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mmc205 -> Walkera Dragonfly 36 (8/29/2005 8:28 PM)
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I have just ordered a Dragonly 36 heli on ebay for $188 rtf shipped. I can't complain abou the price. It sounds like these are decent little heli's, but a certain amount of setup is necessary, i know they are marketed as ready to fly, but if one yanks it out of the box and tries, they may have problems. Their seems to be several main categories of problems
*Exploding batteries when charged -- explanation -- the batteries included are nimh, and the charger they supply does not have an auto cutoff. otherwise, besides the batteries having poor capacity, they may be find
*low capacity li-po cells -- explanation-- I believe from my research that the lipos supplied with these helis are of poor quality, and probably are 6 cell (3 parallel cells in series for 11.1V) cellphone batteries, with high internal resistance due to their innapropriate use in these higher current draw applications. I would count on using these for your heli, though a few people have had OK experiences with them, as they are not part of the manufacturer package, different resellers include different batteries, but the general concensus is they are not great
*inadequate power even with good lipo packs --explanation-- I believe for one thing, people are not breaking the motors in correctly, which can have a pretty big effect on performance. Second, often gear mesh is set wrong at the factory, especially on the tail rotor (not an issue on the 36 though). Gear mesh could also be tight on the main gear. Third, when these are put together, they are slapped together, and are probably at least somewhat out of balance. Third, if the mix is set wrong for collective pitch, all the blade rpm in the world isn't going to get you off the ground.
*Bad electronics --explanation-- the electronics probably arn't top notch, but if you pay attention to the position of the reciever with respect to the esc, and don't coil the antenna improperly, and never get into a situation where the antenna is pointing straight at you (no matter how good the radio system, you can get glitches this way do to radio transmission theory)
I've done a lot of research in a lot of places, and the above seem to be the typical problems with the 6 channel dragonfly's and more specifically the 36. I would if i were you pitch the included charger and get a better one, or go straight to lipo's, take the heli apart when you get it and put it back together carefully, as this will teach you its working mechanics, as well as give a you a chance to put it together correctly (balanced with right gear mesh and such), and properly route your electronics. I believe this can be a cheap and good heli if it is given a chance. When i get mine, i will try to document its setup and trial runs as much as a can for everyone else out there who is relatively new to helis.
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