ZeroGPrints
Member
As the FireFly Field data display has been out of stock for a while, I have looked into the MicroPeak. How does it compare to the FireFly. Obviously the FireFly is more capable, but otherwise how does it compare?
MicroPeak vs FireFly
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mh9162013
Well-Known Member
They're about the same, but 2 major differences based on my research and personal experience:
1. The MicroPeak is more prone to erroneous data/no data after a launch. You need to be careful not to expose it to direct sunlight after it's armed and ready to launch. But even if you are, sometimes it won't register a launch. And no, I have no idea why this happens after dozens of launches.
2. The MicroPeak is smaller than the FireFly; the former fits in most (many?) BT-20 plastic nose cones while the latter only fits in BT-20 body tubes.
If I flew in competitions, I would not personally use the MicroPeak. I don't compete and I like flying BT-20 rockets with nose cone payload bays, so I use the MicroPeak.
1. The MicroPeak is more prone to erroneous data/no data after a launch. You need to be careful not to expose it to direct sunlight after it's armed and ready to launch. But even if you are, sometimes it won't register a launch. And no, I have no idea why this happens after dozens of launches.
2. The MicroPeak is smaller than the FireFly; the former fits in most (many?) BT-20 plastic nose cones while the latter only fits in BT-20 body tubes.
If I flew in competitions, I would not personally use the MicroPeak. I don't compete and I like flying BT-20 rockets with nose cone payload bays, so I use the MicroPeak.
The FireFly field data display is one of those things where you have to keep watching perfectflitedirect.com and try to catch them when he makes up a few. He only makes them about 10 at a time.
The MicroPeak (fussy though it is about sunlight exposure) is actually more capable, as it records altitude vs. time which can be downloaded and plotted, though the mechanism is a little fussy and more expensive than a Firefly field data display.
MicroPeak blinks out altitude in decimeters rather than feet.
As noted above, the MicroPeak is actually quite a bit smaller than a FireFly as you can see in this picture I just took here at my Mac:
You can see the black bit on the FireFly covering the pressure sensor which is there to mitigate the sunlight issue. On the MicroPeak it is exposed (silver rectangle with two little tiny holes).
:
MicroPeak data plot (just a random example I pulled from my files):
The MicroPeak (fussy though it is about sunlight exposure) is actually more capable, as it records altitude vs. time which can be downloaded and plotted, though the mechanism is a little fussy and more expensive than a Firefly field data display.
MicroPeak blinks out altitude in decimeters rather than feet.
As noted above, the MicroPeak is actually quite a bit smaller than a FireFly as you can see in this picture I just took here at my Mac:
You can see the black bit on the FireFly covering the pressure sensor which is there to mitigate the sunlight issue. On the MicroPeak it is exposed (silver rectangle with two little tiny holes).
:
MicroPeak data plot (just a random example I pulled from my files):
