Huge Balloons

The largest blimp we build is 30 feet. The largest sphere is 14. Here is the whole range, and the number that actually decides which one you want.

The full blimp range

Size	Blank blimp	Lettering	Helium to fill
10 ft	$684	$421	105 cu ft
13 ft	$975	$537	170 cu ft
15 ft	$1,258	$615	255 cu ft
18 ft	$1,813	$657	329 cu ft
21 ft	$2,561	$664	430 cu ft
25 ft	$4,208	$1,074	787 cu ft
30 ft	$6,772	$1,449	1,510 cu ft

The full sphere range

Size	Blank sphere	Lettering	Helium to fill
4.5 ft	$301	$283	65 cu ft
5.5 ft	$351	$308	113 cu ft
7 ft	$445	$437	180 cu ft
8 ft	$623	$537	300 cu ft
10 ft	$817	$608	524 cu ft
12 ft	$1,441	$803	905 cu ft
14 ft	$2,427	$943	1,444 cu ft

Helium is what decides it

Look at the last column rather than the first. A 13-foot blimp takes 170 cubic feet to fill. A 30-foot blimp takes **1,510** — nearly nine times as much.

At roughly $1.50 per cubic foot from a local welding-gas supplier, that is about $255 a fill against about $2,265. And since you lose around one percent a day whatever the size, the bigger envelope keeps costing more every week you own it.

That is the real difference between the sizes. The purchase price is a one-off. The gas is forever.

Bigger, or higher?

Doubling the size makes it look twice as big from the same spot. Flying higher makes it visible from roads it could not be seen from at all.

We fly at 120 feet, which is deliberately under the 150-foot line where the FAA becomes involved. From that height even a 13-foot blimp clears rooflines, sign clutter and trees.

So the honest advice for most buyers is a mid-size blimp flown properly, not the largest one flown low. The 25 and 30 foot blimps exist for genuinely large sites and long sight lines, and they are magnificent, but they are not automatically the better buy.

Cold-air inflatables, if you want a shape

Alongside the helium range we build **cold-air inflatables** in custom shapes — the kind that stand on the ground on a blower. Cows, sumo wrestlers, monsters, product shapes, up to around 25 feet.

Those are a different product with a different job: enormous close up, invisible from a distance, and they need mains power for the fan.

If you want a recognisable character at your entrance, ask about those. If you want to be seen from the road, ask about helium.

More at bigblimps.com.