Advice: Switching from Trex 450SE to Lepton

[theo2076]

I currently have two birds...a stock Trex 450SE and an Evo 50. I love the Evo 50, it flies great and I have had zero trouble with it. I am really impressed with Hirobo design and quality. The Trex has been great, no real complaints.

Being that it's zero out and there is over a foot of snow on the ground I have major cabin fever and the itch to build something new. I was thinking of selling the Trex and getting a Lepton.

1. Would this be a worthwhile upgrade or should I just stick with the Trex?

2. Do you notice a big difference in the size of the Lepton vs a Trex? From what I have read it's much more stable.

3. Do you think the Lepton is something you could travel with?

4. Could you recommend a good Lepton setup (motor, esc, servo, etc)?

Thanks for the input!

[ckoelliker]

Keep the t-rex and buy a Lepton. It is just money and you cannot take it with you. The t-rex is much cheaper to crash and rebuild. You can use it as your "beater helicopter". If you can learn a trick on the t-rex it will be much easier to do on the larger helicopters. I also have a evo 50 and the Lepton. I practice on my t-rex. One it is smaller and I can fly it where I work so it gets way more flight time than my other two helicopters. And it is much cheaper to crash. After learning inverted hovering on my t-rex it was much easier on the larger helicopters. If flying space is not an issue I could see getting rid of the t-rex, but the crash cost of a Lepton is definitely on the high side. The size of the Lepton is nice. I think the 425 sized helicopters are a good fit with electrics. I am surprised that there are not more helicopters in this class. The lepton definitely flies like a larger model and in my case has the most power. The quality is very good and there is very little work needed to get it flying 100%. About the only complaints I could have would be the price to repair and the tiny tailblades. The price for the metal components on the head is high, but it is the smaller things that seem to rub me the wrong way like 15.00 for the windscreen. I know that you are going to pay a higher price for better quality, but the prices on some of their replacement parts are vrey hard to swallow.

[theo2076]

That's a good point about crash costs.

[theo2076]

How much bigger is the Lepton compared to the Trex 450?

[rotodingo]

The T-rex rotor diameter is 65cm and Lepton is 95.5cm

Nicolas

[Finless]

Here is a line up to show the size difference

Left to right
TrexSE, Lepton, Swift, Trex600, Logo 14 stretch.

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/94ec1577f5884e0b0a695f4da0d81294.jpg

Bob

[ckoelliker]

Here is your future lineup if you decide to go with the Lepton.

[theo2076]

Can I ask what configurations you guys are running?

I do think I will keep the Trex now...I have enough in it that it would be a cheap practice machine.

[ckoelliker]

I am running the Hyperion 3025- 10 turn with an align esc. 401/9254 on the tail. 9650's on the cyclic, and the flight power 3700 4s lipo. This is one of the more common motor/ battery choices that seems to be very popular. At the moment I am running the align esc at 75% with the 24 tooth pinion giving me about 2800 rpm.

[tday]

That's my motor/esc/battery combination too. This thing is a really strong heli and shows very well in the air...flies much bigger than it is. You'll love it. I happen to put the logictech 6100T gyro/servo combination on it because that definitely makes it fully able to do anything you can do on a 90 size heli. (Everyone put's 68mm tail blades on, btw---I'm assuming you'd do that too.

Tom

[Finless]

I am running the hyperion 3025-10 with 23T pinion, Align 75 ESC and 100% throttle curve is giving me 3000 HS. HS85MG servos, 401 gyro and 9650 tail servo. 68mm carbon tail blades. Flight Power 3700 4S packs.

Bob

[Rocket Man]

Here's an alternate solution to consider:

I have two T-Rexes, both are now SE models. I fly them with TP 3S1P 2100 mah packs. My Lepton EX has an AXI 2826/10 and I use the 26 tooth pinion. This heli uses two of the 3 cell TP packs in parallel. The AXI runs 920Kv and when it's geared this way, my headspeed is around 3000.

I went this route because I have over 30 battery packs and wanted to use the same ones as much as possible.

I use Castle controllers- CC45 T-Rex and CC60 on the Lepton. They are also set up the same way: high governor, with straight throttle curves. I have a U-BEC on the Lepton wired into the parallel plug. The T-Rexes have Hi Tec 65 servos, the Lepton uses Hi Tec 85 and I fly all three helis on the Spektrum DX7.

We did a lot of experimenting with electric power "stuff" at work and it can get expensive if you buy different batteries, chargers, and assorted miscellaneous gear for each heli. That's one of the reasons I bought the Lepton. I could adapt the same batteries (the biggest expense) and get some economy of scale out of my hobby. Three cell packs are not going to get you the wild 3D flying, but they fit my style okay. :lol:

Just another thought,

Ron

[theo2076]

So the Lepton sounds awesome...but I think I have talked myself into a Trex 600.

[docjoe]

You can't go wrong with a TRex 600. Just be prepared to buy good batteries. Once you get past the sticker shock, it's totally fun. My 600 is one of my best helis, although my Stratus flies more stable.

[theo2076]

The big motivation is I have moved to a city where formal R/C fields are 45 minutes away and primarily used by plank pilots. There is a group of guys that fly in the city at a large open grass field, so there would be plenty of room for a 50 size nitro/electric, but I think electric would draw less attention.