too late to the bl party?

[feathering]

Looking for a bigger heli to replace my hisky hcp80 (brushed sub-micro). The ubiquitous mcpx bl has always struck me as being the perfect next step. But now I have second thoughts. I find it rather uninspiring: 3-in-1 board, no piro comp and almost 3 years old! More recent micros such as the 180cfx only costs £20 more while the hcp100s (hisky bl equivalent) costs about the same as the bl's 3-in-1 replacement board.

What should I do? E.g., (a) get a 180cfx although it won't be as cheap to crash and won't fit into my garden given my present skills; (b) stop agonizing about the mcpx bl age/value and just get it as it fits my needs; (c) sim for a few months until HH updates its sub-micro fleet (this should be happening soon I would think); (d) consider the 230s although it looks "huge" to me.

[Peteski]

The 180 CFX is a great little heli, but it needs a reasonable amount of space to fly in unless you are a 3D god. Much much more space than my stock mCPX, which is fine in the garden. For that reason alone I prefer to fly my mCPX in the garden, even though the 180 CFX is at least a factor of 10 better to fly. I would imagine the 230S will have similar space requirements to the 180 CFX i.e. an acre or two of open field and will be limited to hovering orientation practice in the garden.

So if this new heli is intended for flying in tight spaces, then the mCPX BL is probably still your best bet. I'll probably replace my mCPX V2 with the BL version one day (or whatever it's new equivalent is by then). But if you have convenient access to a reasonable sized playing field then get the 180 CFX instead, it's a whole lot more heli for £20.

[myxiplx]

It all depends on what you want to do with it, and the space you have to fly.

If you're flying indoors, both the mCPX BL and 180CFX are too large really. They both need a decent amount of room, either a back garden or a warehouse.

If you're still crashing a lot, the mCPX BL is pretty tough. If you hit throttle hold before impact it'll survive a lot of crashes, mine had over 700 flights before I sold it, including dozens and dozens of crashes. I think I broke the main board once, but even with that expense it was cheaper to crash than anything larger would have been.

If you're crashing less, and have the space, then the 180CFX is a better bet. It's a larger and more capable heli than the mCPX BL, and flies way better. With a couple of mods it's not too bad in a crash, I always recommend the Lynx slipper clutch torque tube, and servo saver arms since the servo and tail gears are among the most common parts to get damaged in a crash.

I wouldn't wait on the assumption that HH will be updating it's fleet. They may, but a valid route nowadays is to start with the nQX indoors or 230S outdoors, and then move to the 180CFX when you're skills outgrow them. There isn't really much of a need for another model in there.

[tomatwalden]

I wouldn't worry about the age of the mcpxBL. As for piro-comp .. well, unless you're doing piro-maneouvres you're not going to notice the lack of it!

The 180CFX is too fast for a garden. I used to fly my 130X in my garden, but the 180CFX is simply too powerful and too fast despite being the same size.

So I sort of agree with myxiplx - it depends on what you want. If you want a garden flyer, mcpxBL is hard to beat. If you want something a bit more advanced, but more local park than garden, the 180CFX is peerless IMO.

[feathering]

Thank you very much for your comments. My intention is to fly the heli in the garden and also at a local park early in the mornings when it is not busy. Based on what you are saying I would need to give up flying in the garden if I were to go for anything larger than the mcpx bl. So it seems that the bl wins. Oh well, there is always time to get the 180cfx at a later time...

For flying inside the house I may continue with the hcp80 as it is brushed and damage is minimal. I am at the point where I can invert it in a small room and do a few ugly circles and I really enjoy flying it in confined spaces. Regarding piro comp I feel that the lack of it is really holding back my flying in the house. I don't notice it much outdoors but indoors the drift that follows rudder input is very pronounced. I can imagine that the mcpx bl would not suffer from these issues when flying outdoors as mentioned in this thread.

[kylelnsn]

Never to late for a BL! Both the 180 and BL have there merits over each other as raised above.

But when learning, the BL is awesome, 9 out of 10 crashes will be free if you hit hold. Cheap to repair, and just keeps going!

[myxiplx]

I'm not so worried about space, if you have a bit of room in your garden and like the look of the 180CFX then I'd say go for it. I'd only pick a mCPX BL if I thought I would be crashing it a lot.

I fly a Trex 250 in my back garden, and that's a seriously lively model and a fair bit bigger than the 180. You just have to take your time and be gentle. So long as you're careful to fly within your limits it's fine in a garden, and then it comes alive when you get to a park with a little room to really open it up :-)

[Peteski]

I also find my 180 CFX too much for the garden. It's really limited to hovering practice there and so I just take it out to the field instead. It's a fantastic heli though and when my inverted control improves I'm sure it will see more action in the garden again. My stock mCPX is the perfect size for the garden, it's just big enough to allow quick circuits and feels far less constrained than the 180. But in a small space I find nano quads more entertaining to be honest. They are just so much more agile and don't damage anything in a crash. For the house I still love my nQX and thinking of getting the 3D version too. It's fantastic in the garden too as long as it's calm.

Just to add I find my stock mCPX a bit frustrating for learning inverted flying. It doesn't really have enough power or tail authority. So I think the BL version would be much better for learning 3D. There's a great comparison review here, which is well worth a read:-

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/blade-mcp.html