If you're looking for a hassle free, ready-to-fly micro helicopter that flies like a dream, check out the Blade CP by E-Flite. This little copter arrives completely assembled, including a high quality transmitter, rechargeable flight battery pack, and a battery charger. Each Blade CP has been test flown at the factory to ensure that your first flight impressions will have you smiling from ear to ear! Clear pictures and descriptions in the instructions manual help ease the beginner pilot into the action. For the more advanced modeler, the Blade can be easily modified with the inexpensive aerobatic upgrade kit and lithium polymer battery to perform loops, rolls, stall turns and even inverted flight. Sounds too good to be true? Read on, and find out why this little gem is so much fun to fly that E-Flite Blade CP helis are taking flight everywhere!

Kit Name: E-flite Blade CP, part #EFLH1100
Price: $219.99
Rotorspan: 20.75"
Length: 20.63"
Flying Weight (stock): 324 grams
Flying Weight (with aerobatic upgrade kit & Li-Po battery): 278 grams
Motors: E-flite 370 brushed (main) and N30 (tail)
Battery used: 9.6v, 650 mah NiMH E-Flite
Battery for aerobatic flight : 11.1v, 720 mah ElectriFly
Radio equipment: E-Flite transmitter, as supplied, requires 8 AA batteries (not included)

Also available for the E-Flite Blade CP:

• Crash Kit EFLH1169 ($18.99)
• Aerobatic Enhancement Kit EFLH1168 ($22.99)
• Carbon Rotor Blades EFLH1147C ($29.99)
  

Our Blade CP arrrived in a colorful box that doubles as a handy carrying case. Foam inserts protect the completely assembled helicopter from damage during transport. A quality transmitter, rechargeable 9.6v 650 mah NiMH flight battery, 2 hour quick battery charger, spare foam tape and cable ties, and an excellent instruction manual are included. Only eight AA batteries are needed to complete the model.

The instruction manual is well written, and includes clear pictures that thoroughly illustrate the content. A parts breakdown page shows all of the components, with the associated part numbers and a drawing of each piece, which is really handy for identification. Understanding the resulting swashplate movements for each control stick input is made simple with photos. Simple procedures for battery installation, center-of-gravity adjustments, blade tracking, and gyro gain settings are detailed.

In addition to the pictures in the manual, Horizon Hobby shows the CCPM control inputs on the E-Flite Blade CP webpage. We've added a few videos to the CCPM section of this article below, so you can see the linkage in action.

Since the Blade arrives assembled, after being adjusted and test flown at the E-Flite factory, all that is necessary is to remove the helicopter from the packaging and go fly! You will need to install 8 AA sized batteries (the only item not included and necessary for flight) in the transmitter. The instructions alert you that the flight battery is shipped with a partial charge, and that you should fly the helicopter before fully charging. My Blade flew for 5 minutes on this partial charge. Subsequent flights last 10 minutes. Don't discard the colorful box and foam inserts! With the included handle, it's the perfect carrying case for your Blade.

The included E-Flite transmitter is a high quality 6 channel unit. A multi-colored LED display shows the battery status when the power switch is ON. Available adjustments include servo reversing for the 4 main channels, Idle-Up and Trainer switches. My servo reversing switches were set at: aileron - normal, elevator - reverse, throttle - normal, and rudder - reverse. I verified the correct swashplate movements as shown in the manual with these factory switch settings, so I left them alone.

I modified the throttle stick ratchet, as I prefer smooth throttle stick movements. This is simple to do; just remove the 8 AA batteries, battery cover, and the screws on the rear of the transmitter case to expose the throttle stick ratchet tab. You can adjust the tension that this tab places on the ratchet plate by carefully bending the plate, or you can remove the ratchet tab entirely (shown with the red arrow in the above right picture). If you would like to change the stick tension of the other gimbals, simply adjust the screws (shown by yellow arrows in the above right picture) clockwise to tighten, and counter-clockwise to loosen.

Editors Note: Since the reviewer's model appears to be from an earlier batch with a "harsh" ratchet on the throttle, it might be worth noting that subsequent batches of BCPs have transmitters with "smoothed out" ratchets that many people prefer and do not feel compelled to modify. It feels much better now than before!

I found that the Idle-Up switch is on the upper right side, which differs from the usual convention of upper left placement on other transmitters. Be aware that if you are not accustomed to this switch position, you might find yourself trying to deactivate the Idle-Up function using the wrong switch. This usually results in the infamous "wallet-reach" maneuver.