Welcome to the addiction My charge times on stock lipo's will run anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Usually the later. As a new CX2 pilot I can also say that from the sim to real life is quite a bit different! It took me a good week to get mine to be stable with my mitts on the sticks. However I have found that setup is the key to a super stable heli. Soloboss has a great setup guide found here http://cx2.r-2.nl/ lots of tips and tricks to really get your heli super stable. I can get mine fine tuned enough that I can power her up and she will hover in place without touching the transmitter. If I can help with anything don't hesitate to ask!