I have been into rc cars for about 3 years. I want to get into the heli. i am a very fast learner and get bored very easy. it has been recommended to purchase the e-flite cx2, but it looks to simple for me. i like a challenge. i had a chance to fly it at the hobby shop and already felt as if it was going to be easy for me. i have been considering buying the e-flite cp pro. it looks a bit more fun and you can do aerobatics. however i was warned that only having the single blade and w/o a gyro, it is much harder to control. can anyone give me any advice on what to do? can i purchase any additional options to help make flying easier in the beginning. i just don't want to purchase something and be bored after 2 weeks. and have $200 down the drain. SO PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! PLEASE[&o

Do yourself a favor and look into buying a T-Rex 450 or MX450. There is more money spent up front, but you will spend that much or more on repair parts for your CP or Pro. The 450 will be 100 times more stable than the Blade helis.

Your other option is the Helimax Axe CP. You can get that at tower with this $35 coupon code. It's a bit bigger heli and more easily upgradable.

Coupon code: 016F4

http://towerhobbies.com/products/heli-max/hmxe04.html

Well if you talk to CrashCrash he will tell you to get a Honey Bee King II.

I was into nitro cars for the last 5 years and electric for 5 before that..
Never tried a heli before. Around the New Year I picked up a used blade cp pro. Came with spare parts and a telebee gyro.
Never looked back. Love it and ten time the rush of the Jato. It took some time to learn to hover and move the heli where I want it. Now I can hover and ff flight . Nothing fancy but learning.
I say if you have the will, Go for it. Its intense at first but the rush is great. Just take your time and never leave the ground until you control the heli. RADDS
I did spend a lot of time balancing the heli to get it right. The biggest problem was the battery. Every time I hit the ground the battery would move. Solved it by building and battery box.
If you get a blade cp pro make sure you do the fuse and paper clip mod they paid off when learning..

Go for the blade cp pro

You can learn with a Blade CP Pro : I did. You will need perseverance, discipline, patience, and money for repairs. You will need to be mechanically inclined and you will have to look at the forums a lot if you want to learn a large amount of info in a short period of time. Learning to fly helicopters it a big commitment. Buying a good sim is the best investment in my opinion.

The BCPP vs T-Rex debate goes on. It cost about 500$ to get in the air with a BCPP. It costs about 1200$ to get in the air with a T-Rex 450SA if you don't have a computer Tx with CCPM. If you want to hover indoor, go with the Blade or any other similar sized bird that you LHS stocks parts for. If money is no object and you don't plan to hover indoor, go with the T-Rex.

The Blade is good fun for the money, parts are expensive, it is hard to fly as all smaller helicopters are. The T-Rex is a magnificent machine, parts are less expensive, flies like a dream, but the initial investment is higher.

But either way, the learning curve will be steep, and expensive.

I learned with the Blade, I am now programming my Futaba 9C to fly my new T-RexSA. Do I regret buying the BCPP? Not yet.

Good luck.
Georges

I do, I wish I had purchased the HB King v2 just like crash. I've spent way more to try to parallel this beast really not really trying to parallel a trex. I think my next purchase after i get my trex built will be to go back and get the HB King. ONLY problem is parts availability.

DY

I recommend the Blade CP or CP Pro if you are worried about getting bored. You can down grade the Pro with a 10 tooth motor and flat bottom wood blades.
Consider the following suggestions for new heli pilots;

1. SIM
2. Setup (w/training gear, etc)
3. Practice
4. Patience

Good luck and good flying!

P.S. Don't forget to wear eye protection while flying or working on your model.

I agree with pretty much everything you've said in this post, but I just wanted to specify a difference in price. It has cost me $230 to get my BCPP in the air, and that's brand new. Everything you actually need is in the box. So far nothing has broken or bent, so that is still my cost on this machine. Can I ask what you are factoring in to get the $500 price? Understandably, you will need to spend more on new blades, motors, Main shaft,misc,... etc, but the in-the-air price is the box it comes in.

Everything I have read points to the T-Rex as a more stable heli, and the parts are about the same or maybe even less than the BCPP, but you do have a lot more up front costs. Again, I question whether you need a full $1200 though. Maybe the exchange rates are that different from here to there?

Not trying to stir things up, so sorry if I have, but I just wanted to comment/ask on the price difference.

And definately, a good sim is the best money you will spend in this hobby.

Yeah you are right, no offense taken, i should have been more specific.

The exchange rate explains some of it. You can use 0.87 as a rough conversion factor I think. I also took the numbers off the top of my head. Now that I did the math and wrote it down, I feel that I overspent a little...

And I wanted to compare apples with apples, so to speak, even though they are not in the same class. Let me explain : I added a second LiPo to both birds because that's what everybody does, and I added a HH gyro to the BCPP to get it even with the T-Rex. Of course, you need to buy a computer radio and a charger for the T-Rex, since they don't come with one. So in Canadian dollars :

BCPP : 299$
additional lipo : 45.99$
G90 HH gyro : 99.99$
S&H+tax : about 75$
--------------------------
Total 550$


T-Rex 405SA ARF with ESC and Brushless motor : 299$
2 TP 2200 lipos : 200$
3 HS-65MG servos : 111$
1 Futaba 9650 digital servo : 65$
1 Futaba 401 HH gyro : 159$
1 balancing charger depending on your choice, about 100$:
Spectrum DX7 radio : 399$
S&H+tax : about 230$
--------------------------------------
Total 1550$

Of course the two machines are not in the same league at all, but even if you cut corners and bought the cheapest components and only one battery, you would still pay twice what you paid for the BCPP if you bought the T-Rex. That's what I wanted to show.

Regards
Georges

No problem, and thanks for the clarification. Once again I agree with everything you are saying, just the numbers that seemed a bit off. It makes sense now that you broke it down. My price was a bit cheaper and I didn't have to pay shipping since I bought it at a store. I think the additional lipo is something I will add very soon as well. I'm not sure the HH gyro is a "must have" but that depends on what you plan on doing, and will definately make things easier. I've got a gy401 I may put in there, but most likely I'll put it in something bigger. (It's in my Corona now.)

And twice the price seems about right for a T-rex here as well. When I bought my BCPP I was going back and forth between the complete BCCP, or just the working chassis of the T-rex for the same price. It was a tough call in my case, since I already have the radio and Gyro. I also have a brushless motor and esc, but I didn't know if it would fit the right size, so ultimately I went with the BCPP.

My reasoning also figured that if I got the BCCP I could fly a bit in my garage, and then later get the T-Rex also. If I would have gotten the T-Rex that would have been the only heli for quite a while. It's amazing that I am not that afraid of these spinning blades, but the rath of my wife is a whole different story!