come on,whats the ELFpro like???

[JAG1]

hi,so whats the new 500ELF PRO 3GX like?? how does it fly? good build? any bad points??

ive just sold my old 500 just to get the new one by xmas! and it would be nice to hear what you helifreakers think of the new one.
im old school and still fly with a flybar!! and im thinking of trying the 3GX version,but im a bit worried it will help to much when it comes to flying!!??

cheers

[Chris Sexton]

I am not a 3D flyer, but I think my new 500EFL Pro is a very smooth flying Heli. The build was very straight forward and I found nothing that didn't match up. The new FBL Head is clean and very solid. There was no slop on the shaft like some of the "converted" heads seem to have. The new FBL Main shaft helps bring the rotor head down a bit and the CG seems spot on. I didn't have to play with my battery mounting too much to get it perfect.

In the air the bird is extremely stable. I have flown just about all of the FBL systems on the market, save the SK and HeliCommand systems, and while the BeastX is my favorite, the 3GX flies very similar. The only reason I like the BeastX a bit more, is I don't have to use my computer to program ANY of the beastX functions. You can setup and fly the 3GX very well without ever plugging into a computer, but if you want to adjust roll rates and fine tune gain other than gyro, ail, and elev you have to jack in.

If you have a 500 now, you will not be disappointed. The 500EFL Pro is a nice bird. And for a first FBL, the 3GX is probably a good fit.

Let us know how the build goes!

[Shawn Behrens]

I have one with that is pretty much stock except I am running the uBeast instead of 3gx. The machine is nice. The build is simple straight forward. To me the one thing I am not yet sold on is the tail gearing, time will tell. Unfortunately you cant just go back to the esp tail gearing because the spacing between the tail case and maingear is different than the esp.

shawn

[rotaryguy]

Unfortunately you cant just go back to the esp tail gearing because the spacing between the tail case and maingear is different than the esp.

shawn

According to this link you can. The new Pro tail gears fit into the old 500's, you simply need to replace them as a pair. hhmm.....Does not add up though, wonder if its a misprint somewhere?
I know for sure you can use the old tail ratio from the 600 on the 600 pro so I would assume the same here.
http://www.alignrcusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=2195

[Shawn Behrens]

Afaik both the esp and new pro 500 use a 145 tooth autogear. To me it looks like align just made the pinion gear on the rear torque tube gears larger (more teath) to reduce the tail gear ratio on the pro. If this is true then I don't see how you could place the old esp tail inboard torque tube gear set in the new pro, as the mesh would not fit (I have the two infront of me and it looks like the gears would not even touch each other). The only way I could imagine being able to run the esp tail ratio on the pro is that if the tail case were to be spaced differently (you obviously cant use the esp tail case in the pro as it is too wide). I have the stuff in front of me and I am just going by what my eyeball is telling me, I am too lazy to rip out the working gears to test fit the older esp ones:).

shawn

*ps not to confuse anyone the helical main and pinion gears from the pro will work fine on the esp.

[grawyl]

Does the new Pro tail turn slower than the ESP?

If it does, would the new gears fit in the ESP?

[Ktmheli]

Ok i am busy with my build....busy installing the electronics at this stage...has any one flown the new EFL with the 3GX yet as i dont have a beast.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3758/img4763j.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/36/img4763j.jpg/)

[rotaryguy]

Does the new Pro tail turn slower than the ESP?

If it does, would the new gears fit in the ESP?

500 ESP tail ratio is 4.68
500 Pro tail ratio is 4.03
So yes, given the same head speed the tail will run slower on the Pro. Not sure on the gear sets fitting though, there seems to be some confusion, maybe even an misprint on some of the parts.

[ozflyer]

500 ESP tail ratio is 4.68
500 Pro tail ratio is 4.03
So yes, given the same head speed the tail will run slower on the Pro. Not sure on the gear sets fitting though, there seems to be some confusion, maybe even an misprint on some of the parts.

Hi Rotaryguy

The parts are not interchangeable I have both a Pro and an ESP the autorotation gear is the same between the two but the pinion gear is a lot larger on the PRO.

[rotaryguy]

Hi Rotaryguy

The parts are not interchangeable I have both a Pro and an ESP the autorotation gear is the same between the two but the pinion gear is a lot larger on the PRO.

I heard the same from another user (sbmon) -The ESP is mod.6 as well I take it ?

[grawyl]

Will the new gear fit into the ESP boom housing? If it does, it may be worth a mod to move the entire housing back a few mm to make it work.

Anybody have the new gear and an ESP to check?

I am very interested in trying to fit the new gear ratio in my ESP.

[ozflyer]

The mod is the same.
The Pro is turning a slightly larger blade tail diameter 206mm as opposed to the ESP 200mm so even though they have slowed the tail speed effectively it is turning larger blades (thrust wise).

