250 CFX Initial Impressions

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by RCFred

I am a big fan of the 230 as an IRL sim, but the 250 may not deliver the 230's charm with its higher price. A set of Oxy blades is 5 230 crashes for me, which then introduces the pucker factor the 230 eliminates- its greatest attribute.
Marginally better precision and power isn't much of a benefit for an orientation and maneuver training tool.
So, fly the 230 w/o upgrades, using and accepting it for what it is.... while dreaming of the day your skills can justify an Oxy 3 in your stable.

5, 230 crashes for $24.99, that's excellent but hard to believe. Can buy plastic or carbon plastic blades for the Oxy for $13. 5, 230 crashes for $13 is impossible. 5 TH flutters to the ground, absolutely but actual crashes I highly doubt it especially if you buy stock parts

You can TH flutter the Oxy down in grass for free as well but you may break the cf blades no doubt. The 250 is the heli I was talking about and it comes with cf blades just like the Oxy.

If you like the precision of cf blades then higher crash cost is the price you pay but cheap plastic blades are an option for both and comparing stock part prices, crash costs will be very similar between the Oxy and 250 until you crash tailfirst and kill the tail motor, that crash will cost you double the cost of an Oxy running the same main blades. Although in a major crash there is more parts on the Oxy making an expensive crash more likely than with a DD heli but again, that's the price you pay for the performance. Most Oxy crashes are around $30

To each their own, if they work for you and you're happy with performance, reliability, parts cost and longevity then by all means fly them.

I did learn alot from Blade micros. Learning on the 120sr, nano and then 180 allowed me to jump right into 300-450 class helis very easily so I agree they're great learning tools. Just don't think they're as cheap to crash and maintain as advertised. .

Price vs performance doesn't add up well on the 250 imho, 230...maybe.

I'm willing to pay more up front and per crash for ultra precise control, a super lite disc loading that makes it do anything effortlessly and knowing it's going to work perfectly until I crash.

Found out that I almost never crash thanks to the power and responsiveness of the Oxy and similar flying helis. My heavy disc load birds like the old Trex, 180 and 300cfx don't have what it takes to pull out of certain sticky situations like the Oxy can and therefore needlessly end up in the dirt.

It's a tremendous difference for sure, about 5-6' less altitude needed to recover. When the difference between recovering and crashing can be 1", 6' is astronomical

[RCFred]

You are a literal fellow, aren't you Mr. Hardway!
I fly over tall grass so when there is damage it is often only the main gear.
BTW, I'm pretty much agreeing with you on the 250.
When I am as good as you, I'm getting an Oxy.

*I've crashed 50 times, once breaking the frame in 4 places, and never have damaged a servo, rec., esc, or either motors. My 3 230's are resilient. They feel like toys and I fly them accordingly.

[Mike680]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

5, 230 crashes for $13 is impossible.

It's totally possible. I've had plenty of good smacks where all I've had to do is replace a pitch dogbone link, a tail blade and/or straighten the boom by hand. For example, I bounced mine off asphalt by getting too low in an inverted hover (went in with no TH) and all I lost was a dogbone link and tail blade. A tail blade is two fiddy and a dogbone is less than a dollar each. I've had some that did nothing other than maybe straightening the boom. It's easy to have five crashes totaling $13. Now, they may not all be in a row, per se...

[learnedthehardway]

I stand corrected and apologize for not practicing what I preach, not believing anything heli till I've tried it myself. Figured you would at least bend a tb and strip main gear every crash, once in a while add a spindle and main shaft. Y'know the standard crash parts

By crash I mean literally crashing, you can get away with little woopsies with no damage on pretty much any heli up to 450class. Sounds like you can get away with more than usual with the 230-250 so I'll admit I assumed incorrectly.

Wasn't trying to argue and also noticed you were agreeing with me about the 250, just trying to spread the word that there are better options to those who may not be aware. It's not only for master 3d pilots, it can be setup to putt like a granny or you can run 285mm blades a 5000+rpm and rip the atmosphere a new one. Why I said it will keep you satisfied much longer than the 250, it's much more versatile.

