200-250 Sized Heli Perceptions

[Gr4yb3ard]

I've flown a 200 for almost a year now, and own several heli's up to 600, so I've got some opinions on what's what. What I say is based on the SIZE, not the brand. What I've seen of the Align 250 tells me it's a good heli, and performs with similar characteristics of others in the size. So before you buy <ANY> 200-250, here's what I've learned.

Is this a beginners heli? Believe it or not, it could be done. Problem is, that setup challenges would destroy a beginner real quick. And this size heli is both more twitchy and harder to set up than a 450. Not recommended.

Is it a harder to fly than a 450? Yes, a fair bit twitchier, but if you can handle a 'Rex 450 well, you can fly a 200-250 pretty easily. Let's say after getting used to a small heli, a 600 feels like a truck.

Can it do <good> 3d? I'd say I've seen as much fantastic 3d in the 200-250's as anything else. Can't say I've ever seen anyone land inverted on the ceiling of a conference room and push the acoustical tiles up and down with a 450!

Can I fly it inside? NO, in this size, the headspeads, the size of the blades, make them flying Cuisinarts. Bert, Alan, Nick and a few others have the skills to do this. The rest of us need to understand our limitations.

Are they fragile? Interestingly, a small, draggy airframe, and the scaling of the parts and mass seem to make them a LOT tougher. I rarely bend spindles or mainshafts in the small heli's. Crash costs run about half of the 450's on average (for me). When I get an Align 250, I expect the same results (plus parts available at LHS).

Does'nt it cost the same as a 450? Yep, you will spend about the same money after it's all setup and equipped. But it costs about half as much to run in parts and batteries, so keep that in mind.

Can I fly in the wind? Yes, but you're in for a ride. Fun challenge in itself, but it can get wild enough to take the fun out of it too. Take your windspeed limitations for flying a 450 and divide by two.

What's the advantage? You can fly in more places. It's more compact (see photo). Flying my 600 is like gearing up for a fishing trip. Flying my 200's is like suddenly deciding to run to the convenience store.

So, I like the size. I don't own any nitro .90's, but I think they're cool too. Everything in it's place, there's enough room in this hobby for everyone...

We're gonna have a hoot with the 250!

***yb3ard

[blahblah9]

here is a gaui200 model for realflight g4, scroll down the post alittle and its down their. it feels pretty close to a 200 class and helped me out alot while waitin on my gaui200 to come in the mail

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=73300

[rotorhead58d]

the trex 250 for G4 is already on www.knifeedge.com in swap pages. it fly's like a 200. gives you a good feeling of what to expect from a 200. collective management becomes a lot more critical.

and +1 to ***'s post.

[blahblah9]

oh that's awesome then, i looked the other day, so it must be freshly made hehe

[rotorhead58d]

nah, it's been on there for a while. it is under G4 aircraft varients. here...

http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/down...o=file&id=7807

[blahblah9]

i found it, to me though it feels more like the guai200 with the 5150 motor, but that could be just me

[felborn]

Thanks for that post Greybeard (cant belive I decypher that), very informativ and a rather fresh post in this category

I like the gearing up for a fishingtrip analogy, I hope I will do more spur flying when my 250 is ready to go

[eightythree]

i feel the same way.. i grew up on lower cost micro helis and when i flew my 600 over the summer, it did seem like a fshing trip everytime, and it does feel like a truck.

the little guys put a big grin on my face

[geoff200]

***yb3ard:

Can I fly it inside? NO, in this size, the headspeads, the size of the blades, make them flying Cuisinarts. Bert, Alan, Nick and a few others have the skills to do this. The rest of us need to understand our limitations.

By inside, do you mean in a house/home? What about inside a gym - would this still be problematic?

[jujiro]

Originally Posted by geoff200

***yb3ard:


By inside, do you mean in a house/home? What about inside a gym - would this still be problematic?

IMO that all depends on how big of a gym, how confident you are in controlling it and on how many people is actually there, as these little buggers can go from hover to FFF in very little time in comparison to a 450 . It can fly in something as small as a 2 car garage , but I feel most comfortable with it in a small field when I'm throwing it around and trying new stuff.

So I say it's mainly how confident you feel in keeping it under control.

[dwesnor]

I tried learning on a Belt CP (450 class) and found it difficult because it was too slow to react and broke too easily. Moved to a Honeybee CP2 (200-ish class) and I am learning a lot faster, both because the quicker reaction gives me more opportunities to correct my mistakes before it hits the ground and it doesn't break as often. In 2 months with the Belt CP, I was just starting to side-in. I could side-in on the CP2 on the 3rd battery. To me, the smaller helicopters are easier to learn on because you don't have to anticipate as much.

Putting on some heavier fiberglass blades really took the twitchiness out of it without slowing it down any.

[Gr4yb3ard]

Yes, a lot depends on the individual heli, but regardless, the rule is the bigger it is, the easier it is to fly. That is until you have to replace the servos with seatbelts ;-)

Back to Geoff200's question about gymnasiums. Sure a basketball sized court would be great, BUT!

In my experience, gym's won't let you fly, they are horribly concerned about gouges in the wood floors.

Your results may vary, but out here, heli's are not welcome.

***yb3ard