[ozflyer]

Will the new gear fit into the ESP boom housing? If it does, it may be worth a mod to move the entire housing back a few mm to make it work.

Anybody have the new gear and an ESP to check?

I am very interested in trying to fit the new gear ratio in my ESP.

Just had a look at mine you would have to grind out the boom housing to get the tail pinion gear to fit and move the boom housing back. The dia of ESP gear is 19.5mm and Pro is 22.5mm so the boom housing needs to come back 1.5mm I think you would run out of frame to mount it or leave very little left at best.

[grawyl]

Thanks for the reply Oz.

[JAG1]

Hi,thanks for the replys but this thread is going off topic!!

So what do they fly like?? Because the money is burning a hole in my pocket!!!

Cheers people

[hndaluvr]

im old school and still fly with a flybar!! and im thinking of trying the 3GX version,but im a bit worried it will help to much when it comes to flying!!??

"Help too much"... Really?
So you like the stress of adjusting for a flybar every second you're flying? :lol:
Don't worry... FBL doesn't fly the heli for you, it's just a BETTER flybar.
getting back to your original question though... The EFL is awesome. Align has done a very good job at updating this kit. There really is no area in need of upgrade on this model. the tail is tight and smooth. The new head is super-simple, and the drive train is smooth and quiet. The only thing i have chosen to change are the metal servo arms, while they're pretty and nice, they may totally wreck the servos in a hard crash. i opt for the plastic version, but that's just me.
This new 500 flies every bit a good as any of the bigger 600 helis... super stable, very quick, and very agile. You can't go wrong with this baby!

[akamullen]

"Help too much"... Really?
So you like the stress of adjusting for a flybar every second you're flying? :lol:
Don't worry... FBL doesn't fly the heli for you, it's just a BETTER flybar.
getting back to your original question though... The EFL is awesome. Align has done a very good job at updating this kit. There really is no area in need of upgrade on this model. the tail is tight and smooth. The new head is super-simple, and the drive train is smooth and quiet. The only thing i have chosen to change are the metal servo arms, while they're pretty and nice, they may totally wreck the servos in a hard crash. i opt for the plastic version, but that's just me.
This new 500 flies every bit a good as any of the bigger 600 helis... super stable, very quick, and very agile. You can't go wrong with this baby!

Absolutely correct, this new 500 is much better than the old. nothing needs upgrading, Out of the box has everything, The 500 PRO is the most redesigned out of all the new ALIGN V2 models. the 450,550, 600, and 700 have only a few parts that are different, this baby is totally redesigned from the skids all the way to the grips.. The only thing I would have liked to see was maybe a faster cyclic servo with the same or more torque than the 510's, but that's asking a lot. I love doing ninja tic tocs...:YeaBaby:

[Reever45]

So everyone using the built in bec in the align esc?

[rotaryguy]

Yes, same one that comes with the 550 3GX and I used it there as well, never any issues.
I am sure there will be those that choose something different though.

[akamullen]

So everyone using the built in bec in the align esc?
Yep, these little 510 servos dont pull that much Amperage so the stock bec is plenty, I have beat the living crap out of my old ESP and never had a problem with the built in bec after 100's of hard flights. so the new one should be fine as well. I have not had 100's of flights on the new one yet but I'm sure it will hold up just fine as well.

[JAG1]

it sounds bloody great!! thank you for your replys.
as soon as i get the rest of the cash i will be getting one!!!!!!

cheers

[JAG1]

Just got my new 500efl pro!! But my Gucci wife won't let me have it till Xmas day!!!

[Maypole]

Just got my new 500efl pro!! But my Gucci wife won't let me have it till Xmas day!!!

Bummer! Maybe let her open one of hers? :dontknow

Seriously though, you will love the pro. I went from a 500 3G to the pro and couldn't be happier. Very solid and straight forward build, easy to setup and flys great.

Someone mentioned that you can fly the 3GX without tweaking settings on your computer and they are absolutely correct. All I did with mine after the maiden was tweak gyro gain just a tad and it locked in really tight. I have yet to even connect the usb and just put flights 65 through 68 on it yesterday and really don't feel the need to change anything.

Congrats on the new toy and have fun!

[HeliBenj]

Wow I'm glad you have this experience, mine was far from that!
Do you have any porpoising issue in FFF? No disconnected feel? Tic tocs, piro flips OK?

[magbarn]

It's probably because he hasn't 'downgraded' to v1.2 software. 1.2 made the tail better, but it also gave a nasty disconnected feel that I can never dial out, prefer the beastx equipped 500. I'm going to try a miniv in my other 500efl and see how it feels vs beastx.