I want to buy my first heli, and would rather spend more money initially and crash a bit more than having to buy three separate choppers because I get bored with them too quickly. I have Realflight G3.5 and have pretty good control on there, and have been researching choppers quite a bit. I've decided against T-Rex's because they're too expensive and I don't really need that much of a chopper, but I think I've decided on a Blade CP.

I just don't know if I should get a normal CP, a CP+, or a CP Pro. What are the differences between the three? I mean, I know that if I buy a CP Pro I'll have to buy asymmetric blades, but besides that what are the negative aspects about buying something like this? What would y'all recommend as a first chopper?

My mom is considering getting my dad one for Valentine's Day...I know, what a mom!!

The CP and CP+ would be a little easier to fly than the CP Pro. But the CP Pro has a 3 in 1 so you could hook up a gyro if you wanted to. I would recommend the CP+ to start out with then get the CP Pro bell hiller system when you are ready. If you are using the wooden blades get plenty of extras and get plenty of spindles and mainshafts. Those where the main things that I had to get when I was learning on the CP Pro. Usually the bigger the helicopter the easier it is to learn on. I could have easily bought a T-Rex with all of my broken parts on the CP Pro, but there are plenty of alternative helicopters that are good for alot cheaper. The E-Sky series has a lot of good CP helicopters that are reasonably priced.

In my opinion i think to jump in so fast straight onto cp birds would frustrate you and cost a fortune in the learning curve, it still does a bit with the cx2 but you get the hang of it real quick which boosts your confidence and still teaches you valuble lessons while costing less to replace parts with stupid neewbie mistakes.

When I was learning to fly the CP Pro I got frustrated and went to the CX that I could actually fly. Then I went back to the CP Pro and could fly it a little better. Then just kept doing that and now I can fly CP helicopters.

The CP+ Also has a 3in1 only diff between the cp+ and cp pro is the bell hiller on the pro and the hiller only on the cp+ to get the cp+ to bell-hiller it is about a 20-30 upgrade, the hiller is easier to learn on as it isnt as sensitive as the bell-hiller.

SO I say CP+ as it is less twitchy, can put a HH gyro in it, easy to go brushless and when you have the skill and confidence you can add the bell-hiller mod and really tear up the sky. And that is my .02

You will learn much faster on a larger belt driven model such as a b400 or a t-rex because they fly much better.

I was going to mention a B400 but that is going from a 200.00 bird to a 469.00 bird But I firmly believe the B400 is the better buy.

It is the better way, having flown everything from CP, CPP, B400 and trex's the performance difference between a CP or a B400 is amazing. Spend the money now for nicer parts and you won't be spending as much money on spares in the long run.

And heli flying isn't cheap, so you get what you pay for.

That's pretty embarassing TEX, good job pointing it out! What I meant was that I'd rather buy a CP+ than a CX2...but that's a difference of $10 and a bit more in parts. A new TRex is just over $1000 (5 times as much as either). Plus, I realize that a TRex is a whole other monster that I don't even want to start dipping my toes in.
Also, a $500 training chopper isn't exactly what I was looking for.

Either way, my mom said screw it and sent me to the LHS right after I started this thread. The plan was she was going to buy what I told her to buy on Wednesday, but she said she wasn't going to go in there herself. I walked out of there with a spare spindle, spare plastic blades and the Blade CP+. We'll see if my dad and I can learn to fly.

I am thinking of buying my first Helicopter. I have been flying a HobbyZone Super Cub and I know the heli will be quite different. I can't decide if I should go for the Blade CX2, the CP, or the B400. I like the CX2 but I have been told it doesn't do well outdoors. I would like to be able to take a helicopter to the park with my Super Cub and be able to fly it with a little wind. Would the B400 be my best bet and if so how difficult is it for a beginner to learn to fly?

Thanks,
Mark

The cx2 is a great beginner chopper that doesnt cost the earth but doesnt perform miricles either, its a lot of fun, it teaches you diciplin but its by no means a b400 or a trex, it totally different, its a confidence builder and oriantation teacher and will fly outside if modded ie. servos arm moved out and vortex extended flyshaft etc

But its a totally different manchine, great for indoors not so good out, but same to be said for b400 and trex etc, no good (and dangerous ) indoors, great outdoors

Try a simulator first see if you like the coax helis, I got bored of mine in 10 minutes, but some people love theirs. Skip the blade CP if you can afford to, the B400 flies much better and you dont have to fly the tail all the time, and it much more stable.

So if I wanted to fly mainly indoors then the CX 2 is the answer. And outdoors the B400 or the CP (as far as which would be best for a beginner)? And how easy is it to break these things (other than the blades which I can easily replace)?

thanks for the info. I am sure there are other forums for this but is there a cheaper heli sim that I could get the basics on besides the Real Flight G4 and the FSOne? To at least see if I would like the coax?

It is cool to see someone else who has a super cub here. I am still trying to learn on mine. I need a bigger space to fly. The blade CP doesn't do so good with wind. The B400 would be a better choice for outdoor flying.

