Bit of buying advice...

[Dillingsuk]

Go for the Gootch! Bought a 500TT late last year, quality is easily on par with Align! Steve at HFD is really helpful, and most spares arrive within 24hrs (they carry most parts in stock!) excellent Heli the best clone on the market by a long long way! They do the flb upgrades as well!

[James A]

One thing I would suggest looking at is the price of spares. Don't know about the gootch but TREX spares have always been cheep. The other thing to think is you'll probably need to spend £200 or so on a couple of packs and a charger, that's where the 500 become expensive, but not as bad as the 550. On the other hand if you went for a 450 the I found an average repair is about £25 (blades £12 etc). That said, touching wood, I haven't crashed my 500 yet after 6 months, but did spend £100 on some basic spares (blades £28 etc).

So for me, the question is do you go for a heli that you're potentially less likely to crash but will cost a lot more if you do or do you go smaller where it may be more twitchy if not setup right but where you'll no t really worry if it goes in and hence maybe push your flying faster because you're less worried.

Final thought, you need a lot more space to fly the 500 in m opinion. I guess I'm lucky to have both and the funny thing is the 450 now seems very small but it's lots of fun and the first of my larger Helis I'd reach for to try a new move at this stage. Also worth mentioning that I do have a cracking time with the mcpx and I've really thrown that around getting inverted going before moving that onto the 450.

Hope this helps and doesn't just confuse, also don't forget you'll also want to buy a decent tx, love my dx8 especially the telemetry, no more wondering about pack voltage.

[Murv]

Thanks all

No James, you haven't confused me any more, I was at max confusion anyway!

I'm not too bothered about the higher crash costs to be honest, the difference isn't significant enough to really sway my decision.
The space thing is a concern though, I have a lot of deserted areas near me that I couldeasily fly on without ever seeing another soul but there are a few tress/bushes around etc so I'd need to be a competent flyer to do that.
When/if I do go for a bigger heli, I'm going to join the local club and get some tuition until I am competent so I don't think that space considerations are a major factor really but I won't know until I take the plunge.

As it stands at the moment I'm not even finding time to practise on my little msr-x so the decision is definitely a long way off

Cheers,

Chris

[James A]

Hi Chris

I know this may go against what some people will say but having noticed your on the msr-x at this stage I would get a decent TX (that's the part that will survive every crash and be with you for ages) and an mcpx V2. Believe me you will have so much fun and also there are no issues flying them outside even with some wind. I took mine down to the club the other day and was having fun doing large circuits and inverted flying.

Depending on your situation you'll find they're the heli you get the most use from, ie it's raining here now and I have a bunch of commitments today that will make it virtually impossible for me to go to the field (normally takes at least a couple of free hours for a worthwhile field trip) so instead when the rain lets up for a few minutes I can pop into the garden and run a couple of packs. Yes I would say this is best in winds sub 10 mph but when you want to practice orientations or inverted orientations it works for me.

The only thing they lack is, as you said, the fun of a big heli build. Whatever you end up doing I'm sure you'll have fun.