CPPRO-I've had enough$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[VengeanceCP]

Yeah I got my Honey Bee II for $160 and its a way better machine than the CPs. In the process of selling my CP because it just not worth all the $$$ being dumped into it. The King 2 has 3x the stability of the CP right out of the box. I love flying it right along side my Dad's T-Rex450SA. The king practically looks like a little clone of the rex with its CCPM and belt tail. Great bigginers chopper + parts can be found for cheap.

[SeeDee]

I love my cp. We dream of the $$ we could have spent elsewhere. But was well worth the experience, after flying a cp the trex feels like a ferrari. That being said, I enjoy spinning up the cp in my house and just hovering and playing. Way 2 afraid to do that with the trex. I like my dogs head on it's body. But my cp is now a trophy heli. Last 3 crashes have been due to the tail motor just acting up or the 20 cent plastic tube making sure my tail goes crazy. All that said, $189 -vs- $1000


my .02

[VengeanceCP]

I also have a CP but the Honey Bee is a way better ship. You can fly it in you house, and even through the hall ways in your house, (if you have skill) =D I am just trying to give the newbies a heads up because i am also one my self. You new guys and even some of you pros will be very happy with the performance, and prices of the Honey Bee King 2. I also heard some good things about the Esky Belt-CP from rcgroups.com. I think the belt-cp has the brushless setup and what not. Give it a look though guys its a neat ship. There more popular over in Europe but its slowly flying over here.

[shaggybirdman]

i must say it's funny reading all these post about a POS CP PRO. what's with it? there are tons of them out there, and even the hobby shops are calling it a GOOD starter heli. why i have no clue other than to suck your wallet dry. i have a horobo shuttle that i can bearly fly, and a cx2 witch is a freaking blast. when debating on getting the shuttle i resherched the cpp, and found it was a handfull for a beginner, and expereanced pilots alike, so passed on it. a friend got one on the advise of our lhs. he crashes it, waits for parts , and crashes it. i told him to get a t rex. if he can't learn to fly at least he can get most of his investment back, but the cpp? he'll be lucky to get $100 back out of it.

try this. move the control lonks out to the end holes, and get flat bottom blades. that does help, but it still is a beast to master. definatly not a beginners heli. period.

[ev0l]

ordered a honeybee king 2 yesterday:) 70 bucks for the ARF, cant beat that.

[VengeanceCP]

You will not be disappointed. Get all the right gear in that and you will love it. I loved mine stock. Mines all stock stock at the moment but but i got a brushless setup and some other pimpin accessories coming in the mail. Its a CPP killer.

[tailStrike]

I'm glad my BCP was given to me. It got me hooked and made flying everything else seem easy :D. It's still a POS, though.

[ev0l]

You will not be disappointed. Get all the right gear in that and you will love it. I loved mine stock. Mines all stock stock at the moment but but i got a brushless setup and some other pimpin accessories coming in the mail. Its a CPP killer.

Yea im gonna gut the CPP to get it going, have the park 370 brushless, and a HH gyro for it. Need to pick up another servo for the tail and I'm good to go. This should be a great indoor bird for this winter when I have to pack the Nitro machines away.

[VengeanceCP]

Oh yeah, my garage is not really even that large, yet I still fly it in there all the time. As a matter of fact, I haven't even smashed the original woodies that came with it. ONE more thing guys. Take note on the silver bearings that hold the tail belt in place. I recommend facing one the opposite way so that pressure is applied to the top and bottom of the tail belt. On mine at first it actually had a problem with the tail belt popping off on one side after the first 10 or so batteries. So just take note on that. After I reversed one of the bearings, problem solved. My buddy did not have this problem though. Just giving you guys a heads up. This is a amazing micro heli for the $$$ though. Congrats to all though who have or are getting one =D

[Nyther]