Even a pure sport pilot only doing FFF will appreciate its performance and if you can do a simple elevator flip you will be amazed how effortless it is.

It's not bs, high power to weight and a lite disc loading doesn't make you crash, it prevents you from crashing so your "when I'm as good as you" comment doesn't apply. If you said that just to be a smartass then I'm sure you know where to stick it. If you really mean that please know that you only have to be able to fly any cp heli to fly the Oxy, it's not a "pro" only model.

I apologize for trying to save ppl $$ and prevent them from making the same mistake I did by encouraging them to skip the helis I don't think they'll be happy with over the long haul.

180 is still the only Blade I would recommend to anyone. Good stepping stone and a viable 3d trainer that practicing with translates well to 300-450class class helis

[Chris DeSain]

So I got to get out to the backyard to put a few packs thru her today and at the end of the first flight the tail was really acting up. I noticed a great deal of vibration when I got her in to me and she sounded a bit louder.

I let her cool off as I do in between flights with a quadcopter flight pondering the vibration. I checked her out to see if anything was loose or tight in the power train (as limited as it is but nothing was different all smooth.

I got her into a hover and she had visible/audible vibration. Well she was only up about 15 seconds and she made a electrical snap sound that I think I saw on the speedo. The sound was like when you plug in a big 6S pack and she plopped down with a little spin.

From investigating the motor is noticeable harder to turn. The mesh is loose but spinning the main blades the motor feels tight. The heli FBL unit will bind and set and the tail will register and work but no main motor power.

It looks like the main motor failed and took out the speedo at this point

I am super bummed...calling Horizon Friday.

On a side note my odd tail issues could have been vibration induced from the start ? It is very possible as the tail would hold great backwards and let go or wonder very unpredictably. Vibes would be a culprit.

[phobix]

Thanks for keeping us posted on your observations regarding the tail. I am sure that Horizon will take care of you given the circumstances, they have excellent customer service. I flew mine yesterday in progressive mode and then turned off all flight leveling and noticed a weak tail. Granted I might not have my gains adjusted appropriately however I much prefer the tail on my 180cfx which holds as good as my trex 550, 600, or 700.

[jrman83]

Originally Posted by Chris DeSain

It looks like the main motor failed and took out the speedo at this point

I am super bummed...calling Horizon Friday.

This is one of the main reasons I would be hesitant, if I was looking to buy, on getting a 250. HH put the same motor in that is well known for being defective and maybe rightly so, they have thousands of them sitting on their shelves, evidently. From this motor to the one being put in the 270, of which I have seen multiple reports of motor failures after just a few hundred flights, I don't think they did the right thing for the customer by putting in a well-known defective part.

My guess is you'll need another in less then 250 more flights. The one thing that is good about the 230 is I think I have lost only 1 main motor that wasn't my fault (2 total), burned one up from too tight of a gear mesh also, in over 500 flights each for the 2 that I own. The noise that this thing makes just sounds like something is off in the motor. The motors in my Oxy and Protos are 3D monsters and they are maybe half the noise of what this thing makes just putting around at 2500 headspeed.

I wish you well with your repair. I would probably make HH fix it for sure, but then in the back of my head would be looking for another alternate motor, maybe like the mystery brand that others have tried in the 230. Next failure may result in a crash that may cost quite a bit to repair and maybe fry your ESC with it, if it didn't do that for this failure.

[jrman83]

Originally Posted by Mike680

A tail blade is two fiddy and a dogbone is less than a dollar each.

What?? A dog bone is $1.75 each. They come 4 to a pack at $7 a pack. It is the most egregious priced part that they sell, absolute BS! Don't forget to add in shipping and make then $2 each.

[jrman83]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

I apologize for trying to save ppl $$ and prevent them from making the same mistake I did by encouraging them to skip the helis I don't think they'll be happy with over the long haul.

