PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - A 206 or a 500D? Which is right for the job?
Old 22nd September 2008 | 01:28
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EN48
 
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: Center of the Universe
Have I stumbled onto a winner, or am I stumbling down a rabbit hole? I'ld be keen to hear from anyone with experience on type? Am I missing anything? This platform would seem very well suited as an alternative...
I recently took delivery of a new Enstrom 480B and so far it has not disappointed in any respect. See my posts in the Rotorheads Enstrom Corner (Page 10,11) for more details. One potential issue for you may be support. I have had superb support, from both the factory and dealer, but I am based only 60 miles from the largest dealer in the U.S (if not in the world.) There are only about 130 or so of these manufactured to date, so you wont find parts and support on every street corner. I also considered the 206 and R44 among others, and the 480B won by quite a margin. A new similarly equipped 206 would have been about 2X the price of the Enstrom in terms of acquisition cost, and I would expect parts and support to be much less for the 480. Operating costs (dominated by fuel) are more similar due to using essentially the same engine.

IMHO, the 480B and R44 are so different as to make comparison meaningless. The 44 is more of a "minimalist" design with what appears to be just enough "beef" to hold eveything together. The 480 design comes across as much more robust.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/190...om-corner.html

Last edited by EN48; 22nd September 2008 at 02:19.
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