I have now flown a Blade CX2, Blade CP Pro, TRex 450 SE V2, and a TRex 600E CF. I first bought the Blade CP Pro and thought, "That is a nice heli." Well that cute dog in the window became a wild pit bull that eats wallets at will.:shock: I have been flying since April 2006. I have flown my Blade CP Pro extensively since then and I still have a crash at least every one out of four flights.:mad: Now I have probably logged about 144 hours on this heli, and I put in about 2 hours of sim time a day. Now I consider myself an intermediate pilot, but the Blade CP Pro is a heli that will make you give up on this hobby pretty quick. Out of the box, it flies like crap. I have upgraded the tail and the radio to DX6 bought a G90 gyro from the beginning, and it still flies like crap. The replacement parts for this heli are way overpriced. $17 for a set of blades compared to a $12 pair of blades for a Trex 450. Feathering shaft for a blade pro is 1 for $4.95, and for the TRex 450 is a pack of 4 for $5.80.:shock: I can go on on the price comparison, but you get the idea. During my 144 hours I have spent most of them in an indoor warehouse with plenty of room and no wind. It still flies erratic and crashes. I even have double weights on the fly bar for more stability. If I would not have bought a Blade CX2 and Realfight 3.5 two months later, I would have walked from this hobby in frustration. I have my regular spectators that have seen me fly all the helicopters listed above, and all including myself love the TRex 600E, Blade CX2, and the TRex 450SE V2. The comments are that they look so stable in the air and they are. You can feel a solid connection with the Trex450 SE V2 and TRex600E thought the entire flight. The problem with the Blade CP Pro is the slop in the head, the motor driven tail, and the limitations of the stock radio. To fix these issues you have to spend about $440 total on a metal head, DX6 Radio, and a belt conversion kit. Total that with the $250 for the original price, and you have spent $690.:thumbdown: For that price you can buy a TRex 450SA and upgrade to metal as you crash the plastic parts. The reason so many people buy this heli, is that it only costs $250 ready to fly. They even trimmed the heli for you at the factory. Then you see the video on there website and the CD that came with your CX2 and go Wow it can fly that good? The answer is, Yeah if you are Kyle Stacy who is flying the Blade CP Pro in the video. For those of you who may not now who Kyle Stacy is, he is a pro pilot that flies in competitions against people like Bobby Watts and Alan Szabo Jr. I still fly it, but when I crash there is no rush to repair like before. If I could do it all over again, I would have bought a Blade CX2 first, a TRex 450 SA, which with the crashes would be slowly upgraded to a SE, and then the TRex 600E. The only reason I list the TRex 600 last, is the repair costs after a crash. If you have a fat wallet, then the TRex 600 would be all you would need.:thumbup:

Ken

[rdlohr]

I have now flown a Blade CX2, Blade CP Pro, TRex 450 SE V2, and a TRex 600E CF. I first bought the Blade CP Pro and thought, "That is a nice heli." Well that cute dog in the window became a wild pit bull that eats wallets at will.:shock: I have been flying since April 2006. I have flown my Blade CP Pro extensively since then and I still have a crash at least every one out of four flights.:mad: Now I have probably logged about 144 hours on this heli, and I put in about 2 hours of sim time a day. Now I consider myself an intermediate pilot, but the Blade CP Pro is a heli that will make you give up on this hobby pretty quick. Out of the box, it flies like crap. I have upgraded the tail and the radio to DX6 bought a G90 gyro from the beginning, and it still flies like crap. The replacement parts for this heli are way overpriced. $17 for a set of blades compared to a $12 pair of blades for a Trex 450. Feathering shaft for a blade pro is 1 for $4.95, and for the TRex 450 is a pack of 4 for $5.80.:shock: I can go on on the price comparison, but you get the idea. During my 144 hours I have spent most of them in an indoor warehouse with plenty of room and no wind. It still flies erratic and crashes. I even have double weights on the fly bar for more stability. If I would not have bought a Blade CX2 and Realfight 3.5 two months later, I would have walked from this hobby in frustration. I have my regular spectators that have seen me fly all the helicopters listed above, and all including myself love the TRex 600E, Blade CX2, and the TRex 450SE V2. The comments are that they look so stable in the air and they are. You can feel a solid connection with the Trex450 SE V2 and TRex600E thought the entire flight. The problem with the Blade CP Pro is the slop in the head, the motor driven tail, and the limitations of the stock radio. To fix these issues you have to spend about $440 total on a metal head, DX6 Radio, and a belt conversion kit. Total that with the $250 for the original price, and you have spent $690.:thumbdown: For that price you can buy a TRex 450SA and upgrade to metal as you crash the plastic parts. The reason so many people buy this heli, is that it only costs $250 ready to fly. They even trimmed the heli for you at the factory. Then you see the video on there website and the CD that came with your CX2 and go Wow it can fly that good? The answer is, Yeah if you are Kyle Stacy who is flying the Blade CP Pro in the video. For those of you who may not now who Kyle Stacy is, he is a pro pilot that flies in competitions against people like Bobby Watts and Alan Szabo Jr. I still fly it, but when I crash there is no rush to repair like before. If I could do it all over again, I would have bought a Blade CX2 first, a TRex 450 SA, which with the crashes would be slowly upgraded to a SE, and then the TRex 600E. The only reason I list the TRex 600 last, is the repair costs after a crash. If you have a fat wallet, then the TRex 600 would be all you would need.:thumbup:

