Should I learn to hover in Normal mode or Idle-up?

[Neil_J]

I just got my T-Rex 450SA together last week... Did a bit of hovering around and all has been OK so far. I was wondering if there was any advice on which mode to learn hovering in. I've read a lot on the forums, I see two schools of thoughts on this:

1: Learn in Normal mode to reduce crashes (i.e. accidentally going full-down on throttle would slam the heli into the floor -- I've done this once already as I learned on a Blade CX2 without negative pitch). Toshi's EHBG recommends learning in normal mode.

2: Learn in Idle-up mode so you won't have to re-learn anything later. These people say they never do anything in Normal mode except to start the heli up. Also this should keep the headspeed up.

Anyone care to chime in?? Who is right here?

[JasonJ]

What I have done it to program my normal mode to be identical to my idle up above half-stick, like on the Finless thottle/pitch curve vid. I did this before seeing the vid because it seemed like a good idea and was glad to see a pro validate an idea that my noob brain came up with. It was more for wanting to have more headspeed to help with the additional weight of a larger lipo.

One other thing I did was to break myself of panic dumping the helicopter. Instead, if things get hairy, I fly it away from the situation and land it slowly and deliberately. Once I was past the panic thing and landing/taking off with some degree of skill, I got rid of the training gear. That forced me to want to take more care when landing instead of just dumping it and letting the training gear absorb the sliding mess that was a landing.

Bear in mind, I'm a noob, just saying what is working for me.

[Jermo]

Idle up.

[Seeker]

I would offer to hover in normal mode, not idle-up. On the TRex, you can and should set up the throttle curve so when you're spooling down the head speed does not change too much during the transition down to some negative pitch.

You can't or shouldnt run the headspeed low like you would a nitro/gasser in hover mode with larger mains as the head slows down on the TRex, you'll get some "bobbing" (and you dont want that).

Normal mode should get you all through forward flight with some figure 8's with no problems.

[BarracudaHockey]

As Jason and Seeker said.

If you hover at 3/4 stick in normal mode (all modes for that matter) you get the best of both worlds.

That being said, a helicopter hovers where it hovers, there's not much to relearn, its not like you are looking at the stick for reference, you just push it up till it takes off.

The advantage to learning in normal is the collective stick will be less sensitive and depending on your throttle settings, the battery will last longer as well.

[Bayou Talker]

The other benefit to learning in normal is that in Idle Up your throttle curve goes up below half stick as well as above half. If you are in Idle Up and panic and pull the stick back, you will go to negative pitch and FULL THROTTLE!! That makes for a nasty crash, not to mention the heli is jumping around and may hurt somebody.

Save Idle Up for more advanced training.

[Jermo]

I personally found learning in idle up was MUCH easier. Anyone who has the "nasty habit" of pulling the stick back when they panic needs to learn sometime to NEVER DO THAT..instead hit throttle hold.

*shrug* if it works for you more power to you.

[Pinecone]

The BIG thing is to learn to bail out by hitting Throttle Hold, NOT low stick.

But I prefer using Idle Up for everything.

[Lastinch1]

IMHO
Normal= Tuning
IU 1 = flying
IU 2 = 3D
TH Hold = Safety