I was wondering for the blade cp pro. When hovering is it best to idle up or in normal mode? I read that if in idle up the head is in constant speed making hover better. Is this true? or is just for 3d move? Do you guys do this? Thanks.

I am still a beginner, and my reflex when things go wrong is to decrease the throttle rapidly. In normal mode, the pitch go to 0 degrees, or maybe a little negative and the motor decreases in power and revs too, as you go down. In idle up mode, the motor still revs fast, and the pitch goes really negative. So if I make a wrong move and I shut the power rapidly in idle up mode, I will accelerate the helicopter downward faster than gravity, a lot faster in fact. This is not good. So I am not going idle up until I am good enough to do it safely.

Georges

You can increase the head speed in hover by moving into idle up (turn up the idle-up mode throttle curve setting).
This will make the heli more stable and cause the gain or loss in latitude while hover to be a function of pitch more than rotor head speed. You will achive a more stable hover and a smoother climb/decend.

HOWEVER. Your flight times will decrease & more importantly if you are still learning you will do the funky chicken every time you crash if you are practicing hovering in idle-up. It will really smash up your wallet.
I would say BAD idea to try to learn in idle up.... You may be able to achive what you are looking for by lower the pitch a bit and trimming up the throttle. Just remember to put things back when you advance past hovering.

yeah, I would agree for a newb normal mode is best. Idle up isn't any easier to hover with, and can actually make the heli alot more responsive, which is one of the main things that a newb is trying to figure out, plus there are the crashing danagers. The blades are going to be spinning faster, and then there is the other things that have already been mentioned. So I would stay in normal mode.

MRASMM, makes another great point I totally forgot to mention. with the higher headspeed the cyclic response will be more responsive. Which is a good thing UNLESS your are learning. If choke for 1 second and give too much stick the increased responsiveness will only exaggerate your mistake.
excellent cyclic response is beloved by a good pilot but can be a nightmare for a newb................newb in idle up = funky chicken. I know this from experiance. I forgot to flip back to normal many time when I was still new to FFF.

that's what we're all here for =)

pretty much everyone knows most of the stuff that needs to be done, but certain ways make more sense to certain people, or sometimes there are just so many possibilities that one just gets left out =)

It's real nice to be in a friendly group like our eflite forum =)

Hey guys, somethign quick I learned, being a bit new to the hobby, found out a couple things to make the CP Pro so much easier to fly. everyone knows about adding a set of weights to the flybar, all the way out, that helps a little. also, move all the servo links in a hole on the servos. I tried this just before I sold mine because the buyer was a compelte newb to the hobby, this was to be his first heli. I took a coupel test flights and it was stable and MELLOW, but you hit the cyclic and throttle it woudl still go, just took more effort on the TX, great thing I found for us rookies. Makes hovering a million times easier too. I am probably not the first to figure this out, but I wanted to add some help just in case.

thanks for all the replies.

I posted a few days back about making the Blade CP into a fixed pitch (requires programmable controller)

I have the pitch fixed at 75% for "normal", normal for idle 1, and idle up for idle 2.

Using DX7, flies great right now that I'm still in hover

So now I have a fixed pitch and a normal Blade CP Pro(extreme).

DY

PS something else I did was added a slight pitch increase when it lands in normal mode so it sits down softer. I can pretty much cut the throttle and just the slowing down of the motors sets it down soft every time, might mean I can go back to factory skids. It does have a slight tendency to tilt a little right when it lands so I do have to watch that.

KR-1981 I agree with you, moving the pushrods in a hole or two on the servo arm (closer to center) is probably the best FREE mod one can & should consider to do. This is my first heli also and I flew airplanes for a long time. I moved each pushrod in 2 holes and also lengthend the TX sticks some from the begining. I was out flying this morning, about 90 degrees @ 2,500 feet altitude in Vegas. My trims are all in center as the CPP comes out of the box. In calm air, while in hover, I can let go of both sticks for 2~3 seconds before it starts to drift a little, minor corrections needed to keep it steady, then I can let the sticks go for a second or 2 before a little input. When the breeze came up later this morning, enough breeze to know the direction of the wind (about 5~7 mph), I couldn't let go of the right stick, but I let go of the left stick and the tail held fairly steady for about 10 seconds (yes, I was actually counting those looong seconds :-) , all I had to do was add a click of throttle/pitch or reduce one click (the sweet spot was between clicks)...I then turned the heli 90 degrees to the wind (cross wind) and relaxed on the left stick and let go of the left stick again only, noticed it would just slowly correct its own heading into the wind.....Can't let go of the right stick in the wind because the wind would just walk it down wind. I have a total of 15 flights on mine and it's all stock parts, about 15 minutes per flight per pack. The tail motor is cool after each run and the main motor is warm, and it cools down within about 7 minutes....Would like to try a loop next time out. I don't think I would be letting go of the sticks in a loop ;-)