KatanaPilot
Well Known Member
Let me begin by saying I have searched and read the very old posts about Hartzell vs. Whirlwind. Those posts are approaching 10 years old and they mainly talk about Hartzell metal vs. Whirlwind composite.
We are trying to decide on a prop for our RV-7A (Titan IO-360 9.5-1 dual P-mags).
My son and I talked at length with Hartzell at Sun-N-Fun. Having owned a DA-40 with the Hartzell wide chord composite prop, we have a good bit of real time experience with that prop operating in rain and off our turf runway at Mallards Landing. It was outstanding and had very little wear over 4 years - despite being a much larger two blade vs. the MT three blade on our earlier DA-40 (which did not wear very well).
The Hartzell folks were very knowledgeable and honest about their prop. They know it's more expensive than most.
The Whirlwind sales rep knew very little about the construction of their propellers and hubs. It was hard to get a warm fuzzy after his comment "my friend across the street owns the machine shop where we make the hubs". I'm sure many have great experience with this company and I'm not trying to slight Whirlwind - other than to say it would have been preferable to have someone technically savvy manning their booth. I would also like to have seen a cross-section of their propeller.
I'm not trying to start a propeller war. That's been done here before.
I know the Hartzell is an outstanding certified propeller, performs very well and is priced accordingly.
What I don't know is how well (in comparison) the Whirlwind props and hubs are made and their longevity under real-world conditions. They do look really nice and can be painted to match the airplane when you order. That has a certain appeal, but is not the biggest motivator. The lower cost, flat rate overhaul is nice, too.
The difference in up-front price is several AMU's. That being said, price is not the primary concern, either.
My gut tells me the Hartzell will perform better on take-off, climb and will be close in cruise. It is probably better made, more robust and damage tolerant. Hartzell is well known and will be around for a long time. The Whirlwind looks better, the wide chord blade (200 series) probably performs similarly and costs less. The testing, construction quality and longevity of the prop (and the company) are a complete unknown to me.
Anybody want to weigh in?
We are trying to decide on a prop for our RV-7A (Titan IO-360 9.5-1 dual P-mags).
My son and I talked at length with Hartzell at Sun-N-Fun. Having owned a DA-40 with the Hartzell wide chord composite prop, we have a good bit of real time experience with that prop operating in rain and off our turf runway at Mallards Landing. It was outstanding and had very little wear over 4 years - despite being a much larger two blade vs. the MT three blade on our earlier DA-40 (which did not wear very well).
The Hartzell folks were very knowledgeable and honest about their prop. They know it's more expensive than most.
The Whirlwind sales rep knew very little about the construction of their propellers and hubs. It was hard to get a warm fuzzy after his comment "my friend across the street owns the machine shop where we make the hubs". I'm sure many have great experience with this company and I'm not trying to slight Whirlwind - other than to say it would have been preferable to have someone technically savvy manning their booth. I would also like to have seen a cross-section of their propeller.
I'm not trying to start a propeller war. That's been done here before.
I know the Hartzell is an outstanding certified propeller, performs very well and is priced accordingly.
What I don't know is how well (in comparison) the Whirlwind props and hubs are made and their longevity under real-world conditions. They do look really nice and can be painted to match the airplane when you order. That has a certain appeal, but is not the biggest motivator. The lower cost, flat rate overhaul is nice, too.
The difference in up-front price is several AMU's. That being said, price is not the primary concern, either.
My gut tells me the Hartzell will perform better on take-off, climb and will be close in cruise. It is probably better made, more robust and damage tolerant. Hartzell is well known and will be around for a long time. The Whirlwind looks better, the wide chord blade (200 series) probably performs similarly and costs less. The testing, construction quality and longevity of the prop (and the company) are a complete unknown to me.
Anybody want to weigh in?
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