tonycorn

Hello 'Will', 'Hoverup', 'Matt' and others on this thread.

Yes boys, of course a CP heli is more challenging. An FP is not even a 'real world' example. But I think you are fogetting what Kyosho are trying to do with the Caliber M24. As 'Hoverup' says, this is all about price and reliability. Kyosho will be branding this new bird under their 'ReadySet' logo, which like the vehicle range, is designed absolutely for Entry Level hobbyists. Do they give a rats-bum about FP vs. CP? Nah. The 'Hyperfly' was really just a whacky toy. The Caliber M24 is 'Level 2', and a fully featured item, eg. the new Shogun 400, would be a 'Level 3'. You've probably seen them already, but make sure you watch the video on the Kyosho site and the French guy's 2 videos where he flys it in a big room. When the Winter chills start and the snow begins late Fall, this little heli is going to be the #1 'must have' for Christmas, as all you 'Northern Hemisphere' dudes stay indoors. Yeah, sure, there are LOTS of new little EP helis drifting onto the market, but this one is a 'no brainer' ... plug in, charge up, connect and fly!

And, just like the now almost 'generic' T-Maxx, you can bet your house that there will be several after-market companies that will make 'tweaks' for the Caliber M24. I'd be amazed if Kyosho didn't have some hop-ups planned, maybe even a CP model further down the track? It's a simple business matter. Almost no other hobby brands, except maybe Traxxas and Tamiya, have the distribution network that Kyosho has - world wide. Just take the US alone. With the giant Hobbico/Great Planes group behind Kyosho as the US Distributor, think of the volume. The price-point is also going to be market leading ... it has to be.

Sure, you can go to Century-Heli (for example) and buy a Hummingbird cheap. but they are almost a 'niche' brand. I can (virtually) see the Caliber M24 in (horror!) Toys R Us! Just you wait and see! Is this a bad thing? Maybe not. With success comes competition and development. Once again, bet your house on more scale versions from Kyosho and others, with CP and whatever else tweaks your mind, in the next 12 months. Remember, we've only just seen the 'Summer' releases at RCX. The Christmas 2004 releases are probably still lurking in the various Product Development Departments, waiting to be unleashed on an unsupecting hobby public (Ouch! I can hear my wallet crying now!).

Let me be very 'sage like' and make a prediction. Becuase the start-up process can now be simply reduced to a flick of one-switch, I GUARANTEE that within the next 5 years, we wll have RTF jet powered models (planes and helis), that you can buy as easily as a T-Maxx. They won't be cheap, but they'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than they are now. It's called PROGRESS boys.

roq

Boy for a total heli beginner like me the caliber m24 and the xrb SR sure are tempting. Would be great to have CP in my first heli but these two look pretty great to me right now. Will have to wait and see some reviews and the prices when they are out but wow these are exciting to me. Can't imagine what's coming next like Tony says, micro heli mass-market about to really get going.

ukrconsul

My Feedback: (1)

It costs $355 US in Singapore (no S&H).

tonycorn

Hello UKRCONSUL,

Is this machine available in SQ now? If so, where? I'm heading up to SQ in about 3 weeks and will buy one there if possible. Understand from the Australina distribs that they may not have it available for 6-9 months! Have to convert for 36Mhtz, 220-240V etc etc. I don't care about freq ... it's for indoor use anyway.

So, where in SQ can I buy this Kyosho M24 ship?

Taa,
TC.

Airmicro

My Feedback: (2)

I think it looks great, and could care less thats its not CP, and I imagine Kyosho doesn't either! I'm sure like most Micro-Heli's now, you'll be able to upgrade it later anyway. I've been flying Micro's two years now and still love my FP Hummingbird! Very happy to see more companies coming out with more Small Heli's!

MisterEd

I'm sure you've seen this by now. They have $20 off posted on their home page also.[link]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXGLK6**&P=7[/link]

tinderbox883

Got one. Just made available in the US 9/04. Flys great, well made. Having a problem
getting parts though. I have been going through main motor pinion gears and the local
hobby shop has been able to get those. I think that I burnt the main motor as I can't get
it more that a few inches off the gound. However no one can get another replacement motor.
The 5-7 min flying time is off set with a 6 hour charge on the standard battery. Tried to order a quick charge battery and charger and that comes up "not available". Even tried to get a second standard battery to off set my wait for charging but can not get that either.
Something is going on with KYOSHO and their replacement repair parts, I heard third hand that "Great Planes" is going to sell the heli under their name but can not turn any real information on that rumor.
So right now my 300c sets on the self unable to fly do to a lack of replacement parts.

PilotFuller_UH60

[:@] Ok I bought one of these while I was on leave from Iraq a few weeks ago in hopes of another great experience from Kyosho. However! I was dissapointed in the product for these reasons.

1. The first bad thing happened right out of the box. It has a switch on the side to turn the reciever on and then a safety button to engage the main rotor after initial calibration preformed when the switch is turned on. So...I turned on the Transmiter and neutralized the controls and placed the throttle full down. Then as soon as I turned on the the switch on the heli, it went full power on the main rotor and bit the piss out of me! Did that twice to me.

