Looking for a new electric starter heli. I got the Blade mcx micro (the tiny one) for x mas and love it, but it does not fly long, and has poor response to the inputs.

I was looking for something easy to learn on and relatively cheap, because I am sure I will crash it. I do think I want something OTHER THAN counter rotating blades though. I have realflight and want to start learning the normal heli controls and channels.

What do you suggest? I had been looking at the Heli-max Axe CPv3, with the training package....................

Honey Bee fixed pitch, and when you get that one down, Black Hawk 450. The Axe is not the best to learn on, it can be done, but it is not the best idea. The first one I mentioned is tough, and cheap and easy to fix when you crash.

See, the bolded words are the problem...there really is no such beast!

ANY micro heli...like the one you mention will be very hard to learn on. They are inherently twitchy/unstable due to their small size. It's a catch-22....I've been there....a LOT of us have been there. We think we don't want to spend a lot, but in the long run, with the micro heli's you will end up spending more than twice it's original cost and you will be very frustrated in your learning curve.

So, here is what I recommend, but the caveat is that I do undestand money can be an issue and prohibitive:
If you want to learn without major frustration....if you want as you said "something that is easy to learn on.." get a heli at least 450 size or larger. The difference in stability is like night and day. The minimum I would get is a Blade 400...it comes with everything you need. But the downside to the B400 is that it's a RTF heli and you won't get the build/repair experience for when you crash. If you truly believe you will stay in this hobby, I recommend you get a Trex 450 or Mini Titan or Dragonus 450, etc. You will build it yourself and put your own electronics in it. Yes, the initial cost will give you sticker shock, but it is well worth it. You will not be as frustrated, you won't have to upgrade anything, and you will crash less!

I also highly recommend a simulator...Phoenix is generally the preffered one for heli's but Realflight isn't bad either. There's a basic free one over at helifreak as well in the simulator section. Lastly do a search on RADDs School of Rotary Flight and folllow it to a 'T'.

Heli's aren't cheap!

Good luck,
Skarn

Skarn,

Your points are well taken. Money is an issue only because I dont want to spend alot to destroy it. If a little extra will help me learn and crash less, thats not an issue. The Blade 400 is at the upper end of what I want to spend to start, but is doable I guess.

I think I want a RTF right now, because time is an issue, and I just dont want to build right now. I'm sure that will come. I have several 1/5 scale cars, and an 1/8 scale catamaran............This hobby has me hooked

Honestly I have been looking at doing this for a long time but have been apprehensive. My wife getting me the little one has started the ball rolling..............

Is the Blade 400 really beginner friendly? Building aside, is that as good a choice as I can make, or are there other considerations?

Thanks!

i also say hbfp. ppl will argue its hard to fly and uncontrolable, itis but not completely. you get little glitches and tail motor twithching but nothing that cause s crashes( well not for me yet)but just kinda have to make you correct it. the parts are cheap and its easy to fix.

In english please?

HBFP.PPL?

What is IT? The blade 400?

HBFP= Honey Bee Fixed Pitch
ppl= people

i would have to agree with skarn though. fixed pitch can be very twitchy and you will end up in a death wobble. however, usually, from what i've seen anyways, the fixed pitch helis just snap right back together.

as far as a collective pitch heli, your best bet is a 400 or larger. i learned with a T-Rex 450SA and have since moved to the 450 SEV2. the T-Rex can be extreemly stable or it can be super nimble, its all in the setup.

as far as a blade 400 goes, friends have told me it is a very nice heli that can grow with you through upgrades and such. i'm not sure how well it performes 3D but, im sure it will be a good heli to get you started in the CP field.

good luck, wraith

What pawraith said! LOL.

Yes the Blade 400 is beginner friendly.

Another thing to think about: You said "I dont want to spend alot to destroy it..." And you might hear others say things like "I don't want to crash my $1000 heli..". This is a gut thought, but the reality is the crashes don't cost that much. My average crash cost of my Trex 450 SE v2 with wooden blades was only $30 after 6 major crashes. And yes they were full out bore into the ground from about 20+ feet up crashes. Parts for the Trex are cheap and they are NOT hard to work on at all. The best thing about a Trex 450 is there are a bunch of awesome video's by Finless Bob over at helifreak showing you exactly how to do everything from building, setting up the radio, setting up the head, soldering, even flying!

