I'm a relative beginner and have been flying my blade 450 (and RF 6.0 sim). I'd like to start building my next machine. Other than flying my 450 and some lessons on a raptor 30 (glow), I don't have much experience with any other heli's. I am definitely interested in staying with electric and moving to a larger machine, not only flying, but I think I will need to get stronger reading glasses if I build anything smaller :-)..

I am tempted to move right to a 700-size machine, but I'm wondering if that is too big of a jump - like where do you go from there ?

I saw the Miniature Aircraft machines at the AMA show and I was very impressed by the level of quality and the friendliness of their representatives there. I know that the Align machines could save me time on assembly/purchase/cost by including all electronics in one of their "super" kits, but there is something to be said about having something that not everyone else has... Thoughts. ?

Comments appreciated...

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For me...I went with a 500 after building a couple of 450's.  The 500 is almost 2x the size and is a lot easier to see in the air and work on.  The cost of building a 500 is almost the same as is the 450 and the operation cost isnt that much more (depending on the brand of lipo you choose).  I say this based on 500 clone prices, not Align.

When you go up to 600 and 700 size helis in electric, you are talking about a large jump in cost at just about every turn.  A guy in one of the clubs I am in has a few 700's and all of them run on 12S.  So that means not only is the heli kit itself more expensive...the ESC, BEC and batteries are too.  I cant see having 300 or 400 dollars in a power system that eventually half of that cost will need to be replaced (when the lipos reach EOL).

I found that it was cheaper to buy a nice used Raptor 50 rather than build a 600.  Id say that would be the same with the Raptor 90 vs 700 sized electric.  I bought my barely used 50 for 550 dollars.  It had only been flown 5 or 6 times prior.  It was all blinged up with all metal goodies and carbon fiber main/tail blades and a pipe.  Im sure there are other deals like the one I found, to be found as well if you look.

Personally, Id rather have electric helis than nitro.  But the cost factor for me was too high to go anything larger than a 500 in electric.  600 and up for me would be nitro or gas powered....just for the operation cost alone.

Maybe one day if I ever get any larger electric planes that run on 6S or more I will consider a 600 or 700 size electric heli.  At least I could get some use out of the batteries in other models.  Its just tuff for my mind to allow that much money in a power system that is only used in one model I own.

Either way you go...you will be happy, Im sure.  Because I just found out with the Raptor 50 purchase...bigger is definitely better!

You can get tremendous amount of flying out of a used Raptor 30. I got one for $150 and have put 500 flights on it. The fuel is cheep compared to five 6S batteries. I get 17 minutes a tank with many tanks per gallon. It is easy to get the cost per hour of flight to under $20. Nitro powered used Raptors are cheep to operate and work extremely well.

Thanks for that suggestion. I have been acually thinking about an RTF raptor 30 (or maybe used). Glow engines are not foreign to me from my airplane days. The only thing preventing me is that I think I have a larger backyard where I can practice hovering and several local flying sites, all which are likely not useable with a nitro heli because of the noise factor. I'd have to drive further away to find a local r/c field. It may be all a mute point anyway because I will probably want to find a larger club field anyway if I want to fly something bigger than my 450. (which I am mostly flying in my backyard).

I actually took some lessons 4-5 years ago locally from an instructor (he was pretty young) who taught on raptor 30's as a business. He had two of them in his truck. As I recall, they were much easier to hover than my blade 450 and felt way larger !. I did have to meet him at a remote field (next to a private air strip) to fly - we didn't just fly in a local park/field..
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My Raptor 50 with pipe isnt really loud at all.  Dont know what it sounds like with the stock muffler (have it but never put it on) to compare, but I was really shocked at how quiet the OS Hyper 50 is with the can that is on my 50.  Not anything like some of my glow airplane engines with stock mufflers.