joeyhatch11

Just wondering if the Falcon 40 Heli is a good starter? I'm new to heli's but it's something i've been interested in for a long time. So for starters i'm not looking to go crazy in price but i've been looking around. So far i've looked into the Falcon 40 and Century Hummingbord V4. Does anyone have any experience with these helis or maybe have some good insight on one for a beginner like myself? thank you for your help. Joe

mrhazzard

Hi i started with the falcon 40. i liked it because it was cheap and they sell spare parts, it was my first 4 channel heli. you do have to trim it out and the fly bare breaks easily. so buy many fly bars and also the blade holder the yellow part breaks but i only broke one get a set of blades too. the heli itself is very unstable . but believe me when you learn to hover it, your next heli will be very easy to hover, i got the blade cp as my second heli, the falcon 40 is really a toy compared to the blade cp . the worst thing about the falcon 40 is that it comes from Exceed-rc. and they have absolutely no help.... but if you are in the hobbie for the long hall i would defiantly get a flight sim, fms.com, has one for free, but it is not very good compared to the Realflight G3 flight sim, which is about $200. and worth every penny.

good luck and have fun

joeyhatch11

what do u mean trim it out? Do u think there is something else i should consider as a beginner?

mrhazzard

oh yes many things to consider..... on your transmitter you have two toggle's and four sliding nob's. the four sliding nob's are your trims. these are there so that you can adjust your heli. left/right movement, forward back movement and your throttle

joeyhatch11

oh i know what you mean i was thinking that you ment trimming the helis blades or soemthing like that for some unknown reason. my bad. thanks. i'm getting one for me and one for my girls brother. I can't wait. Are they easy to set up and maintain? and also do u know how often u have to change out the motors? i heard different stories about that but never really got an answer....

robotronski

I also recommend the Falcon 40 (as a trainer). I crashed today into a steel chair leg and then a hard tile floor. Picked up the heli, popped the rotor head back on, looked for more damage (found none) and finished off the rest of the battery pack working on my nose-in flying (still tough to learn but I'm making quick progress) I'm not afraid to learn. I did several months on the G2 sim first and now the Fal40 IS MY SIM!! If you don't have a sim get one. This is a crucial step I feel.

As far as setup goes, do a search in the electric heli forums. Some say its a clone of the walkera DF4 and I tend to agree. So what... Mine flies great and no radio/servo probs to date. I also posted some good tips for my personal set-up. SUre its advertised as ready to fly, but a little time spent dialing it in will produce a good trainer. Bumpy ride during shipping, etc...
Other than the limited fligh times from the stock airborne battery, it's not a bad place to start.

Also watch out for the plug in wall-wart charger. It will cook the battery if you dont' check the battery temperature every 10 or 15 minutes while charging. All those El-cheapo factory chargers are about the same. Battery will be noticeably WARM when charged. Should not be searing HOT !!!

Plan on spending about $85 for a good new heli. Some sites have internet promos now and then for free shipping or $10 off (raidentech.com)

I hope I answered your questions and you get in the air soon...

heliman2007

Well i have a Falcon 40 that i fly i just started im new and i found the falcon 40 is kinda hard for your first few flights but once you learn the controls its a excellent beginner helicopter i recomend it its a great 4CH helicopter for a real cheap price parts are cheap to.

tinbender2001

i have a Falcon 40 , can someone tell me where the dip switchs on the romote need to be????

Cambo

My Feedback: (2)

A larger heli is always better for begginer IMO. Much more stable and easier to fly. I have flown the falcon 40 and it was a solid flyer but again not as good as some of the bigger helis.

dooleyje

The Falcon 40 does fly pretty good. Hard at first though. The electronics are suspect and dangerous so when you do get it in forward flight do not let it get too far from you or it will go out of range from your transmitter and hit someone. The parts are super cheap but they rippppppppp! you off with shipping. A $3.00 part will cost you about $6.00 or more to ship. Thats where they get you if you actually get what you ordered. I really suggest that you pass on the stuff and not deal with China held shipping houses or I can almost promise you that you will be disappointed in the long run. Cheap is cheap and thats what you get. I know the order house you are probably going to order from and there are many complaints about them and their products on this forum site. Sorry to disappoint you.

JIM

tinbender2001

but what about the dip switchs ?? please

mrasmm

if I remember right 1 3 4 are on and the rest are off. PM robotronski and ask. He knows for sure =) You can also dig through the falcon 40 thread, it's in there atleast 3 or 4 times.

phicks101

newbie here... bought a falcon 40 about 2 weeks ago and last night got it to hover and feeling good with the controls. have never crashed.now it seems I get about 3 min of battery life and it lifts up about a foot off the ground . could it be the 4 in 1 servo? or throttle control. just have a feeling that it's not the battery or the motor. anyways also bought a eagle 50 cp. but want to run the falcon into the ground first. do the motors burn out that quickly. let it all cool down inbetween flights. when I first got it and was getting uesed to the controls it seemed to have plenty of power now that I 've moved up to hovering it seems powerless , I have read other threads of throttle control issues and issues with the 4 -in -1 servos. please help before I start tearing into things I shouldn't. is bonz out there he seems to help alot of people. thanks Phicks 101.

mrasmm

you may need to check the mesh between the motor and the main gear. It should not be tight, or loose. Just a little bit of play, alot of people use a couple peices of 20lb paper between the two gears while the motor is loose, and push them together and then tighten up the motor.

if the motor is getting hotter than it used to be it could be the motor, sometimes you get a dud and they really don't last all that long in the first place, 10 to 20 flight hours is all. You could try just replacing it and see if that does the trick.

it could also be the battery, you probably don't have a nice charger, so that's gona be a bit harder to test, but you should be getting about 1.45v per cell when the pack is hot off the charger, so if I remember right, that's a 7 cell pack, so you should be looking at 10.15v or so. The batteries that come with these heli's aren't all that great either.

bob4104

If you are in the US and have a mode 2 controller (left stick is throttle) thn it is as follows:

switch 1: on
2: off
3 and 4: on
5, 6, 7, and 8: off