FMS Tigercat 1700mm VERSUS Flightline 1600mm?

[chipset35]

Hi everyone, I am really on the fence for these two aircraft.
Would like to hear opinions on which one would be better as a first multi-prop aircraft.
Right off the bat the higher price for the FMS is a bit of a turn off.
Also, I believe Flightline has a better quality control history?
Any help would be appreciated.

[xviper]

As you pointed out, there is a big price differential between the 2 planes. Having said that, you will see many happy campers on both sides. I have the FMS because I wanted 6s power and those beautiful retracts were a "must have". I also wanted that slightly bigger wingspan (bigger plane). Additionally, my local hobby shop (and most local shops) carry FMS. A guy at my field had the Flightline F7F and it flew just great. I also have a couple of other 4s multies from Flightline. They are very fine models. With regards to the F7F, both brands have a superlative level of quality so this shouldn't be a deciding factor. 4S batteries are usually a bit cheaper than 6s batteries (unless you need 2 of them for one plane). It's all up to you. What do you want and how much do you want to spend?

[TiredIronGRB]

Both are great planes, I will say the FMS is more detailed and the Flightline is more durable.

[chipset35]

Thanks Guys, I believe the FMS uses one 6S and the Flightline uses two 4S?
My big issue is that I am on my clubs short cut and nicely maintained field for flying.
But its still grass, thus durability in that aspect is a priority, i.e. no broken landing gear.
Also, no cheap servos or other elcetronics, don't want a fried or buggy ESC's, BEC's, Servo's etc.
I do not want to risk such an expensive plane to faulty electronics.
A bad RX from Spectrum crashed my E-Flite P47D 1.2m and I am still putting that back together and testing all the new electronics.
Also, considering an FMS B-25 Mitchell 1470mm, but that one seems to have issues.

[xviper]

Thanks Guys, I believe the FMS uses one 6S and the Flightline uses two 4S?
My big issue is that I am on my clubs short cut and nicely maintained field for flying.
But its still grass, thus durability in that aspect is a priority, i.e. no broken landing gear.
Also, no cheap servos or other elcetronics, don't want a fried or buggy ESC's, BEC's, Servo's etc.
I do not want to risk such an expensive plane to faulty electronics.
A bad RX from Spectrum crashed my E-Flite P47D 1.2m and I am still putting that back together and testing all the new electronics.
Also, considering an FMS B-25 Mitchell 1470mm, but that one seems to have issues.

Correct about the batteries.
I like the retracts on the FMS F7F because each one has a scissors brace that locks in place when deployed. This does help brace the impact of landing quite well. The Flightline one is a typical straight strut with no shocks, but you can buy the upgrade ones with spring shocks. Any retract will rip out if you land hard enough but the FMS ones can take a really hard landing while the Flightline one has to be "greased" on the landing nearly all the time. If you are good at landing, both will be no problem on grass. The FMS has had some reports of dead current transfer past those quick connects on the wings, however, I've never had a problem with mine but then, I dabbed some dielectric grease on all the terminals. The power of the 6 cell system is stunning.

[RMatteson]

I have the FL Tigercat and I like it a lot. With the upgraded landing gear it improves shock. Uses 3000 or 4000ma 4s which are less costly. Two main things I like better on the FL are the wing connections are better and it uses a multiport connector to hook up wing servos and lights, not a plug in port that makes wing removal hard. Also the FMS model has rivets that stick out making putting on decals hard, as they will not lay flat. The landing gear on the FMS is super scale, hands down and it does have stronger motors and a bigger size plane over all, but at the price, you could almost buy 2 FL Tigercats.

[rifleman_btx]

Trust me if the stock gear can handle this on the FL, you have nothing to worry about:Cool::)

[xviper]

That was a pretty respectable landing. It only bounced a little and didn't keep going with much forward speed. That was a very windy day.

[rifleman_btx]

Yeah it was 15mph cross. Definitely a pain in the butt lol

[benjack71]

I have the flighline and the FMS now. I will post a video of an FMS flight. This is my honest assessment as I see it. The Flightline is a good plane. I think it performs as advertised and it flies very well. The FMS is a different class. Its that simple. For the price point it probably should be. Climb, speed, stability, handling, all of it is better with the FMS plane. Its not that the flightline is bad, the FMS is just that good. The FMS is the larger of the two models, but the wing loading feels lighter, it really flies lighter than the flightline. The only thing the FMS is missing is the landing light. The FMS retracts are a thing of beauty, the build out of the box is not even hardly a build. Seriously, the control surfaces are hooked up for the most part. I literally flew it without touching them, and it was just a few clicks and I had it trimmed. I caught in a hundred dollars off on a weekend at Horizon. Here is a video of me flying it today. I think that is probably my 7th flight on it. At Rend Lake warbirds fly-in I flew a low pass with it so low I left the drop tank on the runway lol. Never slowed the plane down, just kept on flying.

[chipset35]

I notice you also have a "Bermuda Triangle " of crops surrounding your flying area.
That is a beautiful aircraft!

[Jerry's Flying Circus]

I really love my FL Tigercat. We fly off grass and the gear seems to be rock solid. I run 2 4s 3000 and get about 6 minutes or so per flight. I am very happy with this plane, the only thing I do not care for at this point is that it is difficult to get the wings off just because they are very tight. I don't usually remove them so it is not that important of an issue.

[e4dragongunner]

I have so many 6S for my EDF's ... the FMS may be the way to go for me!