I used to think that you just liked to brand bash, but since I have moved up in class and models I have come to realize that you really do speak from experience. Crash cost aside and even though parts are cheaper with say, an Oxy, the difference in experience flying anything Blade and Oxy are well worth the cost difference in terms of upfront cost of a kit. I didn't have a comparison basis before I made the move and didn't always agree with you on each item. The 230 has been a great model and although I have owned 6 other models in the Blade line, I am glad that I never went bigger before I got out.

[Chris DeSain]

As noted Horizon was great on the phone and sent me a pickup label right away.
Great customer service and the rep was very knowledgeable when I spoke with him.

I really like my 230S and am happy with this one as it flies well when the tail is holding and I think the vibes were hitting the FBL unit causing the tail stuff.

We will see ! Off to the shipping place :-)

[Mike680]

Originally Posted by jrman83

What?? A dog bone is $1.75 each. They come 4 to a pack at $7 a pack. It is the most egregious priced part that they sell, absolute BS! Don't forget to add in shipping and make then $2 each.

A buck, under a buck, a buck 75, who really cares? Is is THAT big of a difference? Buy a sack of 'em and call it good for basically forever. I did that long ago and they weren't that expensive back then. And, I bought some fully assembled rotor heads that came with a set of dogbones for $16. Now, that's a steal.

[RCFred]

If you said that just to be a smartass
I try hard not to come across as a smart ass. I want to make friends here. I avoid sarcasm; as fun as it is it doesn't work in this medium. Testosterone is the bane of social media and we're all opinionated, so even the best intentions can be misinterpreted. I appreciate your enthusiasm and opinions.
Unsolicited (and probably unappreciated) advice: Make you point and move on rather than more posts trying to change a stubborn mind.

*I have an x3 that I cruise around with but I'm afraid to do anything with it. Thus, the beauty of the 230s.... for me.

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by jrman83

I used to think that you just liked to brand bash, but since I have moved up in class and models I have come to realize that you really do speak from experience. Crash cost aside and even though parts are cheaper with say, an Oxy, the difference in experience flying anything Blade and Oxy are well worth the cost difference in terms of upfront cost of a kit. I didn't have a comparison basis before I made the move and didn't always agree with you on each item. The 230 has been a great model and although I have owned 6 other models in the Blade line, I am glad that I never went bigger before I got out.

I appreciate that statement very much. Realize I come off a bit harsher than intended and get carried away sometimes. Must be getting old cause I catch myself rambling on alot these days. .lol

It's all said with good intentions and only say things I firmly believe to be true but am wrong sometimes. I have owned 8 Blade helis and been on the phone with HH tech support more times than I care to remember. They have good customer support until you get to the larger birds and they want to blame you for their failing parts/electronics.

On a tight budget so I was almost pushed to quitting the hobby from the lemon of a 300cfx they sent me. Horrible waste of money chasing problems they insisted were my fault for a month straight. Buying parts/upgrades and hours of working on it to no avail, was one problem after another.

Even started questioning my abilities thinking they were right. Finally got them to crack, sent in the BX unit which they claimed worked perfectly but sent me a new one anyway.

Of course it cured my issue just as I suspected. After all that I finally got the vibes and electronic failures cured, 20 flights later the motor disintegrated.

Pretty much had Oxy3 money into a heli that was pure hell for a month, enjoyable for 20 flights and then thrown in a box to this day. Freakin atrocious.

They do get one right now n then but never get one just right. Fully capable of making a good heli but choose to push out half tested helis with electronics they know will fail in short order.

The Oxy3 has been just right since day 1 and is still just right 10 months and 100's of flights later. They did the testing themselves instead of using customers as beta testers or flat out victims.

100% satisfied so I sing their praises as much as possible cause they deserve it. Meanwhile Blade and HH's main business is taking advantage of newcomers imho so I try to spread the word to prevent others from having an experience similar to mine. They might not stick it out like I did and quit this great hobby.