2. The tail rotor does not seem to have enough RPM or pitch to maintain heading at full power. So the only thing I could do was get it to hover in a single direction for a while.

3. Being that it IS a FP heli... It is not very responsive. Like it has phase lag of 270 degrees instead of 90! LOL (for those of you who know what the hell I'm talking about). So even more so than a real heli or a CP model, you have to think way ahead of the heli. I wouldn't feel safe flying around spectators.

4. The battery doesn't last long as expected. Since no other batteries were available and the one they gave lasted less and less time...I tried putting together a battery pack. It didn't have the beef to get the heli off of the ground though. Finally got another origional battery pack. Now both packs can get full charge but the heli won't lift off of the ground. Almost as if the speed control high end is burned out.

5. Filled letter out on Kyosho website about the saftey button and power failure a about three weeks ago and I only recieved the auto reply. I understand it is a new heli and there will be some bugs to work out but they could at least write back!

I would hold out for something like the Shogun 400 CP if I were you! Hope this helps.

tinderbox883

I have been getting the royal run around from anyone that sells the main unit about replacement parts. The are few that list some spare parts, but only a couple list the batteries and motors as "Discontinued". The manual lists a "quick charge battery and charger" but that has beeen dicontinued also.

When I first got my bird it would lift off the ground, but was hard to control. After enough crashes to go through several pinion gears it now will not liff off either. The book sayes that it is either the battery pack or the motor being worn out. Your suggestion about the controler being the problem could also be right. In either case the motor or controler are not available.

I have had a few suggestions about using a different brushless motor with a matching Li-poly battery pack (and charger) but they also suggest swaping out the controler. The prices of that mod equels or passes buying another RTF helo.

I keep getting the answer that the heli is too new and parts are not yet flowing. So some time in mid October I will check my sources again. (The most reliable right now is Tower Hobbies).

I also have a Honey Bee from Hobby Lobby and there is no problem getting parts there. The Honey bee likes to go through tail rotors and not pinon gears. Probably because the pinion gear on that bird is made out of brass. Was able to get swash plates, extra flying time batteries and charger with no problem.

If anyone finds a good (stocked) source for the Kyosho Caliber M24 parts please let me know.

SexyPizzaMan

My Feedback: (19)

www.helihobby.com has a bunch of parts for the heli. Good web page, they r in cali im in NJ i got my package in 2 days with a 20 dollar shipping, they have cheaper shipping also, but iwanted my parts fast. Ordered fri got them sunday morning. Godd webpage i recomend them.

tinderbox883

Yes, I have been on helihobby's site. I see that they are now carring the motors but no the standard or quick charge battery. Maybe as the parts start to flow I can get what I need. Probably sometime in October.

SexyPizzaMan

My Feedback: (19)

How does it fly?? I saw they have it at www.heli-world.com for only 250 rtf . How is it?? Is it better then hummingbird?? or is this your first heli?

tinderbox883

My first Helo was a Hobby Lobby Honey Bee. The Caliber M24 has features that I like better, like the brass motor pinion gear. ( keep breaking the plastic ones on the Honey Bee). I am still a beginer so I can't realy say which one flies better... still trying to get both to hover. They say that the Shogun 400 (ZAP 400 or Zoom 400 in Europe) is the one to go after. I have not seen a ARF package anywhere yet. The Shogun 400 is aound 200 US dollars with out the radio and servos or controler.

astronut30

My Feedback: (5)

As far as the battery concerns, why don't you just slap some lipos in that biatch

tinderbox883

Thought about that, but the general opinion is that I would have also swap out the controler. Between the Li-po battery, charger and controler I could buy another helo. Looking at the Shogun 400, but no one is offering a "package" as a ARF.

astronut30

My Feedback: (5)

pm'd ya about Zoom info...

Velocity-8

My Feedback: (15)

They also have the RotoFly listed as available. It's good to have one more heli in the mix to make a difficult decision of picking a first heli even harder.

AV8

This is all good information and that, one thing I would like to see is the "Moderators" of this forum create individual threads "Topics" based on the helicopter type.

I don't think thats an unreasonable request. With this we would be able to more accurately share as well as find our specific infromation.

Don't get me wrong here, I think this is a great forum and I've been frequently on it. registered recently but have been here for a while. Just saying that it could be a smoother layout....

I hope this doesn't set anyone off... :-)

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

AV8:

Take a look in the RC Car forae, you'll see the effect of a different forum for every variation. It makes things harder, not easier.

Or that's my opinion.

Bill.

AV8

Perhaps its just "in theory"....

One would think that if the structure went from Helis to Gas or Elect. then to type or even model at the point it would be easy to navigate the threads. I do agree with you though, many times people will just throw out there questions and comments to land wherever they may.... when they should be putting the information in the right place.

So yes, I agree it can become "messy" if the users don't care about their respective communites.

*Tonight, I hover for a full pack* <heh>

-Av8