Hi guys

I am new to Heli's. what is a good helicoper that will last a long time and well suits me, i do not want a buy another heli in the future so what do you guys recomend?
my budget is around $900ish



Thanks

if your gonna stick it out a 60 is actually cheaper in the long run plus it's allot easier to learn on. the Raptor is a good choice in my opinion, they fly great and parts are readily available.

kc

As you are from Canada, I am asuming that your $900.00 is Canadian dollars and not US$.

In that price range you can get the Century Hawk Pro, OS-37SXH engine, Futaba 6EXH heli radio, Futaba 401 gyro with the 9254 digital servo.

This will get you from hover training and well into 3D aerobatics. If you can spare a bit more money, aother $60.00 will get you the much better 7CH Futaba radio.

60's are larger, more expensive and in general require more advanced building techniques.

They also lack the power to weight of most high end 50's and cost more to repair, use more fuel, the list goes on.

The best peformace/cost value right now on the market is the 50 series and the most popular of those is the Raptor 50v2.

i disagree with 90% of that, I've got three 60s and two 50s (two 30s but thats not part of this equation) and they are all equally consummative on fuel, all require about the same building techniques (with the exception of the X-Cell but the 45 sized X-Cell is equal to their 60s) and power to weight, most 60's have more reserve power then the 50s with the ability to pull more pitch under demand without loosing head speed or engine RPM (they have more torque power). i do agree the cost of repair is SLIGHTLY higher between birds of the same MFGs but the ease of flying a 60 compared to a 50 is more to the liking of someone just learning. 60s and 90s are considerably more stable for a new person learning curve hands down and the higher cost of repairs are offset by the less frequency of crashes due to a more stable learning platform.

kc

Everyone has thier own opinion. Many of the larger machines need or greatly benefit from dial indicating and other techniques that the 300 dollar range birds just dont require, a product of their design goals.

I also don't think a more expensive 60 machine is that much easier to fly, yes they are a bit more stable but they are also a bit more intimidating especially when you add in crash costs (pucker factor) and with the exception of 90s, which nobody can argue use more fuel, the 50's have the same or better performance as most of the 60s.

Yes the 60's are more precise, many use shaft drive tails and other upgrades are standard. But.............for someone starting out, the 50 class really offers the best value and performance for the money. I would rather see most newbs get a 50 and a decent sim then spend the money for a 60 or 90, I simply feel they will get more out of their money that way.

so can you guys give me some names of your Heli's?


thanks

what do you think about these ones? http://www.helihobby.com/html/raptor_heli.html

and remember i want a nitro one but look at these prices and there in amerian $$: http://www.centuryheli.com/products/...m?currentid=86

my 60s are an X-Cell Pro Graphite, a Raptor and a Baron XII, the 50s are another Raptor and a GPH346, in the 30s I've got yet another Raptor and a Nexus (in fuse). i like the Raptors and have no complaints out of any of the 3, the X-Cell (pictured below) is by far my favorite but they do come with a hefty price tag attached (well worth it after you learn to fly though). I've never liked the century heli's myself but i do know allot of people who like the way the fly. and the last link you posted are gassers not glow.

kc

Helihobby has some customer service issues, check the BBB for more info on that or do a search on here. I'm not a fan of Century either. Personally I fly Hirobo and Raptors but I've owned, built, or helped out people with just about anything flying. I've previously owned Amercian R/C, Kyosho and I have a 1970s Kavan Jet Ranger that I am getting ready to build. Here's my 2 mainstays. One is a Raptor 50, the other Hirobo EVO 50.

Thats a sweet looking X-Cell, we had one fly away last week, not sure if he found it yet or not.

so in conclusion which one do you think i should purchase?

and also can you give me the websites were i should get them

thanks

barracudahockey which two Helis are there in that picture?

and also which size 30? 40? 50? etc.???

Raptor .60 ( Choose from Kit or Assembled Versions )
Freya / Eagle Evolution .80 - .91 SST
Raptor .90 Standard or Super Loaded ( SE ) Versions


which one do you think is the right one for me?

Thanks for the compliment, I'd hate to say it but if that one flew away you'd see a grown man cry. i wanted an X-Cell for many many yrs before i was finely able to get one and i wanted the then current 'top of the line', it's a 1006 kit w/ FAI tail gears and i paid $1288.00 for just the kit it in 1997, it was worth every penny. while i do like the way all my Raptors fly, they aren't a drop in the bucket to the X-Cell. the DuPont Chromalusion paint is a great eye candy as well, depending on the angel of light it can be any number of very distinct colors.


@mkerr64

i'd probably go with a Raptor 60 in your situation and Heliproz has always been a trusted site in my opinion, i've been buying from them for the last 7 or so yrs with no problems at all.

kc

I'm not sure if he cried or not but I would have. It too was custom painted and he really was just getting comfortable with it. Even a helicopter (full scale) search of the area and many hours walking around back in those woods has failed to turn up any trace of it. You would think white/yellow/pink would stand out.


The two pictured are on the left a Raptor 50 with rotorgraphics vinyl grapics, an os50 hyper, quick uk head, 9252 servos,a revlock governor, gy401, and duralite batteries. The one on the right is a Hirobo Sceadu EVO 50 with os50 hyper, 9252 servos, csm revlock, quick uk head, custom painted canopy, gy401, VBlades and duralite batteries.

I also currently have a Shuttle Plus that I'm fitting to a scale Jet Ranger body and a Kavan Jet Range kit I'm going to be working on over the summer.

the only heli I've ever seen fly off was a 30 Concept that the guy programmed his PCM failsafe to 'hold' and when it lost TX signal it held exactly where it was and flew off into the horizon. he did find it the next day in a peanut field about two miles from the flying field in reasonably good shape, just needed the regular blades/boom/flybar and was back up and running. he'd always argued with me about setting my failsafe to pull throttle to idle but after that he did the same.

kc