Is the eSky King 2 suitable ?

[solutech]

For 2 people who should be old enough to go into toysrus without spending money on things like picooz helis but cant help themselves ?

Well we both think the picooz is a great little gizmo but we are now looking at bigger and better toys that we can pretend were bought for the benefit of the boy child and not just for us .

After looking at just about every rc heli available we like the look of the King 2 . Things like readily available parts etc are a big bonus .

But its now time to ask the experts . I know helis arent the easiest thing to fly and control but would you recommend it as a starter ?.

We are looking at the deal offered by Buzzflyer with spares the upgraded radio gear and flight case . I cant believe how much the prices of rc helis have dropped over the years .

We are looking mostly at electric helis preferably the rtf ones rather than nitros at this stage as learning to fly is one thing , learning about nitro at the same time could lead to a large fireball lol.

So enough waffle . Are we headed in the right direction with the King 2 ?

[cambs flyer]

You need (and it has been said many times here) sim practice, you take a HBK2, CCP up and there twitchy before you even start, in 5 seconds max it'll possibly get destroyed along with your bank balance.

Many have managed to hover first off, but it eventually bites you and it doesn't take long neither.

My advice would be Buy the E-Flite Blade 400 & Phoenix, this is possibly the most expensive off all the RC hobbies out there, I'm not meaning to put you off, buying the HB and attempting a fly without sim practice will soon do that quicker than any advice here.

The '400 comes complete with the excellent DX6i controller and your need that for Phoenix, the TX that comes with the HBK's is crude by comparison, unfortunately you get what you pay for and yes the HBK's are well flyable and you can learn to take the twitchy flight surface down a tad, but TBH, the Blade and sim would be your best route forward.

Failing that if it's becoming a tad expensive there's the Contra market and you'll get a thrill out of those indoor flyer's, plus there a fixed pitch design meaning the upper rotas keep you up and safe, all you need to do is control them in which direction you want them to go, sounds easy? your be in for a surprise, the BCX2 is the best of the bunch for the Contras, Or the Lama 4's but I've heard a few people here lately having trouble with them, but none more than another helicopter, but the blades are dirt cheap and can be brought in bulk from e-bay, where as the Blade CX2 you pay roughly £6 for four upper, then the same charge for lower blades, but IMHO it is a superior machine.

[-=JK=-]

I was in a similar position....bought a picazoo (which i wasn't that impressed with), and have just bought a Blade CX2, the contra-rotating heli that Cambs mentions.

You're looking at £115 for the RTF CX2, and order spare upper & lower blades (£5 for two pairs).

I don't have the moolah to sink £270 + £80 for Phoenix at the mo', but it may well be my next purchase.

In the meantime, the CX2 is a great & fairly low-cost way to see if you really like it.

Even the CX2 is a world away from a picazoo, and will punish you financially if you try & throw it around.

Take a look at a few vids on youtube of the heli's people are suggesting. The Blade 400 is pretty astonishing for the money, but could also be a MAJOR handful.

I have a couple of vids of my CX in my thread in the beginners section. See what you think, and have fun :-)

[inferno]

i had a HBk2 as the first heli. Prepared to do damage i stocked up with parts. First off youll need to get it set up by somebody who knows how, a guy i took mine too called neil will offer this service by post, and is very good. Don has used him i know and possibly others on here.

For mine to make it easier to control and reliable, i bought a dx7 2.4g, Brushless setup,heading hold gyro, digital tail servo, trex 450 training legs, trex 450 canopy, 2100 lipos weighing 98grams!, and bought loads of blades expecting to crash it as per other ppls comments.

Get the sim, i use pheonix, and learn the controls, the heli on the sim is twitchy, and so is the real thing!! Very twitchy and took me at least 3 hours hopping around the garden to get a full 12mins tail in hovering without touching the deck.

The slightest bit of wind will lift it, and youll need to be quick to catch it. I dont think there a crash waiting to happen. I managed replaceing just a feathering shaft, main shaft, belt, blades x 3, and that was about it before deciding to continue learning on e trex 500!

My theory behind buying the hbk2 was the twitchyer the heli i learn on for cheepest doh, the less chance of wrecking my £600 trex!

As said, very expensive, very frustrating, but absolutely worth it when the hovering just 'clicks'

The upgrades i did id advise you do as a minimum, and if you can afford a better gyro buy one, they can be moved onto the next model, as with the decent TX etc.

Good luck whatever way you go, but i wouldnt advise against getting the hbk2, although thats the only one ive flown at the mo.

[solutech]

Ok Ive looked at the blade . Add to the base price the spares etc that would come with the esky its a good bit more expensive . I know scrimping isnt necessarily a good thing with helis. Im prepared to accept twitchy as it can only lead to finer control in the end surely lol. By twitchy I presume you mean its a bit on the light side so the wind will buffet it that bit more . I thought the newer control system would give a finer control over the model anyway or am I in lala land ?.

[cambs flyer]

JK has really hit the nail on the head, the Contra vids on You Tube tend to be quite sedate compared to what the CX2 can do.

Once practiced enough you can bomb one of these around your house like a rocket.

And don't think of Contras as a "cheap only" alternative to the bigger out doors stuff, so long as your enjoying yourself thats all one can ask for.

