Adam's Paramotor Life - SP140 Electric Paramotor 1 Year Review

It's been a full year, crazy how time flies. I've spent almost 50 hours on this machine so it's time to talk about how it's held up and my overall impressions after 1 year of ownership and use.

[@coltenwenger]

Great review buddy! I’m happy to hear that your gonna keep it and that your enjoying it! I remember you telling me that you were thinking about selling it, but glad you discovered what makes it special!

[@ParamotorNC]

Excellent review! Thanks Adam.

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks brother, I appreciate that.

[@calvinhall1405]

Hi Adam always enjoy checking out your videos and once again You nailed it with an honest assessment for the use and reasonable limitations to be expected of the SP140. as you were one of the early adopter its great to get this feedback , so big thanks for posting another really good video . very nicely done ;-)

[@adam-newbloom]

I really appreciate the feedback thank you.

[@PontusEgnell]

I love mine. It's a lot nicer to fly and it saves a lot of time not having to deal with the gasoline and the engine. Will probably keep my gas powered paramotor for the long flights.

[@adam-newbloom]

My thoughts exactly!

[@JTland-sea-air]

Adam, you just said what I've been waiting to hear! Your aha moment. As a skydiver, this is what I want- flying without a plane or any motor idle. Peace and quiet. THANK YOU for confirming what I'm looking for in an e-motor. Right on! Now, help me answer one more question. Should I throw down now or wait for the solid state battery? Aghhhh 😵‍💫 😂 🪂

[@markfogle5657]

This was a good review 👍

[@abhainnbeag]

Great review

[@Sky_Pony_1_mic_sierra]

I haven't bought one of these yet, cause i "cant cross country". 3 years in, and I've yet to "cross country". Im sold

[@gcooley111]

Love the review. I think you made some really great suggestions for the manufacturer to improve (frame quality, the beep in air, etc). Maybe if you’re in the air it can be turn off based on altitude. Definitely thinking about buying one.

[@NelsonCummings]

Hey edit my previous post when I get home I just wanted to comment before I forgot again great job it seems this is the only electric paramotor out there. So lucky I found this video all the other ones are old you did a great job pros and cons

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks buddy, I appreciate the kind words!

[@madsloper]

Nice review Adam. I'm only 14 flights in and had to replace the battery connectors due to the resistor welding itself together. I had to drive home with the battery connected and cut off the battery leads once I arrived home. I've since gone to the Anderson connector which are more robust along with a AS150 anti-spark pigtail. Otherwise, I enjoy the SP for what it is and yes the frame definitely needs to be improved. So far my best flight time is 35 minutes average is 30 minutes but then again it's winter here in Vegas. Hopefully, warmer temps result in longer flight times. Keep it safe and see you in the air.

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks for the comments. Interesting setup, I've debated changing out the connector as I feel there are better options. Can you send a picture of your new setup? [e-mail]

[@10661956]

Thanks, Adam! You were spot on.👍 I have an X4 and an SP140 and love them both. I save my Tornado for cross country flights. That being said, I enjoy flying the electrics more....quiet and no vibration. With the X4, there is no torque.🙂 BTW: The net is Dyneema and is Super Strong. Thanks again for the video! Bill

[@lisalehmann5772]

What do you prefer sp140 vs x4?

[@10661956]

@@lisalehmann5772Difficult question. I think the 140 is an excellent design.....quiet, comfortable, powerful and almost no maintenance. Battery tech is getting better, so longer flight times and less battery weight are out there as time goes on. That being said, the X4 is compact and has no torque. Neither machine has any vibration. If the X4 would fly for 2 hours, I wouldn't fly anything else. It lives folded on the back seat of my car! Sorry for not giving you a straight answer. I'm really tired of dealing with gas units....although I do keep one for cross country flights. Usually, I am worn out after a 1-1/2 hour flight from noise and vibration. Bill

[@TerraMagnus]

Importantly this unit is open sourced, so unlike all the other PPG products you can actually develop product improvements and submit them back upstream for incorporation.

[@bradley5716]

Thanks for the good review Adam. I have the same setup and have pretty much the same opinion in all areas. Can you tell me exactly what you did with the spring on the throttle? Interior / exterior / source for the spring?

[@adam-newbloom]

I just picked up a box of different size Springs and found one that slides over it pretty easily. The added resistances is pretty nice

[@WildCrazyHorse]

HI Adam - a really helpful & unbiased video - many thanks. If you were a new to PPG and wanted to get your first motor would you go electric or petrol/gas?

[@adam-newbloom]

I would go with a petrol/gas motor for my first... as I wouldn't want my time and training to be limited due to battery. I remember spending hours launching and landing and buzzing all over. It's got it's purpose (electric) and really depends on the user and the type of flying they do.

