FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

not a lot of trim is needed, if you just make sure all your trims are set to "center position" after you take it out of the box, you won't have to do anything else. So long as none of the trims are accidently knocked way off center, it will fly straight and level, All I needed to do was set my forward cyclic trim a little forward so that the heli stopped creeping backwards on me while hovering.

humveecrusher

The House-fly is a sweet heli. I have one and it flies very good. The key is knowing how to set it up. If the blades are tracking and balanced it flies awesome. Tracking is the most important part. It is still a heli and control takes practice. No heli is easy to fly, but if the HF is set up right it will hover hands off.

carlrich

I just bought the XRB last night ($315) offered cash for discount from $350 and got a nice discount. Really fun. Never had a heli before. First flight needed only to trim it so heli did not creep back slowly. I'm still complete novice and have only used one battery of flight but can hover easily. It does want to wonder a little but that is likely do to my confusion as to which trim button to move to get the desired effect. I didn't break anything! Didn't even have a hard landing. Just trying to get used to the added dimensions of flight that don't exist with my airplanes. I can tell this is going to be a very fun and stable chopper.
Carl

CostaRica1

Update. After a lot (and I mean a lot) of crashes, broken blades, superglue, hairy times, cigarretes, strange words coming out from my wife and many screams from my kids....My HouseFly is flying great ¡...It really hovers easy and almost hands off, my only trouble now is that forward and backward controls seem very responsive and I need to practice more.

Well, I'm glad now.

humveecrusher

That's what I've been saying! Glad to hear that you stuck with it. Once one understands the House-Fly set up it is a very good heli. I can hover hands off and I am pleased with forward flight. With practice it is a blast to fly. From what I've read it is a little more responsive then the XRB due to the plastic blades. I can hover 5 inches off of the ground with all trims centered. The trims need adjusted a little as I get longer into the flight but that is the nature of a counter rotating heli.

humveecrusher

The House-Fly isn't that bad of a heli. Unfortunatelly it doesn't have quite the electronics quality of the XRB but it is not that sub par. The biggest problem is that most of us don't have a clue on how to set these helis up right until we almost destroy them in the learning process. And for the nubie the XRB is no exception, in fact it may be a little harder to set up then the House-Fly. Megatech has one of the best customer service departments that there is. So if you want to save some cash don't let the cheaper House-Fly scare you off. It's all in the set up.

CostaRica1

"So if you want to save some cash don't let the cheaper House-Fly scare you off. It's all in the set up. "

Well said Humveecrusher.

ToyFigure

Hi guys,

Like I've said in my previous posts I had a Dragonfly 22D but was never able to trim it to fly thus I sold it and gotton the Housefly (still new in box).

After reading all these posts about the problems the HF has I was afraid to even take it out of the box (so that I can refund it). So I should take it like a man and face the challange, huh

How about the bearings, I also heard that it wears out after only a few flights. How much are those cost?

And BTW, what's the right setup for it out of the box? I mean it doesn't have the gyro to mess with so we are mainly talking about the two sets of blades? All about tracking and balancing?

Thanks guys.

turboBB

XRB - Just got mine as well (ordered from MTA for $309) and man I can confirm the stability just about everyone has written about this little heli. It is just unbelievable and the whole thing oozes quality from how solid all the parts are to the packaging itself. Kudos to Hirobo on this one.

CostaRica1

Face the challenge Toyfigure, I was afraid too but one of these nights I simply decide to push the throttle and the heli really flyes much better around two feet from the ground, just give a litle trim but don't expect to trim it until perfection before start to make some flights.

humveecrusher

Nah...you never want to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. All I can say is that Megatech has one of the best warranties I've seen. They have been good to me.

As for the bearings...I have over 40 flights and no signs of bearing wear. Even so, they are pretty cheap. In fact all of the replacement parts are less expensive then the XRB.

The gryo sets itself in 1 to 2 seconds. Very simple.

As far as the right set up, this has been my experience. Tracking seems to be more important then balancing, but balancing is important never the less. After the heli's gyro intializes, hold the heli in your hand and throttle up. Note the top blades. If they look like one blade then they are tracking properly. If they look like they are split, like a forked tongue then they are out of track. To adjust this, remove the link from the ball and turn it all of the way in. Snap the ball back on and make sure the link ends are 40 - 50 degrees from each other. If they are they will be centered on each ball. Throttle up again and notice the blades. If they appear to be one then they are tracking properly. If not, turn the link out 180 degrees at a time until the blades look as one. Now do the same with the bottom rotors.

