Cesium

I don't usually post here, but this time thought I would to help someone save time and money. Your battery charger might well be below par, but the real problem is your battery - it's buggered, throw it out. A 2.8V readout on a lipo cell at rest is terminal and indicates permanent damage. When the battery is under load, that cell's voltage will drop even further and that's why your ESC is shutting things down. HobbkyKing batteries are in my experience, average at best and often very poor, especially the bottom-of-the-range blue Zippy packs. Before learning my lesson, I had several brand new packs drop cells (3S pack suddenly becomes 2S, etc.) on the first flight, and some even arrived puffed and gassy before they've even been used. Puffing was a real problem with the yellow Rhino packs and I won't bother with those anymore. Another thing to consider is that HobbyKing vastly overstate the C ratings on most of their packs, and if you actually try to draw the amps that should be sustainable, well...watch the battery fail before your eyes. A genuine 2200mAh 20C pack should be able to supply and sustain 44A, but those blue packs will never even come close to that before shitting themselves. You'd be lucky to get past 20A. I've had a lot better luck with the Zippy Compact batteries, so maybe they're a different chemistry, process, something? The 2200mAh 3S 35C packs are a nice light weight and serve about 15A in my Wildcat at full throttle without any drama. For properly high performance models, I'd recommend Hyperion and ThunderPower, though it would seem silly to put an $80 battery in a $60 foamie.

The tricopter's spotlight is toggled on/off via a receiver controlled switch.

Spartan is, of course, joking. There's plenty of room at Moran for everyone.

Yep, it's a C-class. Sail of mystery - it was found in the workshop but never framed or flown. It appears to be from late in the development timeline. This is what I'm flying at the moment:

I don't like the Zephyr at all. On the other hand, I have five Geminis and three Deepspaces. Get a Benson.

I'd buy a Nexus One.

Put simply - its 100% fucking awesome.

Nice choice, great kite.

Ooops, I thought you knew, would've mentioned it sooner.

I only keep kites that I think highly of, so if one gets worn out then I do replace it ASAP. The worn/damaged one can become a "beater" kite in that case. It's a bit hard to replace things like Transfers though nowadays.

Suffice to say that I've got some nice gear. I'm a bit philosophical about it all nowadays - a good top-tier kite should have appealing aesthetics and a unique character to its performance. If there's a kite out there like that, I just work out a way to buy it. They've all got their own "personalities", and I'm quietly confident that I can learn to fly different kites so as to bring out their strong points. As for your other question, I've got a monochrome Deepspace on the way, as well as a Seven UL for final testing.

I'd suggest buying something from Briskites. In your price range (perhaps stretching it a bit), the Level One MyOne is probably the best bet if you're looking to get into tricks. The Prism Nexus isn't so hot in that regard.

Jesus, that's a bit harsh.