Who likes their 130 better than their 180?

[ToddMcF2002]

The 180 doesn't "need" as many mods out of the box as the 130x but it does "need" some just as the 130x needs some.

My 180's in what I consider the "need" category:

- full Rakon metal servo gears. Better than servo savers because you have to take the servos off to re-adjust the horns with 180 savers. Forcing them like other helis means stripping gears.

- Microheli servo case tops. Tabs break off at a shocking rate otherwise

- Tail box. You can try a variety of home grown solutions but the tail box twists out of the box and the Lynx tail box doesn't.

- Swash. The stocker is sloppy as usual.

- Motor. Read the forums and you'll see that over time the motor is a source of vibes. Lynx TBD.

So the 180 over time gets pricey too.

[Tomy.]

>>Microheli servo case tops. Tabs break off at a shocking rate otherwise
I use the delrin Rakon servo tab supports from helipartsdirect. Tabs on mine had broken off and epoxie'd these on the servos and they work like new!

>>Tail box
Interesting, never thought of that and had no issues with the stock

>>Motor
No issues there, it's actually holding very well with the stock gov setup

I'd add to the list
- tail slider (the stock just has tons of slop)
- torque tube (I shortened the trex 250 TT and have been flying for that for 3 months, and the tail holds together beautifully even the gears never stripped)
- landing gear (I use the align 250 its wider and taller easier to fly from grass)

[lahannsven]

Hi donaldsneffe,

you spent "2000 bucks" for your 130x. That beats it all!
What did you do to it ? show some pictures !!


Sven

[donaldsneffe]

Originally Posted by lahannsven

Hi donaldsneffe,

you spent "2000 bucks" for your 130x. That beats it all!
What did you do to it ? show some pictures !!


Sven

Hi,
if 2000 US$ are around 1500 € (Euro) thats probably true...
I have 3 130x (and 2 Red Bull which I did not spend a lot more than some spares and some servos and metal A).
Within the years I tried nearly "everything"; have/had MH, Lynx and Hawk frames, Lynx 2s and 3s and Spin motors, all of them are totally "aluminium", I spent a lot of money for spare Eflite-servos, I tried different types of rotary swash-servos, tried a lot of different tail-servos (HK 5330, BA 3g, Walkera, ds76t), ended up with the 76t-servo in all off them (but Red Bull; have a 5330 fitted into a Red Bull), tried different metal gears, have of course all with metal A gears, spent a ton on spares, have a ton of blades here, have different landing skids, main gears, canopies, ... tail-boom with bearing, etc.... and finally around 40 batteries.

It is horrible (also for me), but if you count all those expenses, you finally get unbelievable sums.

There are quite a lot of pics of my 130x in different forums (when they were actual).


Take only one 130x, e.g., and upgrade it with metal A, outrunner motor, ext. ESC, aluminium rotorhead, swash, tail, bearing-boom, and you will come to around 400 Euro (when the 130x price was higher years ago), and there are no "normal spares" (like servos, gears, ...) included.

My first 130x was 229 € (summer 2012???), Metal A 18 €, ESC ca. 10, motor ca. 40, alu rotorhead, bladegrips, swash ca. 60, tailboom ca. 15, tailcase and grips ca. 50, ... thats around 420 Euro (ca. 520 US$), and there are no blades, skids, canopies, ... spares included - and no batteries.


Walter

Edit:
If I read my post again and think about it: Probably and unfortunately I even have spent more than 1500 Euro for 130x

[gispos]

Originally Posted by lahannsven

Hi donaldsneffe,

you spent "2000 bucks" for your 130x. That beats it all!
What did you do to it ? show some pictures !!


Sven

I also 1400 € for two of this birds.

At first I wanted to run him over with the car ... (A servo die after another)
then the Microheli frame came out ...

[jadewarrior]

Originally Posted by GravityBlows

Heres a video I did discussing the issue of disc control differences between the two. I find the 180 incredible for really hard-fast flying, but to be slow and precise..the 180 is a handful. Disk control is different.

Yeah, I guess having a full metal aftermarket DFC head on the 130X versus the all plastic stock 180CFX head had nothing to do with it.

[ToddMcF2002]

Geez you really believe DFC accounts for all of that? I haven't checked these numbers but it sounds about right:

130x disc area ~ 830cm2
gross weight - 107g
disc loading - 0.13g per cm2


180cfx disc area ~ 1020cm2
gross weight - 190g
disc loading ~0.19g per cm2


46% higher disc loading than a 130X.

