Do Upgraded Gyro and Servos Really Matter on the B400?

[LockMD]

I wonder how many have ya'll that actually work in the field actually fly RC, I am guessing alot, alot just dont post ??

[ualdrivr]

You want to know why this really bothers me so much. Because I see it everyday. People putting their helicopters up for sale because they already dropped $400-500 dollars on it and then they come to all these RC forums on the net and people tell them that they are not going to be able to fly it unless they put another $200-300 in the helicopter. THis is absolute BS and very discouraging to a new RC flyer. The fact is , the Blade 400 will fly just fine STOCK for a new flyer for a very long time. Things break. No amount of money spent on electronic is going to give you the insurance that your heli will not crash or break.

SPaRX

It's all about knowing how to fly and not the equipment, you are absolutely right sparx:thumbup:
and that come from me a 15,000 hour major airline pilot.
All the fancy gyros and servos are fine if you have the money, but they are not going to help with your flying skills, can someone show me a nailed nose in hover? Or a close nose in roll with precision? You do not need fancy servos to do that....Just take a look at Mike Mas, now that guy knows how to fly an RC Helicopter.http://www.rotory.com/rotorysite/

[sparx-]

Well, least a few get it :)

SPaRX

[LockMD]

True fancy equipment is NOT gonna make me fly any better. BUT if it helps me learn quicker with less crashes, I'm all for it. Can I 'BUY' an auto pilot button??

Seriously guys it does help, once I learn and am better sure I could fly just as good with a lesser gyro/servo. You have to admit they DO help at least with confidence if nothing else.

[Gsquared08]

If you do not mechanically tuen the tail of heli, you will burn up any servo on the market because you are going to overwork the servo.

Noob question: Flying out of the box and not knowing how to tweak any settings yet like tuning the tail (all my flight time is in the RealFlight virtual world so far), is this something we should learn how to do before 1st flight? This is pertains to hovering and forward flight.

[sokal]

my B400 came from the factory messed up and knowing the basics help me get it right or aleast close to right. so knowing atleast the basic idea is prefered


and servo/gyro upgrades dont make you a better or worse pilot.
just a hobbiest. do they help you fly better thats for you to deside.
the biggest reason i upgraded was because of the quality i just wanted to know if i crash its because of pilot error not mechanics and have to stock servos fail on me was enough.
i flew on stock set up for 1.5 months about 60 flights and worked well. gyro was a lil peace of work but worked hated that it seems never to be the same each flight but was still able to trimm it out manualy with thumbs.
so hey upgrade dont upgrade it your helicopter you hobby decide on your own

an i do agree learn to fly is key nomatter if you use $1,000,000 or $5 servos
no matter what your still in the air your still having fun.

as i answered befor to the topic title upgrades do help not help u fly better because practice does that but help the heli be more percise and once your ready also responds alot faster

[Gsquared08]

The fact is , the Blade 400 will fly just fine STOCK for a new flyer for a very long time. Things break. No amount of money spent on electronic is going to give you the insurance that your heli will not crash or break.

SPaRX

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! That's all I think I needed to hear. I have $800 to spend and was willing to spend it all to make sure I'm not victim of inferior parts that I have been hearing so much about. I have been racking my itty-bitty brain trying to figure out if all that "upgrade" talk is for flyers who will fly it hardcore right out of the box or for everybody both expert and novice. But seeing a pro tell us the heli is fine as is, makes me feel all warm and toasty inside and is worthy of a golf clap. Now, I can either take my wife and kids out for a fun weekend with the extra 225 bucks or spend some of that on extra batteries and a darn good charger. Oh and a box of crash kits of course

My friend and I are both going to buy Blade400's from our local Hobbytown at the same time because the owner said he'd give us a discount of $420+tax and the best part is, Charlie really only wants the radio so he's going to sell me his Blade for $75 MIB. Not bad huh? So I can either use the other as a back-up or cannibalize it over time.

[sokal]

yes the heli is great out of the box in stock configuration
needs some TLC but will do you fine.
i hope you enjoy the B400 as much as i have and everyone else

[Kindling Maker]

I have some flights on my B-400 she is great. It is a good bird. and if you get a good one like I did it will fly straight out of the box just fine.

[skigolfmike]

Knowing what I know now I could setup a B400 out of the box that would fly great. It's wouldn't be as good as what I have now, but no way should it be.

For all you folks that the B400 flew great out of the box, fantastic. Mine had the head assembled incorrectly with extra step washers on the feathering shaft. Kind of like putting 22 shims on each side of the O-rings. The heli was way too sensitive, I crashed pretty quick and, of course, stripped a servo gear. Fortunately, that crash only cost me about $30. I went to work on setup and I only upgraded when I felt I wanted more and I had hit the limitation of the existing equipment. That's not to say I couldn't fly it that way, I just didn't want to fly it that way.

