Spider Gear

[Doozer]

Anyone used these yet?

www.xgearheli.com/spidergear.htm

[Solitaire]

Those look like they'd work well. $35 for a Trex 450 set.
$63 for the Trex 600

[rtfheli]

They look great and appear to work well for heavier helis. The super-skids landing gear system is still cheaper in price and is better for smaller helis. I guess every landing gear system has its place.


-Happy Flying !!!

[Doozer]

Super Skids doesn't make anything 600 size, I wish they did So I was looking for something aftermarket for the 600. I bought 'em last night. Another aftermarket mod to review ;D

[rtfheli]

I sent Gary at Super-skids regarding these spider landing gears. I just wanted to see if they would make a 600 size landing gear system. Should be interesting to know what he has to say.

[Doozer]

Yeah.... the only thing I didn't like about xgearheli was his/her pseudo slam of super skids. The "tired of the "unbreakable" skids," comment. If you have a good product, there should be no need to reference the competitor. I almost didn't buy them because of that, but the alternative (broken stock skids) was what made me click the purchase button.

I'll review them, then invite him/her to comment and give us a link to the review. We asked Gary to do this as well.

[rtfheli]

Here is Gary's answer to the spider gear.

I've seen them. They're landing gear, so they're competition to a small extent, but the design has lots of problems.
We tried the same thing in 2006.

-If you twist the landing gear by the legs (with your hands), a leg will break off at the pivot point. So, they'll certainly break in many crashes. The only way to make it stronger makes it way too heavy. To be fail, though, we only tested up to 450 size helis. They offer them for larger helis as well, and I'm not 100% certain the same physics would apply.

-They use a single spring. You can't control how stiff the suspension is with only one spring. If the landing is tilted (as many are) to one side, the spring won't stretch much so the suspension is soft. But if you land evenly on both skids, the spring stretches all the way (tight), so the suspension is hard. This is just the opposite of what you'd want to happen. The engineering isn't well thought out and I'd doubt this guy actually tested different designs.

-From a marketing standpoint, he says he's a beginner pilot. I'd rather buy something designed by a good pilot :-)
-They're very expensive.

[Solitaire]

I'm not seeing a shipping cost on these things.
Or is my eyesight worse that I thought?

[Doozer]

Align T-Rex 600 Electric Spider Gear system
Item# 600E - 2001 , Skid Color: Black Frost $62.99 USD 1 $62.99 USD
Subtotal $62.99 USD
Shipping and handling $6.00 USD
Total $68.99 USD
Payment $68.99 USD


I decided to go with black frost.... I'm going to do a review when I use them. There are many people that like them.

[Solitaire]

I was considering a set for the EXI.
Where did the shipping cost show up, or did you have to get into PayPal to get that? I always have to check for international shipping.

[McKrackin]

I've seen them first hand.The kid using them had to replace the springs with a heavier solid rubber strip as the springs tend to bottom out.

He also said that they do break in a heavy landing.Right in the joints.

I've never seen them used stock nor have I seen them break.

Just passing some hearsay.

[rtfheli]

That's exactly what Gary at Super-Skids said. I kinda have to agree looking at the picture below.




-Happy flying !!!

[Doozer]

Sol,

The shipping came up in pay-pal. But you have a chance to cancel ... i thought that was a bit weird too. I'm gonna review 'em... I'm sure they'll get their chance to break with me. I hope not, but for 70 bucks they better do what they claim or this guy will get them back. Hopefully they've improved the design.

[rtfheli]

Please let everyone know if this is worth it or not.

[Doozer]

Still waiting for the gear.... I put my order in on the Feb. 19 ...well actually the 20th and I haven't heard a peep. No... "thanks for buying the gear"... the only acknowledgment I've received is from Pay-Pal. Why do people assume this is o.k. I understand that his site says Its a 10 day turn around time, but to say nothing.... not even a short automated email to say "Thank you, got your money, give me 10 days before you knock on my door...." Something would be nice!