micron

Whats up all.....

Been flying sims for a while and its finally time to get my first heli. I've narrowed it down to these to 2 choices:

The piccolo V2

or

The elite hummingbird v3

Both models seem to have thier pros and cons, so im really torn. Piccolo seems to be the pioneer in micros, so im leaning a little that way. Durability is also a major factor along with ease of flight and upgradability. Any advice or tips anyone can offer would be greatly appreiciated!!!

Thanks!

rusirius

To each his own, but is there any particular reason your looking into a micro? Just curious. I generally preach an "order" for obtaining heli stuff. Simulator first, Nitro heli second, then if you want something to mess around with indoors instead of just the sim, go for a little micro. I don't have anything against them, and they can be a blast to crash through the china cabinet, but generally outside they aren't very good unless you have very little wind. Even then they just don't fly as nice or stable as a nitro. If there's something particular about nitro you dislike, you can also look into a "standard" size electric like an eco. I doubt you'd have a problem with either the piccolo or hummingbird, but I have heard of a LOT of people having problems with other micros... receiver/gyro packs burning up, motors burning up, etc...

micron

Well i've had nitro and eletric cars. Nitro's are fun but def require much more maintenece, tuning, and overall monitoring. I just really enjoy driving more then fiddling with feul mixtures and monitoring temps. I just cant imagine the whole heli learning curve coupled with the tweaking and tuning of a finicky nitro enigine. Not to metion the main reason: price! I just cant afford to go nitro at this point in time, and i figure once i master flight and become more familiar with the hobby, then i can "invest" in a nitro. I've been flying the piccolo on FMS for a while now and on the sim at least i've pretty much mastered it. Also i figure since the micros are harder by the time i've mastered it nitros will come easy. Plus if im an overall failure of a pilot i can swallow $250, alot easier then $900!

It's good to hear at least you have some confidence in those two models

The piccolo v2 seems to be pretty durable and includes ikarus' sim which will be nice. So i'm kinda leaning that way. Plus i can later upgrade to CP.

I def apprieciate the input rusirius, thanks.

Flaps2012

I think that both of your choices for an indoor electric are well founded. Another one youo might consider is the MS Composit Hornet. I have had the FP version for a little over two years and have no qualls. It flies beautifully. The V2 is out now, which is a CP machine. One of the guys at my LHS has one, and he says it flies just like his Venture 30. If you have the sim mastered, whichever of the 3 you choose, you will have no problems keeping the little bird in the air.

rubaga

I quite like Hirobo XRB Lama as an indoor heli. I use it to check results of my sim training. Closer to spring I will go for a full nitro heli to fly outdoors.

XRB comes assembled and ready to fly.

rickyblaze

To the micros (I have 2) are an in between helicopter that I am finding little use for. I have a Hirobo XRB SR for inside and a Corona for outside. The Dragonflys I have are okay to hover inside but unless you have ample room like a Gymnasium then they are to big to fly around comfortably and too small to fly outside comfortably in any wind. The XRB is an excellent choice for inside flying because it's small enough and stable enough to fly in small spaces comfortably. The Corona is a very stable helicopter for the beginner as an outside chopper ,it handles the winds much better than the Dragonfly sized choppers. These are my opinions based on personal experience and skills of course.

Happy Hovering, Rick

micron

So isnt the corona the same size as the piccolo v2? Would any certain upgrades improve the piccolo's outdoor capabilities like lithiums, upgraded motor, ect.? I have a full garage to fly in and my backyard is sheltered by buildings so theres hardly ever any real gusts (unless its another hurricane, i live in south FL). I saw the corona and it seems to be out of my price range since i have no electronics to throw in it. I figured i'd get the piccolo keep practicing and throw a brushless system in it down the road....

port107

I too am looking for a good newbie helicopter. I've been thinking about the Piccalo or Honey Bee (primarily based on low cost).

Does anyone know of non-micros that are afforable? The Honey Bee sells for under $200 on ebay which is nice. I like too that it's electric which seems low-maintenance overall (as opposed to liquid fuels). Plus, they're quieter which is nice since I want to fly it in my back yard. I understand the smaller copters are harder to fly though..so I'm open to other suggestions.

Thanks everyone.

Jason

P.S. I've had RF G2 for a week now... crashing ALL THE TIME... (well crashing and cursing.. and cursing and crashing). Can't hover to save my life.. but having fun (for the most part) with it.

Sabot

I had a hummingbird and it worked perfectly for about 2 months untill someone tripped over it.
The hummingbird was my first heli and i learnt to hover it in 3 days of buying it.
The hummingbird flew very well from stock (£200).

this site has information about the hummingbird, i found it very useful http://www.electricmicro.com/

micron

So it seems like the piccolo v2 and the hummingbird are pretty evenly respected. All my research yeilded the same results. I was just looking for something to sway me one way or the other. Still haven't found that though. I guess the inclusion of the easy sim with the piccolo is the only edge it has, even though i have a piccolo on FMS and i have it mastered already.