HK Brand Helicopters

[Squid90]

Im looking to get a 450 and am curious if HK (Hobbyking) is a good brand or is it crap. Should I spend the money and get a Trex 450 instead?

[ramsdellcp]

get a genuine 450 kit. I've had clones in the past (450 size) and have always ended up having to replace half of it with align parts. HK is one of the crappiest clones in the market. if you want a good clone, tarot is pretty decent, chaos is nice but you spend just as much as the actual align kit after electronics.

[SYMAWD]

Get the Align, although I have had a good experience with the EXI Pro TT kit.

[NocturnalMike]

the EXI are decent clones. just get the all metal versions and they fly just as smooth as any other 450, trex or not.

[Fauropitotto]

I bought a 450v2 head clone which I recieved on tues. After disassembly and reassembly with loctite, the balls on the swash snapped off. Sure, it was $22 + 9 s&h, but I just wasted 31 on sub-par materials. I wasn't being a gorilla with it either, they snapped like plastic. It also came with a CNC tail assembly. Nothing broke on it, but the sheer amount of slop in the linkages were absolutely absurd. Don't waste your time. I'm learning that lesson, along with many other people. Get quality. Even if you get it used, it will be worth it.

[im4711]

there are several decent kits on the market. MSH Mini Protos, Align TRex 450 Sport and Pro, Rave, Outrage G5 ... I certainly would not go for a HK kit. You will spend time to upgrade and certainly might not even know if there is an issue with the heli or your flight skill.
Also I do recommend to find a field with some experienced folks who can help you in setup and guidance.

[thevirginian]

Well, I have the HK 450 TT-Pro and can only say good things about it. As a matter of fact, I am so happy with it that I just got me the HK 500. This one seems to be even better built. The good thing about the HK clones is that all Align parts wil fit 100%. I paid 100 bucks for mine and even if I have to replace parts i still should come out well below the "genuine" Align brand.

[NocturnalMike]

or just save your money and get a bigger helicopter. 450s fly too shaky for a total beginner in a little wind. 500-550 would be a great size to mess around with and learn on

[Trex_Power]

If you already plan on upgrading the components, like flybarless, I have found HK kits to be pretty good.(450tt pro) I will probably replace the head for fbl, and some bearings, but otherwise for the price it is a good deal in my opinion. Just upgrade to genuine parts when you crash.

[lanman123]

I have an HK450MT am quite happy with it. It's anything but crap...well, the tail was I had 2 or 3 crack on me without reason, so I upgraded to an align sport tail. That cost about $30, but a clone sport tail would probably have been just as good for half that price. All other replacements were due to crashes or simply for cosmetic reasons.
I'm just as happy with my HK250GT. It needed a few upgrades as well (feathering shaft, belt). I have over 400 flights on it now.
My opinion is that clones are a great way to save money, but you have to be able to tinker with it. Most of the problems are simply from poor assembly. If all you want to do is fly, then dont get a clone. If you want to tinker and fly and save money, get a clone.

[lazor 22]

Neither, if you have the cash go for a Outrage G5, Rave 450, Furion 450, Mini Protos, Mini Titan 325, etc.

[weng]

I built an Align 450 Sport and Align 250 before building the HK600 and I am glad I did. I learned how things are supposed to go together and work. I have 200 flights on the HK600 now but it was a challenge to put together. I am now putting together an HK450 and the fit and fiddling are a bit of a challenge and I would not recommend it for a first heli.

JW

[GoFastMike]

I'm really happy with my HK500 TT with turnigy power, align servos and main gear, and a gp780. Have an HK450 belt tail that I'm going to use on a project with Hitech servos, Align power. I think they're great inexpensive kits that just need a few quality parts to be pretty nice flying birds.

[kavic5150]

I would say get a beam e4a, but they are having serious US vendor support issues. Practically everyone who has owned a beam rants and raves about how smooth and slop free it is. If you dont mind ordering from asia or austrailia, I'd say go for it.

[guitarherowanab]

i would never recommend a clone....to anyone. in my experience, they are crap. every once in a while, someone gets lucky and only has to replace a few items to get it to fly ok, but more often than not they become align helis before they fly good. if youre a beginner and want a 450, then the align would be ok. if youre not a beginner, the furion 450 is saweet! if you are not dead set on 450, then id check out the t500, and the t550 and outrage 550.

[Inverse]

As others have said, buy the legit item. My first CP was an HK250 and I ended up replacing most of it with Align parts chasing down issues before I finally bit the bullet and bought a genuine kit.
Buy cheap, buy twice (or more in this case) etc, it's just not worth the headache.

EDIT: And as Kavic says, the E4 is a beautiful machine.

[Squid90]

Thanks for the input guys, ran into a roadblock though , I got a HK450TT Pro I must say it looks good but after taking a close look it has bad quality control . To make things worse my dad agreed to get it it for me as a Christmas Gift last year and a partial birthday gift, but now that im having issues with it he doesn't wanna fix it, by either getting a Align 450Pro Kit or replacing with Align parts . He wants me to prove to him that it flys the way it is

[P.I.Engineer]

align is much better. I finally gave up on clones this year, copterx pro, they fix all the slop issues by using shim washers, which are a pain. After building my 600 esp and seeing how amazingly it went together i swore off clones.

the pro and sport are both a pain to set the gear mesh, especially the pro.

[Rotormaster.]

Wow, guys, I must have got REAALLLLY Lucky!
Do you want to know how many parts I had to replace on it before it would fly? 0. My kit was flawless and is an absolute dream to hover. Rock solid. So much so that I imagine 500+ size birds would hover almost too easily. I take it that a 'genuine' 600 heli must be boring to hover.

It is true that quality with HK clones seem to be very 'hit and miss', so maybe I got the one that was kissed by the 'heli Gods' before it left the factory. I now also have a HK-450GT, which is still in the box, but I shall know of its quality soon enough when I get some time.

[Rotormaster.]

Originally Posted by Squid90

Thanks for the input guys, ran into a roadblock though , I got a HK450TT Pro I must say it looks good but after taking a close look it has bad quality control . To make things worse my dad agreed to get it it for me as a Christmas Gift last year and a partial birthday gift, but now that im having issues with it he doesn't wanna fix it, by either getting a Align 450Pro Kit or replacing with Align parts . He wants me to prove to him that it flys the way it is

Sorry to hear that. What exactly is it that you have to fix on it?

PS: Maybe my observations are wrong, but.... Clone or not, this hobby isn't one that you can maintain with only the funds that come on Christmass and birthdays. If you crash (and you will) and have to wait until next Christmas just to be able to repair the heli, then it is quite needless to say that you won't be going anywhere in this hobby. Just a thought.