r-man

I've been flying rc planes on and off for 5+ years. Pattern for the last 2.

I am about to get into helicopters, but want to avoid some typical mistakes. Primarily, I don't want to fall in love with one heli or another, buy it, spend $2k upgrading it, only to find that it's not a good heli for a begginner to intermediate pilot...

I've spent better than 40 hours on my Reflex flight sim with my cheap futaba, and have hovered, landed, and hovered again a friend's .50?Raptor for a total of about 20 minutes of flight. He recomends, of course, a raptor.


I require the following in a heli:

--roughly .30-.60 sized, but ELECTRIC (i'm in love with brushless motors for pattern planes, and have seen a raptor w/brushless and li-po's, and have a 2 acre field next door, my neighborhood allow electric flight, but no nitro). I've seen a T-rex, and it looks like it would be ok, but it seems smallish for outdoor flight?

--it must be very stable for a beginner, but with little parts change required to begin transition to intermediate flight (not aerobatics)

--it can't be $$$-unobtanium expensive. I'm willing to spend $1k-$1500 on the heli, not including radio and gyro. I really like a lot of the used helis here in RC universe. The Eco all aluminum/carbon that's for sale right now is appealing, but I think that's more of an advanced heli?
--likewise, parts can't be unobtanium. I don't want a $200 heli that's phenomenal except for the $400 crash kits...


-I will either buy a JR or Futaba computer radio, OR, prefferably, I can find a package deal w/a radio.

I'm looking for recomendations on used helis, even nitro helis that I can buy conversion kits for.



I've searched here, and found tons of differening recomendations, but nothing specifically from my pov.

Thanks

Tanner Hall

My Feedback: (1)

try a used logo 10 or logo 20. there are lots of them popping up for sale...check the e-classifieds on runryder.com.

JohnFH

My Feedback: (6)

Tiger 50, does exactly what you want. Do a little research, you'll be amazed waht it can do and what people are saying about it

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

Good luck for those large heli's just the LiPo battery packs which are 4S4P will cost you around 285.00 to 290.00 each and if you go for a E-raptor figure more than that your budget had better be more than $1500.00.

WhtBronco

If you're serious about an electric heli you'll probably have to go used, such as the suggested Logo 10 or 20, or get a T-Rex or the like. The li-po batteries as you already know are very expensive. The Logo helis are awesome, but pricey.

DebianDog

I would second the Tiger 50 (< $300). PLUS - Cheap parts are hard to beat!!! $9 for a tail boom is almost unheard of for a 50 sized bird. I am building one now with a OS Hyper 50 turning the blades

My T-Rex with flybar weights is pretty stable but there is something about a glow heli.

I will let you know in a few weeks how it turns out. http://www.audacitymodels.com/

Tanner Hall

My Feedback: (1)

tiger's great but he said ELECTRIC.

DebianDog

30-50 sized ELECTRIC for $1000 Oh O.K. Better buy used

paedbo

My Feedback: (2)

a new logo 10 3d, nicely equiped ran me about $1600 not including the transmitter since i had one already.

There are alot of cheap combos out there for logo 10's like they have at helihobby.com I wouldnt suggest getting one of these you might be sorry later when you realize you have to upgrade servo's motors etc.


it was pricey for me i kept debating whether to dump that much money into it but after getting it together and seeing how it flys i think its worth every penny.


anyways for $1000 in the .30 to .50 size range i also agree with the other fellows, you will only be able to find that size electric bird used.

r-man

What about the JR Evoyager?

+-$600 used, w/radio, maybe another 500-ish for brushless and lipo? and I'm good to go?

DebianDog

sure plus- ESC (electronic speed controller), receiver, servos, charger

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

The lipo for my Voyager E which is a 3S3P 6000MAH Lipo from Thunder Power cost me $209.00 and my charger which is a Astro Flight 109 Lithium was $124.00 and the ESC which is a Phoenix 45 was $107.50 and the USB Programmer for the 45 was $23.50 and that does not include the $450.00 for my 9C Radio or the $70.00 for the 463 mm MAH CF Blades and the other things I have added to my bird,the Voyager E Tail Pitch Slider Arm that is metal and the metal CNC Tail Pitch Slider for the JR Voyager E were $90.00 for both.All together I have over $2000.00 in my Voyager E so if you can buy one for that price I would grab it now.

r-man

Well, I bought a used Jr E voyager locally for $125 w/3 servos(hitec h225),2 sets of blades, brushless motor (hacker)

But, w/o esc, batteries, rx,tx, or tail rotor servo.

I've already bought a 7chp w/rx.

Planning on buying a gy401 w/9452 unless you guys all tell me I'm crazy. I know they might be a little over kill, but I'll end up keeping this bird for a while, or migrating them to my next, maybe, large heli.

Lastly, I've been looking at jetti escs, and I've already got several 11.1 3s lipos (2100-4000mah).

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I use the Phoenix 45 ESC in mine and those batterys will last about one minute in flight to fly a voyager E you will need a 3S3P 6000mah battery and the cost is $209.00 if you buy Thunder Power but I use the Maxamp which is cheaper and has a higher MAH rating.A good friend of mine has the maxamp,a tanic and the TP for his Voyager and out of all three the maxamp has the most power and the longest lasting charge.Also if you are using the Triton charger then you will be charging your 3S3P for about Two to Three hours because the LiPo charge is very limited on output,I use the Astro Flight Lithium and crank it up to 6.0amps and charge it in a hour and no rapid charging does not hurt the large lipo's I have been doing it for over eleven months now and have had no problems at all,the battery does not even get hot.As for the 401 it is up to you I use the GY 240 in mine and it does just fine, I have the 401 in my Freya with the 9254 servo and the only difference I see is that the 401 is a little faster and it can be set from the radio.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Moe, didn't you have one of the trex helis? I can't remember now, but I thought people were liking them.

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

Flyboy my friend man it is great to have you back I HOPE you are doing better.As for the Trex yes I had one,really two because when the V2 came out I got one but I put some heavy cash in it with many Upgrades and metal head but it was a pain to fly outside for me in the wind so I put it up for sale and finally ended up trading with Kpilotusa for a Eagle Freya 60 best trade I have ever done.As for the Trex it was ok but my Freya is so much easier to fly and the wind does not even bother it at all.I am getting out of electrics and selling off my Voyager E and all that goes with it but I am keeping my XRB just to have a little bird to play with in the winter and headed into nitro have found I like my big nitro bird better than anything and to get this power in a electric it would cost me a major fortune in battery's.Am running a os 71 in my Freya this thing kicks butt.AGAIN GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK UP AGAIN MY FRIEND!!!!