Ken
Yep! :thumbup:

[futura]

I have 4 blace CP's....the original ones...well, one started that way but that one has very few original eflight parts. The other three are stock. I suppose its unfair to call the bcp a beginner heli. With experience in both flying and setup the bcp is a great little helicopter and very fun. here's a vid of a bone stock blade cp. All I added was a deans plug, 1320 lipo and heat syncs due to the lipo. Its still got the original flat bottom blades, original motor. Its good to learn on and if its not flying well for some than it simply means there is more to learn. With patience, attention to detail in ballancing, the results are quite fair. The tail does not hold well but learning to fly the tail is a necessary step.

I'm not dogging any particular pilots here, I'm sure there have been many challenges for a substantial number of owners....but there is nothing simple about this hobby and setup is 90% of it. Don't give up, the heli is quite inexpensive to learn on as far as micro cp heli's go.

vid of stock bcp....
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/Stock_BCP_09092007.wmv

vid of full brushless bcp with gy240, bell hiller, yada yada....$350 in upgrades...
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/STA72387_output.wmv

...and a mini for stability comparison...around $700.
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/STA72382_output.wmv

Is the mini more stable....yes and its plain to see in the vid. Does the mini fit in my back yard as well...hell no. Is the upgraded bcp more stable yes, $350 worth...hell no but the motors last better.

Do I have fun flying any one of them...absolutely. Its all about attitude. No matter what heli you get, setup is esentual. If you can't get the simple mechanics of a bcp setup than why believe you'll have better luck with something far more complexed. In any case, the money you spend on the bigger/"better" heli WILL force you to learn setup just to save personal face...then you'll find setting up the bcp a snap. None of the three helis in the vids fly for &*(# if they are not perfectly ballanced both mechanically and in power plants. The bone stock bcp hold up best in a crash though because its the lightest and has the lowest head speed.

The bcp is a great learning tool.

[borocouncilman]

I've been a staunch defender of the Blade CP. Yes, its flight characteristics are truly demanding, but you'll become a very good pilot learning to fly on a Blade CP. The skills I developed on the Blade CP have been invaluable as I tamed my T-Rex.

I easily invested double its purchase price in upgrades, repairs, and wear/tear replacements. I upgraded the radio gear (Spektrumized it) and came up with a great DX7 program setup of my own. With my configuration and a G90 gyro, I could let go of the sticks and it would hover by itself. With significant investment, you can make the Blade CP a fun-to-fly machine.

That said, having moved my electronics into a Honey Bee King 2 ARF for $70, I can say that E-Sky is offering a much greater level of sophistication than the Blade CP at lower price point. Even with all of the upgrades, my Blade CP was never as precise and composed as this HBK2. No comparison.

You can buy the Honey Bee King 2 as an RTF, with LiPo, Gyro, etc, complete package for about $150 from HeliDirect or Hobby-Lobby. That's a realistic price point for a whole lot of people. You're hard-pressed to spend less money on a full-function collective pitch helicopter. Plus, the "consumables" are cheaper than the Blade CP.

If you already own a Blade CP, congratulations. It is great little heli. If you're still shopping around, the Honey Bee King 2 deserves your consideration and frankly, your dollar.

[joehelicopter]

I have 4 blace CP's....the original ones...well, one started that way but that one has very few original eflight parts. The other three are stock. I suppose its unfair to call the bcp a beginner heli. With experience in both flying and setup the bcp is a great little helicopter and very fun. here's a vid of a bone stock blade cp. All I added was a deans plug, 1320 lipo and heat syncs due to the lipo. Its still got the original flat bottom blades, original motor. Its good to learn on and if its not flying well for some than it simply means there is more to learn. With patience, attention to detail in ballancing, the results are quite fair. The tail does not hold well but learning to fly the tail is a necessary step.

