Biting off more than you can chew...

[Furias15x]

Hello,


IIRC the 200 srx is a fixed pitch heli? That means you CANT fly it in the wind. A calm day with light breeze is fine but wind no. You wont have the luxury of collective pitch to bring the heli back down using negative pitch while maintaining head speed. I remember being able to fly my Nano in stronger, albeit not much, winds than my 120SR. A fixed pitch heli acts like a kite in the wind. I lost my 120 in a very tall pecan tree. It was a little gusty and it just kept climbing.

A good sim for starters is Phoenix. Post a WTB ad here on HF and I bet you get a reply pretty quick. Nice thing about them is they are pretty cheap. I used the cable and it hooked up to the back of my old Dx7s so it should work with yours.

If you do plan to stay in this game for a while you know this wont be your last heli, so fly it like you stole it. Know you are going to crash but do everything you can to avoid it. I would shy away from anything expensive for it and make it work with the lower cost stuff for now. Working on it is as big a part of the hobby as flying is. The more you know your machine the better you will fly it.


I am new to helis since May of 2013. I went through some pretty frustrating times and still do. For example, 43rd flight on the ProtosMax V2 totaled it just when I was really getting good with it. The VERY next flight on Synergey E5 was a total crash. The really sucky part was after the Protos crash it too about 45 days to get the syngery, bought built and ready for flight. Then to watch it eject the battery and pretty much disintegrate on the very flight was a real bummer. That put me down another month to get my next rig.

I fly at Flag Pole Hill on the back side near the water utility buildings. No one messes with us yet after 2 years there. But watch out for Dog crap. People dont pick up there for some reason. VERY AGGRAVATING!!!

[GREYEAGLE]

When the decision is being contemplated : To become Involved -- the serious focus.

You must think about the outcome prior too starting the project. Dedication

How many times have you witnessed others begin a effort not knowing what is out in front - then side line it : Labor / Cost / Time / $ / lack of skill sets / the defeats and unknown's.
To have the desire to LEARN - Like the beginning musician of a instrument.

Re: Some one that starts a Balsa Kit or maybe a home re- model- then abandons it part way thru to see the fruit of the effort. The Reward. It's a different world today - Instant Satisfaction w/o effort.

Too often many never consider the time and effort, and cost associated = commitment to finish the race. They just want to buy the CANDY.

Now the big thing is too purchase the { Brain } the Artificial Intelligence - the Bailout .

The Do it for me - so I don't have too - Their is a Hugh Gap - Plug and Play without the knowledge or wisdom of experience : then try to back into it - pick up what they missed.

It's if you can Win the Race spending gob's of money and disappointment - or how you decide to run it : to finish and the path of satisfaction.


Lot of those that toss $$$ never finish : It's Not a TOY it's serious long term hobbie

[ssschmidt4]

I started helis at a very young age! However, my old man built and setup up EVERYTHING! I just flew!! After college, life, family, kids, dad passing away ect., I plunged back into helis with plenty of flying skills but not one ounce of building or setup skills!! Needless to say I had some very rough spells with frustration! What the heck, I can fly the crap out of these things but how do I get the heli to do it? I almost gave up!!! What helped me the most was deciding to have an attitude of grabbing the bull by the horns, no wait,grabbing the bull by the nuts because these things are damn fun to fly!! The excitment of flying helis most certianly out weighs the frustration the hobby can bring!! Don't give up just yet, give your frustration a chance to fade away and let the fun begin!!!

P.S. When kids are in bed, ole daddio here is on that Sim!!! Trust me it helps!!!

[FizzySmack]

Stick with it man. Try inside a gym like you said. Upgrade the heli a bit or step up to a 450 size.

You can get a good sim like NeXt or Accu-RC over the web and probably use your transmitter. It time well spent on the sim.

