PerfectFlite - still in business?

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Thank you to Timbucktoo and to mtnmanak. I very much appreciate your help.
Jim
 
Yeah, I'm about ready to give up on Perfectflight. ..................

Don't give up.........

I have both and there’s no difference other than size. Both have same programmable features. The only possible difference is you can add an LED to the CF. Not sure if SL100 allows that option.

The SL100 has/had an option of an LED.
Cheers
 
Don't give up.........
Well, I've been waiting for months and there is no info available to determine any kind of time frame. I've decided to go all in on Eggtimer, despite my soldering skills being subpar. As economical as they are I can fry a few while I learn and still be ahead of the game. From the Apogee to the Quark to the Quantum to the Proton, they'll fulfill any need. The Proton can do just about anything you can think of. Time to move on, Dual Deployment awaits...
 
Well, I've been waiting for months and there is no info available to determine any kind of time frame. I've decided to go all in on Eggtimer, despite my soldering skills being subpar. As economical as they are I can fry a few while I learn and still be ahead of the game. From the Apogee to the Quark to the Quantum to the Proton, they'll fulfill any need. The Proton can do just about anything you can think of. Time to move on, Dual Deployment awaits...

I just ordered a Quantum myself. Figured it looked like a middle of the road kit to try out my soldering skills and see how easy it would be to put one of these together. Assuming it turns out well, you really can't beat the Eggtimer prices and I will try out some more of them. The assembly aspect is a bit daunting, though.
 
I just ordered a Quantum myself. Figured it looked like a middle of the road kit to try out my soldering skills and see how easy it would be to put one of these together. Assuming it turns out well, you really can't beat the Eggtimer prices and I will try out some more of them. The assembly aspect is a bit daunting, though.
I started with the Quark which is a pretty basic kit. After assembling that, I felt pretty confident about his other products. And if you screw up a Quark, you are not at a big loss.
 
I just ordered a Quantum myself. Figured it looked like a middle of the road kit to try out my soldering skills and see how easy it would be to put one of these together. Assuming it turns out well, you really can't beat the Eggtimer prices and I will try out some more of them. The assembly aspect is a bit daunting, though.
I've done fairly well so far on the 3/5 difficulty builds (WiFi switches and Eggfinder Rx). The 4/5 Eggfinder Mini TX is giving me fits. I've narrowed it down to poor soldering technique. I need to keep my tips cleaner, tin them more often, use the right tips for each component, clean the boards before I start building and go slower to keep the heat down. It's a serious mix of knowledge, skill and art form.
 
I just ordered a Quantum myself. Figured it looked like a middle of the road kit to try out my soldering skills and see how easy it would be to put one of these together. Assuming it turns out well, you really can't beat the Eggtimer prices and I will try out some more of them. The assembly aspect is a bit daunting, though.

I use a square, clear glass baking cake pan to assemble/solder Egg products in. I can line up a lot of the parts in the baking dish and use good lighting and flip up head magnifier. I also use a magnifying fluorescent circle lamp sometimes.
A gentle flip of a small part generally stays inside of the baking dish and is easily found. I put white paper underneath the dish for contrast. Make sure one gets the smallest tipped solder pen they can find. Also very fine tipped tweezers (forceps) are a big help. Do these tricks while following the instructions on a device of one's choice (I use a laptop) and success is highly likely.
I dorked a Quark during building as I think it had a bad component. Couldn't figure it out so tossed it in the junk drawer. No big loss.
Kurt
 
I've been checking the Perfectflight Direct store for about two years hoping to get a Firefly field data display. No luck. I have a CF and would like to get another one. No luck. They advertise in Sport Rocketry regularly but don't have any product (or very little).
This is perhaps one of the more disappointing threads I've seen here. Having started on a project I'm hoping to work as dual-deploy, I felt that Perfect flite was the right choice for me... after that... Eggtimer... I really didn't want to build it myself, however I built the original Estes transroc and it actually worked so I'm not daunted by soldering, but I like SOME convenience :) Altus is just too dang much for what I have in mind... Rather burn my cash literally in motors! Looks like it'll n have to be eggtimer unless the logjam (whatever it's due to) breaks...
 
