What should i get

[bio87]

I'm torn between the Hurricane 550 or the Rc-tek Diablo 450 size heli. I currently have a Honey bee king v2 and i can fly around in tail in and do some piro's but thats about it. I want something more stable and something that doesn't have a much play in the head. The one thing that scares me about the 550 is the batter pack cost and the time it will take me to charge the batterys. Currently i have a Trition 2 charger so it takes about and hour to charge a 1000mahs pack so i can't imagine waiting 6 hours for 2x 2200mah packs to charge. So what do you guys think I should do? Get a diablo or a hurricane? Oh and I already have a Tx

Rc-tek Diablo - $399.99
Futaba 401&tail servo $219.99
3x servo’s hs65mg $106.98
Flight power lipo - $62.99

Total $789.95


Hurricane 550 - $349.00
Futaba 401&tail servo $219.99
3x servos JR DS821 $89.97
Flight power lipo -x2 $125.98

Total $814.94


Or $964.94 With best servo’s

[Mikej]

I have a King, a Trex, and a 550. I use the King and 550 a lot and hardly use the Trex at all - however this is partly due to the fact that I am still learning - lazy 8's mainly on the 550 and practicing nose-in on the King. The 550 handles wind much better than Trex, and is much easier to see.

By a CellPro 4S and some low cost batteries for the 550 from United Hobbies.

[DebianDog]

I would not worry about the servos too much. Odds are you will have a "chance" to replace those ;)

Looks like a $25 decision to me

[Pinecone]

BIG difference in the helis.

Trex can be flown in a smallish park or even the front yard. A Hurricane is MUCH larger heli that needs more space for flying and especially for safety. I was amazing at how much bigger my EP8 (500 sized heli with 400mm blades) seemed than a Trex. And the Hurricane is a step up from that.

A Hurricane crash is likely to do more damage to it and to the surrounding.

I have had a tip over that tossed the blades with both sized helis. The 550 was SCARY. LOUD, LARGE hunks of blade flying 50+ feet. 450 was not comfortable, but nowhere near as much as the 550.

And bottom line, get both. :) I have 100, 300, 450, 500 and 550 sized helis (190mm blades, 250mm blades, 325mm blades, 400mm blades and 500mm blades).

The heli is the cheap part. The 550 take twice as many packs. So if you buy 2 packs, you can fly the 450 twice before charging and probably longer flights, versus one shorter flight for the 550.

Hurricane parts are fairly cheap, but still more than 450 parts.

[bio87]

I'm actuallying looking into the whole A123 battery thing. How hard is it to make those packs? The main difference in the 2 heli's besides size is the hurricane is all plastic where as the diablo is all cnc and carbon fiber. How long does it take the cellpro to charge batterys?
also where is the best place to buy this heli?

[Mikej]

My CellPro takes about 50 minutes to charge a 2200 as does my Smart Plus - I have one of each so both batteries ready within an hour

[Pinecone]

You can get a CF frame and full CNC head for the Hurricane. Or the XES version which has the CNC head, etc. I have a CNC head for sale.

ReadyHeli is a VERY good shop to deal with.