dutchalltheway

Howdy you guys
Well..after 4 years of screaming I would NEVER want to fly helicopter...the virus got to me!! At this moment I have 4 nitro airplanes, but now I would LOVE to start flying a helicopter. I am faithfully practicing on my Aerofly Pro Deluxe simulator, since I am well aware of the challenges of flying a helicopter.
I can really use you guys help here, since I am new to this area.
This is what I would like:
An electric helicopter, between $200-$300, preferable RTF, easy to work on, easy to set up, with great stabillity for a beginner.

Needless to say, I will surf the forum to get more knowledge and information, but I hope on you guys's help to get me "jumpstarted" so to say.
all you guys's information and tips are very much appreciated!!

Wolfpackin

"great stability"=coaxial heli

If you are OK with that and flying mainly indoors I would recommend the E-flite CX2 or Esky Lama V.
Both heli's are RTF with a TX, battery and charger.
The CX2 is $189 and Lama is $89.

You will outgrow both fairly quickly but they are a great place to start.

If you want something more challenging look into fixed pitch single rotors.
These are not easy to learn on, but it can be done.

Druss

if you put in enough practice on your sim there is no reason that you can't jump right into a cp heli. that's what i did with an eflite blade cp (do not recommend this heli at all).

for $200 you can get an esky belt cp, it's 450 size, comes with brushless motor and esc and is rtf. you can use any extra money to buy parts.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

I came in to helis 3 months ago after 10 years of planes. Had no desire. I bought Towers AXE CP. After the head blew apart during a simple hover I returned it. Also it came with a nicad packwhich drained at a horrible rate. So with this the electric tail rotor and main engine were doong their own thing making it a realpain to deal with.

It was a waste of time and nearly a waste of a few hundred dollars. I then went to the Belt CP. Full functional tail that runs off a belt from the main gear. Much more stable to deal with.

Now with helicopters, you will have constant issues. Much more so than with planes. This is just the way they are, even with fullscale ones. Does not matter what size, electric, gas, glow or turbine. So your just going to have to deal with it- or not.

Dugster

Druss and Cyclic Hardover have it right. If you are a good club flyer and can use the rudder you can jump to the ESky Belt CP. It hovers as easily as a coaxe heli. At $200 it is the best deal out there. [sm=wink_smile.gif]

RussWisc

If you have 10 years in Nitro planes ,,, why not stay with Nitro a T-Rex 600N is a great machine I have both planes and Helis ,,, both N and E

Druss

damnit Russ, if you know where we can get a Trex600N for $300 don't keep it a secret man...

RussWisc

not $300 but I payed $405 T-Rex600N-Pro

even at that price to get it in the air nice setup your looking at $1200 not including TX

Patto

I have heard a lot of good things about the Belt-CP on these forums and no negatives so far, and for about $200, you really get a great deal.

I would like to purchase that heli without the Tx/Rx included but I haven't found it available yet. I already have a lot of radio gear from my 2 decades of flying airplanes.

About a year ago, my dad bought me and my sons those little Picco 2 ch helicopters for Christmas. After always saying, "A helicopter?! NEVER!!" the bug bit me too, and hard!! I don't know why I was ever so against helicopters, because now they get more attention than my airplanes. Maybe it's because they are so challenging and require so much more skill and attention.

I now fly a T-Rex 600N after flying two different Raptor 50's and a handful of small electrics. The best advice I can give you is to be prepared to do some fixing, because you will crash at some point, without a doubt. I personally enjoy tinkering with the helis, so that's not a problem as far as I'm concerned. However, if you get one with crappy parts, such as the Falcon 3D or most of the Walkeras, it makes tinkering a process of ordering part after part, only to find something else broken when you spool it up.

Go get yourself that Belt-CP, or a T-Rex clone, get a good heading hold gyro and make sure it's set up properly, and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches from the beginning.

I also think it's best to have two helicopters available, in case one is down waiting for parts to arrive. If you have a local hobby shop that stocks parts for your heli, that is a huge bonus.

Have fun and keep us posted on your progress.

-Pat

Druss

You can find the belt cp in arf kit form if you look around, then you can put in whatever electronics you want in it.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

when you get better and want to move into nitro as I will. There are always great deals by guys wanting to bail out of it all and many are locals that you can check out before you buy. I see this all the time.

RC as a whole does not seem to have great resale. Most everyone has to take a hit to get rid of it even if its brand new, never flown with top of the line equipment. I seriously doubt i end up buyng a glow/gas kit. When it's time, I'm sure I'll see one hanging from the cieling with a sign o it,"pick me pick me!"

Shoot about 3 weeks ago some guy sold a huge electric for several hundred less than it was worth and all new, so deals are around

Druss

yep, i agree with you on the used heli's but I ended up buying a kit for my 600N Pro because my mother in law was in hong kong and got a great combo deal for the kit, engine, muffler and blades (all for $600). I've also got enough knowledge of building and repairing my electrics that i'm up for the challenge of building it and I want to know each and every part that goes into it so that i can replace any part.