If I can prevent even one person from that fate then all the crap I catch for bashing is worth it.

Crap I'm rambling again...

Anyways thanks jrman, appreciate ya bro...

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by RCFred

If you said that just to be a smartass
I try hard not to come across as a smart ass. I want to make friends here. I avoid sarcasm; as fun as it is it doesn't work in this medium. Testosterone is the bane of social media and we're all opinionated, so even the best intentions can be misinterpreted. I appreciate your enthusiasm and opinions.
Unsolicited (and probably unappreciated) advice: Make you point and move on rather than more posts trying to change a stubborn mind.

*I have an x3 that I cruise around with but I'm afraid to do anything with it. Thus, the beauty of the 230s.... for me.

Unappreciated or not I'll continue to post as I see fit, not trying to change anyone's mind. Spreading info I feel can be beneficial.

It's cool Fred, have no ill will towards anyone and apologize for getting carried away. If you weren't being a smartass then ignore the first comment I made about it and concentrate on the second one. I attempted to reply to that from both directions not just a testosterone fueled response. If that was the case it wouldn't have been so nice.

Have a nice day my friend, in the end we're all brothers here bound by a common interest but certainly don't have to agree on everything or not speak our mind.

Hearing as many perspectives as possible is good for everyone, theirs will probably be somewhere in between everyone elses.

Best way to get used to your X3 is more airtime with it. It's fine just to baby it, most have their baby's and beaters. It's just a helicopter, if you can fly one you can fly another. Keeping that in the back of my mind helped me tremendously with stepping up to bigger helis

[Nytro97]

I thought about one of these but I already have the 230s and I think It is the best entry level trainer that Blade has offered to date. I just jumped to the 270cfx and I have to say it is on nice flying heli. I lowered the settings for my style of flying so it isn't such a rocket ship.

Here is a video of Stefan Finster putting one through the paces.

Blade 270CFX (3 min 12 sec)

[slumdog]

I read these posts with interest and ponder whether I should buy a 250 CFX or something else. I have owned several blade helicopters MSR, Nano, MCPX, 200 SRX, 230S and at the moment have a 180 CFX, although I seem to spend more time repairing the 180 CFX than flying it as its more capable than my abilities.

To be fair I have had a good experience with Blade products. I love the idea of an Oxy 3, looks quality but not sure how confident I feel about setting up a heli and FBL unit from scratch having never done it before let alone keeping it out of the dirt.

So for someone of my limited ability which I think the 250 CFX is aimed at ie Can do basic flying is OK with orientation but does not have any 3D skills at all, should I take the plunge and buy a 250 CFX, get another 230s, stick with my 180CFX and continue to repair it everytime it eats dirt or get something like an Oxy 3 and put a 6 axis FBL unit with some kind of bailout or self levelling?

Seems there are alot of pilots who are obviously of an advanced ability making comments about tail blowouts and stuff, to be fair this heli is not aimed at those people. I appreciate the comments and opinions but how is this heli for someone like me and no doubt a great many other pilots out there who is genuinely of a more intermediate standard?

Thanks

[learnedthehardway]

Just to be clear I don't just stalk and bash Blade threads. Stick my nose everywhere it doesn't belong and bashed an OXY rep a little bit just before I popped in here this morning.

Call it how I see it no matter who, what or where

[Tande]

Originally Posted by slumdog

I read these posts with interest and ponder whether I should buy a 250 CFX or something else. I have owned several blade helicopters MSR, Nano, MCPX, 200 SRX, 230S and at the moment have a 180 CFX, although I seem to spend more time repairing the 180 CFX than flying it as its more capable than my abilities.

To be fair I have had a good experience with Blade products. I love the idea of an Oxy 3, looks quality but not sure how confident I feel about setting up a heli and FBL unit from scratch having never done it before let alone keeping it out of the dirt.