I'm not dogging any particular pilots here, I'm sure there have been many challenges for a substantial number of owners....but there is nothing simple about this hobby and setup is 90% of it. Don't give up, the heli is quite inexpensive to learn on as far as micro cp heli's go.

vid of stock bcp....
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/Stock_BCP_09092007.wmv

vid of full brushless bcp with gy240, bell hiller, yada yada....$350 in upgrades...
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/STA72387_output.wmv

...and a mini for stability comparison...around $700.
http://www.cindy4citycouncil.com/images/STA72382_output.wmv

Is the mini more stable....yes and its plain to see in the vid. Does the mini fit in my back yard as well...hell no. Is the upgraded bcp more stable yes, $350 worth...hell no but the motors last better.

Do I have fun flying any one of them...absolutely. Its all about attitude. No matter what heli you get, setup is esentual. If you can't get the simple mechanics of a bcp setup than why believe you'll have better luck with something far more complexed. In any case, the money you spend on the bigger/"better" heli WILL force you to learn setup just to save personal face...then you'll find setting up the bcp a snap. None of the three helis in the vids fly for &*(# if they are not perfectly ballanced both mechanically and in power plants. The bone stock bcp hold up best in a crash though because its the lightest and has the lowest head speed.

The bcp is a great learning tool.:BSS

[futura]

Well Joe, That's an inlightening reply. Micro heli's are simply not for everyone. You can be glad you didn't try back a few years ago when the Piccolo or the MS hornet II were the best cp heli's we had. I suppose its impossible to please everyone. No matter what you end up flying, happy landings!

Edit: BTW Joe, I had a Helibaby back in the late 70's just like you...K&B .40 with a Royal 6ch. You must have gone through the same challenges and expense as I did. How can you have that type of historical experience and expense and still call the BCP crap for even the amount you've paid (considering your number of crashes with it)? Those old heli's were a constant pain and talk about expensive....sheez....no gyro either. I guess I'm missing the connection between your past and current experiences.

[DebianDog]

It is a streaming pile that flies for sure (past or present) :thumbdown:

I know lots and lots of folks that "washed out" on the Blade plan.

Sorry, just my reality.

[chouserchop]

I know exactly how you feel. The guys at the hobby shop are real careful not to tell you that nothing, repeat, nothing, can drive you to bankruptcy faster than a #$@*& helicopter.

[joehelicopter]

It is a streaming pile that flies for sure (past or present) :thumbdown:

I know lots and lots of folks that "washed out" on the Blade plan.

Sorry, just my reality.
It's the overall "SUCKY"parts that are packaged to drain your bank account dry---the Dog knows I can fly it.........he's seen it----and he knows why I hate the Cute Lil POS:smokin::hammer

[VengeanceCP]

I agree. I am currently trying to sell mine.The CP is a pos. Yeah it might have a chance if you dump all your money into it with all the upgrades... but in the end its not worth it. just get a Honeybee King 2. It has been the best $150 investment I have made in the micro heli world. Stock it kicks the crap out of the CPP. I flew it along side my friends CPP with all the cnc upgrades and what not. He wanted to trade me it for my King 2. Not a chance. An added plus is that if you do want to go nuts and add upgrades, the King 2 actually will hold your money and the performance is becomes even more impressive. I got a 3800kv brushless w/ an 11p and it halls a$$.

[Ben Hedrick]

Did I mention that my CP Pro is "Wall Art" now? best thing I could have done with it, without throwing it in the trash! I got a 450SE now and LOVE IT and I am about to buy a 600CF Elec. soon.

[rdlohr]

:BSS
Well said Joe! I fell off my chair laughing!

:BSS:BSS:flamedevil

Seriously, I'm not saying you can't have lots of fun with these CP, King Bee things but after you throw a bunch of money at them they are still CP, King Bee things!

Take that cash and instead buy a real heli and you will be soooo glad you did!