[@ooglek]

The percentage display, or countdown timer, requires a shunt on the battery, and for the system to know how much power is being used at any given time, rather than basing it on voltage. Put a shunt in, and now you are able to know in realtime how much power is being consumed by the battery, and that will make the percentage left much more accurate.

[@neosugus]

Would you like to mount a double blade folding propeller to reduc drag if you stop the motor?

[@mochamon]

Awesome LZ I have the X4, but I still haven’t got the batteries for it. Someday soon!

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks buddy, the reason I bought that property was to launch from the front yard!

[@mloceloot5083]

Great review. Can you add batteries and fly for longer or is the unit to heavy?

[@adam-newbloom]

Unfortunately the batteries are the most heavy part of the unit. So no unfortunately more batteries would be excessive wait. Maybe for a trike application

[@erikvogt8626]

How long does it take to charge from 20% remaining or so? Thanks

[@saltyconstitutionalist]

how high can you get? is it strong enough for a tandom with a big shoot?

[@bradley5716]

I added a double nut at the swingarm pivots, that eliminated the need to retighten every couple of flights

[@adam-newbloom]

That is smart buddy, I'll be doing that as well! Thank you!

[@petesachs1276]

I love it I just bought a trike for my Blackhawk 172 corsair, I have an air Conception I may sell and buy the electric one and maybe put some wheels on that as well that would be great

[@Mr.ExperimentCreator]

Sir, when we are flying with a paramotor, how can we know the direction of the wind by looking up, from which direction the wind is blowing?

[@adam-newbloom]

While flying, you can tell by your speed. When faced with a headwind, you can feel the glider slow. Tail of course.. you speed up.

[@alanlyons1195]

Please tell us more about the brand new, fuel injected, Moster 185......

[@adam-newbloom]

I wish I knew... it's supposedly developed but when it's released is another story!

[@iKenFlyPPG]

Gaggle shows publicly available PPG flights, half of them are 30 min or less. Interesting stats showing there is a large market for an eparamotor.

[@SharkyintheSky]

I can see the SP-140 as a great extra Paramotor for when you want to go out for a short rip around. The almost zero maintenance is a plus as well as the silence when off throttle. Question: I am guessing no but, does the propeller free spin in the wind when off-throttle? If no, does it cause noticeable drag when gliding off-throttle? Good review, thanks.

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks bud, yes the prop does free spin when off throttle.

[@bradley5716]

Hi Sharky. I have the same unit and usually my prop does stop windmilling after a few seconds, which is very nice. Perhaps it’s because of my wing size / airspeed. I’m using a 24sm Spyder 3

[@rickardjonsson4526]

A freespinning prop cause more drag than a stopped prop

[@iKenFlyPPG]

​@@bradley5716 A permanent magnet motor should have cogging resistance, the magnets aligning with the metal inside the motor..

[@NelsonCummings]

Hey thank you I'll standing video voice text sorry outstanding video I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger been flying for 15 years just sick of working on my motor nice to see new videos coming out electric Hammer been talkin to the owner of sp140 anyway I don't want to keep bugging him charge time is a question secondary battery endor I see battery technology getting better and better I know it's going to take awhile to trickle down to powered paraglider anyway keep in touch thank you for the video great job I live in Central Florida and I think it's time to buy electric paramotor I do have a friend Rob Cato he's got the older version with for electric motor and for props for props. Anyway I'm kinda in a rush so I'm not going to fix my voice text so I apologize I'm at a red light just turned green so I could always at it later all right again thank you video

[@adam-newbloom]

Thanks for the kind words... you won't be disappointed with the ease of use.

[@rickardjonsson4526]

Good review. I would really like to try this motor. You said in the video its the same procedure for arming as disarming, if thats the case thats something they should probably change. Ive seen people having problem arming it because they cant get the clicks right. Imagine beeing in a situation when you need to kill it fast(throttle stuck in risers on a reverse launch or whateverk) and you cant get the clicks right😶

[@adam-newbloom]

Agreed! I usually kill my motor up high so it's not normally an issue but there have been a few times I've tried to kill it closer to the ground and couldn't get the pattern right. I'd prefer a Hold to arm and hold to disarm.

[@NUMB3RL3SS]

@@adam-newbloom Yeah, I had the same issue on my first flight yesterday. I couldn't disarm it during my approach and as I was about touch down in full flare , I accidentally hit the throttle and ended up sliding in on my side. Damaged a prop and a bit of the netting and the hand-strap on the throttle. That throttle is waaaay too easy to squeeze. What kind of spring do you add to it? I saw that someone else had added a spring and cut about half of the trigger off. I might have to do that . Thanks for the videos Adam.

