hello everyone i need some advice on helis what would be a good one to purchase for a newbie to helis. I've had many nitro cars , trucks, and boats but i want to get into the air so any advice would helpful. Not looking to spend alot of money but would like to have a nice heli. I been looking at a Falcon 3d so what do you peeps think.

i own a falcon 3dse but im sorry to say that there is no "nice" heli for cheap. the less you spend = crappier electronics = hard to fly. in a helicopter you have to have a good setup or your going to be fighting everything and spending the money anyways to upgrade when stuff starts to break or just not work 100%. what kind of budget are you on? whats the max you are willing to spend on everything (cause your going to need more than the 300 dollar RTF packages)

I agree and disagree on the entry level RTF heli packages. Anything around $400 or less for RTF is not going to be the best, consider that even the basic tx/rx provided costs $60, this leaves less than $340 for the rest of the heli. Same thing would apply regardless of how much the RTF package was. So yes, you're not getting the best of anything, mostly plastic, low cost servos and sometimes a 3in1 receiver/esc/gyro.

On the other hand, the parts are cheap, you can usually get up and flying with a minimum of fuss and they are pretty fun, even the co-axials.

I think a sub $300 heli gives you a taste of what RC Heli can be like, very frustrating at times but a blast when everything goes right. If you're just trying to see whether you would be interested in the hobby then it's not a bad way to do it. My first RC car wasn't a nitro 65mph rocket, it was an electric little thing that probably only went 10mph (if that) but it gave me a taste for what I could expect.

How about you guys try this package.
http://www.ka-planes.com/inc/sdetail/1327

The Black Hawk, from what I hear is a really nice bird and the customer service that Ka-Planes has is top-notch. Also, all-metal parts are a big plus. If I were you, I would definitely buy this kit over the Falcon 3D. The Falcon tends to have lots of problems from what I hear.

Well as far as money i dont want to spend like a grand around 400-500 bucks is cool. Ireally want to just test the waters to see if i am going to like it. so thats why i dont want to break the bank. thanks guys for the info.

ive heard a lot of good things about the black hawks and ka planes is the place you want to buy it from, really good people their. i know when i bought my 300 rtf falcon 3dse, after i got it i had to buy a good charger, lipo balancer, blade balancer, extra parts, extra blades, bought an extra 2100mah batt because the one it came with was only a 1300mah, so my 300 rtf heli turned into a 500 dollar heli, im just saying, be ready to spend money. in my personal opinion, i dont like coax helis because it doesnt give you the real feel of one and if your planning on moving into a fp/cp heli later on the coax heli isnt going to help you learn to hover so when you get the better heli its going to be starting all over again. just for something to play around with indoors coax would be a great heli to buy....really fun, cheap, cheap to replace parts and super easy to fly.

Your first $200 and 20 hours should go to a flight simulator for your computer. You won't even get into a sustained hover without it - unfortunatly. With the sim you will also find out if flying a heli is for you. Without it you ill burn up your first $500 in the blink of an eye without really even hovering.

With that said, buy a TREX 450S and some decent servos. Then go to helifreak.com and go through all of Finless Bob.s how to videos.

i disagree, i got into helis using FMS (free sim), radds school of flight (free) and flying my falcon.....i can hover very well and feel comfy doing so. had about 8 flights yesterday in which i had no crashes and have a good feel for the heli that i can move it around my yard (tail in of course). i think its just personal preference, i would buy a heli first (u can get a cable to connect your tx to your computer so you dont have to buy a usb tx) and practice using fms....now if all else fails and you have 200 to blow, by all means get realflight or something to that effect, it will have much better physics/graphics and give you a more real feel for the sticks.....but i wouldnt tell everything they "need" to get that first.

it is personal preference, but i can tell you from personal exp, i spent 150.00 extra $ on a 80.00 hb fp. then , 200.00 extra on a df60.and i still haven't hovered longer than 30 sec. now granted, i've been buying the wrong helis ( i coulda had a trex ) and the extra money was sometimes upgrade parts ( why put the same plastic stuff back on ) but my last purchase was a rf 3.5 sim.
got one off of ebay for 150.00. some of you guys ( or girls ) take to this faster and believe me, i'm jealous, but i agree a good sim
is your smartest purchase. if you can afford both sim and heli, more power to ya. and a good sim will teach you so much more than
hovering. maybe not a must have, but nice to have.

i have read nothing but good things about the blackhawk 450 from ka-planes. looking at it real serious myself.