Anyway, don't give up, it only get better as the helis get bigger

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by Furias15x

Hello,


IIRC the 200 srx is a fixed pitch heli? That means you CANT fly it in the wind. A calm day with light breeze is fine but wind no. You wont have the luxury of collective pitch to bring the heli back down using negative pitch while maintaining head speed. I remember being able to fly my Nano in stronger, albeit not much, winds than my 120SR. A fixed pitch heli acts like a kite in the wind. I lost my 120 in a very tall pecan tree. It was a little gusty and it just kept climbing.

A good sim for starters is Phoenix. Post a WTB ad here on HF and I bet you get a reply pretty quick. Nice thing about them is they are pretty cheap. I used the cable and it hooked up to the back of my old Dx7s so it should work with yours.

If you do plan to stay in this game for a while you know this wont be your last heli, so fly it like you stole it. Know you are going to crash but do everything you can to avoid it. I would shy away from anything expensive for it and make it work with the lower cost stuff for now. Working on it is as big a part of the hobby as flying is. The more you know your machine the better you will fly it.


I am new to helis since May of 2013. I went through some pretty frustrating times and still do. For example, 43rd flight on the ProtosMax V2 totaled it just when I was really getting good with it. The VERY next flight on Synergey E5 was a total crash. The really sucky part was after the Protos crash it too about 45 days to get the syngery, bought built and ready for flight. Then to watch it eject the battery and pretty much disintegrate on the very flight was a real bummer. That put me down another month to get my next rig.

I fly at Flag Pole Hill on the back side near the water utility buildings. No one messes with us yet after 2 years there. But watch out for Dog crap. People dont pick up there for some reason. VERY AGGRAVATING!!!

Doug,

Yes, its a FP heli...I've learned the hard way to not fly in the wind. I was just so excited to fly it. I figured it was quite a bit bigger than my V911, so it should handle a little wind, but uh, yeah...no.

I know right where flag pole hill is. I'll have to swing by there sometime and look for the spot you fly--I'm not familiar with the water utility buildings. Trust me, I know all about the dog poop issue though...its really bad at White Rock Dog Park, lol.

Good advice on staying with the cheap parts. I just placed my order for all the stuff I will need to put it back to 100%...it was 45 bucks. Ouch. I guess that's not really that bad, but I'm wondering what will go next? The ESC? Will I get the tail motor death everyone mentions here? I just hate finding out that something I bought has known issues that could put it straight into the ground without warning. At this point I've already spent enough I could have bought that 200s with none of these known issues...sigh.

[dl5973]

Originally Posted by sirgilbert357

I'm pretty new to helis and I haven't posted here much, but I've read plenty. Pretty down right now...mad at myself. Sorry for the long post, but I need to vent a bit and give you guys an idea of where I'm at...

Started out last Christmas with a V911 (two actually) and was getting really good at flying them. Got to a point where I wasn't crashing them that much (LOL), but I was burning out motors and have to replace them pretty often. It helped my soldering skills, but it was annoying. I also wanted to fly the 911 past its ability and had plenty of flybar canopy strikes to reward me for my efforts, lol.

Anyway, I quit flying for quite awhile (at least 9 months) and recently went into a hobby store with my 5 yr old daughter to get her a new kite (1st mistake). Of course she remembers my V911 and asked "Daddy, are you going to get a new helicopter today?" I usually research the ever-lovin' crap out of any decision like that, but decided to at least look at what they had in stock. I quit the V911's because I wanted brushless and flybarless (and bigger). They had a pretty decent price on the Blade 200 SRX, and it ticked all the boxes, so I picked it up, a DXe transmitter and an extra lipo and went home excited (2nd mistake).

Hovered it tail in indoors in my garage for the first several "flights" to get it dialed in. I could tell this was a big change and was a little intimidated...anyway, took it outside to fly around a bit in my backyard. It was going fine till I got it about 25 feet up and a gust of wind grabbed it, carrying it almost two houses away (3rd mistake -- don't fly in 5-8 mph winds!). I panicked and tried to bring it back, forgetting it was in the "Beginner" mode and I had almost no power to fight the wind, so I flipped the switch to bring it into full expert mode (4th mistake), or whatever its called. I got the power I needed to bring it towards me and everything was going fine until it got a little too close to a tree for my liking. I tried to go around it and the sticks responded exactly like they should have -- very sensitively and it basically banked/rolled too hard for my skill level and I crashed it. I was pissed, but went into my neighbors backyard to retrieve it. Bent tail, broken landing gear, nicks in the main blades. OK...well, that's not as bad as I thought. Bent the tail back into place, hovered it in the garage to check it and it was fine.

