AmirS

Hello' I'm new here and I've looked through the posts but I still need some help.
I really want to get into flying helicopters but I don't know which kind to get, I was thinking an RTF but I don't know which kind.
I've seen the evoflight sabre, gws mini dragonfly II,venom night ranger II, helimax rotofly ex mini.
which would be easiest to leanr to fly with?

VinceHerman

The easiest to learn to fly with is a counter-rotating model like the Hirobo XRB Lama or the Blade CX.
These are mostly indoor only models, but they can be used outside on very calm days.

AmirS

I think I prefer getting a tail rotor one, because I think I'll want to move up to something bigger and more powerful

SkyUp

Hello Amir,

You will likely get many answers here, but it depends a lot on how much you want to spend, what you want to be able to do with it, whether you want to fly it indoors or only outdoors etc.

Some things to take into consideration are ... Do you have a Local Hobby Shop where you can get parts and advice or would you be getting every thing online?
You want to be able to get parts quite easily and you will crash (it's not a matter if, it's a matter of when).

Probably the easiest helicopters to fly are the coaxial ones, like the Blade CX. You can fly these in the house but they wouldn't work well outdoors if there is any air movement (wind). I also hear others speak of the Lama as nice and easy to fly. These are good for getting used to flying a helicopter and are cheap to repair. The problem with these is that they may teach you bad habits over the long run if you intend on getting a CP (Collective Pitch) Helicopter later.

Good Basic CP Helicopter are the Blade CP and the E-Sky CP2, they are quite difficult to master right away, but are probably more fun to fly once you learn to control them some. These are not too expensive either but you may be crashing more often right at the beginning. They're all a bit fragile (the ones that I've mentioned so far), but can be fun to fly.

The CP Heli's that I mentioned above have a separate tail motor which is undesireable IMO as the tail motors often burn out and they do not control the tail as well as some other tail types.

I like a belt driven tail or shaft driven tail. The E-Sky King is a good example of a driven tail and flys somewhat more stable. The motor for the King is a Brushed type motor but you can upgrade that later to a Brushless type if you like. If you upgrade to a Brushless, then you need to also upgrade the speed controller (ESC). Other nice upgrades are the gyro (a Heading Hold Gyro is much more stable than the gyro that comes with most of these above)

You could always get a higher end heli that may be more stable, but it will also cost more to repair or replace if/ when you crash.
Probably best to learn on something less expensive then progress to something with all the bells and whistles when you get more confident flying them and have had a chance to study what features that you like the most.

Another option is to invest in a good Flying Model Simulator and get the hang of the controls well before getting a helicopter, I hear that G3 is one of the best simulators and is most lifelike, It'll run you around $200 USD but is probably worth that assuming one crash could cost you that much with some helicopters.

So figure what you want to do in the long run, how much you want to spend, how long you think you will remain interested in helis and where you are going to get parts for it.

I hope this helps.

AmirS

thanks for the replies
I want this first one to learn how to fly and to understand how helis work so I can get a more complex CP or maybe nitro heli
I'm looking in the ballpark of about 150$(US)

SkyUp

http://www.helidirect.com/product_in...roducts_id=594

I hear that this is a very fun one to fly ... and best of all, it's able to fly in the house, just don't expect it to fly outside in any wind and you'll be good to go.

What ever you decide I wish you the best of fun with your new heli.

No tail motor on this one, but I've heard good things about it!
It comes stock with a Li-Poly Battery too.

Seek and Destroy

if you got a esky lama 2 you would save a bunch of money, which you could use for spare parts.

taoist flyer

Skyup has sum great suggestions; I have both a honey bee cp2 and a coco sky lama.
The cp2 was about $220 with an extra battery and set of carbon blades. It flew great for about the first three weeks. My main motor and battery are now ruined and it won’t fly again until I invest about another $50 or $60 bucks in it. It didn’t take a wreck to burn out the motor. I had it at a low head speed, (to low) and apparently this burned out my main motor and batteries.
I had a simulator for about 4 months before I got the honey be cp2. Without the simulator practice I would have totaled the helicopter in less then a week.
Before I had either a honey bee cp2 or a simulator I had my coco sky lama.
I still get flight time out of it and I didn’t have to get replacement parts for over a month.
I really enjoy flying it and it has taught me sum of the most important aspects of flying like nose in flying and being light on the stick.
For sum one whom is new to helicopters I think it is the best way to go, and it is one of the only quality helicopters you can get for less then $150.
I will probably keep my honey bee cp2 but it won’t fly very often. I think it would be better for me to buy a t-rex over a few months instead of wasting money just trying to keep my honey bee in the sky.
Now if you already have sum one that will teach you how to set up and fly a helicopter then the honey bee is a great model to start with. But if you don’t have a trainer to help you set it up and fly it you might be better off starting with a lama.

Video of my lama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Y6D3UmOgo

Video of my honey bee cp2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hifiWWlyhgs

Video of my simulator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dloVWmra3V0

AmirS

what would be a good simple basic fixed pitch tail rotor heli?

if I get a coaxial heli and learn to fly it myself, how hard will it be to set up and fly a CP one like the blade on my own without instruction?

taoist flyer

Their is a honey bee fixed pitch. It is a good beginner helicopter. If you do get a single rotor helicopter I would suggest the honey be collective pitch. I have heard it said that a fixed pitch single rotor helicopter can be harder to learn on then a collective pitch one.
The set up isn't extremely hard to do on a honey bee cp however for proper flight it does need to be precisely set up. It's mostly about making sure you have the proper pitch and tracking settings, it makes a big difference if you have a pitch gauge.
If you want to be able to fly every day inside and out then a coaxial is a great way to go. However if you want to learn how to maintain a helicopter only a collective pitch style helicopter will give you the experience you need.
When you get a cp helicopter it will take a few weeks to get used to setting it up properly weather you have a coaxial or not. If you start with a coaxial or a simulator you will get the VERY important flight skills of hovering nose left right in and out confidently. It sounds simple but is very important. This alone saves money and time.
A single rotor helicopter has a very fast head speed and it is hard to get a feel for how fast the blades spin until you have one in front of you under your control. That is something you don’t get from a coaxial. When a coaxial helicopters blades hit the ground they stop spinning. When a single rotor helicopters blades hit the ground they like to keep spinning and cause damage especially in high idol (3d flight mode).
If you can be extremely patient when it comes to learning to fly, then a cp heli is a good trainer but you have to be extremely disciplined otherwise you will total the helicopter.
When you learn to fly a helicopter you form new control pathways in your brain that help with orientation and it CANT happen in a week or two. So go slow and you will get their fast. If you have a chance check out RADD'S SCHOOL OF ROTARY FLIGHT ( http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html ) You don't have to follow it to the letter but it teaches sum great concepts, and it helps teach discipline, one of the most important parts of flying.

thecheatscalc

I'd suggest the walkera #4 it's simple, cheap, and able! you'll have to take it slow as it's not going to be easy to fly at first (no heli is, they are NOTHING like a plane or car) so you've got to be ready to crash, it's a part of flying.

now you CAN get the #4 for about $70-$90, and have PLENTY of money for spares. I'm getting one myself to fully ready myself for my 36.

taoist flyer

I've heard conflicting reports on the walkera products but I have never tried them.

thecheatscalc

they're usually very well designed heli's, just they don't seem too good on the electrical components... I've heard they matched up the #4 pretty well though, and they don't seem to have all the additional issues most the others have.

taoist flyer

Sum of their products look real cool.