gray

Ok guys.
i hear about the raptor helis and as far as flying it is all good. But then i read all these people having all kinds of problems with clutches and play every ware and some say that a clutch lasts only a gallon of flying and some post picture of bags of broken clutches they collected im a year.
Now what would make someone after reading all that go out and buy one i do not know.
With that said i now have my first r 30 v1 (i know v2 is almost out but it was a very good deal from someone how wants to upgrade to the VA)So it was an easy way to satisfy my curiosity with this raptor thing , besides i am planing to own most helis in the future.
So my question is WHY do you guys put up with all the problems ?There are other helis out there with much less problems that fly very good too and are they realy that bad .I am on my way to find out myself i know but i have this feeling that i was a bad move and i sould not put my self through that pain .

bill

Scotty740

Here is my experience with Raptors. I have 2 that I have been flying for over 3 years now. One I have upgraded with a metal washout and Quick UK swashplate, the other is stock. I fly both machines a lot and have many hours on them. I have had no problems with either one as far as clutches or any other mechanical problems. The upgraded one does feel slightly tighter and more precise when flying but they both fly great.

I've dumb thumbed them, take them home and can have them flying again the next day usually.

There are half a dozen other ones flying where I do and not really many problems. I think one guy did lose a clutch a while back. I relieve the hub some with a file so the clutch shoes don't rub it and keep the clearance to the liner small and still have the original clutches in them.

I did do the blade grip flip on them and think it makes them a little more crisp in hovering. The control system does develop some slop over time but it doesn't seem to hurt the performance much.

For the money they are a hard machine to beat. Light, simple and cheap and easy to repair.

440GTX

Every Heli has problems.
I have an R30 with nearly 200 flights on it.
NO upgrades except of a century muffler
It fly really nice.
So far 1 Crash kit ( Dork it in )
1 clutch.
This is a Good bang for the Buck.
So my question is
Is it a Heli problem or a heli builder Problem ?

Just my 2 cents.

Hitch-Hiker

Bad news travels 10 times faster that good news!

With the overwelming numbers of raptors that are out there, and many of them being in the hands of beginners. You do hear of alot of problems. I feel many (not all) are because of wrong setups, things not being built right, or just not knowing of how it should be done from lack of experiance. It is so easy to blame the machine rather than accept that maybe they did something wrong. As with anything, the machine is inexpensive and does have a few weak points which the new v2 addressed. The clutch is one.. you may get one that will last forever or one that will break within the first gallon of fuel.

At one of my local fields, I now have about 5 guys, that all fly fury extremes buying and flying R50's! Many times their furys don't even come out of the truck! This is NOT because the Raptor is a better helicopter, this is because it is so much fun to fly. They are pushing to learn all the harder and higher risk manuvers with a machine that is so much easier, faster, cheaper to fix if a crash occurs.

I just thumbed in a machine yesterday. 100 dollar blades but other than that.... 20 - 30 dollar crash! AND IT WENT IN HARD! The guys there were so impressed with the lack of damage, 2 other guys there are ordering them! If that exact crash would have been one of their furys, it would have been 600-700 bucks! and a week on the bench.

Raptor helis... not the highest quality heli you can go out and buy,
but getting bang for your buck, they are definately in a league of their own!

That is my version of the truth about Raptors.

twguns

One must take into account that there have been over 10,000 of these machines sold and the FEW negative responses are quite a low percentage of the machines out there...

There are some people (probably a few that have complained) that shouldn't be messin' with rc helicopters anyway, because they mess up everything they touch...

