Align to go all electric ??

[Jamin_00]

They would not drop it. Even if they were going to you would not find anything till it was officially announced by them by which time EVERYONE and their mum would know about it and I bet there is enough parts already manufactured to last a loooong time yet

[Gaui-UK]

Align did start out as Electric... and at the moment its a very poplular way to go - how big would your engine need to be for 8-10HP!! - Lipos are getting way cheaper as well

[Sesame]

But I should imagine O.S and Y.S are a little concerned at the moment.

Im also wondering when flybarred will be withdrawn as a standard option. but again your always going to get those that insist on it.

[Gaui-UK]

I would imagine so - Nitro will become a second class power source - cause therye stuck with the limits... they need to come up with a tripple power for the same size

[mark_w]

I think there will always be a place for nitro, I am not good enough to need any more power and I can't be assed to charge lipos so nitro is perfect for me

[steve_b]

Flybarred will still have a place whilst the F3C guys insist that it's used. The thing that has limited nitro to a degree is that in competition the largest engine you can have is a 90, whereas the electrics have only been limited to 12S, so there's an unfair advantage to electric.

I've recently gone electric for its supposed convenience, but I'm now finding that managing the batteries is more of a problem for me so is actually working out less convenient than nitro. I can easily storage discharge a Rx pack if I do not get out to fly because of the weather, but it's a different story doing a storage discharge with a 12S 5000 pack!

[ChrisB]

I can see their logic if Bobs correct,as a manufacturer they are bound to run the production lines producing those kits that are in most demand,I can't see them stopping nitro models but I am sure they will react to the drop in demand for them should it exist.

[Steve]

Well they did start out as lecky only back in the eraly days with 450 size stuff. Their first nitro was the 600 way back when, which was introduced after the original 600 lecky heli was such a complete disaster which never got going. The 600N really rocketed them into the market place.

[ChrisB]

I think the original 600e sold more units than you might believe.

[mark_w]

What nitro models do they actually have? 600N/NSP/LE and 700N/LE?

[Mr.Brown]

Align cant go electric just yet.there is still a market for nitros not as big as electric and there is still money to be made on nitros

[ChrisB]

According to Freak which is normally a very good source,there is a 700n v2 due any day and they have been running stock of the older version down.

[Si Goodchild]

Why would they wan to close the door to nitro? To make a point? Surely if you are designing a 600/700 size heli there are very little differences required to accommodate each powerplant. For the additional effort required to keep nitro power in these 2 platforms, there can be no sense in alienating nitro fans and pushing them toward other manufacturers.Si

[KnifeEdge]

I think ultimately nitros will disappear, along with Flybarred Helis. F3C will just need to move with the times.

It's good to see that they have already started to do this with allowing FBL machines to compete in the sportsmans this year.

[Sesame]

Im not so sure about nitros for a good while yet James, Electrics have problems of their own, once they bring out a pack that is cheap, will charge in less than 30 minutes and you can get at least 200 full power cycles out of them, I think Nitro still has a way to go.

as for FBL in F3C that will happen I would think in the next year or so, all the barriers are gradually being bought down, the final barrier will be the flight characteristics and whether a fbl model will fly as precisely as a flybarred in a hover. this youll know better than me.