Next day, I take it to a wide open field, thinking I need a lot more space to fly this thing. Not even two mins into the flight, I'm about 20 feet up, attempting a slow, wide circle and upon giving it a little more forward stick to fight a 5 mph wind, it literally nosedives into the ground. I stood there for a minute trying to comprehend if the input I gave it could have possibly caused what I just saw or if the wind could have somehow knocked it out of the sky like that. I'm still not sure, but this thing is really torn up now. Elevator servo is completely stripped, tail bent down like a scared dog with its tail tucked or something, tail rotor stripped of one of the blades, horizontal stabilizer smashed to pieces, more nicks in the main blades, small crack in the frame at the top above the elevator servo.

Sigh. Completely crestfallen and now heavily regretting spending well over 200 bucks on this thing, I drive home. I'm starting to wonder if I should just fix it up and sell it, disclosing what its been through and taking the absurd hit on the value that it will no doubt suffer. Or, I could order 45 bucks in parts, put it back to 100% and try again. Maybe this time, in a gym or something with NO wind. In researching a lot more, I see I will probably have a brown out issue, tail wag problem (unless I double up on the ESC, etc) and that the servos are apparently made out of egg shells and I'd be better off buying metal gear servos, but no one seems to know where I could get those for this heli...so basically, I should have bought a 200s or just gotten a different heli altogether. Didn't research near enough (another mistake...I've lost count at this point).

Of course I've spent the money at this point, can't take it back to the hobby store, etc. So this is all just wondering out loud what I should do. I can't be the only guy that's got a love for this hobby that feels like there has to be a better way. I've played a bit on a sim and its fine, but ugh, boring IMO. So, if the right advice is to get a sim, I will, but I'd rather fly a V911 and put a new tail motor in it every 20th battery...heh. Or get something else better but cheaper to own and crash...

Don't hold back, give your advice, I know what I did was stupid...but where do I go from here?

Fixed pitch helis are hard to fly in the wind. You need to buy a collective pitch heli to fly outdoors. They need to be set up tamely for a beginner. Setting up a CP heli correctly is critical in the beginning to how well you learn to fly

[Furias15x]

Originally Posted by sirgilbert357

Doug,

I know right where flag pole hill is. I'll have to swing by there sometime and look for the spot you fly--I'm not familiar with the water utility buildings. Trust me, I know all about the dog poop issue though...its really bad at White Rock Dog Park, lol.

At the top of the hill there is a big pavillion where people hang out and kook or have birthday parties etc. Look to your north and about 100 yards away are two small buildings. Those are the water utility buildings. They only mow that grass back there a few times a year as it is a nature preserve or something so the ground isnt really for sitting on or playing with kids etc. but it is still open and part of the park. I live near there so I go when the winds arent too bad. My G700 can take on some pretty heavy stuff and still fly very well. But calmer days are so much more fun.

[mattbeau]

You can download heli-x for free and it lets you use it unlimitedly with a few helis. It will randomly pause and remind you it's a demo and then after a minute will let you keep flying. If you decide to buy it. It's only like 60 bucks I think.

Don't feal too bad. I destroyed the landing gear, tail gears and blades on my 130X maiden flight when I started 3 years ago. Luckily the LHS had the parts to fix it.

Stick with it use a simulator and spend what's comfortable.

Another option is to pick up a RTF XK K110 and just get some spares. It's cheap to fly and crashes pretty well.



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[earhythmic]

If you want an extra one for parts you can have my old one. Last I knew it was in perfect flying condition. Next to the sim I think it was the biggest learning tool for me, especially with the rescue - Lead the way to my Trex500 and onward from there. It's been sitting in my closet for two years, I'd love to get rid of it.

