Electric or Nitro? Which one?

[DeWDiver]

Will be starting with a complete set up soon. However I need advice on which type of Copter would be the best choice.

Some background. I live in South Dakota where the wind is typically 5-10mph daily. Quite a few days are 15-20.

I would like to get a MX-400/T-Rex and be able to fly indoors but is this going to be too much of a handful outside? The other choice would be a 30-50 or even 60 sized nitro copter. I want to enjoy the copter experience, not battle and not have any fun.

I would appreciate your help,
Thanks

[DebianDog]

Both will cost about the same. I think I have more in my T-Rex than my Raptor at this point...

The T-Rex flies well in the wind but... I would go Nitro myself either a 30 w/ an OS 37 or a 50. NOT a 60! I made that mistake. They are more $$$ to fix.

Oh and unless you have a big house or barn you will be "hovering inside" not "flying inside" ;)

[WayneBrown]

good advice Dan!
there are other advantages to a 30 nitro, run times and weight. a heavier machine with more mass penetrates the wind better. The largest most noticeable benifit is the near 20 minute run times though.

[Ciprian]

I would go with a glow raptor 30. But, if you travel a lot, get a trex. I got one (which I have not maidened yet) because I travel a lot and I want a heli that I can take with me wherever I go and fly whenever I have a few minutes.

[MikeEast]

I tell you something else.. I am learning on a TRex and it is a nice, really nice helicopter and mine flies great but I can see the benefit of a larger easier to see heli... Plus it is my understanding that the larger ones are much more stable.. My T Rex is quick quick,,, it can get away from you in a hearbeat and you wont be able to see it...

Again,, its a really nice flying heli its just small. Im painting mine right now to make it more visible for me...

[SteveL]

Ok this is my OPINION
Get a 50 nitro machine.
Electrics are finicky and more expensive in the long run. Don't let anyone convince you that fuel will pay for the price of electric. Batteries are expensive and don't last forever. Why a 50? The repair costs are the same as a 30 (mostly the same parts) and the power can't even be compared. If you are a total beginner, put a governor on it and fly 550 woodies for a cheaper crash. If you but a 30 it will not take you long to wish you had a 50.

[bighands3d]

The Raptor 50 v2 with the OS 50 SX-H is a great starter combo. A gov. is optional if you have anyone around with the skills on how to setup and mix properly you can save $80. Or we can help walk you trough it.

I would recomend this heli because I have recently setup and helped a local guy here with his and he is a newbie. But out of the box it is a great heli. Get some help with inital setup and trimming and then you will be on your way. If you want something to flyindoors the E-flight blade CX... Not a T-Rex for indoors.

make your choice for parts availibility, maybe LHS or MO.

[SteveL]

You can run the hyper with curves but you will sacrafice power. I was only suggesting a governor and 550 blades to make it cheaper to learn. If you are going to run 600s and have someone to help you then by all means save the $80.00

[DavidH]

You can run the hyper with curves but you will sacrafice power.

Would you explain why?

David

[SteveL]

In order to run the hyper without overspeeding the head you need to limit its power to about 80% I had to back my p-mixes off to about 25% on cyclic to throttle. I am running it on an EVO \w JK muffler. I had my EVO almost exlpode when my governer let go running 100-60-32-60-100 + +- 11 pitch in idle up. I would imagine that the people running it without a gov are running lower nitro (I run 30%) or just don't know how to tune it (which I am not the best at) but my hyper runs like a scalded dog. You cannot, no matter how good you are at setting curves, set them to compensate for dumb thumbs (poor collective management). With the governor, you can use all the power available and still not overspeed the head.
I am not saying that a compitant pilot cannot fly one on well set up cuvres and have it out perform mine on the TJ. But, then it is the pilot who makes the difference.

[DebianDog]

Yep. I had a Hyper in my Tiger and ended up running like 75% thottle or a headspeed of 2200.

The Hyper with a pipe is a lot of motor.

[SteveL]

I think the Tiger has a ~9.5 ratio so that is really turning that motor up. I think OS really got this motor right but I think thier HP curves are a little low. I think this motor might like 19000 mor than 17000.

[Foxden]

Tiger has a 8.9:1 ratio on a Hyper 50 at 1850 - 1910 headspeed it's right in it's power band