Planning for my next heli...

[TrailMix]

I am planning toward my next heli. I am looking for any feedback I can get on the following possibilities. I will be sticking to electric for I do not think I am ready for the expense of fuel.

Things I take into consideration are crash-ability, availability of parts, upgrades... Right now I am leaning toward the Fury or upcoming Swift.

1 - Trex 450x (I think it really falls into the micro machines but is a bit bigger than my current heli, a Honey Bee).

2 - Fury Electric

3 - Swift (to be released by Century)

If you know of others that I should consider, please elaborate.

[bighands3d]

Depends on your budget, the Ion is an expensive but very nice machine if you have the support equipment.

The T-Rex is the best I've seen so far as a sub micro heli.. not sure when the swift will be out. parts for the T-Rex are by far least expensive.

you could look at the joker

[TrailMix]

Do you have a URL for the joker?

[bighands3d]

Try cyberheli.com not sure who has them in the states.. I guess your looking for a 60 size machine in electric. The Ion with the Actro 32-3 is the way to go if you have the funds..

[Laurens]

www.ercmarket.com he has Jokers too.

I'd get a Fury Ion above a smaller one. I've seen a Joker fly and they sound really cool.

[esmith]

It's going to cost you as much to get a large electric in the air as it is a Nitro bird. Peroid.

Electric heli's for the most part are just regular heli's with electric motors and speed controllers instead of a gas engine. Crash costs are going to be about the same. A fury head is a fury head regardless of what motor you use. Same with electronics. Gyro's, servos and reciever are all the same. No cost difference at all yet.

To Properly maintain a large electric heli and get the same run time as you would a nitro bird is going to cost as much, if not more, than just buying 15% nitro and flying.

Your going to need Chargers, at least two circuts of high amperage output, Most guys are running a generator, those don't come cheap. Gotta buy fuel for it. Now, you will need minimum two, perferably more batteries sets, there are two on the Ion at a time, one strapped to each side. Those cost a lot and will give you a 12 minute or so flight time, your going to be constantly charging and cycling, This causes heat, you need to wait between flying and charging for the batteries to cool down, Add a cooler and ice packs and a supply of ziplock bags to help speed it up. Thats a small cost too.

Now your also lugging a TON of field gear, way more than a nitro bird.

My first Heli, a Raptor 30, regularly gives me 30+ minutes of flight per tank with 15%.

All depends on what YOU want though. I have a JR Voyager E, Great little electric heli, with a brushless motor and controller it sits around $1500 before I finally got it to perform. You can get the better flying Raptor flying for less $$$ and if fuel cost is a concern just get a 30 instead of a 50 which guzzles fuel twice as fast as a 30.

Hope that helps,

-eSmith.

[Russ McC]

Hi TrailMix,

Every one that said get an Ion is right if you are getting it for the right reasons. What -eSmith said is also right. If cost is the main factor for flying electric then this my be ok if you staying with the micro helies but if you planning on having 60/90 performance from an electric then it will cost you the bucks. I don’t know anything about the other helis you mentioned but I do know about what you called an electric Fury, this is an Ion-X by Min Air. There are pros and cons to both glow and electric.

Pros-Ion-X
The cost of the machine, motor and controller package are reasonable, $1300, about the same as a Fury Extreme, engine and muffler. No mess and no vibration that kills glow models, I have saved money and time by not having to fix and maintain the 90 glow models that suffered form vibration attrition. Very good performance.

Ion cons,
Batteries are $700+ per set and have so far proven to be moor expensive then 30% glow fuel for the same number of flights I have gotten for my battery dollars. A generator and chargers times two and power supplies to power the chargers cost extra money.

I would say that over all the Ions have been moor expensive then there glow counterparts but I fly them for there pluses not to save money. If money is your biggest concern then start into the bigger helis with a glow model. What ever you do have fun and find some help to get you going smoothly :glasses2:

[WillJames]

Get yourself a Raptor or Gohbee 50 Mike. Cheap to crash, a lot less frustrating than a micro electric and a HUGE amount cheaper than an Ion-x and all the trimmings. Ion's are the top dog in electrics now and cost very reasonable, but it is the packs and the chargers and a generator that more than double the cost. THe care and feeding of the big packs is also something that has a learning curve.

With a R/Gohbee 50 your obsticles to learning will be greatly reduced and your startup costs will be also. You can find people to help you anywhere when you fly R/Gohbee machines. Get a Futaba 9CHP or a JR 9303 and you can find people anywhere to help you program the radio to.

HTH,

[Laurens]

Consider a Spirit too, they're relativly cheap :wink:

[TrailMix]

Get yourself a Raptor or Gohbee 50 Mike.


Like this? http://www.gohbee.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=GBS50-11&Category_Code=100

Where do you find upgrade parts? I saw what they have there on their site. I am not real fond of those streamlined looking bodies. Would want to change it out some time for a scale body. Easily done I would guess?

Stupid rookie question I am sure but the diff between 30 & 50? Mainly engine size and price?

Initial cost is not as important as keeping daily flying cost down. I would fly every chance I got probably.

I use to have no problem keeping batteries going for e-cars. I take it the batteries necessary for e-heli's is much more involved? Power supplies have been mentioned?

[esmith]

Trailmix,
The chargers in general run from DC power, you need to either buy an AC to DC converter or tear apart an old computer case and steal the powersupply from there. Either way, it's just something else to be concerned with. It's more gear to lug to the field for sure.

Russ is the Man when it comes to the Ion, I never flew or had to maintain one so I am just talking from what I've read.

-eSmith.

[Hotshot Charlie]

Hey Trailmix, if you want a Gohbee 50, here is an incentive. Use my Rep Code and get another 7% off the purchase.

They are nice little heli's and the head on them is great, much nicer head than the Raptors. The price is good also.

When you order on line, just use #0073TD, or for that matter, any other field reps code for the 7% off.