I just try to let people know up front about the micro's so they don't make the same mistake a lot of us did....I went that route...yes I learned but with much frustration and many dollars later. I have friends that started when I did and they don't fly anymore. After a year of on and off flying with a Blade CP micro I was basically able to hover. But after getting my Trex 450, within 20 flights I was doing loops, rolls and flips. Yes, the difference is like night and day!

Good luck with whatever route you take!
Skarn

So which would you suggest between the two (Blade 400 and Trex 450)?

How much of an issue is the radio, and what should I be looking for?

I am guessing you will say a DX6i, but figured I would ask.....

the blade is a sweet heli and the dx6i makes set up nice for you can see what your doing threw the screen.if you get the blade 400 the thing i can tell you first to do is linkage adjustment.i have the blade 400 and it needs alittle tweeking.but at the same time for the money you might want to check out the [email protected],or the skyartech heli,like the blade 400 they test each one from the factory if you get the blade 400 when looking at the leftside/nose pointing to the right you`ll want to take the linkage off and turn it in alittle thats screwing it in like you would be tighting a screw or bolt.and do the same to the front linkage/this ones behind the motor.if you do this you`ll get alot straighter liftoff and for a beginner on this heli you want it to lift as straight as possible, the heli has alot of torq and will want to liftoff to the left and back. any other questions im sure someone can answer nicly.for a good blade 400 forum check out helifreak.com

If cost is not an issue, definitely the Trex 450! You get to build it gaining valuble experience for repairs, you get to put in quality electronics from the begining as well.

If money is a big issue, the B400 is a decent starter heli.

Skarn

So is the Black Hawk 450. Also, you don't HAVE to go T-Rex if you are looking to build your own, just get a Rex clone. EXI has many good things said about them, and I am sure there are several others that are just a good, and don't cost near as much as a T-Rex SE V2.

Let me tell you this. I to was one of those that went from a coaxial helicopter (original Blade CX w/ FM radio that I bought in about October or November 2006 just before the CX2 came out) to a CP (Original AXE CP back in December of 2006). At the time, I had no simulator experience. My first flight on the CP was a disaster. Less than 10 seconds in the air and she rolled over and crashed. Parts were an issue at the time because it was a brand new model that had just come out. As a result, I was only able to try 2-3 times before I had to leave for a year (January 2007). Each time I had it up, it lasted less than 30 seconds before it crashed. While I was gone, I ordered the RealFlight G3.5 simulator and a Venom Night Ranger II (VNRII) fixed pitch helicopter. After several hours on the simulator, I was able to get the VNRII in the air with some success, but the wind conditions were too strong where I was at and I had nowhere indoors to fly it. I ended up crashing it and never getting it fixed. I stuck with the simulator for the rest of my year. On my return (January-March timeframe 2008), I went to upgrade the AXE CP to make it fly better. However, when I started talking to the hobby shop owner, he made me see that for what I was about to drop into my CP (and what I had already dropped into it), I should just get a decent 400-450 size heli with a belt driven tail. Even though I had a Spektrum DX7 radio, I bought the Ready to Fly version of the e-Flite Blade 400 (RTF) and sold the radio (they didn't have the Plug-n-Play version in stock). I didn't have much local assistance in learning to fly it or get it set up properly. I had to rely on advice from the hobby shop and the good folks here on RCU. I hovered it successfully on the first pack (a little wobbly and drifty, but got it back on the ground at the end of the pack successfully without crashing). There were times when I crashed and didn't get to fly for a couple of weeks, then I started flying planes in June of 2008. While learning to fly the planes (at a club with an instructor), I didn't fly my helicopters much, if any, until about October 2008. I picked it back up hot and heavy. I got to a point where I could do slow forward circles with the 400, then I picked up a major garage find by November 2008. It was a .30 size nitro Hirobo Shuttle ZXX. It was crashed, but had all the expensive stuff there (servos, gyro, engine, and most of the helicopter with some spare parts). I picked it up for $100 and had it flying for less than $150. It took me a bit over a month to get up and going, but it flies very stable and I'm only just hovering it for the moment while I get used to it (less than 10 flights on it and still trying to work out little "bugs"). A very frustrating path. If I had gotten better advice from the get go (didn't get any from RCU members then), it wouldn't have taken me so long and so much money to get to the basic flying stage that I'm currently at.