So for someone of my limited ability which I think the 250 CFX is aimed at ie Can do basic flying is OK with orientation but does not have any 3D skills at all, should I take the plunge and buy a 250 CFX, get another 230s, stick with my 180CFX and continue to repair it everytime it eats dirt or get something like an Oxy 3 and put a 6 axis FBL unit with some kind of bailout or self levelling?

Seems there are alot of pilots who are obviously of an advanced ability making comments about tail blowouts and stuff, to be fair this heli is not aimed at those people. I appreciate the comments and opinions but how is this heli for someone like me and no doubt a great many other pilots out there who is genuinely of a more intermediate standard?

Thanks

IF you like the 230s ......you will LOVE the 250cfx .......IMHO

[BrokeDad]

Originally Posted by slumdog

I read these posts with interest and ponder whether I should buy a 250 CFX or something else. I have owned several blade helicopters MSR, Nano, MCPX, 200 SRX, 230S and at the moment have a 180 CFX, although I seem to spend more time repairing the 180 CFX than flying it as its more capable than my abilities.

To be fair I have had a good experience with Blade products. I love the idea of an Oxy 3, looks quality but not sure how confident I feel about setting up a heli and FBL unit from scratch having never done it before let alone keeping it out of the dirt.

So for someone of my limited ability which I think the 250 CFX is aimed at ie Can do basic flying is OK with orientation but does not have any 3D skills at all, should I take the plunge and buy a 250 CFX, get another 230s, stick with my 180CFX and continue to repair it everytime it eats dirt or get something like an Oxy 3 and put a 6 axis FBL unit with some kind of bailout or self levelling?

Seems there are alot of pilots who are obviously of an advanced ability making comments about tail blowouts and stuff, to be fair this heli is not aimed at those people. I appreciate the comments and opinions but how is this heli for someone like me and no doubt a great many other pilots out there who is genuinely of a more intermediate standard?

Thanks

I hesitated for months but finally decided to go buy on the for sale section here. Consider doing the same. There are some great deals and you don't have to build. Just get one marked as BNF if you don't want to mess with anything. I went for some super cheap 450's and have been enjoying those a lot. Once I'm more accustomed to those on 3S I will start flying my 6S 360CFX more.

[Chris DeSain]

Slum
I think you have the 230S and 180 so you have really the best two of the bunch till you go bigger. The 250CFX is nice looking for sure and built nice and flies nice. I think really close to the 230S. As I had a bad motor I am hoping it will exceed the 230S a little bit but last flight I reduced my expo and upped my rates and it was coming alive for me with the feel I like.

The big gain is more flight time over the 230S !! That was real nice ! I had my timer set like my 230S originally and had lots of battery left so I kept adding 30 seconds a flight.

The ease of maintenance of the 230S and cheap cost of repair and the capability of it just lets me fly it with wreck less abandon really. I have no pucker factor with it.
The 180 I would hate to fix so I fly it slightly more reserved. It also feels a bit heavy so it does not translate to my bigger machines (I have a full canopy on mine) I could not see it well till the fuse. That's why mine is a bit heavier. Great flier though, but my flight feel on it is not to my liking and it is a transition when I fly my bigger helis where the 230S I don't have the big change in disc loading feel.

The 250 is like a 230 with the crash fear factor built a little more but not to the point of the 180. Talking parts price, parts count of a repair and rebuild and re tune time of a true tail into account of180 vs 230S it just mentally frees me up to go into the flight more relaxed learning new stuff.

I had the earlier plastic 300X and it was great for me for a long time no issues. The motor was not a work horse tank and did go thru BB's but otherwise no issues like the reports on the newer 300. Can't confirm

The BL was a good heli for me and the nano was issue free also. I could blow out the tails on them loading the motors sure but if I paid attention to my pitch they flew good for what they were. I would put them in the toy category though over all.

The 130 was a good heli flight wise but wore thru parts and servos ect quick. That was a bit of a $$ pit heli. Like the 250CFX I got the 130 pre order and got the first shipment with all the tail issues and such. I got a second one from the later release and it was greatly improved all around.