Hi Bill,

Since no one has jumped in here I will offer my humble opinion.

1. If you fly < 100 flights per year, AND saving a few $ is very important, AND they are powering a Turnigy motor, then definitely get them.

2. Hyperion batteries are very good batteries, including their older versions. Their G3 packs have been out for around a year, so the batteries you are buying may be old. LiPos, like many battery types, have life span limits based on time, somewhere between 2 to 3 years,  in addition to the # of cycles available. 

3. I don't know how much you are planning on saving, but you can buy new, fresh, Hyperion G3 5S 3300 mAh batteries for around $112, I just saw one today at my LHS where I just bought a Hyperion G3 5S 4,000 mAh battery for $129. This is at "Pacific Coast Hobbies"  ..... email:   www.pchobbies.com .... they do mail order too. :-)

4. The new Hyperion high quality G3 batteries (and the latest high quality batteries from Thunder Power in LV NV) are a huge leap forward for our ECL hobby. They can be charged at a 5C rate ( I charge at a 3C rate because I do two at a time). They also have a greatly extended # of cycles before battery death. At the new low prices combined with the increased # of cycles available, we are now clearly less expensive than glow fuel per flight.

5. Again, if it is worth it to you (please see #1 above) then go for it. IMHO, it is more than worth it to pay a few $ more for fresh, modern, G3 batteries.

Like always, your milage may vary. ;-)

Regards, 

How much do the Hyperions weigh?

Rudy,
Check out all e RC's web site. They are selling Hyperion litestorm 5s 3300 20c Batteries at $70 each they also have the current generation G3 CX 25c Batteries at $90 each and the shipping is free for orders over $100 Bucks. I have 2 of each. The litestorms are 425,427 grams.The G3 CX are 452 each These are heavier because of the higher C rating. I just got back from flying I'm a bit of a fly-off between the two. The litestorms are just a bit warmer than the the G3 CX Batteries
which weren't warm at all but not even worth enough to worry enough either way. With all that being said the Hyperions
are just as good as the Thunder Powers and they cost far less I also have four of those of various weights and their the same TP 3300 20c pro lite V2's. At $135 ea.

How I'd trade cost and weight of these things is to take the cost of the number of ThunderPowers it takes to fly continuously minus the cost of the number of Hyperions it takes to fly continuously and divide that number by the weight difference between one ThunderPower and one Hyperion.  Assuming that the Thunderpower fleet costs more than the Hyperion fleet, I'd ask myself if that price per gram is worth it.  Maybe not, if there's a cheaper way to get weight out of the airplane.  By the number it takes to fly continuously,  I mean the minimum number that you need to have one always charged and available to swap when you land. 

If brands differ in reliability, that thickens the plot, but that can be traded, too.  Of course, if one brand is more likely to immolate your airplane or go open-circuit during an overhead eight, that might override the weight-cost trade.

Thanks all. I saw here also that the lifepan of Lipo batteries is around 3 years. This is considerable time but not if you are buying batteries that are already a year or so old. My question here is are the batteries dated so you can see what you are getting?

  "Billy (absolutely a newbie) G"

This is a good question Bill. Unfortunately the ans. is Yes and No. ;-)

Even within a brand it is mixed. Some of my Thunder Power batteries are clearly dated, and some are not. The same is true of my Hyperion batteries. They both have some form of serial or code # on them. I'm sure this can be traced by the mfg. to see when and from what batch the battery was mfg., this would be helpful for warranty issues. I think all my batteries had a date on them in the beginning but some have worn off with time. This would be a "nice to have" date for all of us users. I will look into this issue and get back to you.

I always buy my batteries from a trusted source so I know they are fresh. Then I put on my own DOD (Date of Death) with my Brothers label maker, (I find this product very helpful to modeling). This date is 2 years after the DOB. At the DOD I give these batteries to my RC buddies who just fly sport RC and don't care if they are at less than full power, etc. They easily last another year in this "low demand" environment. In my larger IMAC planes the DOD is 1 year after DOB for my LiIon rec&ign batteries. This may be overkill but a failure is cata$trophic. 

The reason I said the life span is 2 to 3 years is because there are so many variables that each battery will face in their life. It is like asking the life expectancy of a human. If they are lucky enough to be born in Western Europe where everyone has good health care from before birth on, great diet, walked a lot, clean air and water, healthy environment, lower stress, worked less, etc. they will live longer than any humans on the planet, around 80+ years. If they were unlucky enough to be born in Ethiopia with NO health care, NO diet, high stress, etc. they will live < 35 years.

Sooooo with the above said: If you really treat your batteries well and do everything correctly like humans are treated in Western Europe before and after birth then they will last 3 years and give you over 250 cycles ...... But, if you treat them like humans are treated in Ethiopia, poorly mfg., high heat, high stress, etc. then they won't last 6 months and less than 35 cycles! ..... The good news is that we are mostly in control. We can buy quality well built, fresh batteries, treat them with constant TLC and enjoy a long happy life for us, our batteries, and our planes. It's our choice!   

That old saying: "Your milage may vary" really applies here. 

Here's what I found on the Hyperion G3 CX batteries.  Masses are from http://media.hyperion.hk/dn/g3lipo/G3-Specs-EN.pdf ; costs are from Amazon (ERC's site is down).

LG325-2500-5S     336 gm.     $71.95
LG325-3300-5S     455 gm.     $92.95
LG325-4000-5S     506 gm.    $111.95

I haven't looked into Thunderpowers very much, but they seem to be lighter and more expensive.  I think Paul Walker and Kim Doherty use a different model, but the G4 Pro Lite V2 20C 3300 mA-hr. battery, for example, is $130 and 392 grams.  A fleet of three Thunderpowers would run you $50 per ounce more than Hyperions-- maybe worth paying.  That particular Thunderpower charges at "4C", compared to "5C" for the Hyperion.  If it takes four Thunderpowers to practice continuously, but only three Hyperions, you pay $180/oz.  for the Thunderpower's weight advantage.  Mind you, there are other parameters to consider in this trade.