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Spockie-Tech -> RE: Walkera Dragonfly #36 (8/24/2005 3:39:12 AM)
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I have two Walkera's (a #35 and a #39) and am just about at the point where I'm going to dump them and buy a T-Rex soon I think.
That said, the Walkera's got me interested enough to decide whether I enjoy it or not with very little money outlay, whereas I might not have "given it a go" if I had to plump for a 'Rex up front $.
Make no mistake, the Walkera's are *cheap*.
The Chinese are masters of making everything *just* strong enough to vaguely function and shaving a quater cent off here and 5 cents off there. That means they can sell a complete "ready to fly" (ready to crash would be more accurate) chopper for the incredibly low prices they do.
It also means that if you want something better, you will pretty much end up replacing the whole thing as if you try and patch it it up with better bits, you will just hit the next weak spot and be frustrated by that.
They will fly, briefly and if everything is gone over with a fine tooth comb, and your cheap batteries hold out for more than a few minutes and your cheap charger doesnt ruin the batteries through overcharging or not charging them enough, or you get bored waiting hours to fly for minutes.
Hopefully the cheap radio system wont glitch on you and cause you to nudge the cheap foam blades against the ground which will destroy them with the slightest touch. Hopefully the undertrained chinese bio-bot who assembled yours use the right screws in the right places (my #39 swashplate screws were all too short and only holding in by about 2 threads which promptly pulled out) and hasnt put the tail rotor blades on backwards (like my #35 was).
Hopefully the cheap servo's wont chatter or strip the gears in your first crash and need to be replaced, or have so much back-and-forth slop in them that staying inside a 10-foot-box is vaguely possible with skill
Hopefully you will find enough helpful people on the forum that you can understand the mysterious dip switches and the PLT/PZT knobs on the undocumented transmitter, and find a cable to connect it to your PC so you can practise your crashing in pixel-land (simulators).
If you make it past all of that, then you should get just enough time spent with the thing hovering around drunkenly to decide if you want to get real about this hobby and buy some quality gear, or whether you have a muck around with it every now and then, crash it and put it back on the mantlepiece not having spent too many $ for your dipping the toe in the water and getting bitten experience..
If you're fairly certain you want to play helicopters, I'd save your pennies and go with a T-Rex straight out. Get a good battery, a good charger, good radio, and a good gyro and a quality machine. however, you're probably looking at close to $1000 (Aus) for that rig, but you will get a lot more satisfaction out of it.
If you want to test the waters and the budget is low, try a Walkera #36, you get everything you need for <$300 Aus. Cheap Chinese plastic looks a lot better splatted on the ground than expensive plastic does. Even although the cheap chopper will make learning harder.
Just remember leave it stock and dont try and make it into something better, its not worth it. If you want to upgrade, sell it complete to someone else and start with a better chopper. Trying to polish a turd is an exercise in frustration.. [:D]
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