Blade 400: Should have bought a T-Rex 450

[adelmasw]

After buying a 400, i am thinking that i should have bought a 450. Even though it would have been more expensive the parts are surely more available and i believe that the 450 looks more durable. A couple small bumps with the 400 and you are rebuilding the whole thing.

just the way i am feeling now.

[gdbontly]

I can't speak for the Blade 400 specifically, but before my T-REX, I had a Blade CP Pro. What a piece of junk! I know that people have done mods to the CP to get them to fly better (or to fly at all?), but out of the box, it's practically unflyable. I have no problems flying my T-Rex, but could never get the CP to fly. And it was way more expensive to repair than the T-Rex.

[sokal]

well all i can say is i owned a cp pro first heli learned on it in stock config flew just fine traffic, return to tatget, and 90 deg banks. yes the bigger ones (ie...) the balde400 or trex are much easier to fly. but the cpp was like flying a UH-1 no computer assist manual tail holding. basic helicopter flight

as for my blade400 it came out of the box messed up servos are crap and some say gyro was ok with good servo
i put nice servos gy401 in mine and it it was like night and day . as for every hobby trial and error to find what is right is key. iv recived lots of help from folks on this site and a little brain power and what do you know its set up right.
no matter if it's a rexx or a blade any crash or strike something is going to brake or give nature of the hobby.
i do agree they should have more parts avail but the replacements are cheap compared

[Acho]

I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about the blade 400. Helis of this caliber require a lot of fine-tuning and carefully chosen parts(HH gyro, mg servos, etc) in order to fly properly, and I suspect a $400 rtf model is going to lack these things.

I guess a Blade 400 could be upgraded, but once the $$ is added up I think a trex would be a better buy.

[sokal]

true i, i was going to buy a rexx (dont get me wrong would have been a buy)
but couldnt pass up the remote also my ultimate goal is to get an RC CH-47 so far my price with upgrades are $700 or so. still not to bad.
so with the cheap parts with the blade its good to get the crashes and learning on some thing as good as a rex but cheaper to repair. any thing else my next heli will be a rexx that way she will live crash free as for now please feel sorry for my CPpro
she is now my learn to 3d bird poor lil thing:lol:

[SCVNSR]

Its not the heli that has problems. I have more than 50 flights on mine and its bone stock. I have had ZERO problems. Spending more money will not help poor setup and maintenance or flying beond your skill level.

[sokal]

so why did my servos freeze while doing ground checks i have 0 crashes
im just guessing mine was made on friday

[HeliDan]

My CP Pro is a piece of crap as well. TREX way better..........

[maxxteezy]

yup

[sokal]

well im sure a cp pro compared to a rexx, ill agree but for what it is its fun.
it does all scale flying manuvers, and today was my first loop and it did fine
or should i say i did fine was a bit scarry the first inverted type manuver but it did it

not ready to put the 400 in to a loop thats why the cpp is my test dummy
POOR LIL THING:mad: for it being crap not for me:lol:

[LockMD]

well im sure a cp pro compared to a rexx, ill agree but for what it is its fun.
it does all scale flying manuvers, and today was my first loop and it did fine
or should i say i did fine was a bit scarry the first inverted type manuver but it did it

not ready to put the 400 in to a loop thats why the cpp is my test dummy
POOR LIL THING:mad: for it being crap not for me:lol:


WOW you did a loop on the cpp? I'm impressed your skills are above mine......at first I thought you said you did your first loop on the 400 and I was gonna say something about gonads! :YeaBaby:

For now my HBFP is my beater, when (if ever) I do any loops I will have the cpp test the winds before trying with the 400.

[sokal]

you should have seen my nuckles white as snow.
yep not brave enought to put the 400 out of my ability.

[bebopgolf]

I have a cp+ and was able to get a loop out of it!! I also got a 400 and love it. I have looped it as well!! It was actually easer to loop. after flying my 400 I love going back to the bcp+ and hovering it in the house if feels really slow after flying the 400.

[sokal]

true just not in that level of confedence with my 400 (mostly worried about the sudden stop at the end)1 day

[ImNix]

I can't speak for the Blade 400 specifically, but before my T-REX, I had a Blade CP Pro. What a piece of junk! I know that people have done mods to the CP to get them to fly better (or to fly at all?), but out of the box, it's practically unflyable. I have no problems flying my T-Rex, but could never get the CP to fly. And it was way more expensive to repair than the T-Rex.

i completely disagree with you, i am flying mine inverted all the time and its bone stock, the blades are woodies and have even been crashed!!! and if i crash, im out max 20 bucks or so. that cpp really taught me a lot on how to fly, im glad i still have it too!

[OliOC]

I don't think you can really compare the Blade and Trex 450. They are two completely different machines in different price brackets.

Perhaps the Blade shouldn't be sold as fully RTR kit, as mine was well and truly not set up out of the box. But after a nights work it would hover beautifully. I still can't get the gyro setup properly, and it's certainly no 401, but here in the UK a 401 costs a third of the price of the Blade.

I have now bought a 450 and the quality of parts is incomparable compared to the Blade. But then again, the 450 kit alone costs more than the Blade package.

