Parkzone Mini Vapor – lesser relation to the Night Vapor

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The PZ Mini Vapor – A bit less than the Night Vapor in almost every way

I have so much fun flying my Night Vapor that when the Mini was announced I went to my local hobby shop and put one on back order.  It was a few weeks before it became available but it came in shortly after we fired up the indoor season in these parts so all worked out well enough.

I took the Mini out of the box as soon as I arrived home, took a best guess as to battery placement and quickly shut off the ceiling fans.  A short take-off run down the kitchen island and I was flying… sort of.  OK, so balance was a wee bit nose heavy and it took a few seconds to remember that I had forgotten to do my usual rudder to aileron mix (the rudder is set up to respond to aileron input… which is fine when your expecting it!).  Luckily, the wall is 4 feet away from the kitchen island/runway and not 3!  Once I got the balance straightened out and the mix set up, I was back in the air and decided flying in my living room was probably not a fair place to test out this little airplane.  It seemed a bit quicker than I had imagined and the living room walls seemed to come up quick!  Maybe after a few trim flights in the gym and I could be happily tooling around in my living room like in the video!

So for the next couple indoor flying sessions I did some trimming and balance tests and flew with the stock battery (30mah I think) as well as the 70mah from the Night Vapor.  In the long run, what I figured out was that the Mini Vapor just isn’t (for me at least) up to speed compared to the Night Vapor.  I can fly the Night Vapor in the same space and at the same apparent minimum speed as the Mini.  Also, the Mini doesn’t seem to have quite the power to weight ratio as the Night Vapor… loops are harder to do, max climb is a bit slower and as one would expect, at 1/3rd the weight, the Mini can’t handle wind at all.

So is the mini such a terrible little plane?  Not at all.  It’s a nice little plane in it’s own right and capable of flying in a small space with some practice.  Just the fact that we can go out and pick up a production airplane that is so small and light and flies this well is pretty amazing.  It just isn’t what I wanted and expected.  I’ll still fly it (in the gym) but probably only when the Night Vapor batteries are all on charge!

6 Replies to “Parkzone Mini Vapor – lesser relation to the Night Vapor”

    1. I’ll try to remember to do some test flights with my timer running this Saturday night and post an update. I do recall that even the small batteries were long enough for me… So at least 6 minutes or so.

    1. I flew the Mini Vapor a couple times with a couple different batteries of the 30 mah variety and got 4:30 to about 6:00 minutes. A buddy who has one as well got a flight in the same range. When I switched to the 70 mah that is normally the battery for the Night Vapor flight times were consistently 12 minutes or so. I tried a 120 on the Mini Vapor but was not happy with the way it handled it as it is a lot of weight for this little plane but I did fly for 15 plus minutes. I’d recommend you try a 70 or two and see how you like it. The Mini is just a bit more light and spirited with the 30 but there’s not a big difference when you go to a 70 and flight times double so I think that is my battery of choice going forward.

      One thing that I recommend you play with is the balance of the plane. Slide the battery holder back and forth a bit and see what you like. I prefer a bit of a rearward balance on this as I enjoy slow flying and this makes it fly a bit nose up but neutral in climb at lower throttle settings. You can change the handling of the plane quite a bit by messing with this.

      Your mileage may vary of course depending on how you manage throttle and your general style. I had some fun with it tonight but still prefer the larger Night Vapor… of course I understand the mini is discontinued and available very cheap in some places at the moment so for half the price (or less) I’d say its a pretty good deal!

  1. Thanks for the detailed follow up. I’ve been flying my mini outside with little to no wind and getting about 4:00 min max on the 30mah battery. Given what you said I’ll will definitely buy and try the 70. Where about did you find the ideal placement for your battery measured from the top of the control board to the bottom of the battery slide

  2. I have been enjoying my night vapors for about ten years, flying it in my basement 15′ by 30′ room. I have found a great aerodynamic trick to slow it down, rear trailing flaps. I put stapping tape bent straight down about 3/4 inch on both sides to strengthen it.

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