vol4ever

Couple of housekeeping items first. Bought a Blade CP several (maybe 5?) years ago. The smaller economical birds were relatively new at the time. After MUCH reading, I was introduced to Radd's outstanding trainer method. However, I was *never* happy with the helicopter. No matter what adjustments I made, I couldn't get the vibrations out which made trying to learn extremely difficult. Wasn't a stable machine at all, and I tried both with and without trainer gear.

Been building and flying planks for many, many years, and I always enjoyed the build almost as much as the flying (the engineer in me, I guess). It also made it easier to figure out repairs being familiar with the construction of all the various subassemblies.

That being said, I would still consider myself a -0- experience heli since it's been sitting on the shelf now for 3+ years. Any recommendations for good quality kits to look into? I won't say I have a blank checkbook by any means, but I am willing to spend some money in the interest of a better learning experience. Or maybe the Blade-type helis have come a long way in the last few years, and I'd be stupid to try a build before learning the flying? FYI, I do have Realflight 5 with a multitude of helis, and I'm planning to spend a great deal of sim time while building. I also need to stick with Tower Hobbies if possible as several family members have recently given me gift certificates. If there is a non-Tower brand I need to be looking, I guess the Tower money ($250-ish) could be put towards electric motor/ESC or maybe a decent transmitter.

So, oh great heli gurus, I would be most appreciative if you could impart some words of wisdom from the school of hard knocks. Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions. Insults even welcomed if I am headed down the wrong road. I got thick skin, new friends.

~Vol

dvs1

I had a cp pro 5 years ago and hated every minute of it and gave up like you. 2 years ago I bought and built a TREX 450 sport and haven't looked back! It is 100 times better heli and learning with it was actually fun and I actually was able to progress well with it. I recommend a trex 450 sport v2 or pro from heliproz and set it up for a beginner flight. Use your tower certificates for a good heli radio and you'll be set. The sport and pro come in complete kits minus lipo battery, receiver and transmitter and build pretty fast. I think it took me about 2 nights to build and set up.

vol4ever

Well, glad to hear the Blade issues weren't just me Trex looks awesome, but it gets on up there in terms of price. Probably pushing the $1k mark if you got decent electrics and transmitter. Wondering if that might be a little too big of a step? Not ruling it out, but I'd have to be dang sure!

Anyone used the Axe's? I don't think those come in kit form, but they look interesting. Bigger and heavier than the Blade, but maybe it's jumping out of the pot into the fire?

dvs1

The Trex 450 wont run you a grand. Depending where you get it from the 450 sport V2 model will run 350-429 depending on where you get it and that will include everything minus receiver and battery. That includes motor, all servos, ESC, gyro, and gyro servo. The gyro is included is actually really good and I have never had a problem with mine yet. Granted I am not good enough for 3D flight but very good for beginners and forward flight.

With the complete combo all you will have to buy is a radio, which you said that you have about 250 in gift certificates with tower and last I checked you can get a 7 channel heli radio that will work for you from them for 279, I am not sure if that comes with a receiver or not but in case not here is a close price break down for a trex 450.

Heli- we will say max of 429
Radio with your gift certificates-279 subtract 250= 29
Lipo battery for heli-30
Receiver for heli if not included in transmitter package-80
lipo charger if you dont have one already-150

If I'm not mistaken that will bring you in the area of 720 and that is max, if you already have a lipo charger and the radio comes with a receiver your about 500.

Hope this helps, maybe this is more than you planned on spending. I'm sure there are many other helis you could get into for less but this is the only one that I have experience with in the price range. I have wanted to try some of the new Eflite stuff but after my experience with them in the past I am very hesitant to throw money in their direction again.

vol4ever

I have a good Lipo charger and pack balancer. May even have an extra Lipo, but I'll need to check its specs. The heli on heliproz said I'd also need something called a 3G which was about 150. Believe it or not, a quick google search pulled up this same heli on Amazon for a better price and free shipping. Need to check my LHS tomorrow as they can usually get me some fairly decent deals.

dvs1

Not all align helis need 3gx only the flybarless ones and that is something for you to decide if you want a flybar head or flybarless. Either are fine with flybarless being the newest thing. My 2 helis have flybars but when I get another I will go flybarless. I have never set up a flybarless head but they are more complicated to program. But from what has been said on other forums if you can read instructions well you won't have a problem with a flybarless programming. There are pros and cons for both so it comes down to what fits you.

I only mention heliproz because their customer service is second to none and they are close to me so shipping is 2 days away for parts. But yes I have found the same heli for much cheaper on other websites if you search.