I’m thinking of getting into ppg and starting to like the idea of the sp140 being my first paramotor. One of my hesitations getting into the sport was my lack of experience with 2 strokes and all of the maintenance involved; so I was happy to see an alternative.
I do have a few questions for those with more experience:
Do you think the sp140 would make a good first paramotor? I know it hasn’t been released yet so your opinion won’t be based on first hand experiences but it would be helpful to get your take.
I’m a little worried about flight time. I can see it being an issue when flying with others with gas paramotors and having to break from the group to make it back to the LZ before the batteries die. For those of you with e-ppgs do you run into this often when flying with others? I think most of the time I would fly solo and be fine with an hour flight time, but it would be a bummer to miss out on all of the fun.
I haven’t seen this mentioned or talked about in the forums yet, but do you think the sp140’s battery will be upgradable in the future when new battery tech is released? So that it would work with a different size/ configuration of battery when available? Has openppg mentioned any plans to produce better batteries once the tech develops for the sp140? Would be nice to know it’s a little future proof and doesn’t seem like it would be to difficult to accomplish.
I’m also slightly hesitant because I’m not sure how much openppg backs their products if or when something goes wrong with it being open source and a very small team. Has anyone had good or bad experiences in a situation like that?
Edit one more question:
It seems that the x4 undergoes constant improvement with each batch. Will the sp140 follow the same iterations? Would it be better to wait until some of the kinks are ironed out before purchasing?
Training: I was up in the air for 10-20 minutes at a time. I’m not done training, but max flights I got in an evening was 3-4.
my first year I plan on staying close to LZ for practice, do lots of spot landings before I venture out to new locations.
I made the jump to electric so I didn’t have to deal with maintenance during my first few years. I’ll decide if I need a 2 stroke if I plan on long cross countries.
SP140 is ordered as my first paramotor. I hope I didn’t make the wrong decision.
As someone really interested in the machine, I can’t wait for people to receive their sp140 and hear their impressions. Would love to hear your review once you have some hours on it!
First thing i would say is if you are unsure on the Sp140 i would just say wait for reviews and videos from 3rd party people. Also I say that because there is not a huge advantage to pre-ordering other then price might increase a bit.
And as far as the battery’s go yes they are future proof, and are easily swappable.
The X4 is my first paramotor. I learned on a 2 stroke. I think electric is great for a first paramotor.
It’s very sweet not having to be an amateur two stroke mechanic. It’s really nice not having to manage torque - the sp140 won’t have that advantage. I love the peace and quiet prelaunch and gliding. Every time I land I wish I could have stayed in the air longer. Except once when a storm was incoming and I knew I had only a 15 minute weather window anyway.
I don’t fly with others yet but for sure a ten or fifteen minute flight time with a five minute safety is too short for excursions with flying buddies or especially alone. I’ve ordered more batteries. Thirty minutes is still pretty short.
Speaking of batteries, electric motors don’t know or care how electricity is created. As long as the voltage is right it’ll work.
OpenPPG stands behind the product but they are a very small team operating on a pretty narrow margin on a very vertical market product. You can not expect Walmart level service. This may change once the sp140 is in production if that is indeed the goal.
No plans for an sp140 for me yet. I would not really consider it an “upgrade”. More like going from a small hatch to an SUV. Just not what I need right now. I’m watching it for sure though.