Exactly cx2 indoors others out, and its real easy to break these with a decent crash, normally its blades and bent shafts, id reccommend upgrading rotor heads and swashplates to metal and modify blades so that they fold in on impact which saves you lots of blades

In fact to save money in the long run on the cx2 for example then check out eat2muchrice links post and all the mods are worth doing to save money in long run, id say by far the cx2 is cheaper to repair compared to the other two

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_68...tm.htm#6821632

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that jumping too far ahead of your skill level can really discourage you from continuing with the hobby. I too bought a Blade CP as my first copter because I thought I'd get bored quickly with the CX. After a couple of months of trying to fly the darn thing, I got discouraged with the 10 second hovers followed by crash followed by blade replacement, spindle replacement, etc... It really takes the fun out of it when your fixing the thing more than actually flying, especially when the blades alone are $15 bucks a pop. I put the CP away and didn't fly it for almost a year. Then I was hanging out with a friend who had a Lama. I tried flying it and found it much easier to control. I decided that I needed to buy a coax for myself. I bought a Blade CX2 in November and found it very easy to fly once properly trimmed. I intentionally didn't trim the tail at times so I could learn to "fly the tail" like I knew I'd be doing with the CP. After a couple of weeks of flying the CX2 in the house, I dusted the cobwebs off of the CP and decided to give it another shot. I was amazed at how much better I had become just form being able to actually fly the CX2 instead of constantly crashing. Now, I still fly both. On rainy days, I can work on my nose in hovers in the house, and if the weather permits, I'll fly pack after pack on the CP. I love both of my Blades and I'm already thinking about moving up to the 400 in a month or two. The nice thing about the CX2 and the CP is they are small enough to fly around the neighborhood without POing the neighbors. I don't know if you could say the same about the 400. I have a feeling that alot of parents would be wary of that thing buzzing around the neighborhood. Just my .02 cents.

Totally agree with above statement, you need to take it slow build up knowledge and confidence then step up, if you step up too quick it will frustrate you to the point of giving up IMO

Thanks for the info guys. Maybe a CX2 would be the better choice even though my outdoor flying would be limited. I could also afford to beef that one up a little bit with the extra parts. Then maybe look at a 400 later in the year depending on what I can afford.

When i was getting into the hobby I was also confused on heli's.My lhs told me i should get a sims and then get a cx.But after thinking it over i decided i would get a cp pro and skip the sims.Well it was hard at the beginning.I mainly ruined blades.Then i found radds and started taking the steps i read.Before long i was hovering in my living room with no problem.So i decided i was ready for outdoors.Man was it hard chasing that tail on the cp pro.Any slight breeze and i was on pins and needles.The cp pro is a very hard heli to fly simply because of the tail.Well i finally got feed up with the tail.And put it up for awhile.Then the blade 400 came out and i was drawn to it like a magnet.Let me tell you now this heli has lots of power.And very stable.Night and day difference from my cp pro.But to make a long story short if i had to do it over again i would get the blade 400 follow the radds school of flight and take my time.I know alot of people will disagree with me on this.But a sims will not compare to the real thing whats so ever none of them period end of story.The money you spend in a sims you could use that for spare parts. This way you will learn hands on and how to repair your heli.Don't be intimadated the key is take your time follow radds and i promise you will be flying in no time at all.

I have to agree w/ all that has been said here. My first heli was a Thunder Tiger Raptor .30 I had to build from bags and bags of parts. I bought the rotopod (training gear) and made a cable that I could use my TX w/ the FMS sim. I got decent at hovering it, but when I would get it over my head I would loose my oreintation.
To make a long story short that was about 4 years ago, and the raptor has sat on the bench most of that time. Was waaay to scary to think of me flying the Raptor (got too much invested in it to tottaly kill it) This year I got a cx-2 for christmas. I don't mind smacking that little thing against a wall. I have had more fun w/ the cx-2.
Then I bought a 'pro'. The pro is a handfull (harder than the raptor (from what I remember) I am working on knocking the dust off of ) , but luckily I had experience from the raptor.

The best advice I have read is only buy what you can afford to replace (assuming you like the hobby). I wish I would have heard that before I jumped in head first and payed $1000 for my entrance fee.

Just my $0.02

_ Mos

I got to fly the CP+ today, and spent about a whole battery just hovering in the garage. While I can't spend the whole battery hovering, most of the times that I had to land were to prevent running in to either the walls or the ceiling. Not because I couldn't control it, but because I was trying to fly it around. Anyway, I had a little bit of a rough landing and I scraped up the blade. I flew it a while after that, but anyway...what should I do about that??

Victorzamora,

CP+ is a good machine. I didn't know they were still offered, I thought they dropped all the CP's except the Pro this year. Anyhow, it's not too different from the CP Pro except the bell-hiller head and I believe a smaller pinion on the later. Did you happen to pick up the training kit? They're a little awkward but it's saved my whirly bird countless times from disaster. E-flite has good parts support at most LHS's.

The blade 400 is really nice also.heres a few pics of me flying it in my basement with 3 weeks of total flight time and 6 times useing my buddys flight sim when i stop by his house.Flys awsome..