Bostonnut

After lots of e-heli's, I grew frustrated with questionable quality. I decided to pay extra $$ and get a Hirobo SRB Quark (single rotor/tail rotor). It is VERY high quality and incredibly stable and a joy to fly. Once I experienced this top Japanese quality, there was no going back. Since then, I had anxiously waited for the new Innovator MD530 and got mine Friday. This heli is amazing !! I love the scale looks and it flies like a full scale heli. It sounds like one too where you hear the "chop" of the blades cutting the air, wow. Another thing I really like is that the tail rotor blades are OFF the ground 3 inches !! I fly in so. Arizona and I was always breaking tail blades cause if you land on the smooth desert ground and there is a 1/4" pebble next to the tail, there goes another set of blades. No more guess work and timers for the Li-Po, this beauty has an led light that turns red, and the tail wags before the voltage drops to low and if you go beyond that, it shuts down before li-po damage, My favorite video of it on YouTube is "flight in the park 2" I always thought that heli mfg's missed a hug market where new beginner pilots could get a very stable coaxial and get settled in flying well but after a while, they get boring. Then, to go beyond that they (we) are thrust right into "extreme 3D" What ?? That scares many newer pilots to not advance beyond coaxial or if they do, they get the 3D and crash a lot or are nervous and never comfortable with them. I had a Blade 400 and while a fine heli, I sold it cause even though I could hover well, I was always on edge and never enjoyed it or had fun. I don't like flying anything where if you think your gonna sneeze, you have to land first. There is enough stress in my life without that. Well the Hirobo Quark solved that and now the Innovator is so smooth and stable, I am relaxed enought to enjoy it and look forward to my next flight. These 1st class heli's are not $cheap, but top quality never is. If folks are willing to pay the price, I think this Innovator and the Quark will get and keep a lot of new pilots in the hobby. To me, my new Innovator is almost worth the cost just looking at it sitting in my living room. I hope new Innovator pilots love it as well and post their comments of this fine forum. I'd love to answer any questions, but I'm not a "tech" guy, I fly a lot more than I'm interested in the science, mathematics, or tinkering. There are a couple of set up issues that are not in the instructions or on the quick startup guide on acehobby.com My battery is giving me 8.5min. flying time switching between mode 0 and mode 1 rotor speeds. I wish not to offen any 3D pilots cause I think that's great, I just enjoy the magic of flight in a more calm and relaxing way. Mike at Ace Hobby was great with my 3 calls with questions about setup and flight, who isn't nervous about 1st flight while trying to concentrate on a somewhat complicated setup ?? Once I got familiar, it was fine. Any new Innovator MD530 pilots out there ??

noobflyer01

can you please post some pics and the link to your video would be awesome. what size is this heli? i've seen the pictures and the scale looks amazing. please post more details of the new heli from thunder tiger.

noobflyer01

oh here's a vid i found on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60rdTzlJ5Vo

looks absolutely amazing. does this thing comes bind and fly version?

Bostonnut

Thanks for the reply; The YouTube video is not mine, someone else's. At YouTube, just type in Innovator md530 and look for the one titled "FLIGHT IN THE PARK Vol...1" This pilot has made a 2nd one of flight in the park that I think is better than the first one, so you might look at that one first "FLIGHT IN THE PARK Vol...2". Sorry but I have no digital camera and never learned how to post pictures on the internet. The size of this baby is about 28" rotor dia., 24 1/2" long, sits 10 1/8" tall, and a beefy 5" wide. Yes it is a bind and fly system, all you need to do is charge the Li-Po with the included charger which needs 12V power source, put 8 alkalines in the radio tx, go thru the binding setup and off you go. I'd like to give you more details, but not sure what you want to know?? I just finished putting orange pin striping on the body on the edges of the blue paint accents and it looks really good, a little like the heli in the Magnum P.I. TV series. I love the scale look and it looks like a high end plastic model kit for show. It takes about an hour & 1/2 to charge the li-po before the next flight. No other brand li-po will work for this because it has a factory coding system, I thought the mfg. was trying to force us into buying their battery but it's more that it is a total system. I would'nt trust anything other than the factory li-po. Soon, I plan to order another battery probably from heliproz.com and an extra set of main and tail blades. I was fortunate to find a very special price for the last one in stock for $540.00, but I doubt anyone could find that price again. Ace Hobby says it's suppose to sell for $600 and rightly so. Amainhobbies lists it for $600 and heliproz for $630, the Heliproz guys are great and good phone support and info so I lean toward them. I'm off to get a flight in so I can charge the pack and get another flight in before dark. thanks for the interest.

kchen95

I'm glad you're enjoying the Innovator. I too have an Quark and am thinking about getting the Innovator. Does it pretty much fly like the Quark, except it's bigger and therefore more stable in the wind? Does it make sense to get the Innovator if I already have the Quark?

