Going with a constant speed prop was one of, if not the, best building decisions I made and I almost didn't do it. Yeah, it hurts the pocketbook up front. But, I think you'll actually come out ahead in the long run fuel savings.
I've talked about more of the reasons to go with a C/S in other threads. But, I think putting a fixed pitch on an RV is like buying a Corvette and only driving it in 2nd gear. C/S really opens up the performance envelope and gives you a lot more flexibility.
Don?t underestimate the value of a light aircraft. An RV loaded to gross weight is an albatross compared to a sub 1000lb aircraft with minimal fuel load on board. Fighter jet versus 18wheeler.
Given the very good climb rates of RV's , even with a fixed-pitch cruise prop, I'm not sure what the advantage of a ground adjustable prop is. A constant-speed prop would be great for maximum versatility, sure, but I don't see a practical day-to-day value in having a ground-adjustable prop.
The only scenario I could think of is if you just occasionally fly out of very short and very high density altitude strips. Then you might wish you could manually adjust the prop before that one takeoff. I'm skeptical of how often one would even need or want to do that though.
I own a D95A travel Air,(IO-360 B1B?s) and 1/2 a RV14A IO 390. The props on the Travel Air ( new 3 years ago) don?t have a AD for overhaul at every 500 hours any more, but still have a RPM restriction of no continuous operation between 2050 and 2350. We have no such restriction on the Hartzell C/S 2 blade on the 14A.
My question is, is this RPM range possibly a restriction on any RV 4cylinder with a Hartzell?