In short, you get what you pay for in life. The Trex 450 is much better than the Blade 400, but costs twice as much, so what do you expect?

[VengeanceCP]

Durability wise, the trex wins because of its material which is aluminum or carbon fiber (depending on what version you get). The blade 400 is plastic.

I flew my trexsev2 into an indoor soccer ceiling full throttle, and then it fell about 40ft.... The carbon fiber and the cnc was perfectly fine except for some minor scratches. It landed on pavement by the way. I did not even bend the 4mm spindle to my surprise since it was in stunt mode. I had to replace my woodblades, mainshaft, flybar, and PLASTIC main gear/landing gear. Less that $20 in repairs and it was probably one of the most horrific crashes with a 450 size machine that I have to date. I have seen some good ones too. haha.

[R1R 7humbs]

I had a Blade 400 and recently went back to the LHS to get a TREX 450. I should have bit the bullet on day 1 and paid a few hundred more to thave the trex done right. Trying to sell a used Dx6i and AR6100 is tougher than I thought, even though they're in perfect condition (only 2 flights).

The 450 that I got is "better" than the 400 but I'm basing that more on the flying charteristics, which is unfair. My 450 has the 770 3D gyro and 3400 tail servo, that's several levels up from the stock blade tail and gyro setup. The motor in the Rex is also more powerful and since I got the SE V2, it has a full metal head as well.

Total cost comparison:
- Blade 400 3D: $500 out of the store (tax) w/ Radix blades
- Trex 450 SE V2: $990 (ouch...)

The 450 kit was $450 at my LHS. It came with the motor, battery and ESC. I had to get the gyro, tail servo, cyclic servos, RX... I was going to just use my AR6100 on the Blade but due to some strange glitch, I need a 7ch RX in order to properly set the gain for the 770 when using my 9303 TX. When I tried to set gain through the gear channel it was very unstable, using AUX2 on the AR7000 works correctly.

[tommyb]

Maybe you should have bought a trex, but for the money, most people moving up might find the blade 400 to be the ticket.

I flew the trex for two years, built a second, then took a break from helis while I got into planes. When the blade came out, I could not believe what a fantastic deal it was. I think I easily had $750 into a cde xl with a modest setup and a dx6 and one battery. I go the blade for almost half that.

The blade 400 would have been way more than enough for me at the time I bought the trex. Since I have many hours in on the trex, it seems that the 400 right out of the box doesn't quite have the performance of the trex. Seems mush, and a little less power, than the kit trex motor, but not much. The only major deficiency I see at this point is the gyro, but I believe I can get that to hold based on others experiences.

The again, for the price, I'm still pretty impressed with it. They will sell a ton of them, maybe not as many as the trex, but they'll be a close second when its all done.

Once its tweaked, and maybe with the addition of some upgrades, I think the 400 will be a viable competitor to the trex, and still be less money. And the dx6i is a fantastic upgrade to the dx6. And the dx6 took me through 6 or 8 helis and 40 or so planes. I just got a dx7 and other than the extra channel, I don't think it offers much over the dx6i, in fact its lacking the roller wheel.

Don't listen to the naysayers guys, if you are moving up to a 450 size heli for the first time, and maybe moving up from 72mhz or a dx6, you really can't go wrong!

[Gr4yb3ard]

I'm using the cpp as my test dummy as well. I've got one stock and am currently building up the other as far as I'm willing to go. I've seen the aluminum cnc frames from HeliHobby, but for that kind of money I think I'll run plastic and get a 450se v2.
In fact I'm probably just dumb enough to go out and buy one this week just for grins, If I do, I'll promise to give an un-biased test report as soon a practicable (e.i find the change for the gyro, servos and what-all.

Gr4yb3ard
"one hour of time with a .40 class heli is like a dozen Kamikazee missions, only you can still drink beer afterwards..."

[Gr4yb3ard]

I promised test reports....

cppro: still running, I like the little brat more every day. Not for noobs though...

...like an over-powered flying quisianart with the mind of a playfull Collie!!...

.... and yes (*you were waiting for this, were'nt you??*).... WHOEVER DESIGNED THE MAINSHAFT AND GEAR SHOULD BE SHOT, SUED FOR ENGINEERING MALPRACTICE AND/OR FORCED TO FLY SILLY *SSED 15CENT BALSA GLIDERS UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER!!!! But after that rant, I have to admit i've got almost 200 flights on the stock tail motor, and never had to replace it, so maybe it's just random acts of violence and forced landings or maybe just raw statistics 'eh?

Blade 400: awesome! Go get one for a spare, even if you've got a dozen 450 V2'S and 600 nitro's!

T-Rex v2: jewel-like precision, expensive, yes, but way well worth it. Savor your building and first flight experience like a pricy conac. Flies easier than either of the above and can out fly either, but a lot a bucks for someone that has not flown a heli before.

So, I think the blade 400 comes out the top pick. You get a decent radio, reciever and chassis. Bash it up and later get a T-rex, and i'll bet you rebuild the 400 later. My 2cents..

Gr4yb3ard
"no heli's damage in the last week, gotta fly more!"
Next... GAUI 200!!!!"