I use a square, clear glass baking cake pan to assemble/solder Egg products in. I can line up a lot of the parts in the baking dish and use good lighting and flip up head magnifier. I also use a magnifying fluorescent circle lamp sometimes.
A gentle flip of a small part generally stays inside of the baking dish and is easily found. I put white paper underneath the dish for contrast. Make sure one gets the smallest tipped solder pen they can find. Also very fine tipped tweezers (forceps) are a big help. Do these tricks while following the instructions on a device of one's choice (I use a laptop) and success is highly likely.
I dorked a Quark during building as I think it had a bad component. Couldn't figure it out so tossed it in the junk drawer. No big loss.
Kurt

Great idea with the baking pan! I will try that.

I just added an Eggtimer Classic to my order. It gets a 1/5 for difficulty and is cheap. Good to learn on and not a big cost if I mess it up.
 
This is perhaps one of the more disappointing threads I've seen here. Having started on a project I'm hoping to work as dual-deploy, I felt that Perfect flite was the right choice for me... after that... Eggtimer... I really didn't want to build it myself, however I built the original Estes transroc and it actually worked so I'm not daunted by soldering, but I like SOME convenience :) Altus is just too dang much for what I have in mind... Rather burn my cash literally in motors! Looks like it'll n have to be eggtimer unless the logjam (whatever it's due to) breaks...

If this is your first DD, I would recommend looking at the Missile Works RRC2 series. Same price as most of the Eggtimers without having to build it yourself. The RRC2's may not have all the functionality of a Stratologger or Eggtimer, but they are very good - I use them in many builds. I do wish they had a dedicated switch port, but that isn't a huge deal.
 
If this is your first DD, I would recommend looking at the Missile Works RRC2 series. Same price as most of the Eggtimers without having to build it yourself. The RRC2's may not have all the functionality of a Stratologger or Eggtimer, but they are very good - I use them in many builds. I do wish they had a dedicated switch port, but that isn't a huge deal.
I'll look into it! Thanks!
 
This is perhaps one of the more disappointing threads I've seen here. Having started on a project I'm hoping to work as dual-deploy, I felt that Perfect flite was the right choice for me... after that... Eggtimer... I really didn't want to build it myself, however I built the original Estes transroc and it actually worked so I'm not daunted by soldering, but I like SOME convenience :) Altus is just too dang much for what I have in mind... Rather burn my cash literally in motors! Looks like it'll n have to be eggtimer unless the logjam (whatever it's due to) breaks...
Don't be intimidated by Eggtimer. If you're doing rocketry you've probably got sufficient skill to be successful. I think the key to success is to get the right tools; temp controlled iron, good tweezers, lighted magnifier. You'll find lots of suggestions on other threads. The step by step instructions on the web site are excellent. Another good choice for a ready to fly DD altimeter is the Missileworks RRC2+.
 
Don't be intimidated by Eggtimer. If you're doing rocketry you've probably got sufficient skill to be successful. I think the key to success is to get the right tools; temp controlled iron, good tweezers, lighted magnifier. You'll find lots of suggestions on other threads. The step by step instructions on the web site are excellent. Another good choice for a ready to fly DD altimeter is the Missileworks RRC2+.

What sort of power does the ET Quantum need? Battery type etc. I didn't notice if that was mentioned on the web site...
 
What sort of power does the ET Quantum need? Battery type etc. I didn't notice if that was mentioned on the web site...
Battery recommendations for each product are in the assembly instructions. Basically a 2C 7.4 v LiPo with at least 300mAh of capacity. I use these, there are others.16103164358903320578879990787339.jpg
 
This is perhaps one of the more disappointing threads I've seen here. Having started on a project I'm hoping to work as dual-deploy, I felt that Perfect flite was the right choice for me... after that... Eggtimer... I really didn't want to build it myself, however I built the original Estes transroc and it actually worked so I'm not daunted by soldering, but I like SOME convenience :) Altus is just too dang much for what I have in mind... Rather burn my cash literally in motors! Looks like it'll n have to be eggtimer unless the logjam (whatever it's due to) breaks...

