considering the hobby

[1chris]

Well said Hoist, I have seen this attempting to do it on a shoestring......and fail miserably......many times....I am the membership secretary for our flying club, guy turns up at the meeting last wednesday, no experience, says he wants to fly helicoptes thinks he will go and buy a tree 600, when I point out that to purchase it plus all the equipment necessary to fly it will cost at least £1100.00 he nearly throws a fit.......i learnt on a trex600 so it can be done...... . Before somebody comments we have 50 members.

[Holst]

I think it's worth being realistic about the cost.

I only have a 450 now, but I can still spend a substantial amount of money on thehhobby.
If I crash I can spend £50 each time, and you could crash a lot of times when your learning.

I'm lucky that I don't crash loads and I can afford to replace everything if needed.
The best flying helis are expensive and it's worth knowing that before you start.

As for sim , phoenix runs ok on my 6 year old laptop.

[5hane]

Once again, too much waffle about saving relativly small amounts of money to be a serious contender for learning to fly a model helicopter, 5hane, this is an expensive hobby, look at spending initially hundreds leading on to thousands once you get going, if you canot live with this possible level of expenditure reconsider the way forward

"Serious contender"? Perhaps you should reread this thread, as I suggested no such thing. I do remember mentioning having a dabble though

[electricsceadu]

on the snobbery side
at my club i welcome anyone, what ever they wish to fly with the budget they have

and i do know the fantastic formula to be a good heli piot
its called
stick time
the more you practice the better you will become
it may take some longer than others
it doesn't matter
its all about enjoying your hobby

[Smarty]

Now now guys!! This is meant to be a friendly forum!! ... (No handbags at dawn)...

I started out spending very little, I had a 2nd hand Blade cx2 with the RTF handset and that was it, then I bought a blade Msr for indoor practice, and then after sometime bought a 2nd hand blade 400 with a dx6i and phoenix sim..
I have a fair few Heli's now but they have all been bought 2nd hand and worked on when I had the time and also the money, I nearly always have at least 1 heli waiting for parts that I can't buy right away due to the bank balance or the wife!! But that's the joys of family life.. (And poor piloting)....
There is no magic formula to learning to fly these things, but one thing is certain!
No matter how much you spend on your first heli/Tx or your sim you will still crash.. But patch it up and keep trying and before to long you will absolutely love it..

[froghopper]

"Serious contender" You make it sound like an Olympic competition ! LOL. This is a past-time, a bit of fun. A way to destress after work/school/whatever.

Not everyone wants to fly a 700 - that doesn't mean they are somehow excluded from having a bit of fun in this hobby. To suggest otherwise is bizarrely elitist IMO.

EDIT : Oh and by the way, if you don't want to read my "waffle" in trying to help somebody new to this hobby - don't. Easy. Personally, I think helping others new to this is worthwhile. If I choose to spend some of my time doing that - that's nobody's business but mine thank you. Nobody is obliged to read it if they don't want to, or think themselves above it.

+1 i totally agree, there is to some extent an element of elite/ snobbery in this hobby, and it over shadows the fact that we all enjoy flying with whatever birds we fly with. a few years ago now, ok i could afford/wanted and got a rappy 90 flybar and wrapped it in a hughes fuse... the dogs bits at the time and admired by all, i still have it and a couple of hawk pros fly bar..... yes i dont have or never had a fly barless heli, beast x, v bar etc is an alien language to me. but i fly what ive got and enjoy what i do. yes id love to put a multi blade head on my rappy, yes id love a goblin fbls, but simply cant afford it now due to cirumstance, but the grin on my face when i fly is exactly the same as the guy flying next to me with the latest all singing all dancing 3d beast that is capable of doing far more than the pilots capability.

[tomatwalden]

Once again, too much waffle about saving relativly small amounts of money to be a serious contender for learning to fly a model helicopter, 5hane, this is an expensive hobby, look at spending initially hundreds leading on to thousands once you get going, if you canot live with this possible level of expenditure reconsider the way forward

"Serious contender" You make it sound like an Olympic competition ! LOL. This is a past-time, a bit of fun. A way to destress after work/school/whatever.

