[martin18152]

I have the PowerBox 40/24Champion, If that’s what you are considering, and it works fine, however you need a programmer module to set up the servos sync, it was an extra 60 bucks. The power box teamed up with the duralite batteries gives you battery health status lights. The power box is supposed to pull a shorted wire or servo out of the circuit, and keep you from wasting your batteries on a short or jammed servo, I don’t know if the smart fly has that ability. Even though the power box duralite was designed for duralite batteries, I use fromeco batteries because they are a better value, and the status lights still give you a conservative health status. The power box gives you a dual electronic failsafe switch. You can check the health of a single battery operating the controls , or both batteries operating the controls, and if any wires come lose from the switch, or the switch fails, the unit will default to the on position. The smart fly uses a simple single mechanical switch; however, has the same failsafe properties.

I also have the smart fly EQ10, I like it for two reasons, it’s a value, half the price of the PowerBox, and you can sync up servo banks on all the channels using on -board programming, where the power box has three sync servo banks; however, it has enough banks for any 40% plus plane. In my opinion, the smart fly programming is a little more involved than the power box , but still fairly easy. The interesting thing about the smart fly EQ10, is its power source is flexible, similar to the PowerBox, which means you can attach two Li, or NiMH, or NiMH with out a regulator. You can also attach a regulator, and I actually have a turbo regulator connected to mine, but I’m not sure why, I may take it off if I find no advantage. Look on the smart fly site, and you will see all the connection combinations.

In the final analyses, I would say pick the Smart fly EQ10 based on a value to function quotient. If money is no object, I would go with PowerBox Royal, it has all the EQ10 options and more. When I bought my PowerBox Champion, there were no other products out there to compare. My PowerBox has been operating for over 3 years in a 3.3M Comp Arf Yak, on the other hand I just installed the EQ10 in my 42% AW Extra, and haven’t got a chance to fly it, so my operational use of the EQ10 is limited. So far, all I have done is set up the plane; however I found it very easy to program and set up, the fact that you can sync up on any of EQ10’s multiple servo banks, makes it breeze to set your plane up any way you want.