Rick

[Scottlclem]

I knew guy in high school that had a Maverick , he redid the interior put a V8 in it
put some really nice mag wheels on it, put 1000 dollar paint job on it andthe list goes on...
We called it the Million Dollar Maverick..After all he did to his car it was still a Maverick. I guess you can polish a turd

[rabidguineapig]

I guess you can polish a turd

:lolol:lolol:lolol :rolling:rolling:thumbup:

[Nyther]

The debate can go on forever on how the blade pro saved me from several crashes on my TRex, or whatever upgraded heli that was bought thereafter. This is really the hard way to learn. Spend the $250 or less on a good simulator and practice.;) This is really the cheapest and best way to learn. My friends and I have nicknamed the blade pro "Damien":flamedevil, because in a perfect environment with no wind, the gravitational pull on the earth is steady, and the tides are low, the Blade Pro will still fly like :BSS. Things like, "It helped me learn to fly the tail" is a way of masking that the tail is :BSS. Be honest with yourself. It is like saying that learning without power steering on your car is the best way to learn how to drive a car. Or that learning without power brakes, power steering, and an automatic transmission is really the best way to learn how to drive a car. Embrace the amenities that are out there in this hobby and buy a machine that will help you enjoy flying, not spending time on the bench and money to make something fly better that should really be "ready to fly". Cheap ball links, main shafts that bend if you concentrate hard on them, I can go on :soapbox. This heli was not engineered right from the beginning and aftermarket companies have to "fix" what should have been fixed from the drawing board is very sad in my opinion. This is a Pinto in disguise and it does not matter if you paint flames on the side, it is still a Pinto.:roll:

Ken

[borocouncilman]

You'll find posts about a month ago from me in this thread. I extolled the virtues of the Blade CP to Joe. I was happy and filled with optimism. My tricked out Blade CP could hands off hover -- it was awesome. Then one day, the tail motor gave out and my investment piro'd into the ground. After fixing things back up and getting it back in the air, I found that I was back at zero for setup -- the beast had returned. While I am always up for an engineering challenge, I decided that it wasn't worth the effort tuning and tweaking again. Specifically, I didn't want to build another pile destroyed parts as I explored the "right" setup again. I lost faith in the Blade CP and parted out the machine on eBay.

The tail is the weakest part of the Blade CP design. Unfortunately, the tail is the single most important factor in deciding whether or not the helicopter is enjoyable. If you're constantly having to work the tail rotor, the helicopter is never stable enough to be precise and controlled. That's why so many YouTube Blade CP flights look like gnats. It's also why so many people crash the things.

It's not like E-Flite starts you out on the right foot. The 3-in-1/4-in-1 gyro is a complete joke. It's barely sufficient for the job. I'd say 90% of what it does for the tail is just plain mixing. 10% is actually related to the movement of the helicopter. Don't believe me? A gain gyro shouldn't require an increasing amount of trim and stick compensation over the course of a flight.

The G90 gyro can help significantly, but it doesn't change the the fact that a motor driven tail rotor is a lousy design for helicopter. I don't care if you're gear driven or direct drive. There is no comparison in precision and effectiveness against a pitch controlled setup. The electric motor can never be spun up or slowed down quick enough, because there is too much inertia and too much momentum at work. On helicopter like the Blade CP, there is also the inconvienient truth that the tail motor actions drain the main motor and affect the headspeed. Of course, this worsens things when it comes to stability.

When the inevitable crashing does occur, you're going to pay dearly compared to other helicopters. Blade CP parts are not cheap. You can't get away from a crash for less than $5.99. That main shaft gets damaged or bent in every crash -- deny all you want, but your heli wobbles the truth. Price comparison? $4.10 for the Honey Bee King 2, $7.99 will buy you a pack of THREE T-Rex main shafts. Of course, that's not really a fair comparison, because it takes some real work to bend shafts in those helicopters. The Blade CP main shaft bends like a straightened out piece of solder. There's a simple reason that so much Blade CP local hobby shop support exists -- replacement parts are very much in demand.

A computer radio, gyro, and an extensive amount of tuning, you can make the Blade CP into a decent flying machine. That requires time and money well in excess of an RTF with a $199 entry price. It also assumes that you don't grow frustrated and give up during the process.

There are better helicopters out there that deserve your time and money. With the Honey Bee King 2 and the T-Rex 450, I happen to own two of them.