sick of micros, going to look at used trex500 fbl. any advice?

[learnedthehardway]

Sick and tired of 3n1 boards and crappy blade helis. I have an old walkera df 36 I can't get parts for, so I do have some experience working on a larger belted tail heli, but know nothing about align helis.

This is the old bought it used and never flew it scenario I'm walking into and was hoping to get some advice on what to look for and watch out for. Looks immaculate in the pic but we all know how that goes, could be a total pile in person.

I have till nxt friday when he gets back to town to research it, any advice would be greatly appreciated as this will be my first align heli, and first large fbl heli.

I currently fly a nano cpx, mcpx bl and 180 cfx. The 180 is a decent heli but I have been so pissed off by stupid failures on the bl and nano that I don't want to give HH another dime of my hard earned money. Supposed to take a beating but mine have failed without any crashes. Unreliable pieces of crap

[MS60]

Can't go wrong with a trex 500, you'll find it much easier to work on than the smaller helis, parts are plentiful. Flies way bigger, once you get used to it you'll love it.

[Kap'n Krunch]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

Sick and tired of 3n1 boards and crappy blade helis. I have an old walkera df 36 I can't get parts for, so I do have some experience working on a larger belted tail heli, but know nothing about align helis.

This is the old bought it used and never flew it scenario I'm walking into and was hoping to get some advice on what to look for and watch out for. Looks immaculate in the pic but we all know how that goes, could be a total pile in person.

I have till nxt friday when he gets back to town to research it, any advice would be greatly appreciated as this will be my first align heli, and first large fbl heli.

I currently fly a nano cpx, mcpx bl and 180 cfx. The 180 is a decent heli but I have been so pissed off by stupid failures on the bl and nano that I don't want to give HH another dime of my hard earned money. Supposed to take a beating but mine have failed without any crashes. Unreliable pieces of crap

hey take it easy micros are only supposed to be the easier softer way then you learn and we get sick of them and then buy a real heli lol
I went thur the same stuff with those HH helis and now I don't have any interest in them but they do have there place

you might consider getting a 450 instead itll take you in to the next two years of learning crashes are cheaper but can still be expensive

[learnedthehardway]

From what I've read so far it has excellent ratings. I know I'm ready for a real helicopter as I can flip, roll and fly inverted all day without crashing. Also know there's going to be some serious pucker factor transitioning to a 500 lol. Imagine there will be many packs of easy sport flying before I get comfortable

[Kap'n Krunch]

im not sure it flys way bigger but it does fly heavy and likes lots of head speed he might as well get a mikado 480 then its night and day so ive heard

I noticed how light my 450 fly even at 3000 hs

the 500 likes 3000hs in my opinion the 500 is not as stable below that

[learnedthehardway]

Micros are great, I love my bl and they allow you to fly in public and tight areas. Just seems like HH quality is going downhill. My 120sr and mcpx v2 went 100s of flights without a single issue. Nano has been decent but it's gutless and annoying to fly. My bl eats tail motors for dinner and they have both burned 3n1 boards in less than 50 uncrashed flights. I can fly a helicopter, not too worried about crashing.

[learnedthehardway]

Not looking to spend a fortune out of the gate, If this 500 checks out it'll be a spektrum rdy, bind and fly with 3 packs for $300 or less. I want to check setup and fly with plenty of $$ left in case of unexpected disaster lol

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by Kap'n Krunch

im not sure it flys way bigger but it does fly heavy and likes lots of head speed he might as well get a mikado 480 then its night and day so ive heard

I noticed how light my 450 fly even at 3000 hs

the 500 likes 3000hs in my opinion the 500 is not as stable below that

So it's going to feel like a giant slug compared to my 180?

[learnedthehardway]

Reading sticky's and trying to find common failure points to look for when I'm looking the trex over.

[Kap'n Krunch]

no the trex 500 rips to me faster then the 450

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by Kap'n Krunch

no the trex 500 rips to me faster then the 450

Gotcha, was reading earlier about a 700 almost flying away from someone used to a 550. Will probably be even more shocking going 180 to 500 lol. I have flown a 450 with a brushless setup, but it's only an ancient 3s coverted fb heli.

[learnedthehardway]

Used to twitchy birds with touchy collective, but I know micros look like they're going fast because of their size. In reality they aren't covering much ground in a short amount of time. Even my 180 at full tilt takes a bit to get across the field I fly it in. Covers more ground than the bl but flies a lil heavy collectivewise in comparison.

