Next Model Recommendation

[David Drew]

Great, he's back on form. I thought Phil had gone soft over the Christmas period . But no, he's warming up again.

David

[Smoothound]

Glad to be of service as Ade's not about

[kevinh]

Walkera are a pile of complete and utter rubbish please make this a sticky where newbies will see it ASAP

thats funny

[fatmantom]

Walkera are a pile of complete and utter rubbish please make this a sticky where newbies will see it ASAP

just thought id show it again...

[Ice Man]

Well I thought the 60B was good enough for indoor use. It's a good step up as it has ccpm pitch control, 3d. It's also built quite well. for a couple of hundred pounds I thought it would be the ideal next step up from the medevac twister before getting into a serious nitro heli for outdoors.

Why is there so much hate? do any of you 'Walkera haters' have first hand experience with them? ie the 60B with all the upgrades listed...

I've seen footage of 60b's setup flying really well. What more do you need.

If you want to spend 500 quid to buy yourself into the 'accepted crowd' then fair enough. There are a few walkera's at my local club that i've seen flying well to. 36's IIRC. They fly just as well as the more expensive stuff.

[fatmantom]

i dont hate them (never had 1) i just got carried away (sorry)

[Ice Man]

Theyre not the best but they fly OK and you can make your mistakes on something cheap and easily repairable then step up to the next one and sell it.

That's my plan anyhow... or keep it just for indoors.

I'll be getting a 50 nitro... when I can afford it and in the summer when i'll get a chance to enjoy a day's flying.

[Disc]

Well I thought the 60B was good enough for indoor use. It's a good step up as it has ccpm pitch control, 3d. It's also built quite well. for a couple of hundred pounds I thought it would be the ideal next step up from the medevac twister before getting into a serious nitro heli for outdoors.

Why is there so much hate? do any of you 'Walkera haters' have first hand experience with them? ie the 60B with all the upgrades listed...

I've seen footage of 60b's setup flying really well. What more do you need.

If you want to spend 500 quid to buy yourself into the 'accepted crowd' then fair enough. There are a few walkera's at my local club that i've seen flying well to. 36's IIRC. They fly just as well as the more expensive stuff.

Consider this.. Their crap. Cheap nasty break easy - servo's crap... gyro crap - receiver crap... Wait for it... its all crap

Buy once buy right.

So buy a decent small helicopter with decent servos and receiver and gyro.

Cost's less in the long run to maintain. which is a big plus

[Butuz]

This is what I have learned.

I bought a twister bell and it was fun at first. After a while, I thought it was a bit rubbish - but I come to the conclusion now that its a very good learning tool, and its also very good fun for buzzing around your house when its raining. This little heli is a keeper.

I then bought a Piccolo FP kit *winks @ ade* (against the reccomendations of many of the people above) and built it myself with custom electronics. It was a very step and good learning curve setting everything up - I am glad I did it, but of course my lack of experience ensured that the heli didnt really fly very well, it did fly, but I had made it far too heavy. Eventually I rebuult it with similar electronics to what it would have came with in kit form, and it flies much better now! Lesson learned!

I then wanted a proper indoor/outdoor small heli. Of course, everyone reccomends the TRex and for good reason, but me meing me, i ignored everyone, and bought an SJM-400. Its a nice little heli, but it needs constant refinement and improvement, something that the TREX has already gone through over a number of years. Lesson learned again.

Now? I am not sure what to do. But summer is coming, and I am severeley tempted to get rid of the Piccolo and the SJM-400 and get a Trex 600 for outdoor's.

Moral of the story? Listen to the people above, especially people like Ade, because dispite his general "unlove" for electric birds - he really has massive experience of R/C heli's and knows what he is on about.

If I had listened more to the people above, I may have had a much happyer and easier first year of helis!!! Ignore the advice of the majority on your peril.

Butuz

[Ice Man]

The word CRAP is a bit strong IMO. A very closed minded viewpoint.

Remember not too long ago Japanese cars were CRAP, now they are right up there.

