fritch1969

check this guy out. Hughes500Pilot


http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t91765p1/

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

fritch1969,,, I know first hand that reading such things can be frustrating,,, but I am starting to believe that most of the problems that some guys have with Century's helis are brought on by the owner, I have been flying Century's helis for 2 years now, and I NEVER had any kind of problems with them,,, it makes me wonder how a newbie that has never owned or flown a heli before can buy a Hawk Sport and build it, learn how to fly it and never have a problem with it for years, while another guy that has been in the hobby for some 5 or 10 years (maybe longer) buys the same heli and has so many problems he ends-up selling it and then starts bashing, while all the time he knows many many people are out there flying them and NOT having any problems,,, I just happened to be lucky enough to be friends with a top FAI flyer, he has been flying RC helis for 21 years this year !! (he used to compete in the 70s and earl early 80s, and won many times, but he got sick of driving to the competitions so he stop competing), at this time he does not own a Century heli, but what does he tell me, Century's helis fly fantastic, they fly smooth and track very straight and they do what he asks them to do, he loves my Falcon, every time I fly with him he has-to fly it,,, don't worry to much about the Century bashing, because what I have learned is rather it's good or bad, the bashing makes Century the most talked about heli brand on the forums, and in the end that's good !!


Jim

fritch1969

just really getting sick of hearing about the expensive rappy this and rappy that

syclic

Fritch,

If you do a search of Hughes500Pilot (along with a few others on RR), you will find that they consistantly do so. Obviously he has some personal burr up his arse.

What these type do not realize is that as time goes on and more and more people discover the value of the Century heli's the more ridiculous they end up looking. At our local field, we discuss RR regularly, and Hughes500Pilot has become sort of a joke.

This field used to be a "higher priced" heli field. But with time, as more and more fliers had the courage to ignore these naysayers and try the current versions of the Hawks, Falcons, Ravens and Predators, the more these helis have taken over, and it is these fellows that are now almost embarrased to show their faces at the field.

funkyflyer

Wasp, I don't know if it is all good in the end. I would hate to think of the new guys turned away by all the negative people on RR. The problem is, everything on these forums is one sided. Nobody ever gets to hear Century's side of the story. I have a hard time relating to a lot of these posts, because the whole reason I became a Century customer is how much help I got from Dennis one time after I bought a Hummingbird from someone else. And all of my orders came in a timely fashion. I can't be the exeption to the rule.

Super Hero In Training

Ye Hah!

DustOffUH1

My Feedback: (2)

Yep, I think the people who have a problem with Century,,, just have a problem period. The same type of people who keep sending a meal back for no good reason. Century has always been helpful to me, and orders are processed quickly. Once when it did take a coule of days more, they called to tell me so. They were in the process of moving.

lawnhawk

Century Rocks!!

The people who are complaining about their products and services must be the same people that burn out their speed control every week because they don't know how to solder a motor lead or set a gear mesh.

Long live Century!

Hawk Sport
Hummingbird
Many Tools and Accessories
100% Satisfied
What more can I say?

k27r

My Feedback: (7)

I too have Century helis. A hawk and now a Falcon. I have bought from Century a couple of times. Each time I got what I ordered and if something is backordered they let me know. The shipping was timely too. My first time I flew my Hawk it hovered with ease very stable. As I can tell these are very good helis. For someone starting out I think it is the way to go. At a price of $159 for the Hawk Sport it cant be beat. There are going to be poeple who love Chevys and hate Fords. They will both get you where you are going (you might end up pushing the Ford though[:@]) Good luck with it and welcome to the Darkside!!

chrisb01

Flying Helis is an art. Some people are not artists and can't fly a heli if they throw it off the roof. But they do need some one or something to blame for their lack of control. All my experiences with Century have been great.[8D]

Hughes500Pilot

I didnt know I was this famous... Thanks for noticing. But I still stand by what I say. -Steve

DustOffUH1

My Feedback: (2)

Famous? Hardly. I do however agree on your opinion on OS engines. As far as your opinion on Century, well, we already gave ours on that subject. Everyone has their own opinion. I own 2 Century heli's. Both I am happy with. As I said b4 their service is great, as well as their customer service, in my experiences with them. In any case, welcome to RCU. And lets leave it at that.
Joe

darkfa8

My Feedback: (19)

I'm a total newbie to helis. I've messed around with RF2 for a few hours and sorta got the hang of it's assorted helis. I bought a second-hand NIB RTF Hawk Sport on the recommondation of a guy whom I sold a NIB Altech P51D Mustang to who flies other-brand helis but had great things to say about the Hawk for a "starter" heli at minimal investment.

I also bought Ray's book and have been reading through it. All the intricacies and details have become apparent in terms of the assembly of a heli kit. To my pleasure, a lot of forethought has already gone into the "stock" design of the Hawk Sport. It doesn't seem to need as much prep, polish and adjustment as other helis outlined in his book (JRs, Raptor V1, Kalt, etc..). Things have gone together on the mechanics very well, straight, smooth and without needing much tweaking.

For a price of $150+shipping, what beats that? The upgrade path and ability of the machine is apparent, though I think when I get to a point where I'm going to take up serious 3D, I'll hopefully have a stash of cash to get either a Raven, or step upto the plate for a 60 or 90 Predator

but, even at that point, the Hawk was designed to be versatile, can always be my "experimentation" machine and cheap to repair if I hit the deck.

I was on the phone with one of the sales people at Century to get some information and order some parts and they were incredibly helpful, didn't come off condescending in any way and actually, despite my newness to the hobby, made me feel like I knew what I was talking about and we even had a bit of friendly small talk about other helis and the industry as a whole. He didn't have anything outright bad to say about the Raptor, which was my other heli of consideration, but he did convey that they are obviously more expensive then the Hawk and parts are supposedly a bit more difficult to get.