Also I was concerned that the officially stated flight time for the Innovator is only 3-4 minutes, but you're saying you got 8.5 minutes out of yours?


Best,
Kevin

noobflyer01

its real easy to post pictures on the forums. take your pics with your camera. then hit the reply link on the post then you can browse what files on your computer you want to attach. let me know if you want a tutuorial vid on how to post pictures and i'll do a youtube video on a hypercam so you can see how its done.

what maximum blade size can you go to on the md530? what is the current blade size? is it woodies or carbon fiber? how much are the patented lipos? sorry about all the questions but man that bird is SWEET[sm=thumbs_up.gif]

you should consider adding some navigation lights on that heli.

Spazstic1

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noobflyer01

[sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif]

thank you spaz! nice pictures! [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

whats the deal with the battery?[&:] and the god awful transmitter[sm=thumbs_down.gif] other than that the md530 looks freaking sweet! on the youtube video link i posted above the guy actually did something really stupid but cool trick. he had it hovering and he actually took his hands off the transmitter to push the heli with his free hand. that has got to be stable for him to do something like that.

what's the all up weight on the heli?

Spazstic1

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Spazstic1

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noobflyer01

spaz that was awesome! thanks for sharing.[sm=teeth_smile.gif] do you feel completely satisfied with this product? is the gyro heading hold capable? is there any modifications to the heli that is achieveable? ie...like changing different gyros, servos, blades, etc.?

Spazstic1

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Bostonnut

Hi Kevin; I love my Quark, but it is small and I wanted something bigger to look, fly, and feel more scale/realistic. The Innovator flies very similar to the Quark, but I think the Quark is a little more stable but close enough to where it's not an issue. If you love the Quark, you will love the Innovator as it is like it's big brother. Liking my Quark so much, for me it made perfect sense to get the Innovator. I have not flown in anything but a very slight breeze but yes it think it will handle a fair amount more than the Quark that has fixed pitch blades wereas the Innovator has conventional pivoting blades that slice thru the air at a higher rotor speed. That is correct that I'm getting 8 to 8-1/2 minuets of flight time. I was also concerned about flight time but am very happy with 8+min. It is taking about an hour and a half to recharge the li-po. I'm looking forward to getting a 2nd battery but they're not available yet. Rick at HeliProz said maybe later this week. I'm on my 5th set of Quark tail blades because it's so close to the ground and in the desert here, a little pebble or rock breaks them. Not the Innovator cause the tail is 3 inches off the ground and I'm landing all over my property now, I love that !! For the 1st 2 flights, I had my home made (wood dowel/ping pong balls) training gear on but they are off now. Whoops, for my 1st flight, I forgot to lock the batter tray in the up position and it didn' cause a problem but it's up for every flight now. Hope you get one soon, if you are, let me know and I'll share some good tips not written for setup and 1st flights.

noobflyer01

man i want to join this md530 club!

Bostonnut

Exciting isn't it ?? Yes, I am getting nav lights for it. I would not suggest any other blades than the stock ones at least until someone makes blades specific for the Innovator. I would'nt be comfortable with anything other than these beautiful original ones. The main rotor diameter is 27-3/4" and each blade is 12-3/4" long. It is said they are made of foam, but if so, it's the highest quality foam I've ever seen. One blade has a red tip, the other blue for tracking and it looks great. The leading edge is a black plastic or fiber material. I see some are saying they don't like the transmitter and or body. I was a little dissapointed the body is clear taped together but this thing is so awesome that I let it go. I guess the radio could be a little more "flashy" but is fine for me. The 2.4ghz radio is great cause you don't have to concern about hitting the heli with a long metal antenna. Last night I was flying very close and stable and I almost reached out and grabbed it by the landing gear as I have done with my Hirobo SRB Quark, but I had a couple of beers so I abandoned that notion. Spaztic1 posted some amazing pictures wow !! they look better than the heli in person. Thanks for the internet picture posting tip but again, I don't have a digital camera or cell phone one.