The newer Walkera's are pretty good from the research I have done. the latest 60b is quite good. I'm not saying anyone should buy one at all. It's good enough for me for a progression up from a fixed pitch Sabre and it was cheap and i can relax and have fun flying it. If I went straight up to a big IC then it would be less enjoyable. I felt the same when fling my 3 metre scale glider... it was too serious and no fun. I enjoyed flying my small cheap models far more...

[Disc]

Naa Crap is to weak a word for Walkera helicopters IMHO.

[Jamez]

I know people who run 400's on 1800 10c lipo's, they are not imense current draining things, 18amps should be enough to run most 400 size brushless motors, My Eco is not pulling much more than that in a Hover.

[F.arch]

No crap helicopters have place, I have to say that I bought one: Helixx crap yes! Build quality: appalling, flight characteristics: poo Damage: lots. Fun to play with on xmas day, oh yes. Your not flying that in here! Just to see that on her face, fantastic. Chasing the trains around my 3 year olds train set, worth it, knocking over beer bottles, chasing the cat, crashing into the telly.

To put it into perspective if you’re going to buy crap do it in the USA: heli-direct 7-8 days delivery 2 dollars for a pound the helix needs lots of spares. There its 2 dollars for every thing, (here £10) I have spares for complete re-build $40 delivered. Great fun but don’t spend hundreds, save that for the real stuff

[gazza]

Dont take it as a personal attack Iceman.
We all own helis & I'm sure they are all our 'Pride & joy'
A guy at my club slags Raptors...'Oh no not another Craptor' are his most commonly used words.
Has he ever owned a Raptor? No. I've No idea why he hates them or how he can justify slagging them off when he's never even had one...Maybe he heard some bad things once.

Some members here are maybe guilty of slagging Walkera off in the same manner..How many of us are guilty of having told Skoda & Lada jokes in times gone by? I'll hold my hands up. Have I ever owned one? Have I hell

The point is mate, in the world of RC heli's Walkera have a very poor reputation in terms of quality, build, reliability & value for money etc...There are far too many more worthwhile heli's out there.
Everything about the company & the product is cheap & nasty.
You can have a cheap and nasty heli with cheap nasty servo's and a cheap nasty gyro. All this comes with a cheap nasty radio and some cheap nasty batteries and a cheap nasty charger.
If you pay an extra £79.99 we'll fit a cheap nasty brushless motor, a cheap nasty Esc and a cheap nasty Lipo. Oh we'll even include a cheap nasty charger for the Lipo.

Why not go for option 3? For an extra £119.99 we'll fit a cheap nasty metal head that all fits together with cheap nasty nuts & bolts.
We'll include some cheap nasty metal bladegrips and cheap nasty tail bladegrips & all this includes cheap and nasty bearings all round.
All driven by a cheap nasty belt that runs on cheap nasty rollers.
Also included are some cheap and nasty stickers to compliment the cheap and nasty canopy.

Its all churned out in the cheapest way possible. Walkera are the cheapest of the cheap..The lowest of the low. The shit end of the stick. They produce the barest minimum in terms of quality. Just enough to keep trading standards at bay-If such a thing exists in china (Which I very much doubt)

So...Have I owned a Walkera? Yes. Myself and my mate had a pair of 36's.
Did they fly? No. The 600mah batteries supplied are a joke. You wouldnt power servos alone with that, let alone a main motor as well. The charger nearly burnt my house down, The head had more play in it than a little tikes factory. The servos went 'Phut', The receiver went 'Fizzz'. The gyro just went... Wherever it wanted. The ball links cracked, The frames were crocked. The blades were bent, the belt was buggered.

All this, and it never left the floor.
Any heli can be upgraded till it flies, but whats the point? Its not the same heli any more. Had I replaced all the hooky bits of the heli the only original bits left of the original would have been the boom and skids.
So whats the point? Buy cheap buy twice. You will never hear a truer statement than that on here.
I slung it on ebay and so did my mate with his...And we both vowed to never mention the 'W' word again.

Thats my story.

[David Drew]

Gazza,

You were just unlucky


PS Gyro set-up this weekend, weather permitting & work allowing

David