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ORIGINAL: BarracudaHockey

How much money are you looking to spend?

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ORIGINAL: MaddMatt

actually its not bad, I actually have a Honey bee FP, and I have bounce it off of many things in my garage, I eventually killed the 4in1 box, but you can buy separate gyro, esc, and rebuild it, then carry the upgraded electronics on to your future projects. not to mention they are cheap enough that they are almost disposable.

http://www.helidirect.com/esky-honey...29_223_681.hdx

http://www.helidirect.com/esky-lama-c-1_29_223_960.hdx

When they get back in stock.[:o]

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ORIGINAL: S_Mackey

Ibought the Falcon 40 with extra parts completely ready to fly for under $100 shipped across the US to my door.

Ihave crashed it a few times none too bad, basically just hitting rotors but one time it did flip on its side inbetween a jacuzzi and a rock wall! No damage to anything yet.

It is a fixed Pitch and my first heli. I'm hovering after approximately 3 battery packs. It really isn't too bad to learn on one of these. Iam working on nose-in hovering now.

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ORIGINAL: bure82



I'm thinking of getting a heli and want to see if anyone can recommend anything for indoor and outdoor use. And recommendation to the brand is also helpful as I do not know which brand is good and durible

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ORIGINAL: S_Mackey

Exceed RC

It does feel sort of flimsy and cheap but it is the perfect heli to learn on for the price. Also replacement parts are VERYcheap. Replacing everything but electronics costs 39.99.

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ORIGINAL: Stumblebee


Since you are in Ontario, have you thought of taking this question to one of your local hobby shops? They are going to be the ones that will have to support you with parts and service. Living in Ontario, you definitely DONOT want to have anything shipped up from the U.S. especially if the company is going to ship via UPS. Trust me, UPS will ROBYOUBLIND with their brokerage fees.
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ORIGINAL: Druss

Most hobbies shops will push their own product, not give you the best advise. Most local hobby shops will probably carry Align, Eflite and Heli-Max. All decent heli brands with Align probably dominating the 450 to 600 heli sizes.

Most hobby shops will push you towards a co-axial to begin with which isn't a bad way to start.

I think boyswithtoys is a good toronto RC shop. There is also www.greathobbies.com which is probably Canada's largest online shop.

As for shopping from out of country, the US is ok if you take the $$ into account, yes UPS does charge a large brokerage fee (usually it's a minimum of $25), USPS/Canada Post charges $5-$8 plus GST.

With a budget of $200 you're not going to get much (certainly not the Hirobo Quark which costs twice that), unfortunately RC helis are expensive to get into. Think about a co-axial for now.

Advance had no prices but just as a hint, don't buy walkera...

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ORIGINAL: Druss

align does not really make too many starter helis. If you can afford it the Trex 450 is a good starter but will cost in the $600-$700 range after you add all the electronics and radio. I would personally not recommend Hirobo to newbies, they are a higher cost to start and also to maintain (parts cost more), they make great helis though.

If you can afford up to $700-$800 I'd personally suggest something like a Century Swift 16 or Gaui Hurricane 550. They are larger helis so they will be more stable, unfortunately, not many local shops will carry parts for them.

Thunder Tiger makes an E325 which is similar to the Trex 450 for a lower kit cost and they fly just as well.

The first thing you should do is decide whether you want to shop locally or online, locally may limit your choices yet will provide a ready source of parts (just make sure they are actually stocked). See how friendly the local staff are, I've had issues with staff at one of my local shops and will not shop there, even if I have to pay more elsewhere.

So your choices are:

1. co-axial (would recommend esky lama v3 for this)
2. fp (would again recommend the esky honey bee fp)
3. 450 size (would recommend trex 450 or tt e325)
4. 500-550 size (would recommend swift 16 or hurricane 550, trex also makes a 500)

remember that for the 450 and larger you need to get all the electronics (4 servos, gyro, motor/esc (unless it's included) and radio).

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ORIGINAL: Druss

Most hobbies shops will push their own product, not give you the best advise.

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ORIGINAL: Stumblebee


Whoa, I cannot let this statement go unchallenged. The several LHS I use are all small businesses owned and operated senior members of the community of practice i.e., veteran R/C pilots. They are earning a living from their stores. Of course they will push their own product. Does Home Depot tell you to go to Wal-Mart? Just one of the reasons the LHS push their own products is because they know if you are not happy with your purchase, you will be right back and in their face. They are not going to advise you to buy a product that is unreliable or ill suited for your needs. If they do, they will not be in business for long. The LHS in this area stock products that promote them staying in business. The several LHS that I used will go out of their way to give the best advice they can based on their experience and the experience of their customers. They <u>KNOW</u> the power of word-of-mouth advertising at least in this local market place.

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ORIGINAL: Druss

Let me qualify my statement then, "Most hobby shops will give you the best advise, based on what they sell".

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