[jadewarrior]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

46% higher disc loading than a 130X.

I know.

I was flying my fairly well modded 130X around yesterday after not having really flown it in probably a year or more. It definitely feels a lot floatier than my 180CFXs. I used to wince a little at the high headspeed when flying indoors, but after flying my 180CFXs so much lately, the 130X seemed pretty tame even with a 100% throttle curve and an HP08 outrunner motor upgrade.

[ToddMcF2002]

I'm at the point where power is an issue for me with the 130's. I don't crash much now and I'm starting to feel the collective as a limitation. But a better practice bird I cannot imagine. Love them to death. I've got a bunch of Quantum motors to install so that will help.

The Lynx 180 Stretch kit should be out soon and I suspect I'm going to love the 180. They are all Lynxed out but are case queens waiting to be stretched.

[jadewarrior]

I'm scared to death of yet another linear servo failing in flight. I had some real problems with that in the past. My 130X was from the first batch. After upgrading it and spending a LOT of time and money on it, I got it flying perfectly. I hate crashing this thing and that's why I haven't flown it in a year or more. It can be like going back to square one all over again chasing down tail vibes and such. That's why I hardly fly it any more even though it flies great. I'd forgotten how well it does fly until finally flying it again yesterday.

[ToddMcF2002]

I've killed a cyclic or two in a crash but otherwise they have have held up. The tail linear is garbage though.

[jadewarrior]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

I've killed a cyclic or two in a crash but otherwise they have have held up. The tail linear is garbage though.

Oh, yeah. I have one of the old "good" DS35s on mine for the tail servo. I should have bought several of them before Horizon decided to mysteriously redesign the servo so it wouldn't work well on the 130X anymore. Well, it's actually not all that mysterious as to why they did it, but that's for another story time. I'm not sure what tail servo I'll go to next when this one dies. On that note, what is everyone's favorite aftermarket tail servo these days? Last I remember it was the DS76T.

[ToddMcF2002]

All 3 of mine have the DS76T. A couple hundred flights and no failures. No guarantees but it certainly works well.

[donaldsneffe]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

All 3 of mine have the DS76T. A couple hundred flights and no failures. No guarantees but it certainly works well.

+1

3 DS76t in 3 130x, no problem so far... (before: HK5330, Walkera, BA 3g, ...).

Well worth, ... and strangely it is a Horizon-servo


Walter

[jadewarrior]

It's funny how so many people like the DS76T on the 130X, yet it's not very well liked by many as the stock tail servo on the 180CFX. It also seems to be more problematic with many failures reported.

[ToddMcF2002]

Yep. It's found its calling here though. A few of mine were takeoffs from my 300's.

[jadewarrior]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

Yep. It's found its calling here though. A few of mine were takeoffs from my 300's.

I know I have at least one DS76T left over from my original 450X. I bought a spare for the 180CFX, so it's good to know I didn't waste my money on it and that one already has the proper connector.

[SkyKraken]

The DS76T fails on the 180 because its being over powered by the 5.5volt talon.

If the servo over travels or leans on one end or isn't watched on the bench it will cook itself.

I'd bet most 180 tails are ruined on the bench, especially if the 180 owner is running old firmware where during the cyclic setup the tail wasn't centered and shutdown.


And to keep the thread on track: I like my 130 better than my 180 for lots of reasons.

.02

[HedgeHeli]

Mine flies really well in small spaces, large fields overwhelm it a bit

The tail is a Lynx 883 and holds well, but is also reliable, the old linear jobby was poor in performance and needed cleaning every 20 odd flights.

The rest of the heli looks stock, however its got metal A,B and C gears they run so smooth Its also got the Lynx TBS boom and I use the lynx main shaft spacers to get the gears to run clean. Flys great on the bullet blades, not twitchy like a micro (180cfx) but smooth and competent like a bigger heli. That said it is under powered so can't tick tock like a 180 can. Its just a great orientation trainer.

[ToddMcF2002]

Crashed one of my 180's today. Got a roll of death while doing an inverted circuit I can do with my eyes closed on the 130. They feels incredibly heavy and unstable to me. Think I'm going to sell them and work on making the 130 more powerful. I have a bunch of Quantums to install and I'm thinking of trying a Spin 8000? How does it compare to the a Quantum?