Blade 400 Review:

After progressing from a CX2, to the CP, to the CP Pro, to the HBK II I am now flying a Blade 400. I wanted a step up in size and this is what started my quest to choose a 400 class heli. I looked at a variety of brands but choose the Blade 400 for 2 reasons: DX6i Radio was included and the LHS carries parts. I have a Futaba 6XAS computer radio and it only allowed 3 point throttle & pitch curves. So if I bought say a T-REX 450SA I would still need to pickup a good computer radio. Hence the Blade 400 fit the bill perfectly for me. I liked the HBK II very much but never felt I could get the tail to stay in control. I did put the Xtreme 43T pulley and belt on it and it did improve greatly yet I still kept wanting a larger heli with better tail authority.
I picked it up a week ago from my LHS for $399. Along with the heli I also bought the AC power adapter for the Lipo charger. After getting it home I opened the package and did a thorough inspection of it while I put the battery on charge. Everything was in place and all looked fine right out of the box. I saw nothing I wanted to change for the maiden flight. The battery was peaked after an hour so out to the driveway I go. This is where I find my first dislike with it: the canopy is difficult to put on once the battery is installed (thank goodness for the throttle hold feature on the DX6i). After 9 battery packs I still have trouble securing the canopy. Oh well, minor complaint I suppose. After checking the servo movements I began to spool it up and had to step back away from it, I was literally SCARED of the head speed and size of those blades! Big change from the HBK II. After gaining my composure, I continued to spool it up and get it light on the skids. Ok, all seems well enough so time for lift off. A little more throttle and lift off occurred at just over half stick. No surprises here for a change! 2 clicks of “back” elevator and 1 click of right and she is in a stable hover. Blade and paddle tracking was spot on. I was surprised with how crisp and responsive yet how light all the inputs felt and just tickled with how smooth transitions were. I was grinning from ear to ear! Now the big test, how well does the tail hold. I brought it into a stable hover and nailed the throttle…………she held great! Just what I was hoping for. Brought it back down to about a 1 foot hover height and decided to go into idle up to see how it was setup. This is where I learn my second dislike-the landing gear is very flimsy. Upon hitting the idle up switch, the heli dropped kind of fast (but square) and cracked the right from landing gear. I shut it right down and prevented any further damage. I nearly fell over though with the incredible head speed it had when in idle up. I am still not used to it!
All in all I’m very impressed thus far. I have since gone into FFF and am pleased with how smooth and stable it is. I do have some dislikes and some concerns though. I have read of the servos being weak and of the ESC issues. Only time will tell on those issues for me. I am not into 3D flight yet so I’m thinking servos should hold for awhile for me. I mentioned the landing gear being weak, I have a set of Super Skids on the way to take care of that problem. {Incidentally, for those of you with the HBK II the E-Flite servo gears (EFLRDS751 Gear Set for DS75 and DS75H0) are an EXACT match for the stock HBK II servo gears. I know this as fact since I used a set of them in one of my HBK II servos. Michael from US Hobby Supply clued me into this so I take no credit for it.} I will watch my ESC for heat problems but thus far have had no issues. My other issue actually is with the DX6i. I have small hands and have found this transmitter to be a bit awkward for me to hold comfortably. I have major fears of hitting the idle up switch accidentally and not being able to recover quick enough. I am going to try wearing a neck strap tomorrow to see if that helps. I can tell that if I was a “thumb” flyer that it would not be an issue. I learned with the “pinch grip” and old habits are hard to break. I am slowly working my way to going just thumbs but don’t feel comfortable in most situations this way just yet.

So there you have it, I’ll keep you guys posted as I progress. I made a video tonite. Just have to figure out how to get it on youtube (450Meg). Do they take .avi format?

Jim