Walkera 500 Maiden Flight
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Walkera 500 Maiden Flight
Today my Walkera V500D01 (http://www.walkera.com/en1/particular.jsp?pn=V500D010) came; it's a 500-size flybarless RTF built completely out of carbon fiber and aluminum. At just 1kg (2.2lbs), its incredibly light for its size. Its my biggest heli yet; I don't really understand how a 500 could be SO much bigger than my Trex 450 Pro, the difference is much more than just 50mm.
Its size and the flybarless system make it rock-solid stable and just a pleasure to fly. It came with its blades balanced and in track and the swashplate perfectly level. Its cheaper than a Trex 500 plus there's absolutely no build or setup. I've always kind of thought of Walkera as lower-quality in general, but they've obviously really put in the effort with this particular bird.
The only downside I see with this heli is that it would be a pain to swap its radio system so that I could use my DX8 with it. Walkera integrated the receiver, gyro, and 3G flybarless system into the same unit, so to use a Spektrum receiver I think I would need to buy a new gyro and 3G system. I can't complain though, the 8 channel computerized transmitter that came with it is pretty nice and has a backlit screen.
I took a video of me testing it out; it was just going to be a spool-up, but I felt so comfortable and in control that it quickly turned into its maiden flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEt_U6Exz0U
Sorry for the slow start; the actual lift-off is at 0:45 if you want to skip ahead. About halfway through you can see me goose the throttle a little to test how the tail holds; it held perfectly! I can't wait to get it to an open field to try flipping it!
Its size and the flybarless system make it rock-solid stable and just a pleasure to fly. It came with its blades balanced and in track and the swashplate perfectly level. Its cheaper than a Trex 500 plus there's absolutely no build or setup. I've always kind of thought of Walkera as lower-quality in general, but they've obviously really put in the effort with this particular bird.
The only downside I see with this heli is that it would be a pain to swap its radio system so that I could use my DX8 with it. Walkera integrated the receiver, gyro, and 3G flybarless system into the same unit, so to use a Spektrum receiver I think I would need to buy a new gyro and 3G system. I can't complain though, the 8 channel computerized transmitter that came with it is pretty nice and has a backlit screen.
I took a video of me testing it out; it was just going to be a spool-up, but I felt so comfortable and in control that it quickly turned into its maiden flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEt_U6Exz0U
Sorry for the slow start; the actual lift-off is at 0:45 if you want to skip ahead. About halfway through you can see me goose the throttle a little to test how the tail holds; it held perfectly! I can't wait to get it to an open field to try flipping it!