well the lipo is dead (it seems that it had a short which drained two cells, causing the max voltage to be at 11 volts...) so I'm using the 650 nimh (nicad?) that came with it. it shouldn't be that. my battery has 10 cells in it. also the "hops" i'm experiencing are more like 3 seconds at the most. what happens is on 3D mode the pitch is at 0. revs go WAY up. I push the pitch up and the heli gets a short hop only because of the head speed, which immediately goes down to "light on the skids" speed. the problem is really confusing but I'll try what you said.

PS where on the battery do the rods go? there's nothing exposed... or do I have to rip the shrink wrap up to get to it... I'd rather not do that.