Thinking about Getting Back into the Hobby

[mgilbert]

I tried to learn RC helicopters in the eighties - 30 sized glow engine machines with one mechanical gyro for the tail. Never got beyond hovering...

I'm thinking about getting a Blade 230s. I'm mostly interested in laid back park flying, but want collective, in case I get bored with the laid back stuff. I have built and flown many intermediate RC planes, and even a single seat, wood and fabric real airplane, so I know the basics, but am really looking for something fairly easy to fly. I've even considering going with the 130s, thinking it might be harder to damage in a crash.

I want to support the local hobby shop, and will probably buy the heli there, but they don't have a good selection of batteries. I'll be looking for advice on where to buy parts and batteries, and just which batteries will actually fit the 230s without having to modify the heli.

I'm also wondering if I should just use the supplied radio, or buy the BNF and a better radio. And I'm wondering if I need to buy that cable, for updating the receiver. I guess I'll have more questions.

Any unsolicited advice is appreciated...

[toadiscoil]

Hi and welcome!

Well, it all depends on your budget. The things that you should try to buy the best you can upfront is a radio and a charger. If not you are simply delaying the inevitable.

The 230S is a great heli and the one I personally always recommend. I loved mine and I believe it is one of the best things that Blade has done as it is a great size, and is really inexpensive to own, plus simple to fix by design.

I think CommonSenseRC makes some batteries for this heli that should be less expensive than stock, but I am sure there are other brands out there with the right size and connector.

Now going back to what you should start with. Again, depends on your budget. Problem with getting into a hobby is that at first you don't really know if you will stay so don't want to invest heavily into it but sounds like you had a taste and are willing to make the investment. So here goes my recommendation.

Blade 230S BNF
Spektrum DX8 plus Pulse TX battery
Parallel charging board
Spektrum charging cable for the TX battery
GT500 charger
Power supply
Spektrum USB wireless dongle for computer
Your choice of computer simulator, I like Heli-X for its training modes
A good set of drivers. Being an SAB fanboy I love the SAB tool set. Scorpion makes great ones too. A lot of people recommend MIP. Don't get the cheap eFlite set.

And read through this:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=720316

I think you will be all set with this. It will be a hefty up-front investment, so you could get started with just the heli, the radio and probably a small Prophet Sport charger 50W which is really cheap for now and the parallel charging board for when you buy more packs. But consider you need to get the GT500 before you get another heli. Also the Spektrum dongle and a free demo of Helix to get started.

Originally Posted by mgilbert

I tried to learn RC helicopters in the eighties - 30 sized glow engine machines with one mechanical gyro for the tail. Never got beyond hovering...

I'm thinking about getting a Blade 230s. I'm mostly interested in laid back park flying, but want collective, in case I get bored with the laid back stuff. I have built and flown many intermediate RC planes, and even a single seat, wood and fabric real airplane, so I know the basics, but am really looking for something fairly easy to fly. I've even considering going with the 130s, thinking it might be harder to damage in a crash.

I want to support the local hobby shop, and will probably buy the heli there, but they don't have a good selection of batteries. I'll be looking for advice on where to buy parts and batteries, and just which batteries will actually fit the 230s without having to modify the heli.

I'm also wondering if I should just use the supplied radio, or buy the BNF and a better radio. And I'm wondering if I need to buy that cable, for updating the receiver. I guess I'll have more questions.

Any unsolicited advice is appreciated...

[learnedthehardway]

Glacier 3s 800mah 25c lipos work great and they're only $9.

You can find used 50w 3-6s lipo charger on Craigslist for $20 quite often. I don't parallel charge, balance charge with multiple chargers instead.

Little safer and better for your batteries although lipos this small I consider abuse and throw away size lol. Plus they're less likely to burn your house down if you do have a parallel charging disaster which does happen but not that often.

[mgilbert]

Originally Posted by toadiscoil

Hi and welcome!

Well, it all depends on your budget. The things that you should try to buy the best you can upfront is a radio and a charger. If not you are simply delaying the inevitable.