No one here is saying you have to upgrade anything. What is being said is if you upgrade this is what worked for me. YMMV

Just have fun and go fly.:cheers

[sparx-]

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! That's all I think I needed to hear. I have $800 to spend and was willing to spend it all to make sure I'm not victim of inferior parts that I have been hearing so much about. I have been racking my itty-bitty brain trying to figure out if all that "upgrade" talk is for flyers who will fly it hardcore right out of the box or for everybody both expert and novice. But seeing a pro tell us the heli is fine as is, makes me feel all warm and toasty inside and is worthy of a golf clap. Now, I can either take my wife and kids out for a fun weekend with the extra 225 bucks or spend some of that on extra batteries and a darn good charger. Oh and a box of crash kits of course

My friend and I are both going to buy Blade400's from our local Hobbytown at the same time because the owner said he'd give us a discount of $420+tax and the best part is, Charlie really only wants the radio so he's going to sell me his Blade for $75 MIB. Not bad huh? So I can either use the other as a back-up or cannibalize it over time.

Please do not mistake me for a Pro because I am not. Just stating some things I have learned while flying helis. The fact is, a new flyer is going to crash. Spend more time on a sim and you will reduce it for sure. Take it slow and it will reduce it as well. But the fact remains, spending $200+ on upgraded servos and gyro are not going to stop you from crashing. They are also not going to stop your helicopter from getting damaged in a crash. When you crash, something is going to break PERIOD. You would be further ahead to save the upgrade money for crash repairs. THen when you have progressed to the point when you will really benefit from a better servo and gyro, then consider it.

Let me put some dollar figures on it to help some understand.

Lets say you are going to upgrade your servos and gyro and it is going to cost you $200 as a basis. Now say with stock servos, when you crash you strip servos. Ok.. $4 for servo gears. Using the $200 upgrade cost, you can repair your servos 50 times.

Ok, so lets say you did upgrade your servos. Now instead of stripping servo gears your start breaking control arms. Those are going to run you around the same $4 replacement cost. You have already spent the $200 on servos/gyro. So now your "learning repair costs" are on top of that $200.

IMHO, you are further ahead to save that $200 for your "learning repair costs". The Stock equipment is more then enough for the new and intermediate flyer.

But hey, just my $0.02. YMMV.

SPaRX

[Gsquared08]

Alright, only meant "pro" because I thought that was you flying the 400 in the video:). If it was you and you still say your not a pro, then I shall call you "Mr. Humble.

[sparx-]

Alright, only meant "pro" because I thought that was you flying the 400 in the video:). If it was you and you still say your not a pro, then I shall call you "Mr. Humble.

Not me in that video. My skill level is FAR from that.

Hope you enjoy the Blade 400. Helis are fun for sure :)

SPaRX

[sokal]

hope to be like you sparx and able to fly my blade
x1IQYXDhBC4

[sokal]

:noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:notew orthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy: noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:notewo rthy:noteworthy:noteworthy:DHi think we have beaten this horse enough

[sparx-]

????? What is that all about?

[Wolfpackin]

Sokal,

Very nicely done.
I can only hope to fly like that one day.

[LockMD]

Nice Sokal!

I need a camera man....well it wont help my flying but at least the vids would be a better quality :)

Well I flew 8 packs last night.....might be it for a little bit. My 600 should arrive today, so I will be busy building the next day or so.

[LjArpin]

I guess Im like most of you and would by the parts because they were the best not cause i can't fly all that great. And my B400 came all jacked up out the box too! Still dont know why. But even in my Nitro and Electric Cars i run 150.00 a Piece steering servos, because of performance and piece of mind.

[skigolfmike]

Well I flew 8 packs last night.....might be it for a little bit. My 600 should arrive today, so I will be busy building the next day or so.

Got the bug bad didncha!

I'd be jealous, but I have just about enough funds set aside to get a 500. Haven't decided which one, but I am leaning towards a Trex. The 600 is nice, but the battery cost is a killer.

[LockMD]

Not really I'm gonna use the same batts I use for my 400.

4 each. Take two sets of two and parallel them = 22.2 V and then take the two ends from there and hook them up in series (2100mah each) = 4200mah

this way too if a cell goes bad you chuck that one batt and replace it instead of the whole thing. Downside is 1 flight will require to charge 4 batts. Think I might invest in another cellpro 4S.

lets see started in October with a cx2, then cp pro, hbfp, hbfp (brushless), B400, E-Smart 600 (arrives today)

no bug here :)

[skigolfmike]

Start Hijack

My thought is I can initially use the 2 E-flite 1800s or the 2 TP 2100s in series on a 500 until I get something more suitable. i.e. 6S1P 2500s At least that would get me in the air. Looking hard at the Trex500 CF w/ CF blades.

Getting onto golf season and I have to start saving money for sticks and pellets too.

End Hijack:lol:

Seriously though, this heli flies better than the Kalt Enforcer (30 sized) I used to have. The electronics have sure come a long way. My only suggestion to anybody buying one would be to try and find someone else who has one and knows how to set it up.

[LockMD]

if you run only 2 in series you will only double the mah. I think minimum you can run 2 in parallel but you will have very short flights.

to have an adequate power and flight approx 10 mins, you will need minimum of 4 batts.

I could be wrong but that is how I learned it - correct me if need be so I know for sure myself.

[skigolfmike]

From my limited knowledge of electricity:

Batteries in series, you add voltage, batteries in parallel you add mAh.

Batteries in series, the positive lead of one battery connect to the negative lead of the next battery. 2 3S1P packs in series makes a 6S1P 22.2V) pack. Batteries in parallel, the positive and negative leads connect into a common connector. 2 3S1P packs in parallel make a 3S2P (11.1V) pack.

[LockMD]

Oh okay, so I had it bass akwards. Thanks for straightening me out.