[learnedthehardway]

So aside from the obvious, there's nothing to beware of other than the usual used heli risks with the trex?

[Abenn]

I started out with a T-Rex 500 flybarred after learning my hand/eye/brain coordination on a 4-channel coax. I bought it instead of a 450 because it would give me more flying time in windy weather. Apart from crash damage (always blades, tail boom, and main gear; nothing else) the only original Align parts I changed, after a couple of years, were ESC and gyro. The ESC started causing very brief motor blips, so I changed it before it failed altogether. I changed the gyro because I initially thought the fault was there -- the blips caused the tail to kick slightly.

Apart from the ESC I would say the 500 is pretty bullet-proof and, as others have said, spares still seem to be readily available.

[learnedthehardway]

Thank you Abenn, that's the answer I was looking for. Sounds like it's a reliable heli which is what I'm looking for. Good to know what will most likely break if I do crash and what the problem is if it has the tail kick but checks out mechanically.

I want a heli like my dated walkera, once it was setup right it stayed that way until it was crashed. Check for loose screws periodically and fly, always flew as expected and still does. My blade micros develop issues sitting on a shelf overnight. Parts for the df36 are hard to come by so it's not worth investing in.

Aside from main blades, parts for the 500 are almost identical to comparable parts for the 180 cfx so no biggie there.


Guess I should have left the micro part out of the title and just asked about the T500. Was pissed my bl developed a massive drift issue and killed the tail motor in between packs. Flew one packjust fine, plug in the next and it takes a crap right after liftoff.

After cleaning the servos and going through the process of elimination, it has to be the 3n1. That's 2 tail motors and a 3n1 it's killed in 50 uncrashed flights. Bulls***

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

[TR450ZS]

Get the 500 you won't be sorry. I went from a WL Toys V922 (clone of the Blade mCPx) to a new 130x, loved it but boy what a lot of effort it took. Had 3 of those 130x at the same time, then by chance picked up a good deal on a a Trex500 EFL PRO. Stripped, it rebuilt it and later sold the stock 3GX and fitted a GPRO. The three 130x's became shelf queens overnight. Later added a 600 and a 250 to my fleet and sold the three 130x's. My 500 is still by far my favorite. Flies great and is trouble free.

[Kap'n Krunch]

I'll just say I've gone slowly in my big heli progression but have been very thorough and complete in my orientations is why I say 450 ! Ircha has a good pilot proficiency program

[sunsetmaro]

Hey. I agree with your micro issues. I myself had a mcpx-bl. The BL was fun to learn tricks that I wouldn't do on my 450 but the tail motor just wasn't for me... Wind also threw that thing around often. When the 180cfx came out, I got that and never looked back. Having a TT driven tail versus motor is mobetter. I sold my BL to help fund my new big helis, a 500L dominator which is sooooo smooth and a Blade 550x frame I got from my friend, which is a blast to fly. I will say this, If you do get a larger bird. I do recommend a 450 for price of parts compared to a 500. Most 500 run on 6s. A 450 runs off 3s which is hella cheap to get.

Size wise, a 450 is a very noticeable step from a 180. However a 500 is a noticeable step from a 450. You will have to decide what extreme. When I fly, I start off with the 180cfx due to the more touchy controls. I get crazy when flying a larger bird first then fly the 180cfx. Funny thing is that 450 parts price is about the same as the 180cfx .

[learnedthehardway]

Even looking at the 500 parts they aren't far off the 180's. The aluminum parts compared to the 180 alum parts were $3 cheaper in the 500's favor!! It's an old 500 the first fbl one that sells for $390 in a combo, not the 500l or anything.

I was thinking about the 6s system though, would have to get a charger whereas I already have a decent 3s balance charger. Only 450 around here I can get a good deal on is a once hovered 450x, want something reliable beyond all else and not sure anything by blade is going to fit the bill without swapping at least the servos if not more.

[learnedthehardway]

I have flown a 450 before but it's been a while. Have a walkera dragonfly 36 with an align 3s brushless system in it. Guess I could get a kit and swap the motor, esc and servos but would need a fbl control which will cost me about as much as the 500 I'm looking at to get a good one.

Shoot maybe I'll try and lowball the 450x just for the beastx unit lol.