[@terryroberts4321]

how do you charge it if your camping for the weekend ?

[@adam-newbloom]

I havent actually taken this one camping, however I do have an Eco-Delta Pro that could charge it up - one time ;) My solar on my rig would take about 5 hours to charge it.

[@michaelbartlett1589]

When it comes to flight time with the battery, the wing efficiency is the biggest factor probably. With the roadster I was lucky to get 35-40 minutes when the battery was new. With 16 hours on the battery now I can only get 25 minutes. I switched to a Kona 2 wing and I can only get 35 minutes. I sent my battery into Paul as I figured there had to be something wrong with it and he found nothing. Well. He did change a setting on the Bluetooth BMS and we will see if that helps but I doubt it. The swing arms definitely suck and I use iris arms and that is a huge improvement. The frame could definitely be improved. I take my hoop and prop off and on for every flight and even just doing that wears it down more and more as it just doesnt go together as easy as it should.

[@adam-newbloom]

Do you fly in chill or sport? I fly in sport all the time so I figured that was part of the issue. That seems pretty low flight time. My spider 3 wasn't as efficient as my Driftair, but both were still in that 35-45min area.

[@michaelbartlett1589]

@@adam-newbloom ya Iv tried both sport and chill. Something has got to be wrong with the battery or something else causing my low flight time. Bc I was getting a lot better with the roadster and now I’m now. 16 hours is not enough to degrade the battery 20% in my opinion

[@Mikeee-ps1cx]

​@@adam-newbloom5:06 5:06

[@skyearthocean5815]

Can you set it to charge to only 70-80% for storage?

[@adam-newbloom]

I don't believe so with this charger.

[@cloudpandarism2627]

cheers adam. i wanna ask: you said this motor cant get you up in the clouds. yes you cant fly 3 hours at the time. but COULD you stay on full throttle until battery is almost empty to get up to lower clouds? what happens when you stay on full power longer time? i cant really find any information if the motor would burn

[@adam-newbloom]

You can get high, like I said I just uses a lot of power. I could do three or four times to 3000 feet with the amount of power you have. So yes you could definitely go higher. I'm sure the motor can handle Full Throttle climb, but it does suck the energy fast so might be better to climb at 70 80% throttle

[@cloudpandarism2627]

@@adam-newbloom perfect thanks! yes i know it will drain battery fast. lets imagine you have an unlimited supply of batteries sitting there fully charged at the field so it doesnt matter if you go up, battery empty. land and swap it. just curious if the motor burn under full throttle or even 80%. do you know how much kg thrust you get at 100%?

[@Steve-wz5pz]

The immediate proximity of the prop to the 'cockpit' is just TERRIFYING! Yes, I see the (very insubstantial looking) 'protective' gauzy net. May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

[@adam-newbloom]

There's no way for the prop to get to the cockpit :-) the net is there to keep things from getting back into the prop. Life is too short to be guided by fear.

[@Steve-wz5pz]

@@adam-newbloom Yeah! And life is too LONG to have no ARMS!

[@adam-newbloom]

@@Steve-wz5pz It's not for everyone that's for certain.

[@onewheelisbetterthan2]

I want to get into this but i have long dread locks and im worried about how id know for sure they wouldnt get caught or cut off. I see the net but still dreads are like ropes.

[@adam-newbloom]

That's a valid concern, but also one you would likely regret down the road if that was the only reason for not doing it. There's definitely options to secure your hair to avoid an unwanted haircut! Ha

[@onewheelisbetterthan2]

@@adam-newbloom oh I can tie my hair up but I spent many many years going and I'm just super protective. That said I think I'm just going to get a paraglider and do beach runs and other stuff just to get the ball running. Also if I start with just a glider it won't be hard to learn how to paramotor. Also I save loads of money on paramotor themselves

[@jannike1015]

what is the ratio of your electric vs gas flight trips

[@adam-newbloom]

you mean what paramotor do I choose? Well I put about 150-175 hours a year on the gas vs the less than 50 on the electric each year. So 3 to 1 or close.

[@lobbyrobby]

Is there a newer model since this video came out?

[@adam-newbloom]

Go to their website I think they do have a newer frame at least

[@justinforder2835]

KZbin kindly offered this immediately after I'd watched Adam's video: 2024 Electric Paramotor Unboxing- SP140 V2 Frame System kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGSYaGR_mKufiLs

[@carsonkendall]

My concern would be the battery exploding. Ok on a scooter, not so ok at 3,000 feet. They should make a quick release for the battery in case it starts smoking or catches fire. Or is that being too paranoid?