Through all of that, I couldn't begin to fathom the amount of money I spent trying to get to this point. Going from where you're at, I would recommend getting a good simulator and fly it for several hours (to the point where you can confortably perform stable hovers in all orientations and forward flight. Some inverted practice doesn't hurt either once you can perform those tasks) before attempting to fly something more complex. Once you're comfortable flying on the sim, get the 400-450 class heli. The Blade 400 is a good choice. It's cheap to fix, and you don't have to upgrade right away. Servos are really the only thing that would be a beneficial upgrade when you first start flying. However, when you strip servos (and you will), you can replace just the gears for under $3 per servo. If you're willing to spend a little more, you can get a T-Rex 450 (as has been recommended in other replies) and put whatever gear you want in it from the get go. A good 400-450 class heli is worth the money. It'll get you further, faster, and with less frustration than a smaller heli.

I'm sure you'll make the right choice for you.

Happy flying.

How about a Raptor 30? Seems easy to fly on the sim compared to the smaller helimax cpv3. The nitro doesn't bother me, as I have 6 trucks/cars that are nitro.

Is it better to go electric, or simply preference? I have narrowed it down to the blade 400 or the trex 450 in the electics, but have started to consider nitro now.

How do the 400-450 electrics compare size wise? Are they considerably smaller? If so, that would mean less stable?

I have thought about the DX6I as a radio for my heli once I decide. Good choice, or is more needed?

Thanks again!

Raptor 30's are known as good helicopters. However, most people who start off with nitro, and can afford the extra expense, usually go to a 50 size. The problem with going nitro is that repairs are more costly when you crash.

Electric is often a matter of personal preference and/or cost depending on the size of the heli (there are 500 [ roughly equivalent to a 30 size nitro], 600 [roughly equivalent to a 50 size nitro], and 700 [roughly equivalent to a 90 size nitro] size electrics available). At the early stages of your flying, it may be beneficial to go with a smaller electric, such as the Blade 400 or T-Rex 450, due to the decreased cost in crashing, especially when learning on your own. If you have someone available to put you on a trainer cord ("buddy box" ) to teach you to fly, a 30-50 size nitro would be an excellent choice if your budget allows.

Yes, the 30 size helis are considerably larger than a 400-450 size electric. They are more stable than a 400-450, though a 400-450 are stable enough. The nitros are also more expensive to buy and set up, unless you find a steal on a crashed heli. In that case, I would recommend knowing what you're looking at.. I'm attaching 2 pics of 3 of my helicopters for a size comparison. The one in the foreground, and the smallest of the 3, is the e-Flite Blade CP Pro (similar in size to the AXE CPv3). Next, is the e-Flite Blade 400, and following that is my 30 size Hirobo Shuttle ZXX nitro.

The DX6i is a good radio and will be sufficient for most of your heli and airplane flying. However, I would recommend going with the DX7 if you can afford it. It has a few more programming options and the menu is easier to follow (for me anyway).

Happy flying.

if you have a football field size area to fly in than a nitro heli is fine but if you dont than your realy wasteing your money.to realy fly a nitro heli you need room with no neighbors for you know nitro is loud and the heli`s are worse cause the exaust is shorter.the blade 400 or t-rex 450,or skyartech, or the blitzrcworks are realy your best for first time fliers.very affordable to repair and can do anything the nitros can and sometimes longer. but again its your money,helis can get very costly quick if your not careful.espiecaly after a crash. nitro parts are 2 to 3 time more exspincive. if you just want to be cool and try and out do your freinds then go nitro. if you want practical then go electric

Good point bad400. I should've mentioned the flying area by adding a caveat to the buddy box part.

I would add Mini-Titan to your list. They are much like the T-Rex (and fly as well as or better) but are a little easier to work on.

