BigTb17

I just bought a Blade mCX Tandem Rescue from the LHS and I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. It is a dual (tandem) coaxial helicopter, which is basically two mCX setups stuck together. I used to have an mCX and I like it a lot. I have an mSR now and like that a lot. I've been thinking about getting another mCX (sold my last one when I bought the mSR) for a sedate indoor flyer on those lazy Sundays where the weather is poor outside. The mSR is too tempting to go fast and get into trouble inside, haha. I saw this new helicopter and decided to try it out.

It includes a single cell Li-Po, like all other E-Flite micro helis, but this is a 250mAh battery. It is significantly larger than any of the other batteries available (110, 120, or 150 mAh), which is no surprise. But it is about twice the width, so it won't fit in any of the chargers that are currently supplied for the micro heli line-up. This means it won't work with the portable single battery charger, or with the 4 place battery charger. It includes a new charger that has an adjustable charge rate and has a charge plug on a lead, so the battery no longer simply plugs into a port on the charger itself, but to a plug on a wire lead. It does include an AC adapter, and the included charger does work with any of the current batteries, so that is nice (though I didn't really need it, since I have a 4 place charger, as well as an adapter lead for my regular Li-Po charger). It does only include one battery, which is a bit dissapointing, since no spares were available at this time.

The first thing I did when I opened the package was start charging the battery. The charger has LEDs that flash in different patterns to tell charging, almost complete, and complete. It switched to almost complete after only a couple minutes, and then stayed there for quite a while before showing complete (probably 20 minutes). The charger itself is simple to operate and works well enough.

With charging complete it's on to the flight report. I have to say, based on my first flight I am a bit dissapointed.

The helicopter has plenty of power. It lifts off with power to spare. This is where this helicopter could be fun. I might make a small hook on a piece of thread and try to pick things up while flying. When not too close to any objects (I'll explain) it is by far the most stable micro heli I've flown. It will literally hover in place with almost no discernable movement in any direction, without any input from the controller. However, when near objects or uneven surfaces (flat ground or something like a table top isn't as bad, but not great either) it gets very unstable (more so than my standard mCX or my mSR) and will often dart in one direction or another and wig out trying to correct itself. With it's incredible stability in hovering I though I would be able to land about anywhere, but it turns out I needed a fairly big, flat surface to land safely without fear that it would get unstable and require sudden corrective action to prevent disaster. This could probably be gotten used to with time, but despite my experience with other micro helicopters it has some very odd characteristics.

However, the worst thing is that it's almost too stable. It goes foward/backward, and rolls right/left ok. But it doesn't transition from one to the other very well. For instance, if you are going foward and to the right, and want to transition to foward and to the left, it is very sluggish and awkward. But the biggest issue is that the rudder control is absolutely horrible. It needs almost full rudder in either direction to make any noticeable movement happen. While this is somewhat to be expected with this type of helicopter, it's still much more pronounced than expected. When moving in any direction it is difficult to get the rudder control to respond at all. I often had to stop, use the rudder to change direction, and then start moving again. The good thing is that no matter what you do, the rudder won't change without you telling it to (it doesn't drift slightly like most helis), but it's so unresponsive when you do want it to turn that it's annoying. Overall I just feel less in control and more disconnected from what was happenening than with my other micros.

One final note. The battery got very warm after only a couple minutes of flight. I was a little concerned actually. I let the battery cool and flew some more and it performed fine, but it got warm again fairly quickly. I don't know if it will be a problem or not in the long run, but I don't see the battery lasting as long as it should if its being pushed that hard with only hovering and the most basic of flight (never full throttle at all).

Overall, it has some nice characteristics, but it's performance feels sluggish enough and lacking in responce to cause me to question it's appeal. If you really need the hovering stability, or just really like tandem helicopters, than this one does work and is incredibly stable (unless an object causes too much turbulance, then watch out). Otherwise, I think most people would be far better off sticking with an mCX for far less money.

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

There are tons of mods to make the MCX faster.

Here is my MCX

BigTb17

If anybody's interested, I'll try to get some video of it today or tomorrow.

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

I think the Tandem is very cool and a vid would be great

BigTb17

Here's a short video. Sorry it's a pretty lame video. I just got home from a buisness trip and I really don't have a better area to fly it right now (there's barely any more room than shown in the video, it's a tiny room).

I intentionally picked a tight spot to land with obsticles near-by (the chair and the external hard drive on the little table) to show just how unstable and twitchy it gets when trying to be precise near objects. The short clip at the end demonstrates this even more. While trying to land (both times) the quick, sudden movements are not of my doing. It does that on it's own and I am doing everything I can to correct it to keep it from slamming into the chair, the table, or from simply dropping out of the air. The problem is that when it makes sudden changes to try to correct itself it has to use changes in the prop speed more so than with any other heli, and this drastically effects it's lift. It definitely takes some getting used to.

I did manage to get it to spin a bit more quickly, but only to the left. Every time I use rudder to turn I am giving it full rudder, so the right turns I make are maxed out. Also, keep in mind that there are times when I'm moving or even sitting in place and am trying to get it to turn and it simply bobs up and down a bit and barely turns. It's hard to show in a video just how disconnected the control feels compared to any other E-Flite micro helis I've flown. Honestly, considering what the thing is trying to do it's not all that surprising, it just takes some getting used to, and it's something to keep in mind if you are thinking about picking one up.

Once you get used to the way it behaves you can usually get it to do what you want (as long as you aren't too close to anything).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVd71vD6ro

BigTb17

I just watched the video again and it makes me look like a terrible pilot, but I could fly my mCX or my mSR around with more smoothness and much greater prescision, and could land either one on that table with ease. Just so you know, it's not my skills (at least, not entirely ) that make it look so jerky and wild whenever I get anywhere near the chair or the table, it's the turbulance.

When you keep it away from objects, and when I have a bit more room, it is still fun to fly. I've heard several people say they should make a light kit for the mCX, so the fact this one includes them is a nice touch. When you want it to it will definitely accelerate faster than an mCX, though I don't know if it would beat it for top speed or not without comparing them together.

Scream And Fly

I think the Tandem Rescue is cool, but it's never designed or assumed to be anything more than a play-around heli for the living room. I would never have expected any serious performance from it. I like my mCX though it collects dust since I use my mSR most of the time indoors now . The mCX is just far, far too slow and sluggish once you get used to an mSR or similar heli.