[Alberta Millwright]

Sounds a lot like me when I was learning to fly the dreaded Blade Cp. I would take that thing up and it was the most unstable heli, I could barely control it no matter what. I was a student at the time and didn't have a lot of money either so every crash hurt! (especially when a big mac hurts the monthly budget lol) But I did keep going, got slightly better with my hovering and then seen the align 450 se v2. Well I managed to buy that, made sure it was setup proper by friends in the hobby and gave it a try. Huge difference that heli made, I couldn't believe I could actually fly, well after 2 years of the 450 I just jumped to a 600 nitro and it was even easier. So long story short, keep flying (maybe no so high with a tiny heli), but if you can afford it sometime def do the simulator, and just get a bigger bird, but never give it up because you will get better, and you will get more and more enjoyment out of it.

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by earhythmic

If you want an extra one for parts you can have my old one. Last I knew it was in perfect flying condition. Next to the sim I think it was the biggest learning tool for me, especially with the rescue - Lead the way to my Trex500 and onward from there. It's been sitting in my closet for two years, I'd love to get rid of it.

Thanks for the offer, I'll shoot you a PM...

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by Waxxingibbous

im here in colorado and wind is tipping over semis. i feel ya,
use the dxE!
the sim is about 100, a few free ones exist, grab the cable and get into that. the only reason i like investing in a better radio is because it literally will save you from crashing. program to suit your flying style, youll feel more comfortable.

im all about saving money in the hobby i have a few birds but i havent spent a ton of money...i picked a size and stuck with it, everytime i destroy an airframe, i swap the electronics and maybe upgrade something..
keep it small for now,
build on it.


you can prolly find a blade 230s or trex 250
those things run 3s-6s and handle the wind well...from scale to 3d they can do it all. i cant see them being more than 115-225 on classifieds...
i know buying used might not sound good but i got 3 of my best birds this year used. 1 from this site.

reason why the 230s is better, has as3x. bascially auto level mode. you can migrate to more aggressive envelopes later. Its dual brushless. the power will make the flight easier, they'll last a lot longer and play with the wind better. huge aftermarket aswell. i think the bird features a rescue function as well

Isn't the 230s a tad bigger and also CP? The 200 srx has the auto leveling in the first two modes and is dual brushless too; it has the panic button as well. I'm not sure I would want to go anywhere near CP just yet. I feel like I need to stick with this current heli (or upgrade to just a 200s for the more reliable tail rotor issue and the better servos) and learn to fly it REALLY well before I jump another order of magnitude and go to a CP model.

I will say that I'm aware I am learning a bad habit with the throttle in flying FP. I know that if I ever go CP I'll have to undo the habit of chopping the throttle to calm things down...I can only imagine the "negative pitch / rocketing to the ground under power" types of crashes I would have, LOL. I guess the SIM will help with that...

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by mattbeau

You can download heli-x for free and it lets you use it unlimitedly with a few helis. It will randomly pause and remind you it's a demo and then after a minute will let you keep flying. If you decide to buy it. It's only like 60 bucks I think.

Don't feal too bad. I destroyed the landing gear, tail gears and blades on my 130X maiden flight when I started 3 years ago. Luckily the LHS had the parts to fix it.

Stick with it use a simulator and spend what's comfortable.

Another option is to pick up a RTF XK K110 and just get some spares. It's cheap to fly and crashes pretty well.



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I actually saw the K110 referenced in another thread and looked it up. But its smaller than I was wanting and its also CP. Plus that's another 114 bucks, LOL. I'll need that money for a SIM or parts for the 200 srx I'm sure!

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by Furias15x

At the top of the hill there is a big pavillion where people hang out and kook or have birthday parties etc. Look to your north and about 100 yards away are two small buildings. Those are the water utility buildings. They only mow that grass back there a few times a year as it is a nature preserve or something so the ground isnt really for sitting on or playing with kids etc. but it is still open and part of the park. I live near there so I go when the winds arent too bad. My G700 can take on some pretty heavy stuff and still fly very well. But calmer days are so much more fun.

