the Carbsmart coped without any needle changes and power is comparable. The Bekra has now risen to nearly £29 a UK gallon so I've got two 5ltr's of Optifuel 30% to try.

[SRH990]

I've finally started on my Optifuel stocks with 3 tanks full through my Trex 700 now. I was running Bekra 30% and power was good but backplate temperature was a little high. I've had to lean the main needle out around 3 clicks (actually moved the Carbsmart arm round a bit ) as the first flight it was very rich and power was poor - a bit of a disappointment at this point, still, the backplate was almost cold. After leaning out power is probably better than the Bekra, it holds a 12 degree full stick climbout as far as you like and still lands with the backplate warm, I'm liking it a lot so far.