gray

Thanks guys for getting back to me
It sounds that you are all in love with it .i have been flying fixed wing for about 23 years .then i started getting really bored (1986)So me and some other guys in my club decided to get in to helis (shuttle , 3 cobras 45/50. a robbie junior 50 with an os max 50 witch i still have here and is as big as a 60 size)and loved them.Soi moved to Europe for a number of years .Now about six months ago i decided to fly helis again .
Every entry size heli is plastic .The only plastic i remember from the 80s was the shuttle cheap and very easy to fly .After checking the Internet (and what a bountiful thing it is, Internet) different sites i went with the
HAWK IV and i could not believe how smooooth it flew.I have a 32 and a 46 se and i have nothing but good thing to say about them , no clutch or head problems in six months.Some fitting problems on the 46 size and just fuel up and fly .Parts and no problem getting and fly very good .I am just getting the verve to start practising getting inverted and so far i only had a fuel tank that came with a small hole in it ,no other complains .I have the raptor i just got all apart and i going through everything with all the info i collected on the Internet and places like this wander full site called RUNRYDER , rebuild it as good as i can .It soul be flying by next week so will see .Helis are complex as it is and we do not need manufacturing screw ups to make it harder they make a lot of money as it is .
but if it fly
as good as you guys say it does i see my self sinking money in to it and get the v2 up grate (.i hate spending unecessary money ) so will see what impression i get from it
thanks guys
By the way if you want to see one of the reasons why i question raptor check out this site
http://members.telocity.com/fritzthecat/


By the way can someone please give me some info on the
blade grip flip It does sound self explanatory but i like to hear from someone that has done it

thanks again

JimmyA

My Feedback: (1)

I have a Raptor 50 and I was somewhat happy with it untill my swashplate split! It was my first crash do to a part failure. It is usually my thumbs that fail! They are very cheap to fix and good for practicing 3D the cheap way. When I crash my raptors I usually say "Sh$t those carbon blades were very nice". If I can only keep one heli out of my fleet it will be my Fury 60 expert. IMHO, this is the best heli I have ever flown. Nothing comes close to it. I totally love the way it flies.

Jimmy

gray

That is what i am talking about .This is the third time i hear of a swashplate split and all in Raptors.I do not mean to badmouth the raptors but i have never nown of an other heli that had that pboblem just raptors .The guys i fly with have some raptors and fly good nothing bad to say there but they are new 3-4 months old .Maybe the fact that part are cheap and fly good make the problems acceptable , also is look like there are peaple out there that had good luch with them.
Well i will soon find out myself .
thanks

rdalcanto

My Feedback: (1)

Did the swash split happen on one of the new metal ones or the old plastic?

Thanks,
Rick

r2helis

My Feedback: (2)

I have only flown three different 30 sized heli's in my time and believe that the R30 is the best of the three. I have upgraded the head to remove most of the play in that area and it flies great. I have not ever had any problems with the stock swashplate or the clutch. The heli has about 41 hours on it since new. I sure hope this doesn't jinx me......

RS2K

My Feedback: (8)

I am very happy with my Raptor. I have had some problems but ALL of them were do to not knowing what I was doing at the time. The raptor 50 has been very forgiving to me. My clutch JUST went out this morning after a light boom strike and I have about 10 gallons through it including alomst doing a chicken dance <burning the clutch up>. The only head problem I had was when my spindle wasn't tight which caused me to have pitch problems. THE ONLY slop I have in my system is in the washout hub <easy to fix> and a VERY little in the swash <any plastic swash has more than what mine has>.

JimmyA

My Feedback: (1)

It happened on the new metal swash. I will post some pics tomorrow. I was in idle up 1 with 1750rpm headspeed using a GV1.

Jimmy

syclic

R-30

The R-30 is obviously an acceptable plastic heli but does have some very major issues. Like any fad, the warts are quickly and easily overlooked. But once something that is a better value without the warts is discovered by a group the fad "halo" soon fads. Two summers ago was Raptor summer here, but as the Hawk IV and Falcon SE's were introduced to this area and we dicovered that we did not have to accept "issues" in order to fly inexpensively, the Raptor's popularity quickly faded.

Culverson

My Feedback: (14)

It's nice to see everyone talking about the good & bad without manufacturer bashing I saw a Raptor 29BB on sale for $194 just a while back thats a very reasonably priced 30 sized heli. Even though I have not had the priviledge of owning one yet I have saw several and flew three of them. They handled very well and I couldn't see a lot I disliked but I only flew for two or so flights on each. I do get a lil uneasy if I'm flying anothers heli because I will repair it even if it does have anything fail or I crash doesn't matter if its a Hirobo or Raptor any heli really. The reason I buy a lot of Shuttle's is because I have enough parts to build all 4 if crashed & upgrades for the tail pulley and output shafts is all. I liked what I saw with the Raptors. Would I buy one...Yes if I need another 30 or 50 sized heli..

