I have a T-rex 450SA which I am flying, and a Hawk 30 which is not yet on the air.

I have been itching to get a bigger electric for now ever since I tried a T-rex 600. But for the size of it the batteries will kill you as well as the flying time.

My local hobby shop carries the lepton. Is it worth it or it's just almost the same as the trex 450 ?

I know a guy that has a Lepton. He has been a VERY ACTIVE Heli Hobbiest. He had at one time a fleet of more than 40 RC Heli's ranging from micro electrics to Huge Scale Heli's and camera ships. He comes to the field once in a while and brings only his Lepton. They say it's a bad azz heli.

It's bigger than the Trex, it flys nicely but I'd look at parts price, Hirobo is proud of thier spare parts. I dont know what they are getting for Lepton stuff personally but its something to look at.

You might want to consider the Mikado Logo 10 as well.

I too have a 450SA and want something bigger, only problem is the lepton is ridiculously expensive and so are parts. Ive spent about a zillion hours poring over reviews and threads on all the major helis that fall into this or similar size range. Ive come to the conclusion that there isnt really a perfect solution (maybe when/if the trex500 ever comes out) and that size and cost go hand in hand. I am somewhat limiting myself on size on purpose because I dont want to buy a bigger charger (mine only can handle up to 4s and 4amps) so everything Im looking at must take batteries that are compatible. Best thing Ive found so far is the Hurricane 550, its bigger than a lepton by a large margin (it swings 550mm blades, basically a .30 size heli) yet it runs on 2 trex batteries hooked up in series. 2x 2200mah 3s batteries = 6s1p which is basically a small version of a trex600 battery. Only problem ive found is that with this mah battery, flight times are limited to 5 minutes or so, however, higher capacity batteries, such as 3200mah will give a longer flight time without beign super heavy. parts are cheap as hell and at least 4 online vendors stock goodies, plus there are metal upgrades that are cheap too. The heli is well priced and most people really enjoy it, however, it is fairly new to market and is not designed to be a 3d machine out of the box, mild 3d yes, crazy stuff no. Basically, if you already have a good radio, you can get this thing in the air for well under $1k, it should be about the same as a trex 450se, plus you can use batteries you already have. Other helis you may be interested in are the logo 10 (very nice but a little pricey and expensive batteries), the hdx500 from helidirect.com which is basiclly a lepton clone, swift 550 and 620se but these are a bit expensive, and the raptor 550 electric, also expensive but awesome parts support.

Well I've been thinking about it for the last few days and I think I'll get the trex 600 anyway.
The smaller helis get also expensive and I don't think you get much more than the 450.
Since I tried the 600 and like it, I'll spend a bit more and get it.
The size difference really shows when you try it.
My radio is good and the whole setup with batteries will run me at about 1k.

Well...
Nobody said this is a cheap hobby (LOL)