beanhead1222

hey guys I've recently started looking into the hobby of rc heli's and had a question. Do the RTR heli's actually come complete and ready? if they do should i start with that before upgrading? or is it best for me to do some research and purchase transmitter, reciever, motor and servos on my own? any info and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Spc Silva
U.S. Army

BTW I have no experience but have already ordered realflight G3.5 and it came with a cheap micro to mess with. I have been looking at the T-rex 450se the align BCP and the CX2 as possible purchases. Any opinions on what would be the best begginer heli that i can keep using after learning would be great 2. thanks again

s_mcflurry

Yes, such a thing exists. Examples would be the Heli-Max Axe CP, the E-flite Blade CP Pro, and the Esky Honey Bee King v2. As for starting with something like those or an ARF that you would put together yourself along with electronics of your choosing...well, there's clearly two schools of thought.

RTR/RTFs like the ones mentioned have a relatively low startup cost and very little assembly required. Many will argue the "you get what you pay for" line and point out that they can be more glitchy, unstable, and/or less powerful than their ARF counterparts.

ARF advocates will say "bigger is better" (usually) and that they're less twitchy and easier to fly, which is most likely a result of better electronics (that you picked out and put together). This will undoubtedly result in a higher startup cost.

It all depends on your learning rate whether to get an RTF or an ARF as well as your budget. Starting off on RealFlight is a great idea, actually. After a couple of weeks, your confidence will shoot straight up and you can get a better idea of what you're capable of and how you want to make your first purchase.

About the CX2, after getting used to RealFlight, you may want to skip the CX2 altogether as coaxial helicopters pretty much fly themselves and little - beyond orientation - can be applied to non-coaxial helicopters.

beanhead1222

thanks mcflurry, I think im going to go with ARF if im going to get into something id like to be more hands on with it so i can learn what im working with. can anybody let me know what a good transmitter/ reciever combo is? and what i should be looking for in a servo? i talked with one guy with a rex450se and he was using this:

JR DS285 Digital Micro Servos for cyclic.
GY 401 Gyro with Digital tail servo
AR7000 Receiver
DX7 Transmitter
430 xl Brushless motor with 35 amp esc

i havent looked into any of these parts yet but i was leaning toward the same heli for myself so if he has a good working combo already it would greatly cut down my research time. let me know what you think of these parts and or what else you would use

Thanks
Spc Silva
U.S. Army

KoldFate

I'm using:

3 hitec HS-65 servos for the cyclic
GY 401 w/ 9650 digital servo
Futaba 6EX transmitter with 2.4G FASST
Align 430L motor and Align 35A ESC ( came with the trex SA kit )

works great, although I am waiting on parts now to get it back up in the air. ( completely user error, doh )

if you go into the T-rex forum there are alot of other setups people use, but for the most part I'd say 90% of the people use Gy401 gyros, and most of the setups use DX7's. Shop around at you can find great deals on the various hobby sites and Ebay. I think I paid about $450 to get it in the air.

Definatley don't get the CX2 - I had no heli experiance and out grew the thing in about a week. But I still fly it while waiting for batteries to charge or parts to come in. It definately can take a beating though, I'll give it that.

soop7667

I have the exact same setup, except I'm running a P.O.S. E-Flite G90 Gyro left over from my blade cp pro. I do however run a Gy401 on my Raptor. I'll be getting the 401 for my T-rex as well when finances allow. The cool part about this set-up is the DX7. It will grow with you in this hobby. I have mine set up for my T-Rex, an MX400, a Raptor 50, a 50 size plane, a CX2 and It will do just about any aircraft that will run on 7 channels. The DS-285 Servos are great, only thing is every hard crash I've had I've had to re-gear the servos, and it's always the same gear. I guess that can be expected of any micro servo though. I learned on a CP Pro - no doubt one of the hardest heli's to actually fly. The electric tail is junk if you ask me, and I'd never go back to it if I didn't enjoy watching it do the funky chicken dance. (See a funky chicken dance here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdrBi...elated&search=) Anyhow - The T-rex is a nice heli - Mine unfortunately has an issue with shredding the tail belts. I've shreded about 4 or 5 of them for no apparent reason. You may want to look into a HDX-450. I fly with many experienced heli pilots, and they all say the same thing. Their HDX frame design is better, stronger, and the tail belt does not shred. It's also considerably less expensive than a t-rex. They do some hard core 3D on them and they all love the HDX. You should look into it. Whatever you decide - Good Luck!

USHobbySupply

All those suggestions are great, but quite expensive. If your just learning for the first time how to fly a heli (besides the sim), maybe take a look at the inexpensive Fixed Pitch(FP) birds. These are RTF, just add TX batteries, charge the main and go. No need to mess with setup of receiver, gyro, limits, throttle curves, pitch curves, normal vs. idle up. All very fun indeed, but not for the rookie.

I learned on a FP (a walkera #4), moved up to a BCP, then custom BCP with full sepeartes and now a TREX. No way i would have even had a clue how to setup the custom BCP or Trex without learning the basics on a FP bird.

Even today, I still have loads of fun flying the FP. AT $70.00 a pop, i could replace the whole bird for less than the cost of a moderate crash with my TREX.

Whatever you decide, best of luck and thanks for serving,
Michael

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Why buy twice?

The you have a long way to go before you out grow a trex and the 200 dollars you spend on a frustrating peice o junk could be invested into something decent.

If you want a toy and dont want to spend a lot of money thats fine but if you aspire to something decent just get it up front.

ewolow

This is my exact setup. Just so you know, I recently bought an EP8 (600 size electric) and all I really had to do was buy another $99 AR7k Receiver and I had my glitchless radio setup. All I had to do then is get the servos and gyro. Going with a DX7 is expensive upfront, but if you plan on having any other helis/planes then you will never need another transmitter. I fly 5 helis on one radio so far.

badazzbusa

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with BH, Toy helis are fine but if you really want to fly helis get a real heli and learn to fly. You are doing perfect, get the sim and practice while you research what you want. A Trex is a great heli, I use Hitec HS-65 servos in mine, but your shopping list looks good. I would also recommend you stick with the DX7, I've seen some combos with a DX6 which is fine for a Trex but if you decide to get a nitro heli later, you would have to upgrade from the DX6. The DX7 will fly anything you could ever want.

beanhead1222

whats up guys, i really appreciate all the input. I do have to agree with barracuda and badazz tho... I can understand the point of starting cheap but i would like to learn about the advanced parts of the hobby and if that requires more time and research to get in the air thats fine but i cant swallow buying a piece of junk that i wont want later just to learn. I guess the only real question i have left would be what websites do most of you shop? I have been looking on ebay but would like to look at some hobby specific sites. As always thanks for all your input and your help is greatly appreciated

Spc Silva
U.S. Army

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

http://www.heliproz.com
http://www.espritmodels.com
http://www.readyheli.com

There's others depending on what exactly you're after. Esprit sells the dx7 with reciever so you dont have a bunch of useless servos and a battery pack if you are going with a Trex sized.

badazzbusa

My Feedback: (1)

I have used and would recommend
www.heliproz.com
www.ronlund.com
www.grandrc.com
www.helihobby.com
www.deeteeenterprises.com