Kinetic 50 any owners how is it?

[sniper_iron_man]

hey everyone i was just wpundering if any one on here owns a Kinetic 50 and could give me some info on it besides what the helimax sight offers thanks!

[GyroAl]

The Kinetic is a good sport 50,

But for a few dollars more, you can step up big time, by going for the Raven 50 from Century (they make the Kinetic for Hobbico).

The Kinetis is more of a bigger (50 size) version of their 30 size Hawk Pro.

The Raven 50 is a smaller version of their large 90 size Preditor.

Just the difference in cost between the wood blades and plastic/aluminum swashplate of the Kinetic to the composite blades and full CNC swashplate supplied with the Raven, easily make up for the price difference...never mind the may other differences.

[centuryman]

I have 4 hawk pros , 2 kinetic 50's, and 3 ravens.
The kinetic has the same mechanics as the hawk and theraven. the diffence is the bling that comes with them.for $70.more the raven comes with carbon blades,eccpm,driven tail,thrust bearing tail grips,cnc headblock,closed loop flybar cage,and yellow canopy.
The kinetic fly's great good intermediat heli and can do decent 3D.A side note is the parts for the most part are cheaper for the kinetic and except for the upgraded parts they fit the raven.comes with wood blades.holds 16oz fuel so flight times are good,very durable except for the tail gears.they don't like to be tapped on the ground, I hear trex600 pro has the same problem.Many ,many upgrades avail.

[t2o]

Hello,
I also have a k50 and had I known at the time I purchase it, I would have gladly paid the extra $70 for the Raven and got all the bling stuff.

[centuryman]

the price on th eraven just came down in january. it was $379.00.

[GyroAl]

When the Raven 50 was $380.00 the K-50 was $300.

But even if the K50 is $230.00 and the Raven was $380.00 I would pay the $150.00 difference, as the components needed to upgrade the K-50 to a Raven would cost a lot more then $150.00.

I also think the Raven 50 compares very favorably to many other 50's on the market, that sell for $450 and more. So I thought it was a great buy when I paid $380.00 for mine.

IMHO, at $300.00 it is a steal.

[centuryman]

I'm with you man.I was just trying to cheer up t2o and myself for buying the kinetic .

[GyroAl]

:lol:

[t2o]

Thanks for the incouraging words:arggg: Ouch! That hurts. Besides, what fun would it be if I didn't have an upgrade to look forward to. And speaking of upgrades.

I see Century has a CCPM kit for these Heli's. How much better would a Raven or a K50 be if it were CCPM? I like tinkering with these almost as much as I like flying them but...


If you had your choice what would be more important, carbon blades or CCPM?

I was looking at the kit and it seems to me that it would have been cheaper, from a manufacturing point of veiw, to have the kits ccpm in the first place. There would certainly be fewer parts.


And as for blades is there any reason not to get 620mm over 600? It says in the manual that the k50 is good for the 620mm.

[centuryman]

The raven already is ccpm.and it makes a noticable difference in collective feel,However it's not needed unless doing alot of 3D.Plus you have to run better servos with the century ccpm because there is'nt any bellcrank's to absorb the vibes so the servo's take all the head vibes.
Carbon blades track better and obviuosly performe better plus you can run higher head speeds,ccpm will give you more precise control and more powerfull collective pitch response.If you whant to do 3D i would say both are important but the blades the most important.
I think the reason for the mechanical mixing system on an entery level heli is that you don't need a fancy radio for it.Funny thing is i have'nt seen a radio that doesn't have the eccpm option, but i'm sure they're out there.
As for blades I use 600's or 570's on my 50 nitro's and spin them faster to get the pop and when you spin theme faster your cyclic gets faster:)However 620's at lower haedspeed will get you the same pop but your cyclic will be slower.Your choice.On my eletrics however i run 620's ,high headspeeds and lots of pitch bacause they have something nitro's don't. LOTS OF POWER!! and holy pop do they performon that setup.
620's will make your heli more stable and easier to hover.

[t2o]

Thanks for all that!

Back on topic: I believe that the starting system on the k50 is not so good. I would upgrade to the aluminum fan with one way bearing built in HMXE4105. It cost less than a decent one-way starter shaft with hex drive, and eleminates the need for one, as it has the one way built in and comes with its own shaft. IMHO do this upgrade before you put the thing together for the first time. While your at it get the Century part # CN2556 aluminum head block. it looks good and spins better than the plastic stuff.

[RAV50]

I have literally hundreds (probably thousands) of starts on my Hawks & Raven (the same starting system as the K50) and have always used a start wand with a one way bearing and have never had a problem.

I prefer this method, because I can use it with more then one heli (and not have to buy a bling fan for each). I have also had a number of bad experiences with other brands of heli, that use the one-way bearing in the heli for starting, so I was glad to not have to use it here.

What I found with the in-heli one-way designs, is that it is easy to ruin these one-way bearings, as they are a lot smaller then the ones built into the wand that is attached to the electric starter.

If you are trying to start an engine that is overly rich, one can easily ruin the small one-way bearing that is built into the fan, or like in other brands, that are built into the clutch itself. These fans and clutches are far more expensive then the stock $6.00 fan you have here.