The best way to balance the blades is to weigh them on a digital scale and add tape to the lighter blade. If you don't have a scale then tape the blades together at the root to make them one blade much like an airplane blade. It works easier if you put the blade screw in the hole, tape then remove the screw. Stick a small screwdriver or something smaller then the hole into the hole and spin the blade like an airplane propeller. When the blade stops spinning the heavy end will drop down. Put tape on the light side until the blade stops level, much like a seesaw. That's it.

Now you need to decide what you want to do. If you have the extra cash then the XRB is your heli. Just remember that they are not all perfect either but there seems to be less returns for the XRB then the House-Fly. Good luck and happy flying!

ToyFigure

Thanks humveecrusher!

I'll give it a go this weekend and will report back!

Thanks again man.

humveecrusher

Good luck and happy flying!

ToyFigure

OK. So I took the heli out of the box last night and found that the charger doesn't have indication lights for charging. So how long should I charge the li-po battery? 1 hr? 1.5 hrs.? Until it's warm?

Please help. []

Thanks.

CostaRica1

According to the manual if the batterie is drained it will take about 1 and half or two hours to charge, in my case usually it takes around one hour (HouseFly).

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

I can't beleive something so dangerous as a Lipo, has no charge indicator with that housefly! That's crazy! The XRB Has a big red light when charging and a big Green light when its done! The XRB only takes about 45 minutes to an hour to charge, and the battery gives me about 17 minutes of flight on my XRB. However I dont know if the XRB slowly dies or just shuts off when the battery is done, I've never seen the battery come to an end. after about 15 - 17 minutes of flying, I get tired and just charge it.

CostaRica1

Well, my HouseFly charger has green and red indicators, I don't know why somepeople receive a version without them.

JohnY2004

Just wonder if they accidentially supplied with the wrong charger or they are trying to cut cost.

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

I have to say I dont have any experience with the housefly, but last night Steve Rojecki brought his Hirobo XRB out. I watched that thing hover hands off, right out of the box. It was SO smooth. just hung their hovering like it was hanging from a string....actually it would have wobbled more hanging from a string. I never thought a RC heli could fly that good.

Even the radio it came with is pretty nice.

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

SEE, I TOLD YOU SO............

puble23

My Feedback: (1)

is the aerohawk a peice of crap just like the dragonfly and the mega tech house fly?

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

I had the Aerohawk, It is worse then the Megatech & Dragonfly, Stay away from anything with a tail motor that's mass produced from Hong Kong !!!!!!!!!!!![X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][X(]

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

The XRB (R/C version) doesn't have a tail rotor.

It speeds up or brakes one of the rotor blades to make the tail swing around. Really strange setup, but it works REALLY well.
Ive watched other helicopters fly, and it seems like with a fast yaw, it tends to roll the helicopter a little. The XRB doesnt exhibit this trait.

Here is basically the jest of the flight.

Steve put the battery in the copter, set it down on the floor, gave it a little throttle, and the blades started turning. Gradually increased throttle until it lifted off the ground at about 1/2 throttle. It climbed straight up to about 5 ft. He leveled off, and gave it full left rudder, and it just sat there hovering while the tail spun around 5-6 times. He let off the rudder, and it stopped sharply. Gave it a little forward, it moved forward, he made it move left right and backwards. Then he turned the tail towards himself, and backed the little heli up until it was about a ft in front of him, he held out his right hand, and started pulling the throttle off until the heli landed in his hand.

He flew the heli quite a few times. Never exhibited ANY instability. It flew so well, I almost think you would have to TRY to crash it, to get it to go in.

If for some reason it did get squirelly on you, just let go of the sticks, it should go back to hover....I think.

humveecrusher

The charger should have a green and a red light. If it doesn't you need to call megatech and have them send you a new charger. The battery has a circuit board to prevent overcharging. It only takes 45 minutes to an hour to charge.

ToyFigure

Thanks humveecrusher, can't wait to try my HF tonight.

FlyingFish, I know you're right. I wanted an XRB so bad you can't imagine but I can't afford one now and I have to find a "fix" for my urge to fly....so I'll have to try my luck on my HF, at least for the time being.

I hope I can save enough money for an XRB in the near future tho.[&o]

Anyways, thanks guys...you're all been great!