Are you happy with your 500L Dominator?

[Wind]

Are you happy with your 500L Dominator? or would you change it for another 500? I doubt if buy the 500L or the Goblin 380
I know they are different size but don´t know what to do....
Has the 500L got any problem? Thanks mates.

[VertCP]

I'm very happy with it. Not very expensive to maintain, cheap lipos, stable... perfect for fun flights and to practice.

Screws of the tail box are too long, easy to fix it, only cut 1-2mm two of them.

I haven't complaints with the setup, it isn't the best, but it works well.

[ARM_Coder]

I'm loving my 500L, although I did 2 mods to suit my taste: The GPRO was replaced by a TracX (=Brain, Ikon), and the tail servo is now a DS655 (I described this modding in other thread of this forum).

I really have no complaint on the 500L: it has a powerful and precise flight, and autorotates very well for its size. With a Gens Ace 3300 65C pack, I get 5 minutes of solid and agile flight.

I didn't test the 500L's crashworthiness, though. Fortunately.

Quality-wise, it's a well developed kit. If only Align had designed the frame to natively support a standard-size tail servo...

Overall, a very nice kit. I will gladly keep mine for a long time!

[Wahoo]

I like mine. Just big enough to see clearly, small enough to not cost too much to repair. I was looking for a heli to replace a 450 that went in a lake. When you go above 425mm blades the cost for replacing blades seems to go up faster than 325 to 425.

[HindandSeek]

Edit: I shouldn't have vented in this thread, sorry about that.
I searched a lot for the motor mesh fix, but the search engine in this forum isn't very good. Since I haven't actually flown the heli yet, I can't really comment on it. I do however think that Align should follow SAB's lead with manuals and quality control.

[SumOFparts]

5 min easy fix with a needle file......or anything with threads to saw with.....

[Gladius]

+1. The fix for this has been posted many, many times already.

[Miles500]

I recently bought a T-rex 500L Dominator already assembled with the AR7300bx. I currently have it set up for low head speed. I can fly better with my Blade 130x and Blade 180CFX mainly because a wreck on them is not as expensive. Although there performance and smoothness is no match for the 500. I absolutely love this heli. I have had one minor wreck and the repair was very simple. Hopefully soon I will be as proficient with the 500 as I am with the smaller birds. Other than that it is a great machine.

[lahannsven]

I like the 500L a lot. It is easier to handle than the 450L.

The 500L has a more stable tail than a 450. Everything is more solid.
I would even recommend this heli for beginner. Only a crash with a 500 class heli gets much more dangerous than a 450.

I am also interested in the Goblin 380, which can get much cheaper if you take Align servos and ESC.

There is always the question between belt driven and torque tube drive.
For the moment I stay with Align. Align delivers always the full kit and therefor the 500L is at reasonable price.

I always take the FBL Microbeast, which is easy for a beginner.

Sven

[Dylan Hudock]

The 500L has been great. I have one complaint, why is Align unable to make the canopy fit the posts?! I should not have the spread the canopy to get over the lower posts to the point that it cracks the paint. It would not be that hard for them to make the lower posts shorter, to fit the contour of the canopy that they designed for this heli.

[lahannsven]

Align lowered a little the quality, which is also true for the screws.

The 500 Pro DFC was better.

But still the 500L is solid enough for a reasonable price(EUR 599;00 in Europe). Therefor add some spare pieces, like canopy, servos, screws etc.


Sven

[hdewinter]

It's a solid performer, at a fair price level (550 Euro for the supercombo with Gpro). All included parts were fine. Although I did modify the front canopy poles. They were a very tight fit, causing my canopy paint to crack up. Shortening them by 3mm each got rid of that anoyance.

[fenwick]

The 500L is my first non-micro size heli and i am really happy with it. I also had issues with the front canopy poles. I removed them completely and ordered a Align 550E canopy clip which is available. I got mine from helidirect for $4.99. http://www.helidirect.com/align-cano...550e-600n.html

This also removes the screw head from the inside of the battery tray which has caused some people to experience issues with larger batteries.

I will be needing to new canopy at some point due to cracking which occurred prior to me removing these front posts. I have Booya quick release on the rear posts.

[nigel armstrong]

I am also very happy with my 500L. Its a good heli for just messing about with and trying new things. I had no problems at all with the build and even used the Gpro supplied in the kit. To be honest I like this FBL unit. It may not have all the funcyions the top pilots desire, but for me it does the job. Dead easy to set up too.
My only negative comment would be that its not a 500!! My 550 uses 550 blades. The 500 looks tiny next to it. When the L Dominator came out I thought they would have finished the job and stretched it a bit!
As for the canopy mounting, I have trimmed 4mm off the two front posts so the canopy will fit over without cracking.
Flight times of about 5 min of F3C style aerobatics are achived out of my Zippy compact 3300mAh lipos.

[master65]

loving my 500l flys great with a ar7200bx, very stable and also very agile when you want it to be. I agree with Dylan Hudock the front canopy posts are a nightmare. if you cut the shorter by 4mm and the screw thred side the problem is sorted. canopy slides on and still locks into place.

[Miles500]

Smashed my 500L dominator about a week ago and after the rebuild it still flies amazing. I WILL NEVER get rid of this helicopter.