But spending your hard earned cash wisely is foremost, and pound for pound the CX2 will give you more than your moneys worth.

Plus it was a good point JK raised, if you've only ever played with one of those foam heli's, and lets be honest there not really helicopters, going up to a BCX2 will be like me going from the CX2 to the Trex 450, the power hike is a thousand fold.

Best of luck with your choices.

[cambs flyer]

Ok Ive looked at the blade . Add to the base price the spares etc that would come with the esky its a good bit more expensive . I know scrimping isnt necessarily a good thing with helis. Im prepared to accept twitchy as it can only lead to finer control in the end surely lol. By twitchy I presume you mean its a bit on the light side so the wind will buffet it that bit more . I thought the newer control system would give a finer control over the model anyway or am I in lala land ?.

I may be wrong with my wording but I'll be honest with you, if you go for the HBK2 now, and knowing from others how twitchy they are, and this doesn't mean in the wind it's the general control, your going to be in a world of hell.

And your hobby of heli flying will be a very short one, I know it looks easy on the You Tube vids, but it's very difficult to learn and master the very basics, and mostly this has been done using sims like Phoenix which is the market leader for value.

If you think Phoenix & the Blade 400 is expensive, the repair bill with crashes (thats if you don't completely destroy it) will be three to four times as much with the HBK2 with only foam hovering experience under your belt.

But I doubt you'd get that far before you gave up!

Its up too you mate it's your cash, and you've asked us!

Join a club and see if there's flyers near you, most people in this game are happy to offer advise and help, thats the best advise I can offer you right now mate

[solutech]

Im well aware how hard helis are to fly . I enquired at my local club a few years back and was told what I would be letting myself in for . Theres no way Im going to be doing anything loopy like unboxing it and letting it rip in the garden . Its a go to the club and get shown how to do it and then hours of sim practice .

I know Im going to crash and its going to be expensive each time I plow up the field. Believe me Id much rather take it slow and keep it as far as possible in one piece as I can .

Ive grown up with rc kit having spent many a long night building boats and cars . A different league granted but even so ham hands at the controls dont lead to a nice model staying that way for long .

So by twitchy you mean the controls are overly sensitive . You mentioned dampening down the flight surface is this possible via the control unit or is it a light touch required thing.

[cambs flyer]

TBH I don't know how to physically do it in the HBK2, but with a better Tx it can be done via the it's software.

I wish you'd have said your gonna do sim practise and already spoken to some guys before, reading your first post it sounded like you was going in head first.

[inferno]

The dx7 i use has loads of 'dampening ' settings, it really did fly really well with this fitted, so whatever you get id say get a decent Tx setup, and a sim. i had my sim a year before i had a heli! doesnt show much mind, i needed the heli i front of me to suss out its controls.

Be disciplined with it... I set a 10ft square in the garden, and every time u move it out of the sqaure, shut the power off, put it back in the centre of the square and try again.

Seriously i got bore of it, well frustrated with it, but just go do some sim work when ur get upset, then come back to the heli a few weeks later. HBK2 isnt good for wind/breeze at all, its far too light , or was for me

[Ade_Law]

you obviously want to move on in the hobby, the CX2 is great fun but you do need a good size living room to fly it in and they really dont wind so outdoors in anything but the faintest breath is a no no...

but they do teach the basics of the controls which counts a lot and it wont be redundant when you move on to bigger things. The TX does work with phoenix so you will be able to practise there too.

the other option of the blade 400, again the tx works with phoenix but leave the model in the box until you have the hang of phoenix.

i think most will agree that a sim has saved them a lot of money and sped up their learning curve. no matter what level they are at will use the sim on on a regular basis.

Ade

[solutech]

Righty I still think the hbk2 is still a good bet £ wise. The buzzflyer deal comes with a rc-usb lead that should work with Phoenix so we can add that to the shopping list as well as the supplied fms hates my pc with a passion. The wife thinks attaching it to the pc is hysterical and very sad . But I want to do this properly so sad or not she can get used to it .

Indoor helis arent really an option for us as our living room isnt that big and Id rather not end up shaving the cat or my 18 mth old daughter with an out of control whirling dervish . I can get away with the picooz as its foam and doesnt hurt . The cat doesnt mind it and my daughter thinks its a wonderous thing to watch buzz round her head .

If I find the controls are way too twitchy and cant find a way to rein it in then the DX7 will most likely get fitted as an upgrade at a later stage . Would this twitchiness show up in Phoenix I wonder ? .

[163phil]

I got my Belt CP from a guy down the road trading on fleabay for £120 - I reckon Buzzflyer are abit dear, although they are very good for spares (of which you will be needing alot!) Phoenix adapter cables are also available for about £5

I'd go for a belt CP, as they are abit bigger and more stable, and I guarantee you this: you'll be hooked and have more fun than you've ever had before with your colthes on!

[cambs flyer]

Phil, you've just reminded me mate, I saw ages back a Hong Kong dealer with an excellent customer rating selling helis at stupid prices and the HBK2 was being sold postage all in for about £60 or there abouts, hunt around and the bargains are there to be found

[solutech]

Yup ebay lol £87.99 plus £16 P&P . Hmmm add a dx6i and some bits ...... *Ponders*