ORIGINAL: Rockabilly Basher
This is my first year flying, so bear with me if I don't know what I'm talking about. I have the Switch and the Flyzone Cessna 182 Skylane - both are RTF brushless foamies. I've re-built the Skylane 3 times now, but I'm happy to report the Switch has flown twice and doesn't have a scratch on it!!
My issue is that one is a 2.4 ghz and the other is FM. I know that sooner or later I will have one radio and matched receivers in my different planes. i need to replace the receiver and esc in the FM based Skylane, but don't want to waste my $$$ if I'm just going to go to spread spectrum anyways. So, what is a decent mid level radio that I can use comfortibly, is reliable, and I can grow into? And do I really need to replace the servos from the ones that come with the kit? Are ball bearing servos really that awesome? What's the difference?
I would like to be able to just get the ARF kits and add to it, but I have no idea what's good and what's not.
Right now I'm leaning towards the Futaba 6EX 6 channel 2.4GHz and it comes with the R617FS receiver and 4 S3004 ball bearing servos. From there I would simply get more of the same servos and receivers as I get more planes. Does this sound correct, or am I off my rocker?
Any assistance will help this newb save a bunch I'm sure, so thanks in advance.
Welcome to the hobby!
Answers in order: The Futaba radio you mentioned is a quality unit. You might consider the Spektrum DX6i however. It has basically the same features, but the advantage is that Parkzone and E-Flite make the "bind and fly" planes that comes with Spektrum receivers already in them. If you plan to still fly foamies much, it's a good bit cheaper to go that route. If you aren't planning to fly any more park flyer planes, I like my Airtronics RDS8000. It's cheaper than the other two radios and has 8 channels instead of 6.
Ball bearing servos will last longer under hard use. Your planes aren't hard use, so don't worry about it. If you start doing aerobatics with more powerful nitro powered planes, the beefier servos are a good investment.
For ARF's Great Planes and Hangar 9 don't make a bad product. For servos, Hitec, Futaba, JR and Airtronics all make good reliable stuff. You just pick the strength you need and features.
On buying receivers, each maker has a range of different ones. For example, my Airtronics radio has 8, 7, 6 and 5 channel receivers available. I buy them based on what I need for the particular airplane I am outfitting. Fewer channels cost less, and the function is the same.