What should he get?

[jrohland]

A fellow has been PMing me to help him decide what you heli to get. I have no special knowledge and, I told him so. However, below is a part of a recent response I wrote to him. Read and comment as you see fit.

jrohland

[edited to make sense out of context]
...
I felt (and still feel) the Razor 600e is amongst the best .50 sized electrics available.

Would I recommend one to you? I would NOT tell to stay away from it. However, I don't know what you are looking for in a heli. Many folks would be better off with a T-Rex 600 for the simple reason parts and knowledge will be more available.

I think the Razor is a finely designed and crafted heli. While the T-Rex 600 is a Camry, the Razor is a Land Cruiser. Both have their place but, make sure you get the one right for you.

If you have a spare $2,800 laying around, the Razor will be a very nice choice. Did I say $2,800? Yes, but that includes batteries.
...

[buster1]

You can tell your friend this - you may spend more to get the Razor in the air - but it will fly great from the beginning and you won't have to worry whether or not there are no thrust bearing the in the tail rotor - or that you need upgraded main blades grips - or that the belt skips or whatever may occur with Align.
Go with an experienced well engineering heli. from a respectable manufacturer - go MA.

[WillJames]

I don't have a Razor but my Ion-X has 350+ flights on it and I have replaced NOTHING other than a tail gear set I trashed with a bad auto. It has been BEAT by Eric Larson, Henry Caldwell, Bert Kammerer, Bobby Watts, Clint Akins, and a lot of other people. No failures and no parts to be replaced in 1.5 years of flying. What is not to love about that.

My T-REX 600 has probably 65 flights on it, and I have definitely had to tinker and replace/upgrade parts to keep it in good shape.

You get what you pay for in this hobby.

[TomC]

I agree with you Will, 100%.

I've got well over 125 flights on my Ion and have only had to replace a beveled main gear due to a poor auto (the original black tail gears are still working fine) and a rear set of landing gear damaged by a Hacker 77 esc flame-out. The only complaint I have is with the soft secondary gears wearing out, but this should soon be fixed with a belt drive mod.

I inspect most bearings and re-lube the one-way bearing every 50 flights. Other than a little daily dose of tri-flow, the Ion has been very trouble-free and very easy to maintain.

I've got over 50 flights on my 10s Trex 600 now and this has been pretty trouble-free as well. I have added the upgraded thrusted tail mod (only ~$15) and also added a 40mm 5v pc fan to blow over my old Ion hacker motor (C50/15xl, 1100kv) to help keep it cool. I did not buy the first batch of 600's so I did not have a problem with the main blade grips. In fact I would never buy the first of any heli batch again because of this, and this includes the Razor.

Surprisingly, the single stage 600 geartrain has shown very little wear. I'm using a 10t steel mikado pinion and stock 170t main gear. I'm runniing ~2300 hs and pulling ~2.1kw so I guess that the Align gears, although they are only 0.7 mod, are pretty tough, or tougher than the 1.0 mod Ion gears anyway.

The Trex 600 tail shaft drive should be out next week and this should prove to be an interesting development. I'm not expecting this (or at least not the first version) to be nearly the same quality as my Ion's but I think it is a step in the right direction. After this, a stretched, shaft-drive 700 Trex will put a lot of pressure on the MA Ion (and Razor) imop.

I really wish that MA had just of come out with a scaled down, quality Ion-x to begin with. I would have been happy to have paid ~75% of the cost of an Ion for this heli. It would definitely have been a 50-sized world-beater. Maybe, down the road, it still will be.

Obviously things will change over time, but right now 'jrohland' I personally would advise your friend to purchase an Al framed Trex 600, bare, without any Align combo gear, and equip it with a good quality 8-10s power system. Have him look at the various 8-10s setups in the helifreak 600 forum and decide for himself. I'm very happy with my 10s set-up but would like to see a larger 188t straight gear or a smaller 10t helical pinion (using the current 188t helical main) to get my headspeed down a little bit.

One thing for sure, 2007 is going to be a great year for 50-sized electric heli's. My feelings are that given better battery, esc, and motor technology/prices, 2008 will be even better for 90 sized electric heli's!

Cheers and all the best for 2007,

Tom C

[eheliflyer]

I totally agree with all of the statements. I have the Lepton and have over 60+ flights on it and I have never had to tinker with anything excpet to oil the bearings. The beauty of all the more trusted companies ie. MA, Hirobo... is that all you have to do is set it and forget it. I can't wait to get my Razor in the air because I know that looking at the parts and the vids that this is going to be a killer 600 class heli.
With Align you are lucky to get 30 flights before you have to adjust or tinker with something. Nothing against them because they did get the ball rolling faster for the E-helis but like with the larger companies they make sure it is done right or close to perfect from the get go. IMHO.

[TomC]

Alvin,

So you agree, great. It does not sound like you actually have a Razor, Ion, or Trex600. So what is your basis?

Cheers,

Tom C

[eheliflyer]

I have a Razor that I am in the process of building. I have owned the rex 450s and it was a constant battle tinkering with it to fly consistant. My friend had 2 of the Trex 600s that he sold becuase he was also always fiddling with it to fly consistantly. After owning Align helis I will most likely never buy another one again because I was always working on something to make it fly right. Now that the Bigger companies are finally jumping into the E-helis I will stick to Hirobos and MAs since they are proven helis that you just set and forget. I give credit to Align for getting the ball rolling for the E-Helis but that is all.

[TomC]

Well, this clearly explains how you know all this Alvin.

Cheers,

Tom C