I beat you there John. I built the original Foxmitter and Minimitter Rf trackers. from discrete parts when I was in the 8th grade. No PC boards either. Just perf board and point to point wiring. Was a bear to do but at least I had magnification. Gosh I'm showing my age. They worked fine and I'm am so sad that the box with all my "old" Rf trackers from the 60's and 70's got lost in one of my myriad of moves. Just as well because I don't think the 22.5V Burgess batteries are in production anymore! A single cell that was 22.5V and a little larger than a "AA" too. I don't remember the capacity.
Well I'll be, here's the original article: https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ModelRocketry/Model_Rocketry_v01n07_05-69.pdf
If one looks at the link and the picture of the tracker it was pretty impressive miniaturization considering it was 1969. I remember it was a tough build for a 13 year old but I got it working. It had plugable modules for that had to be used individually for simple tracking, temperature recording, spin rate, accelerometer and later on a heartbeat sensor. Yeah you read it right, a heartbeat sensor. This was before the prohibition upon flying mammals in rockets was made. (Thank God they put that rule in! When I heard about it, I was all for it.)
If I remember correctly, one had to restrain a poor mouse in the payload bay and use a small light to shine on the subject mouse's abdomen and chest. Then a photocell had to be "aimed" at the chest area where the pulsations of the heart would reflect the light. That resulted in an oscillating tone at the receiving walkie-talkie which could be analyzed if one used a stopwatch and tape recorder during the flight. I think one was supposed to wait awhile for the mouse to acclimate before launching to allow the pulse to go to baseline.
This was before the internet so I only could read some of the descriptions of the flights and never heard any of the recordings. It appears the poor mouse was scared witless under "G" loads and the pulse would "go up". Doesn't take a rocket scientist or animal behaviorist to figure that out.
Pulse would then settle down a little bit after the apogee/main event occurred but was still pretty high.
If I remember correctly the article didn't chronicle any failures if they had any. Obviously if anything went awry, the mouse died. Remember this was the era of BP motors and motor only ejection. I doubt if anyone slapped a "little more" BP into a motor for ejection purposes as "it would be against the rules". If the motor charge wasn't enough to push out the deployment laundry, the mouse would get injured or splattered.
Probably some mice would piss or defecate in the bay. I know I would if it was me. I had a pet white mouse when I was a kid and she was real sweet. Could handle her all I wanted. I wouldn't have considered putting her into a rocket. That was just plain stupid.
Kurt Savegnago
 
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Battery recommendations for each product are in the assembly instructions. Basically a 2C 7.4 v LiPo with at least 300mAh of capacity. I use these, there are others.View attachment 446003
Thanks!
I beat you there John. I built the original Foxmitter and Minimitter Rf trackers. from discrete parts when I was in the 8th grade. No PC boards either. Just perf board and point to point wiring. Was a bear to do but at least I had magnification. Gosh I'm showing my age. They worked fine and I'm am so sad that the box with all my "old" Rf trackers from the 60's and 70's got lost in one of my myriad of moves. Just as well because I don't think the 22.5V Burgess batteries are in production anymore! A single cell that was 22.5V and a little larger than a "AA" too. I don't remember the capacity.
Well I'll be, here's the original article: https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ModelRocketry/Model_Rocketry_v01n07_05-69.pdf
If one looks at the link and the picture of the tracker it was pretty impressive miniaturization considering it was 1969. I remember it was a tough build for a 13 year old but I got it working. It had plugable modules for that had to be used individually for simple tracking, temperature recording, spin rate, accelerometer and later on a heartbeat sensor. Yeah you read it right, a heartbeat sensor. This was before the prohibition upon flying mammals in rockets was made. (Thank God they put that rule in! When I heard about it, I was all for it.)
If I remember correctly, one had to restrain a poor mouse in the payload bay and use a small light to shine on the subject mouse's abdomen and chest. Then a photocell had to be "aimed" at the chest area where the pulsations of the heart would reflect the light. That resulted in an oscillating tone at the receiving walkie-talkie which could be analyzed if one used a stopwatch and tape recorder during the flight. I think one was supposed to wait awhile for the mouse to acclimate before launching to allow the pulse to go to baseline.
This was before the internet so I only could read some of the descriptions of the flights and never heard any of the recordings. It appears the poor mouse was scared witless under "G" loads and the pulse would "go up". Doesn't take a rocket scientist or animal behaviorist to figure that out.
Pulse would then settle down a little bit after the apogee/main event occurred but was still pretty high.
If I remember correctly the article didn't chronicle any failures if they had any. Obviously if anything went awry, the mouse died. Remember this was the era of BP motors and motor only ejection. I doubt if anyone slapped a "little more" BP into a motor for ejection purposes as "it would be against the rules". If the motor charge wasn't enough to push out the deployment laundry, the mouse would get injured or splattered.
Probably some mice would piss or defecate in the bay. I know I would if it was me. I had a pet white mouse when I was a kid and she was real sweet. Could handle her all I wanted. I wouldn't have considered putting her into a rocket. That was just plain and stupid.
Kurt Savegnago


