700 size crash cost?

[cml001]

Hi guys... I'd like to poll those of you fly'n a 700 to gather some information. I have one more bird to build and then my fleet will be where I want it (I hope). So I've got a 450.. Had really wanted to sell this one & try another.. But she flys very nice and... It's a 450.. A fun trainer I can fly just about anywhere. 550, got it as my first big bird.. Happy with it! Then I wanted to try nitro.. Also wanted a 600.. Got the N5C... Couldn't ask for a better flyer! Now my way of thing was to do it this way because a 50 size nitro is easier on fuel than a 90... And now I can use the 550 pack in a 700.. So this has made the most financial sense to me(if that's possible in this hobby). So.. On to the 700 electric.. I will most likely use the same electronics in it as I have my N5C.. IKon, Castle, & MKS... good combo for me thus far... Motor will likely be KDE or Scorpion.. I'm lean'n toward the KDE.. So what bird? My thoughts are either a Goblin 700 or a Synergy E7se. I LOVE Synergy.. My nitro is by far my favorite bird.. My buddies here that have the E7se.. Just awesome. Over the past few months I've seen more Goblins and I dig'm! So I need to get out of dream land and back to calculator land.. Which will cost more over the long haul.. So.. I know several of you guys have Goblins(guess I'm the only Synergy guy here).. What is the realistic cost you guys have encountered in an average crash??? Are there any inherent maintance issues that pop up often with Goblin? I am looking for as much info as I can get on the 700 size (or 570/630) to help make this decsi son as I slowly gather up other parts. This isn't happening anytime soon...$$$$ but I will be buy'n little by little till I get there. Thanks for the advise, knowledge, & tips.

[pvolcko]

I haven't had a crash my Gob 700 yet. At least nothing serious. I had a botched auto-rotation that resulted in a tip over. Ended up breaking a DFC connection to the blade grip. Had a spare on hand so no cost on the crash.

However I've crashed the Gob 500 a lot. The boom has held up through it all, even when I ended up breaking the nylon bolts. It has lots of chips in it from blade contacts, but still sturdy and flyable. The head assembly is also stock, this despite landing it squarely on the head in an failed half piro flip the resulted in it going in hard inverted. Frame is stock still, though I've had to use CA to keep some cracks stable. Tail hib and grips are all stock too through all the crashes. I've gone thorugh main gears, a set of main and secondary transmission shafts, a couple bearings... blades blades blades. And lots of landing skids (both the skids and struts).

Using this experience as a basis I'd guess the Gob 700 is pretty robust in crashes too, just like the 500. Plan on main gears, skids and struts, tail fins, blades all around, and some shafts. Of the big ticket items you'll more than likely be replacing the canopy before anything else. Boom second. Frames last. I've found the feathering shafts to be hugely resilient. I've replaced one at most out of several crashes. Blade grips and arms are sturdy too (I've bent an arm, but flown with it, without issue). The new Gobs have HPS heads on them instead of the DFC head my Gob 700 has, so plan on some links too. Lastly, invest in the sab servo horns. They are saviors of may servo gear sets.

By comparison to the E7... I think the E7's main gear and drive train are more robust so you're less likely to need to do main gear replacements on it. But I think it will suffer from more main shaft bends in crashes. Have no idea on the feathering shafts, probably no advantage to either on that score. If E7 is a TT tail then plan on spending quite a bit more on boom/tt/and tail gear sets compared to the gob700 I'd say.

However, the Gob700 has some downsides:
1) stock battery system sucks, have to drop extra for a KDE upgrade there.
2) I'm not impressed with the auto-rotation performance. TT ont he TRex seems to be a much freer spinning main and tail system and the autorotations with it are floaty and effortless compared to autoing in the Gob 700. That said, I may need to learn to fly with more forward speed or faster descent rates with the Gob700 in order to have some energy to spin up near the end.
3) When you do break a boom, it's going to hurt and cost. Same on the canopy which will be more expensive compared to the more traditional styling of the E7's canopy.
4) Goblin is popular these days, there's something to be said for having a great looking E7 which not everyone has.
5) Synergy is owned and operated in the US by Matt Botos. WHile they are composed of a lot of overseas parts and labor, there is a home country aspect to it that may speak to your sensibilities vs the Gob which is all overseas.

[cml001]

Thanks Paul.. Some good info & insight to marinate on there... Thanks.