Hello & a few questions

[PGpilot]

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking for a while. The reason being that I have sparked my interest in heli's again.
About 5-6 yrs ago I had a co-ax lama (non tethered) and a couple of FP dragonfly heli's that I flew indoors and outdoors in light conditions. I can't say that I was brilliant, but I could hover in a small space (tail & side in), didn't really get to nose in on the FPs because of the limited space, but Lama was ok. I even bought a DX7 while I had some spare cash!
Anyway circumstances changed and I sold the lot.

I'm looking round now and everything has changed so much (for the better), small FP fully brushless - Back then I was winding my own cdrom motors. Cheaper CP options etc.

My budget will be limited to probably £300 initial outlay and I would like to kill 2 birds with one stone - something to practise with indoors and a CP trainer for outdoors.
I've been looking at the copter x 450 RTF kit, but I don't know what transmitter type it is or if I could get a small FP to BNF to it as my indoor option?
Also would the KDS Mentor 3d save me 'some' repair costs in the long run while I learnt to fly the 450? (HK sell it cheap now). I've read it's a bugger to setup, but I'd be in no rush to get it airborne and I'm an engineer, so tinkering is in my blood!

I know it's a tight budget and a long learning curve, but if it's not a challenge then its not worth the effort IMO.

Opinions and advice please - good; bad or ugly. I'm old enough to take it.

Cheers
Steve

[J-S-Q]

I think you might struggle a bit with that budget if you have absolutely no equipment at all because on top of the heli and transmitter you will need batteries and a charger etc. If you could push the budget a little more you might be able to pick pick up a used TRex 450 setup.

Here's one example, at £270 but would still require transmitter, batteries and charger:

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/sale/4...0-pro-bnf.html

Personally I would abandon the idea of an indoor heli in favour of getting a Phoenix computer simulator -you will learn a lot from practising on the sim.

[J-S-Q]

Regarding the CopterX -any decent heli transmitter will work -a Specktrum DX6i or DX7 would certainly do a good job.

[PGpilot]

Thanks for the feedback guys,

I know the budget is tight!

But EFO have the copter x 450 RTF at £141.99 including:

Assembled components:

(1).Motor: CopterX 450 brushless motor(3500KV)
(2).ESC: CopterX 50A
(3).Gyro: CopterX GY240 gyro
(4).Servo: 9g servos*4Pcs
(5).Transmitter: CopterX 6-channel 2.4G transmitter
(6).Receiver: CopterX 6-channel 2.4G Receiver
(7).Battery: Li-poly Battery 2200mAh,11.1V,20C
(8).Charger: CopterX Balance chager
(9).Case : CopterX Aluminum case

So wouldn't that be a good start and leave me room for Mentor & Simulator? Or are you saying ditch the transmitter in favour of something else?

Cheers
Steve

[J-S-Q]

Do you have a link for that setup? I didn't realise it could be done that cheaply. The only problem is that at that price, the electronics are probably going to be quite poor. It will be a bit of a gamble -maybe it'll fly ok, maybe not. Maybe it'll prove to be reliable or maybe you will experience failure of servos etc. Unless you can find someone with experience of using those particular electronics then I'd say proceed with caution because you might find yourself having to spend more money upgrading the electronics to get good setup.

[J-S-Q]

Just to illustrate the point, I Googled 'CopterX GY240' and the first couple of forum posts that come up are people complaining about the gyro.

CopterX GY240 HH Gyro issue. - RC Groups

CopterX GY240 question - HeliFreak

[PGpilot]

Here you go:
Electric Flying Objects™

Let me know what you think?

[Vanquish]

I'd definately consider buying a Spektrum DX6i or Futaba 6EX transmitter rather than a copterx transmitter. The chances are you will want to upgrade you transmitter soon anyway, in the long run it will save you money and their quality pieces of kit. Spektrum/Futaba tx's are more compatible with the popular simulators as well. You can pick up DX6i's and 6EX's quite cheap second hand on the for sale forum here and on ebay.