[@adam-newbloom]

Maybe a little paranoid... but I have had a lithium battery catch on fire before ( they basically Slow Burn internally). So a valid comment. That had to do with a charge controller issue however, non paramotor related. To be honest Im more concerned about a large tank of flammable fluid on my back than a battery... neither situation would be good if a fire started however :)

[@carsonkendall]

@@adam-newbloom True, both would be an awful situation, It's just the predictability with gas that has me more at ease. I grew up flying RC planes (still do) and have seen several swell up, smoke or blow up but your right, usually in connection with charging them. I'm new to ppg, and have everything but a motor so I'm exploring my options and naturally had to check out the electric side of things. Love the reliability and simplicity of electric. . There's a reason it over took the RC world, only a matter of time before most paramotors are electric. Especially being two stroke. I could see them being banned in the future by the climate fanatics. Hope I'm wrong though.

[@adam-newbloom]

@@carsonkendall yeah it's hard to say, if they can get better life out of the batteries I could see that being a game changer. I do like the concept of the EFI paramotor, I am on the list for one of those in the spring. Maybe they'll make a hybrid at some point :)

[@davidpaz2765]

Why nobody did a Tandem video?

[@adam-newbloom]

You could definitely tandem this unit as it's got plenty of power, but your battery would deplete so quickly.

[@alanlyons1195]

Is the frame titanium?

[@adam-newbloom]

No, I believe it's aluminum.

[@mrsonor1090]

Good review but thumbs down for unsafe flying. I'm planning to get one so thanks for the review. Stay safe :)

[@adam-newbloom]

Thank you. What's the "unsafe" part?

[@tonyslovak8695]

Hi Adam. Have you heard about rotary engine Omega 1? It will kill any para motors. 15 kilos of mas 165hp. If that is scale to 1/3 ...5 kilos motor with 50 hp, and it sips full..1000 to 25000 rpm. Of course, military will use it on drones.

[@adam-newbloom]

No I haven't but I would like to. Interesting

[@TimClaxton]

Why couldn't you buy two batteries? Land, swap battery then 35-40 more minutes?

[@adam-newbloom]

Yes you could definitely do that, if this was my only paramotor I would definitely go that route.

[@wesleybartel9302]

My 1st paramotor should be gas or electric if I can only afford to buy one??😮

[@adam-newbloom]

I would get gas. There's a lot more flexibility in flying opportunity.

[@robmungai1864]

Good.... awesome..., can sell it

[@TONYPARAMOTOR]

10 coments what happened to the rest? i can see 17?

[@adam-newbloom]

I'm not sure how that works, maybe it's adding in replies?

[@TONYPARAMOTOR]

@@adam-newbloom or maybe manipulated.or erased on purpose

[@adam-newbloom]

@@TONYPARAMOTOR well I don't erase anything... I take the good and the bad just fine :)

[@iKenFlyPPG]

Ebikes have suffered for many years from crappy throttles that dont have the perfect amount of resistance that a cable one has.

[@benedictcumberbatch4275]

I use both gas and electric bikes. The ebike throttle is pretty smooth while the gas cable sticks and is clunky from my experience.

[@iKenFlyPPG]

​@@benedictcumberbatch4275 I wouldn't put up with a sticky clunking twist throttle either mate. It can boil down to personal preference and application, I have hundreds of hours with right hand twist throttles off road with gassers and that is my perspective; the ebike twist throttles are too smooth (I run thumb throttles) and things like hitting bumps can cause you to change the throttle position in either direction causing wheel torque oscillations. Maybe the PPG application is a good fit for smooth light throttles. I run the off grid with a slide carb, it's smoother than a dirt bike for sure, since I run a Thor 202 foot launch there is the same problem with having so much thrust you may want some built-in attenuation with the throttle actuation adding a little friction.

[@iKenFlyPPG]

21:10 You wouldn't believe, in 2023, they still have not perfected a battery fuel gauge. It's very hard to be accurate, your EV has $50 mil invested into development, gas gauges for eScooters are crap, that is a huge market. SP140 wants it for sure, and they don't want to release a crappy fuel gauge that would piss of pilots as it could read high or low, so many variables to account for.

[@adam-newbloom]

Great points buddy... it's not normally an issue as you get used to it. But I could see it being confusing for many in the beginning.

[@serg9176]

Can I left my country with this paramotor?

[@greenflock8091]

Do you recommend goggles

[@adam-newbloom]

I just wear sunglasses. To each their own, but some don't wear any eye protection and I wouldn't go that route.

[@MahaBali7975]

Great review!👍👍👍 Do you think this SP140 would work efficiently with Ozone MojoMax or MojoPower large beginner's wings? Would it reduce the flight time?

[@adam-newbloom]

great question, yes it would a little. I get more flight time on my smaller Driftair then on the larger Spyder.

[@MahaBali7975]

@@adam-newbloom But today someone told me, such EN-A high lift wings will improve flight time😮