csm gyro

[martnslater]

hi all, just bought a csm. sl310 gyro just wondering what your veiws are on the gyro as i have not tested it yet i know the futuba 401 is the to have but all the rc shops seem to have no stock and being what i am had to have a gyro yesterday. any one got the 310, and how does it perform .
best wishes .
martyn

[ChrisB]

Right,, I have owned a 310,the fullsize one not the micro cased one..

It performs Ok and is quite easy to set up..

As you know,it does not have a super servo support to make most use of a dedicated tail servo like the 9254,this isnt the end of the world though

I was once a CSM man but was shown how well the Futaba stuff performs and switched to them,a decision i have not regretted..

To sum up,,The gyro you have is fine and does the job,if at a later date you are in the market for another gyro for a new model or something i strongly recommend you consider the 401 though

[Steve]

I've got several CSMs and a couple of 401s.

If you want high speed servo support for an IC heli, then step up to the CSM420 for about £80ish. It's just as good as the 560 (which used to be their flagship gyro until the 720 came out). The only difference between the 420 and the 560 is the price (560 is about £110) an dthe 560 has an extra lead poking out of it which allows you to connect it to a computer and adjust the software parameters. I've got 2 x 560s and a 420, and have never connected them to a computer yet. They just work fine.

CSM gyros are very finnecky about their mounting - they have to be mounted on the proper CSM gyro mounting pads. Nothing else will do, and you can buy packs of spare pads for a couple of quid.

Both the 420 and the 560 allow you too set the end points of the tail servo in each direction sperately which is a handy facility that the Futaba 401 doesn't have.

All in all, they're good gyros in my experience and always give a much higher turn rate than the Futaba, despite what people might say on here. I am a convert to the Futaba 401 now as it's just a bit more user-friendly and is more compact, but I'm certainly not swapping all my CSMs for 401s or throwing out the CSMs with the trash. They work just fine.

[Ade_Law]

Both the 420 and the 560 allow you too set the end points of the tail servo in each direction sperately which is a handy facility that the Futaba 401 doesn't have.

i wasnt going to comment in this thread... but.....

different end points at each end just makes it easier for people to get it wrong. As you can have the mechanical centre miles out.

you cant do that with the 401 without binding the linkage or having too little travel.

sorry, had to put that straight.

Ade

[Steve]

Absolutely right Ade, but getting the centre mechanically right is something that you learn as you get better at doing this heli stuff, so as a beginner (as I was with my very firsr CSM gyro), the facility is dead handy.

[ChrisB]

In Ades defence,,all controls on a heli should be mechanically centre anyway,the tail is no exception

Mechanical centreing isnt just good practice,its essential

[Steve]

You just get better at it, as you get more experienced.

[ChrisB]

You just get better at it, as you get more experienced.

Quite true,,

[3dbasher]

should i shouldn't i

[col9]

If you have the micro 310 it has super/digital servo support, I looked at it as an option before i got the SL420 It looked alright but i got mine at a great price so never got the 310 in the end.

The CSM setup routine is nice and easy.
Col.

[jamiem]

You just get better at it, as you get more experienced.

and as such, you should try and start this way. it is much harder to learn something, then have to re-learn to do it another way...