Its not a bad bird at all. I got one about a month ago.

I pulled out the radio only because I had an extra rx laying around and love my dx7 for these 450's. So I cant say much about the stock radio. but I can say that the buzz about it on the net is great. The rumor is that it is a fully programmable radio. Only that you have to program it with a computer. It could make the 'dail in' period much longer. Unless you bring a laptop to the field with you.

Smooth and stable when set up proper. While I can say that it was mostly flyable right out of the box , I wont say you will be doing tick tocks and inverted autos right out of the box. Tracking was about 1.5 ~ 2 mm off. I only hovered it for about a minute before I landed to make adjustments. But it was 'flyable' .

After a quick 'I have to play with the new toy' session of 2 packs , I did a forced full inspection( more on that latter ) . While everything was done mostly competently , There is evidence of the build being rushed. One example is a ball link that I broke while adjusting it. It looked like the person picked out a shaft that was just a hair too long , and trimmed it with dikes (snip cuter). The result was a shaft and ball link that was held together by LESS then 2 mm of thread.I also had a ball on the swash come out and riped out every link between the swash and the head. No damage besides the few plastic parts on this head. I was just glad I was just spooling up the third pack when it happened, hence the forced part of the 'full inspection' . I had some spares on hand and was able to replace right away. When I looked at the screw threads there was no evidence of any loctite at all.

The bantam servos I got on mine got pulled after the first one striped while I was pulling a ball link off it by hand. Replaced them with Hitec's. I also put a S9257 on the tail. I tried a gy401 , but went back to the stock because after a real good mechanical setup the stock gyro worked fine for my normal flying. ( Hard sport or mild 3d .. My name isnt alan or curtis ).

Now I am perfectly happy with the bird. She flys whenever I have a 3s pack charged.

One major caveat though. The main shaft is NOT trex compatible. I also know of only a single source for this part. Xheli. So you may want to stock up on them when they are in stock. If you do find another source .. PLEASE let me know :-) I always like to have options.

I couldn't recommend this as a first CP heli if you don't have local help. Perhaps as a first 450 , but only if you know your way around a trex type heli of another class.

Overall I feel like the package was a ok value for the money.

I do have a larger esc and some 25c packs waiting. That will go on after her next crash. not that it needs it , I just want to see if I can get some more punch. A buddy borrowed a pack and tacoed it , I accepted the esc as compensation. So its not like I went out of my way to look for an update.