Not everyone wants to fly a 700 - that doesn't mean they are somehow excluded from having a bit of fun in this hobby. To suggest otherwise is bizarrely elitist IMO.

EDIT : Oh and by the way, if you don't want to read my "waffle" in trying to help somebody new to this hobby - don't. Easy. Personally, I think helping others new to this is worthwhile. If I choose to spend some of my time doing that - that's nobody's business but mine thank you. Nobody is obliged to read it if they don't want to, or think themselves above it.

[james_2k]

what's that smell.. Horses? Sheep? Cows?

oh I know.. It's bullshit.

you can spend as much as you like in any hobby. And this is no different. I'm sure many many people just have a 450 and just fly that with no ambitions to spend thousands. The ways people have listed to get into the hobby are great ideas, even if only because unless you try it you won't know if you will like it, no point blowing loads of cash straight away.

[1chris]

Once again, too much waffle about saving relativly small amounts of money to be a serious contender for learning to fly a model helicopter, 5hane, this is an expensive hobby, look at spending initially hundreds leading on to thousands once you get going, if you canot live with this possible level of expenditure reconsider the way forward

[james_2k]

Yep v!

[5hane]

Great, so if I get the transmitter at a good price I should hopefully be set

[james_2k]

You won't get a cable,with the transmitter though. Unless the seller is throwing one in.

I think this is what you need
USB Flight Simulator Cable for DX5e Dx6i DX7 JR Futaba RC RealFlight Spektrum Es | eBay

[5hane]

Thbe fineator comes with the cable. Not the transmitter.

Regardless, if you play games on your PC. Accurc doesn't need a 'powerful' pc in comparison to a lot of things out there. It just needs a decent one. There is a difference. Think it just seems like it needs a powerful pc to people who have 10 year old ones and aren't really up on PC hardware that said. I use realflight 7 and its fine.

When I was just starting out I bought a Nano cpx. Crashes all over the place. But got it for 60 and its still going strong. After a few repairs and upgrades anyway. If you can fly that you can fly anything. Then you don't learn to rely on self levelling stuff. Plus as long as you kill the throttle, most crashes with a nano cpx are pick up and fly again straight away. Great little machine

Hi James. Heli X sim has been suggested to me because its a free version and the paid for version is low cost. Its a download, so no cable.
The laptop should hopefully be fine.... mid priced and recommended for gaming.

[james_2k]

The simulator comes with the cable. Not the transmitter.

Regardless, if you play games on your PC. Accurc doesn't need a 'powerful' pc in comparison to a lot of things out there. It just needs a decent one. There is a difference. Think it just seems like it needs a powerful pc to people who have 10 year old ones and aren't really up on PC hardware that said. I use realflight 7 and its fine.

When I was just starting out I bought a Nano cpx. Crashes all over the place. But got it for 60 and its still going strong. After a few repairs and upgrades anyway. If you can fly that you can fly anything. Then you don't learn to rely on self levelling stuff. Plus as long as you kill the throttle, most crashes with a nano cpx are pick up and fly again straight away. Great little machine

[5hane]

To be honest I would but a second hand Spektrum DX6i of eBay for around £50 and use the demo version of Heli X. If youth think you'll continue and but a helicopter the DX6i will be an excellent first Tx to use with it and you can also then upgrade Heli X. The very cheap transmitters that come with the fought sim packages from Amazon and ebay are not very good and may prove a hindrance and put you off.

If you decide that it's not going to be the hobby for you you'll be able to sell the DX6i for what you paid for it.

I have a DX6i and have enjoyed Heli X and now my Forza 450 so much I have invested in DX9 as my main flight Tx and will use the DX6i as my Heli X controller/back up but out was the DX6i that helped me learn the basics.

The other thing you can't do with a cheapo sim only Tx is learn to program it which is useful both when you fly real heli's and when using a sim.

Ok thanks, I'll do that.... I am bidding on one now. Not sure if it comes with a cable to plug into whatever laptop I buy, but ill drop the seller a message.