Dave

I am also interested in a beginner heli; electric; but my initial desire is to fly only in my house. Maybe I will change my mind after awhile but that is where I am starting.
Some experience with planes, have had 4 of the coutnre rotation styrofoam heli toys. I think these are sold in US as Air Hogs but where I am they are just all Chinese branded. These are great fun but have no directional control for the most part. It's just up and down. But they are almost unbreakable.
I'm looking for a step up from this; some better directional control but some character flaws (glitching) ok

Any ideas?

Regards

Check out the e-Flite Blade mCX. Follow [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLH2200]this link[/link] to see it's product page on Horizon Hobby. It's very stable, durable, and it has much more maneuverability (rotate left/right, fly forward/backward, and fly sideways left/right and combinations of these) than a "toy" helicopter.

There's also a 24+ page thread about it, going from the announcement of it's release to now. It includes people's impressions in stock form, repair advice, modifications, and upgrades. It's located [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7766074/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm]here.[/link]

How does the AXE 400 compare to the Blade 400?

Is this a Ford/Chevy preference thing or is one a better unit?

Thanks for the patience with all my questions.....................

really not sure on the axe heli`s. ive never seen onyone around my area with one,doesnt mean there no good just dont have any info on them.

now my locaal hobby shop has a few but the box`s are all dusty so that tells me they dont sell to many of them
at the same time they cant keep the blade 400 they sell like hot cakes

I don't know about the AXE 400, but I have had the original AXE CP. I also own a Blade CP Pro. Heli-Max seems to have the better tail and stability of the 2 CP's. However, parts support is not as good for the AXE helis as they are for the Blade helis. When I bought my AXE CP, it was only out for a couple of weeks at most. Mine was the first one sold at that hobby shop. I crashed it the first time up, and went back to the LHS for parts. They didn't have any in stock. I called EVERY hobby shop I could find a listing for within 120 miles, none of them had the parts yet. The only place I could find the parts I needed was on Tower Hobbies. At the time, I had no way of ordering the parts online, nor did I have the time to wait (I was on leave in TX and had to return to NC before the parts would arrive) for the hobby shop to order them. It was 2-3 weeks before I had the parts, and still had issues with certain parts breaking too easily, then finding replacements.

The AXE 400 does seem to be about the same as the Blade 400, so in flight characteristics it seems like Ford/Chevy. However, if your LHS doesn't have the parts on hand, it can be like finding the parts for an MG in a rural area that is nothing but Ford/Chevy/Dodge.

The AXE 400 is also a bit pricier to get airborne, since you have to supply your own battery and charger with the RTF version. The RxR would run you about the same as a Blade 400 PNP. Also, the Heli-Max birds are also more expensive on upgrades than the e-Flite birds. I spent nearly $200 to upgrade the head on the AXE CP to aluminum, I only spent $90 to do so on the Blade CP.

I've also read that there is a lot of reports of problems with the Futaba FASST system that the AXE uses. Problems like only one aircraft being able to fly on the FASST system at one time. Spektrum (Spektrum DX6i is included with the Blade 400 RTF) is not without it's problems either. I have heard horror stories of radio lockouts and such, but have not personally experienced them (I use a Spektrum DX7 to fly EVERY RC aircraft that I own from a Blade mCX up to an 80.75" wingspan Decathlon and everything in between). Those are usually from pilots that tend to fly farther out in areas of questionable RF quality (which happen to be areas that I would not want to fly something as small as a 400 size helicopter in to begin with). Futaba FASST, from what I've heard, does not have a "model match" feature (a failsafe to keep from flying the model on the wrong model memory). Spektrum and JR 2.4ghz over 6 channels (Spektrum DX6i, DX7 and JR x9303, 10X, and 12X) has that feature.

That being said, the AXE 400 is a fairly new model, with minimal information on it (might check out the Heli-Max forum for more specifics on the AXE 400). On the other hand, the Blade 400 has been around for nearly a year and has proven itself to many pilots. The weak servos are the biggest complaint that most Blade 400 pilots have about their bird (they can be upgraded, or as they strip, replace the gear set for under $3 per servo).

I'm not trying to be biased towards either heli, just lending my experience with both brands and a little bit of hearsay to give you some things to look at. I'm sure either bird would be a good choice, just look at the available parts support before jumping in.