Nice... Saw the foxmitter plans after I built the transroc... We once put a bee into the payload bay of an X-ray (getting it in was fun, I can tell you) and flew it on a b14. That was enough to deter me from EVER flying anything alive again!
 
Thanks!



Nice... Saw the foxmitter plans after I built the transroc... We once put a bee into the payload bay of an X-ray (getting it in was fun, I can tell you) and flew it on a b14. That was enough to deter me from EVER flying anything alive again!

According to the code. Insects are fine. Simpler life form. Read where folks launched grasshoppers and when the rocket was recovered, they let the grasshopper go! I wouldn't do a tarantula though as I had a friend in the dorm at college who had a pet female tarantula. She could be gently handled just fine. One could hold her over a bed so she wouldn't get hurt if she fell and pet her on the back of her abdomen. She'd hunch up like she really liked it. Like stroking a dog or cat except this one had 8 legs and fangs. Was really cool. An active pastime of the floor was catching big mother cockroaches to feed the tarantula. Don't get me wrong, some large spiders can have a very nasty attitude and best not be handled. Some actually can get acclimated to handling but I recommend one keeps them well fed! Kurt
 
According to the code. Insects are fine. Simpler life form. Read where folks launched grasshoppers and when the rocket was recovered, they let the grasshopper go! I wouldn't do a tarantula though as I had a friend in the dorm at college who had a pet female tarantula. She could be gently handled just fine. One could hold her over a bed so she wouldn't get hurt if she fell and pet her on the back of her abdomen. She'd hunch up like she really liked it. Like stroking a dog or cat except this one had 8 legs and fangs. Was really cool. An active pastime of the floor was catching big mother cockroaches to feed the tarantula. Don't get me wrong, some large spiders can have a very nasty attitude and best not be handled. Some actually can get acclimated to handling but I recommend one keeps them well fed! Kurt
I just didn't like the cleanup!
 
I will admit, when I started this thread, I didn't think we would be delving into flying mice and tarantulanaughts. Gotta love TRF :)
 
I need to keep my tips cleaner, tin them more often, use the right tips for each component, clean the boards before I start building and go slower to keep the heat down. It's a serious mix of knowledge, skill and art form.
Sounds like you are adding some finesse to the basic skills. This happens as you get better.
 
There’s a couple of ads, Stratologger CF and FireFly, in this month’s (Jan/Feb 2021) issue of Sport Rocketry, so hopefully that’s a good sign that the PerfectFlite endeavor is still investing in its future.

Don't read too much into the SR ads. Those Perfectflight spots are very old and advertise the "New" SLCF product. The SLCF is hardly new. It has been around for several years.

Looks like people here finally had enough with the lack of product and lack of response from PF, so they are shopping with their feet. After 20 years as a loyal customer of PF altimeters, I will probably gravitate to MW for simple units. Maybe somebody who gives a damn will take over PF and keep the product line alive. It is too good to let die.
 
In an earlier post, I had noted that I have been waiting for some time for a MW shipment with a bunch of RRC2Ls. Got a note from them today saying the order was held up by a slow shipment of parts for some of the printed sleds I had also ordered and that they would send out my RRC2Ls tomorrow and the rest of the order later. That is good customer service I can appreciate.
 
It's just a bummer from my pov... I'm in new england and I like to buy local if I can. There just aren't a lot of rocket related businesses in the general area, and the SLCF looked just right... So it goes.
 
I put in an order with Perfectflite yesterday for some mounting hardware, a PNUT and a couple other small things. They shipped it today. So, someone is minding the store and sending out existing stock promptly. Not sure if that has any relevance to producing new SLCFs, but it is good to know the lights are still on.
 
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