Hitch-Hiker

Well, it didn't take long for the "century salesmen" to chime in here.

If you want to spend a few seconds..... Pop on over to the runryder "century" forums. From what is posted there, looks like their are some "issues" with them as well?!?! go figure!

There is one (in the century forum) that is funny, Guy asking about Century vs Raptor.... guess what most people are suggesting.

I am not bashing anything or anyone here! Just getting tired of all the century sales pitches that get thrown into these forums when when they are not involved from the start.

RS2K

My Feedback: (8)

DANG!! No dought!!

TEAMERICA

My Feedback: (77)

Way to go Hitch-Hiker! Expose the "streaker".

RCAdd1ct

I have a 30 converted to a 50. I have replaced just about every piece EXCEPT the clutch and the bearings.

Now before you think I am slamming the Raptor, well I guess I am...into the ground.

I am trying to learn 3D by my lonesome (along with RF G2). And as the say in the kitchen, "you can't have an omlet without breaking some eggs."

I am working on inverted hover currently. I can nose in, FFF, flips, loops and rolls. I have logged 7 gallons of fuel in a month and a half. No clue as to how many flights.

I definitely think it is just a matter of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch or the squeeky wheel getting the grease.

I have never had buyers remorse with my rappy. I was only gladdly surprised when i had learned that I had already outgrown the 36 and needed the 50 for the way I fly in such a little time.

madgadget

My Feedback: (6)

I have to agree with 440GTX, at least in part because the Raptor made good flying model helis available to those not willing to spend $600.00 for a bare machine and maybe not a lot of building experience either. I've built and flown 5 to date for other flyers without major failure. At least one clutch, and yes it had the shim and a auto bearing in another. I fly Vigor's both the STD. & CS. The Rap50 proivdes good test feedback and is fun to fly, ie cheep. For the first 10 gals. I can feel little difference between my mostly stock 50 and the one with a pound of purple metal on it. see gallery...

If U ain't Burnin, U ain't Learnin, Mike

Bluto

Been flying Raptors for two years now and am very happy with them. A lot of the bad press you see on these forums comes from Trolls trying to start flame wars. I've noticed a trend where you won't see anything posted about Raptors for a while and then out of the blue comes the "Which is better Raptor or Sceadu" post or the "Whats woof & poof mean" post. The old red flag pop's up every time I see these post if these people were really wanting to know, all they have to do is perform a quick search and they'd have all the info they need. By the way that red flag popped up when I saw this post!

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

There are four raptors in my area with no problems. No broken clutches, no woof and poof. Nothing. Fuel and fly machines that handle great. Preventive maintenence is where its at. Most people dont check the machine over to make sure everything is cosher. Its common sense. I have never found anything wrong with these, but I think alot of little problems can be forseen.
Thanks

Bloodsport

My Feedback: (15)

I have been into choppers for about 11 years and have flown most. A guy I helped get started in choppers years ago brought a new Ergo 30 to my house and I thought here we go....well I liked it enough to buy the ergo 60 sport . 6 years and cases of wildcat later I have to say that the ergo's were (are) the best bang for the buck. My 60 gets NO maintinence, I cycle the batters and fill the tank and it rewards me with great aerobatics and consistant flying. Oh yea NO UPGRADES! box stock

Boomstriker

My two latest helis are raptors - a 50 and 70 w/TT engs.
Many, many gallons through each.
No problems with them at all - none.
Great running and flying.
Smartly engineered so the're reliable and easy to work on.
Every shop has parts - if you crash a lot.
Lots of upgrades available.
One of the cheapest out there.

The 'truth' is, there are a bunch of younger raptor owners out there who don't have the experience, skill, help, money, tolerance or patience to build, set-up or maintain a heli to be safe and reliable.
Ignore their 'bashing'.

Kirk

RCAdd1ct

Another case of Murphy getting to me. I spoke to soon on the clutch.

Just broke one tonight after 7 Gallons.

Now I know why all the people only speak up when they break. They are afraid if they say something theirs will too.

RS2K

My Feedback: (8)

Just ordered mine from heliproz.