Ah, nice! Thanks for the aerial pic, that makes it perfectly clear. Well, if I see a guy flying a G700, I'm going to say something, so we may just run into each other eventually.

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by FizzySmack

Stick with it man. Try inside a gym like you said. Upgrade the heli a bit or step up to a 450 size.

You can get a good sim like NeXt or Accu-RC over the web and probably use your transmitter. It time well spent on the sim.

Anyway, don't give up, it only get better as the helis get bigger

To be honest, I'll just have to man up and fly this little thing for awhile first. I'm scared of anything bigger. I know people say bigger = easier to fly, but I think I need to learn on something that wont cut down small trees when I crash it, LOL. Besides, if I stick with FP for awhile, and can only fly indoors, wouldn't a 450 size be crowded in a basketball court-sized gym? I'm already thinking this 200 srx will feel boxed in...we'll see though.

[Nikki5]

Try/fly Heli X free: http://www.heli-x.info/cms/download-2/

I use this sim....just buy i cable to connect Rx witth pc..


Nikki

[jtroutt19]

If you have the proper radio you can set it up so even if you full negative it it wont give you full negative. I hated fixed pitch heli's and now that I have actually flown a CP heli they fly so much different than the FP's that I have flown. My personal opinion learn to fly on what you are wanting to fly. If your end goal is CP then get something that is CP whether it be a micro if that is what you like or a 450. I almost got a Blade mCPX. They are a micro CP but I decided not to waste the money because in the end I prolly wouldnt fly it much.

The blade mCPX got good reviews from what I had read about it. They discontinued it and the mCPS replaced it which doesnt get as good reviews but I think half of that is because a bunch of the mods on the mCPX are not available yet for the mCPS. I think, I could be wrong though. It's not a really expensive heli either. In the end choose what you want!

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by Nikki5

Try/fly Heli X free: http://www.heli-x.info/cms/download-2/

I use this sim....just buy i cable to connect Rx witth pc..


Nikki

Awesome Nikki, thank you. Going to look at that cable someone else linked to tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be on a SIM by the weekend...I should have the parts to fix my heli by the weekend too, but maybe I'll log some serious SIM time before going to the gym with it...

You guys have been really helpful and have lifted my spirits. Thank you to everyone here, especially those I've exchanged PM's with.

[sirgilbert357]

Originally Posted by jtroutt19

If you have the proper radio you can set it up so even if you full negative it it wont give you full negative. I hated fixed pitch heli's and now that I have actually flown a CP heli they fly so much different than the FP's that I have flown. My personal opinion learn to fly on what you are wanting to fly. If your end goal is CP then get something that is CP whether it be a micro if that is what you like or a 450. I almost got a Blade mCPX. They are a micro CP but I decided not to waste the money because in the end I prolly wouldnt fly it much.

The blade mCPX got good reviews from what I had read about it. They discontinued it and the mCPS replaced it which doesnt get as good reviews but I think half of that is because a bunch of the mods on the mCPX are not available yet for the mCPS. I think, I could be wrong though. It's not a really expensive heli either. In the end choose what you want!

Oh...duh...that's a great point about the full negative. I keep forgetting that a programmable transmitter allows you to basically customize all of the behaviors of the heli. Hmmmm. I still think I need to stick with the 200 srx for the moment, but maybe when I've got orientation down I can upgrade my transmitter and get a cheap CP to play with. Thanks for pointing that out. I have a lot to learn, I know...

[ktmdiesel]

Ah brings back memory's from when I started.. you'll learn after many months and crashing and rushing to fly loops and circuits that patience would of been your best friend. And your wallets to lol. Patience patience patience. You'll learn to love a simulator. You'll also learn too take actual flying a little more seriously and practice stupid things like hovering nose in for days until your fingers correct it themselves. Don't give up on the best hobby to date!

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