Bostonnut

Robert; Those are really nice pictures, they look better than the real thing sitting next to me weird as that sounds. 11 minuets? I'm getting 8 to 8-1/2min on mine which I'm very happy with but how the heck are you doing that? I wonder if you just happened to get one of the best batteries coming off the line? Sure would be nice if T.T. came out with a 2100 or so mAh Li-Po option. At first, I thought they were being proprietory cause they wanted us to buy only their stuff, but now it seems to me that so much fine engineering went into this total system that anything else might screw it up and cause problems and they are protecting that and rightfully so. I tend to be loyal to the mfg. and buy their accessories/parts after they give us such fine models. I feel they deserve it, but thats just my opinion. Thanks again for the great photos and info.........

kchen95

Hi Bostonnut, thanks so much for your info. I'm really learning towards getting one now. Just some last questions:

1). How crash-resistant is the Innovator? I'm thinking about giving up on the Blade 400 because even though I got really excited when I learned to hover it steadily (it was a HUGE moment), my day with it was done after what I considered a very harmless crash - the wind tipped it over as I was about to get it off the ground for my third hover. It was so minor that the wooden blades didn't even break, but enough of the parts on the head got loose or bent that I ended up spending the entire day trying to fix it with spare parts, to no success. Is the Innovator more crash-resistant, like the way the Quark is? I don't mind if I need to repair it after a major crash, but I just don't want my day (and even week, in waiting for it to be fixed) to be over as soon as something very minor happens. Just imagine if someone's trying to pick up skiing, and one minor fall on a bunny slope automatically ends the day, or if someone is learning golf and one bad swing means you can't hit another ball for a week - how popular would those hobbies be if that's the case?!

Also, does Innovator provide plenty of spare foam blades the way Quark does? I just can't imagine flying the Quark without being able to access essentially unlimited blades!

2). Do you know how easy/expensive it would be to convert the MD 530 to the 3D (EXP) version? Can one literally go back and forth between the two versions? If so, I would be seriously sold on the Innovator because I don't want to have to buy another brand-new heli if/when I'm ready for 3D.

Thanks!

Kevin

Spazstic1

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kchen95

Thanks everyone! It looks like information is still pretty scant in the US on whether the MD 530 can be converted easily and cheaply into the TT Innovator EXP?

Bostonnut, do I understand correctly that the MD 530 is at least SLIGHTLY harder to control than the Quark (not counting the wind factor)? If it's the same or easier than the Quark, then I don't think it's worth it. I'm just a little concerned that all the videos I've seen of the MD 530 almost makes it seem like a blown-up co-axial in terms of flying characteristics. The Quark, on the other hand, is certainly VERY different from a co-axial.

Thanks again!

Kevin

Spazstic1

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kchen95

Thanks Spazstic1; that was extremely helpful.

But I hope it's not literally as easy to hover as a co-axial? That really would be kinda boring - as in throttle up and just stare! To me hovering is the most crucial skill to learn to get to the 3D level - and it's the one big thing that flying a co-axial does nothing to teach you about. I was able to hover the Blade 400 after learning to hover the Quark - i.e. the Quark is at least similar to the Blade, but just a more stable version of it. Is the difficulty of hovering an Innovator somewhere between a Quark and a Blade 400, or somewhere between a co-axial and a Quark? If it's the latter, TT has really made the Innovator too easy!

Thanks again for all your expertise and advice.

Kevin

Spazstic1

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Bostonnut

[8D]

kchen95

Hi Bostonnut, I DEFINITELY would like more of your valuable input on the Innovator, especially as it compares to the Quark seeing as we're both big Quark fans. I sent you a PM last night about this - can you check? Thanks very much.


Kevin

kchen95

Also to be fair, I don't think Spaztic1 was intending to "compete" for anything; my assumption is that he simply is very excited about his heli and wants to share all he can on it.

Best,
Kevin