I owned a blade 400 - all stock a year back. I have purchased a trex 450 SE V2 and will have it delivered in a few days. It has a 401 gyro, HS-65's, DS3400G, DX7, stock align esc/brushless motor. Will I see an improvement in flight characteristics between the two? I'm not a newb pilot, but definitely not 3-D capible yet. Should I invest in a carrying case? Setup tips/tricks are good too. Any input would be great.

Mate you got a mint heli on the way and if you set it up well it will out perform your expectations. You are gong to love it, that's all i can say.......

Set up info is on Heli freak. There is a few good videos that you can down load which are worth there weight in gold.

Carry case is not essential but could be cool if you can afford. I made my own and it can carry everything to do with the heli, parts, batts, chargers, every thing, plus i can lock everything up and stop the kids getting into lol. I think with the normal alloy box you can buy might be limited in what you can carry but im not 100% sure. Get your heli set it up and see how you go.

Good luck and i cant weight to here how you go with it