Newb needs advice

[04Ultratech]

Absolute Newbie here. I have recently discovered that I need an electric Helicopter. I found this excellent site and, wow, it's overwhelming. My question is based on this: I want something to fly inside that will actually work right out of the box. With no experience I don't want to get something that I have to mod to make it work right. Does this item exist and what's it called? Thanks for your help.

[mudbogger2]

First choice should be a good simulator. Will save you tons of money in the long run.
As for helis that will work out of the box:

Hirobo XRB. Top of the line for indoor quality and flight performance but a little pricey.

Next choice would be a Blace CX. Works good out of the box and at a more reasonable price.

[No_Gassers_Here]

I got a Blade CX and it's great for indoor flight and when you get to where you can fly it you can fly it in 0-3mph out side athough I wouldn't sugjust flying outside in any stronger winds as for the XRB very nice and top of the line for the type helis there are. I'd check for part's for both at your LHS and see whitch ones are local and base my choice based one what was repairable now vs. cost .if you LHS cares parts for the XRB get it I would have but parts are E-net only around here so I got the BCX still a good heli for for the money.sidenote you can still mod either of the to if you so chose to lots of thing out there for them....

[HeliDan]

You will be able to hover the XRB in a couple hours and fly in a few hours with the XRB. I have one and if you dont mind buying a heli that only trains in orientation and not the way a real heli flys, then the XRB is right.

But you will most likely outgrow it really fast.

Have fun. And buy a couple boxes of extra rotors both the A rotors and B rotors. I bought a total of four boxes and can fly it around but got bored in a couple weeks cause you cant fly them outside and I dont have a big indoor area to fly them......

Oh yeah. The manual tells you how to adjust the electrical controls on the heli for neutralizing the controls. Dont adjust any potentiometer more than 1/16 to 1/8 of a turn at a time.

Have fun......

[04Ultratech]

First choice should be a good simulator.

Thanks for the replies. mudbogger2 please tell me what is a simulator, what is it called and where is it available. Thanks

[kgfly]

Starter indoor eHeli
=============
If you are looking at the BladeCX then make it the new generation BladeCX2 which has several improvements including a much better radio system.

The XRB and BCX2 are part of a wide number of low cost coaxial helis that have emerged in about the past 18 months to significantly lower both the financial and skill barriers to getting started with R/C helicopters. They offer an excellent way to try the hobby without having to spend a large amount of money and without being heart-breakingly frustrating to learn to fly.

I agree with No_Gassers_Here's advice about finding out which of these your LHS (local hobby shop) carries as you *will* need spare parts and getting them locally is often more convenient than having to shop on the web and wait for packages to arrive. If they have both I would recommend the BCX2 as it has a superior radio which will save you from glitches and crashes due to radio interference.

Next eHeli
=======
The general rule is that larger is more stable and easier to fly. The best next step after a coax is a TRex450. This is a full-blown 3D acrobatic heli for outdoor use (indoor is possible in a generous basketball court size space). It will cost a lot more but will take you the rest of the way from gentle hovering to wild 3D if that's where you want to go. Expect to spend $1200 to $1800 for a complete setup including heli, electics, radio gear, batteries, chargers, tools and spares.

If you can afford more, a slightly larger heli such as a QJ-EP8v2 or Lepton will be more stable and less wind sensitive, but cost a lot more to buy, own and operate.

Beyond that you get to a Swift or TRex 600, but by this stage the cost of batteries and chargers is really taking off (eg $250 per battery) plus you need a really large open space or club flying field to be able to fly them safely.

Simulators
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R/C simulators are flight simulators that let you practice flying an R/C aircraft on your PC. They are quite different from other flight simulators, like MS Flight Sim for example, in that they have physics models refined for R/C aircraft (the aerodynamics and physics are quite different from full scale aircraft) and very importantly, give you the perspect not of being in the cockpit, but of standing at a fixed point on the ground while the aircraft flys around. The leaders are RealFlight G3, Reflex/XTR and Phoenix. Of these I would recommend Phoenix but even though it is the cheapest of the three, it is still about USD$175. If that is too expensive then next best is ClearView (USD$30) which is almost as good and is outstanding value for money. There is even a free one you can try called FMS which is good for a complete newbie learning basic orientation and flight control skills.

Phoenix - http://www.phoenix-sim.com
ClearView - rcflightsim.com
FMS - http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

Happy shopping.

[No_Gassers_Here]

kgfly has hit it on the hose I started with the BCX and now I am building a Trex 450SA my cost to build this heli is $1100 with everything to fly the BCX2 will have a 2.4g TX and RX so it will fix some if not all of the short comings of the BCX. I have about $400 invested in the BCX (original purch.,batts,and parts) and for the last two weeks I have not had to replace anythig more then blades.What every you get be it the BCX,BCX2 or the XRB get blades and alot of them you will crash and you will need blades. On the BCX and the BCX2 the top blades break more then the bottom so get a couple more tops then bottoms, and I would recommand getting the fly bar shaft upgrade (alum)because it is very easy to break and will need to be fix often. the up grade is cheep around $17-$21 the stock ones are $9 so replace it with stock 3 time and you could have had the upgrade for less. IMO

[04Ultratech]

Wow, great info guys. Thanks

[RustyFingers]

I have a BCX, a CP Pro and a R30V1 gasser. All of them are lots of fun but the BCX is a blast and I highly reccomend it for a new heli flyer.

The BCX is very stable. Follow the included video and read the manual and you will be hovering by your second flight. I just taught my secretary to fly mine in my office today. She had never touched a RC anything before and she is able to hover within the first hour. She decided to get her boyfriend one for xmas but was unsure if she should. I think she will get one for herself now.

You can get a simulator but imho it is much more fun to actually fly something so I would get a coax heli first. If you decide you want to move further in the hobby a sim would probably be a worthwhile investment before moving on to more expensive birds.

I'm not anti sim...... it's just when I started flying heli's there wasn't any available (1988)... fwiw, I use a mechanical gyro on my rappy so that kind of dates me a little. It's amazing what a few years has brought to the hobby with electrics and such.

Anyway, get yourself a heli, or two and a sim and start enjoying it.

[04Ultratech]

Just a follow up as to what I ended up getting including a couple *bad* pics. I got an SRC Pegasus. It did not break the bank at $169.00. It took me about 2 weeks to figure out how to get it off the ground without instantly crashing it...maybe I should have got the simulator first :lol: .

Anyway, I learned how to set it up and get all the trim settings right and now I'm flying around the house with minimal crashing and usually am able to burn the whole battery charge without incident.

I looked all around this forum and did not see a word about this Heli. It's pretty cool and can be controlled in every direction. It does not flip over and fly upside down which is cool with me 'cause I am nowhere near that good at flying yet. It's a lot of fun and at some point I will be good enough at it to justify something a little nicer that's maybe more for outside.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/edcultraxrgt/peg2.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/edcultraxrgt/peg1.jpg