If you guys are looking into getting a flight sim, I would also suggest getting this one:
[link=http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1168~r.23387576]E-Sky Heli Simulator[/link]

I personally use this controller and have found it to work very well. It's extremely cheap compared to what's out there as well. It works with FMS and comes with an installation CD.

sono, thats a great deal...and thats all you really need to start out....one important thing a sim is going to do for someone starting out is orientation and using the sticks, you dont need top of the line graphics to do that.

i agree too.. i ahve that sim. it only cost 20 bucks and it comes witha tx. i have been using it to practice hovers and i am getting better everyday.. not on the real thing yet but the sim. when i first got the sim i was crashing all the time. i know you can get a real nice sim for $200 with much better graphics and such. but i just wanted something to learn the oriebtation of the sticks.

before i got the sim a took my black hawk 450 out for a couple hovers. first i tried radds for a few batteries the i wanted to see it hover. CRASH!! broken landing gear brackets.. so i ordered new brackets and some other spare parts.. took her up for a second try.. CRASH!! it is trimed out nice. lifts off straight up and everything.. its just that when i move a stick i just start to panic and lose it.

second crash i broke a main and tail grip,,1 landing gear, canopy and that bar that holds goes to each main blade grip. she is fixed up again but not going in the air until i practice a bit more on sims. i can wait another week or so.. i also got my heli from ka-planes. mike the owner there is the best.

before i decided to buy a heli i emailed him,, hobbies4less and raidentech to ask some basic questions. i sent the email out at 9 pm. at 5 minutes after 9 mike from ka-planes answered me. it has been 2.5 weeks and still no word from the other two. i orderd my copter on a monday and had it in my hands thursday. same for the first parts order. FAST SHIPPING.. then i ordered a second batch of parts on a saturday morning. i checked on the order about 30 minutes later and the order was completed. had my parts monday!!

the black hawk is a very nice bird. cant wait till i get to fly it without crashing. i may buy a cheap 100 bird for my actual test flights. hate to smash up my BH..

so my two cents is,,,, $20 sim is all you need to practice for now unless your rich then go for the $200 ones. buy your bird from mike at [link=http://ka-planes.com]ka-planes.com[/link] i am so glad i bought from him. he also carries all parts for what he sells/ and trust me,,,i am no way affiliated with this guy... just a very happy customer

hey jake, did ya get the bh450 with metal head/tail or plastic? also, hows the elect. stuff,tx , rx , servos. any glithing problems?
sure wish i could go back in time before i bought my walkera df60. would of never clicked on BUY NOW[&o] oh well.
it's only money @#!*&^%#

i was cheap and got the plastic heads. i will probably upgrade as needed. should have just got the se first. but as far as the tx and other stuff i am new but can tell ya this.

i can take it out back and spin the blades almost to take off and the things doesnt shake and the tail stays still. never had any glitching. the few seconds i did have it up the controls were smooth. i just cant fly!!

i like everything about this copter. it took me about 8 days of looking and questions before i pick this one. what really sold me was the customer service. even after i already bought and received the copter mike from ka-planes still answers all my emails very quickly. usally the same day. not to mention the parts are there and ships very very quick... jake..

Mike at KA-PLANES.COM is one heck of a guy who takes care of his customers. He might have some deals on Falcon 3Ds and CPD4 CoPilots. Alot of bad press on the Falcon 3D by some folks. I have 2 of them equipped with CPD4 CoPilots. Now have 60 flights. I have crashed once in 60 flights. Have plenty of unused spare parts I thought I would need but have used few. The CPD4 is a neat device that will allow you to HOVER right off the get go with no crash. I mean it. I was into forward flight by my 8th flight and flying with the CPD4 was easy. I have flown my Falcon without it and I can do it. I also flew a TREX 450 SE and it was even easier and without the CPD4. I do think however that some time using a CPD4 on a CP heli is a good thing to get the feel of things. The CPD4 dampens the touchiness of the cyclic stick. It would be very hard to crash when equipped with one. You take your hand off or center the right cyclic stick and the heli will hover itself. Some will say using one is cheating the learning process. I seem to be doing fine and I dont mind being cheated out of crashing and rebuilding. So this is another option to consider. Even with a CPD4, time on a cheap simulator would be time worth spent learning what the sticks will do. I have some videos on YOU TUBE. Do a search for FALCON 3D and CPD4. Good Luck,
Ralph
PS The CPD4 is 70 bucks from KA-Planes or 80 bucks from FMADIRECT

sounds good. thats how i upgraded my df60. got metal upgrades to replace the plastic parts after a crash ( which there was no shortage of ). my last attempt i actually got it about 12 ft. in the air, but it got away from me and i slammed it into the ground.[&o]
that's why i'm grounded till i can at least hover on the sim for more than 30 sec.


the more i look at the blackhawk, the more i think my df60 would look good sittin on the shelf, all nice an shiny like

i have flown on a simulator before but i was not really trying to accomplish anything just goofing around so. Doesnt the falcon come with a simulator disc.

my falcon came with the interlink cable so i can plug my tx into my computer and then it came with FMS with falcon models to fly with....but you might have to change the trim back and forth so the 20 dollar deal a few post back is a great deal because then you will have a usb tx just for practicing on the sims and a tx for your real heli...(i dont use the tx that my falcon came with to practice on the sim, a friend let me barrow his realflight g2 lite, so i lucked out....if i didnt have it i would buy the 20 dollar deal)

Go to ( www.rchobbycn.com ) I just sent off for 3D Full Metal $312.


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