Either way, the Century support is excellent, parts are cheap, the machines provide you a lot of bang-for-the-buck. I think on the whole they are probably everything you need and nothing you don't. .... and if you want more, bling, CF, whatever, just mod the hell out of it lol

I haven't found any good reason, just yet, to go with another brand.

Thank you Century, and thank you Brent Hornbeck for buying my airplane :P and recommending the Hawk

I'd also like to add that I get the same sort of situation with that guy at RunRyder at work, except to do with cars. You can build a perfectly tuned Corvette that makes 500rwhp, and the owner will take it to the track and run terrible times and wonder why he just spent $15k on the upgrades and not get the "numbers" he wants. They'll go onto the internet and bash us, bash the manufacturer of the parts and get a whole lil internet mob together over it. 99% of the time, the customer has more money then brains and instead of spending the time and/or money going to a racing school (cause he could afford to) or just going to the track with his existing ride and practicing, he'll think that 500rwhp and his right foot will net him the number he wants without even taking the time to learn the intricacies of racing. Well, all I can do for those customers is gladly accept their money and give them the business card of a reputable body shop

Some people just don't learn, they just crash....and crash...and...

timeplt

My Feedback: (5)

I have been into this Hobbie for about a year 3 months & I started out with a used Kyosho nexus to save money, but it ended up costing more then it was worth. I purchased a brand new Hawk sport 3 months later but I cut coners & the only thing wrong with the machine is that I never got a simulator plus I hurried though the instructions & I did not bother learning from someone or getting any lessons & wrecked it 2 times. Since then 7 months ago I have bought another unit took my time assembling & practiced on G2 plus got lessons & the machine is excellent & it is a great value. To all the skeptics I do own a Kyosho caliber (4 months now) & I have a Raptor V2 which I got though a trade but I fly my Hawk sport twice as much as any of the other machines. Century is really good with getting me parts & shipping They are very helpful on the phone & the product is good (dont beleive people that have not experienced using the unit & are bashing it out of ignorance)

Timeplt

biggster

I'm a newbie to heli's ,i bought a century sport and in the process of finising it. from what i see this helicopter went together very well. the rudder linkage setup leaves alot to be desired, but if thats all you can find bad about such a complex machine for 150.00 ,then thats not bad at all.

syclic

Without a doubt, in RR or any other forum, you will find Ron Lund as one of the most respected heli retailers in the USA. Here is a quote from his web site relating to Century helicopters. The following is from a retailer who deals with most every manufacturer of consequence.

"A little history

We made a decision a few years ago to carry some Century parts because so many guys were asking for them and Phil Noel, the Canadian distributor for Century, was bugging me. I have to be honest; because of some dealings I had with them many years ago, I wasn't too impressed with Century products or the company as a whole, but I like Phil and he had always treated me well. So rather than endure the countless phone calls, I caved in and agreed to carry some Hawk parts.

Much to my surprise, Century's service has been exceptional. They seem to have a really good inventory of parts and are quick to let me know when a part is out of stock. My orders are processed quickly and normally shipped within a day. Problems and warranty issues are handled fairly and quickly. It seems that some of the other manufacturers could learn a lesson from Century."

The last sentence says it all !!

warren52nz

I'd like to add some info to the database here. I bought an electric Century Hummingbird 3D Pro with all of the recommended upgrades and it arrived about a month ago after a production delay due to "finishing an upgrade to the tail section" and I've had nothing but trouble with the tail, especially the way the gears mesh. There's no adjustment for this and, out of the box, it was unflyable. So now I'm trying this and trying that, replacing parts, etc. I've spent about $1600 US (includes everything including Tx) on it altogether now (although I have quite a few spares now) and I'm still grounded.

I have no problem with the service... they send parts out promptly (I live in New Zealand which is like MARS to you guys) and Red Nylander at Heli-World is helpful although it takes a week or 2 for him to respond sometimes. No problems there as far as I'm concerned.

But I'm an engineer and, after examining the tail drive for hours, I've come to the conclusion that it's a design fault. And others are complaining too (while many others rave). The different opinions lead me to believe it's a Quality Control issue. That's backed up by the fact that the original tail gearbox was too loose and the replacement I bought was too tight.

So, all in all, I'd vote NO to Century although I hope you're right and my problems will all go away once I get everything just right.

The other day, after 5 hours on it replacing tail bits, I flew out 2 battery charges worth and it was great fun. Then the next day when I powered it up it spun around madly on lift off and, as I expected, the tail gears were slipping yet AGAIN! If I wasn't into about $200 worth of shipping on all of this, and I could make it happen, I'd go for a refund now and get a TRex.

Also worth mentioning that someone put in the effort to add up the cost of building a 3D Pro and a TRex from parts and the 3D Pro had a 161% markup on parts and the TRex had a 32% mark up.

And that's all I have to say about that!

DustOffUH1

My Feedback: (2)

My opinion was based on the 2 helicopters I purchased from them (which were not electric, A Hawk and the Bell 222), and the service they provide. So I have no idea about the Hummingbird, which I have read had problems to begin with (as well as any electric heli). So only for that reason I have stayed away from purchasing an electric from any company who makes them. Did you try contacting Century directly? So far I have not purchased an electric, from anyone, because I hear they are very "touchy" esp for someone just getting into helicopters. I am hoping to get the new Hawk Pro soon. I'll see how that goes. Helicopters to begin with, are nothing like flying planks. Much more set up and preperation, and A LOT more practice and more practice. In any case I wish you well with the Hummingbird. I hope you get it going and in the air soon (for good), and have lots of fun with it