Here's one that might be a good deal - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPEKTRUM-DX6I-DSM2-6-CHANNEL-2-4GHZ-TRANSMITTER-NEW-/120649276470?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&ha sh=item1c1741dc36

[PGpilot]

Got your 2nd reply after, the 2nd link - someone says that the gyro is a 'good gyro, same as the gy401 but without remote gain'. The first link says that it had a dry joint.

I guess you get what you pay for, but I'm an electronics based engineer so soldering the odd dry joint is not a big deal. Also if I used the FDS Mentor I wouldn't necessarily be using that gyro anyway?

Have you had a look at the link, any thing else that springs to mind?

Hey and thanks for your time on this. £300 is not an insignificant lump of cash for me (2yr old daughter and wife to keep!!), so the budget is a factor.

Cheers
Steve

[BobJ]

Hi

With that budget you might want to consider a Blade 400 Skyline Models :: Helicopter Kits :: Electric :: E-Flite (Blade...

With the 10% extra offered until Christmas eve you get it for 215.99:-) so could squeeze a MCX BNF in for indoor flying to!

This way you end up with a decent little transmitter as well.

Cheers
Bob

[J-S-Q]

Well I have no personal experience with CopterX stuff (and there's not much in the way of servo specs etc) so I'd say the same as my previous post -it might be perfectly decent or it might be a bit of a headache. From what I've heard, the CopterX airframe itself is pretty decent but it's the electronics I'd be more worried about -there is a definite tendency in the heli world for things that are VERY cheap to be not very good!

In it's favour, it's certainly very cheap so not a total disaster if it does end up needing some further upgrading.

[PGpilot]

I'd definately consider buying a Spektrum DX6i or Futaba 6EX transmitter rather than a copterx transmitter. The chances are you will want to upgrade you transmitter soon anyway, in the long run it will save you money and their quality pieces of kit. Spektrum/Futaba tx's are more compatible with the popular simulators as well. You can pick up DX6i's and 6EX's quite cheap second hand on the for sale forum here and on ebay.

Here's one that might be a good deal - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPEKTRUM-DX6I-DSM2-6-CHANNEL-2-4GHZ-TRANSMITTER-NEW-/120649276470?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&ha sh=item1c1741dc36

Thanks, I suspected as much, I guess I need to price up individual bits. Shame they don't have a ARTF option. Or maybe buy the RTF and take the hit on the transmitter and try for a 2nd hand dx6i??

[PGpilot]

Well I have no personal experience with CopterX stuff (and there's not much in the way of servo specs etc) so I'd say the same as my previous post -it might be perfectly decent or it might be a bit of a headache. From what I've heard, the CopterX airframe itself is pretty decent but it's the electronics I'd be more worried about -there is a definite tendency in the heli world for things that are VERY cheap to be not very good!

In it's favour, it's certainly very cheap so not a total disaster if it does end up needing some further upgrading.

Thanks J-S-Q,

Gives me something to think about, a bit of spec' creep I can deal with. It's the initial outlay that's limited.
I'll keep researching and see what I can come up with, part of the learning curve!

Cheers
Steve

[PGpilot]

Hi
With that budget you might want to consider a Blade 400 Skyline*Models :: Helicopter*Kits :: Electric :: E-Flite*(Blade...
With the 10% extra offered until Christmas eve you get it for 215.99:-) so could squeeze a MCX BNF in for indoor flying to!
This way you end up with a decent little transmitter as well.
Cheers
Bob

Thanks Bob

More to think about, how's the Blade 400 compare to a 450 clone? Edit: I see there's lots of info out there, I'll have a read.

Cheers
Steve

[tiddler]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum m8,
Sorry I also know very little about the Coptrex but would tend to mirror the sentiment, that cheap usually means poor performance, and poor performance makes learning what is already a fairly difficult hobby even harder

I will also add that getting a decent programmable transmitter is as important as getting decent electrics.
So it seems there are two important things well within your budget as it stands.

1) A good tx.... Either a DX6i or a DX7.
2) A copy of the Phoenix rc simulator. This will save you £££ in early crash repairs and teach your more about flying helis than any other purchase your likely to buy

If you do get the Coptex dont be at all surprised if you end up spending a fair old amount on upgrading components.