phakur

My Feedback: (13)

Is Blade phasing out the Blade 450? It seems that most sites only have the RTF version including a Spektrum 6i.

The BNF version is getting harder and harder to find yet it still shows on the Blade website.

To me this means a new product is imminent.

Anybody have any insight? I'm in the market for a 450 or larger heli and like the Blade.

Larry

poison

EBay has a bunch of them. The 360 looks cool. It seems they are leaning towards the beginner market. What's up with the 550 seems like it came and went fast to. Trex 450 is great helicopter and I had one with 3Gx and it was ok. I have gpro now it's great so far.mine is a trex 500 it's pretty solid heli. You should look at trex 450l dominator

Dick T.

My Feedback: (243)

According to my LHS the Blade 360 is now the top of the line. Nothing more will be produced above that. The heli market has been in steep decline since Quads hit the market. The plus is you can land some great deals on helis from guys getting out or shops dumping inventory. I have been flying helis since the seventies and have seen the heli market die twice, now the third time. Most of the death spirals were due to outrageous escalating prices but this time it is both prices and advent of quads any dummy can buy, fly, crash and throw away.

Helis may never recover this time as attention spans are too short to learn and maintain them. Glad I have a stash of kits, parts and related accessories.

poison

Man I hope helies don't die. I just got back into them after about 3 years. Don't see the quad copter thing they look so strange. That's right people want things they can buy and fly right away and we all know helies takes a little patience and practice but they are worth it

Dick T.

My Feedback: (243)

Helis won't die completely, but as in the past, they will become scarce and expensive. Kits have already disappeared from the scene so now it is overpriced BNF or RXR geared to the buy and throw away crowd. While today's technology makes them easier to fly the plastic stuff insures near total destruction in a crash, which beginners do frequently.

While I admire and respect the capable 3D pilots it has hastened the demise of helicopters. All manufacturers targeted that market with new designs leaving trainers behind. Though they claimed 3D machines are good beginner helis, they were often destroyed within several first attempted flights. Costly repairs or total destruction drove most newbies right to the dumpster and onto another hobby. I have seen this circle with my own eyes over the past 5-6 years.

Hang on to what you have, pick up stuff from people abandoning helis, stock up on parts if you can find them and enjoy through the dry spell. Hopefully it won't last as long as past cycles but my gut tells me the future is $300-$500 plastic throw away or $1000-$3000 limited production quality machines.