The 230S is a great heli and the one I personally always recommend. I loved mine and I believe it is one of the best things that Blade has done as it is a great size, and is really inexpensive to own, plus simple to fix by design.

I think CommonSenseRC makes some batteries for this heli that should be less expensive than stock, but I am sure there are other brands out there with the right size and connector.

Now going back to what you should start with. Again, depends on your budget. Problem with getting into a hobby is that at first you don't really know if you will stay so don't want to invest heavily into it but sounds like you had a taste and are willing to make the investment. So here goes my recommendation.

Blade 230S BNF
Spektrum DX8 plus Pulse TX battery
Parallel charging board
Spektrum charging cable for the TX battery
GT500 charger
Power supply
Spektrum USB wireless dongle for computer
Your choice of computer simulator, I like Heli-X for its training modes
A good set of drivers. Being an SAB fanboy I love the SAB tool set. Scorpion makes great ones too. A lot of people recommend MIP. Don't get the cheap eFlite set.

And read through this:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=720316

I think you will be all set with this. It will be a hefty up-front investment, so you could get started with just the heli, the radio and probably a small Prophet Sport charger 50W which is really cheap for now and the parallel charging board for when you buy more packs. But consider you need to get the GT500 before you get another heli. Also the Spektrum dongle and a free demo of Helix to get started.

Thanks for all the information! My budget won't allow me to buy all this stuff up front, but your suggestions will help me to determine what's most important and funds do become available.

[mgilbert]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

Glacier 3s 800mah 25c lipos work great and they're only $9.

You can find used 50w 3-6s lipo charger on Craigslist for $20 quite often. I don't parallel charge, balance charge with multiple chargers instead.

Little safer and better for your batteries although lipos this small I consider abuse and throw away size lol. Plus they're less likely to burn your house down if you do have a parallel charging disaster which does happen but not that often.

Thanks for the battery and charger information. I've been looking for a good source for batteries.

[dmartin]

Originally Posted by mgilbert

Thanks for all the information! My budget won't allow me to buy all this stuff up front, but your suggestions will help me to determine what's most important and funds do become available.

Hehe... I feel your pain... Baby steps... Take baby steps in getting back into it... The wife will appreciate more too

Too bad they still did not make EXI (t-rex) clones, would be a perfect 450 starter heli for you for only 50.00 as a kit, then motor, esc, servos. When I got back into this from 6 years back, it was very cheap to fly a heli, now 6 years later, they do not make parts for it anymore. No idea why... If I need parts, I have purchase T-Rex parts. 4x the money...

Anyway, Good luck to you and welcome back to this most exciting hobby

Dave

[joshreynolds77777]

welcome back. I like 450 to start or bigger. I leaned on a .50 nitro way back in the day with training gear and all. Most dont start that big these days, but I'm glad i did. Got me hooked. get a sim for sure, its fun, and you process really fast. I took an 8 year break just after learning to hover and back full swing now. ! trex500 is great machine and cheap. I bought y last one almost ready to fly for $250 bucks shipped.!

[Wargamer]

Originally Posted by mgilbert

Any unsolicited advice is appreciated...

One option that hasn't been raised is going with a 100-class micro as an inexpensive starter heli. (Low $$ for both the initial purchase and for repairs.)

From personal experience, the XK k110 is a great choice that will only set you back a little over $100 for the heli and a decent RTF transmitter. Unfortunately, you won't find this at your LHS; seems like there is always a trade-off. The Blade Nano CPS is also in this class, and should be available at your LHS. It does tend to have a lot more issues out of the box, and you might have to invest a fair number of hours trouble shooting. (I started with a nano, so it can be done.)

The main advantage of ultra micros, aside from lower initial cost, is the fact that you can crash them all day on grass and will rarely have to make a repair. With the 230s, or anything larger, you will be making repairs after every crash. The near invulnerability of a good 100-class is a big help when you are just learning to hover.