Trex or E-Flite

[The Jim]

Re: Trex or E-Flite

If you do go for a Blade you might find one going with a few alloy upgrades on BMFA classifieds and on here!
Liam

subtle but I will do some more research first

[dogbiscuit]

I started with tiny indoor eflight helis and they are great to learn on and introduce youself to the hobby. Plastic is quite forgiving. They take the abuse, they are quite cheap and bits are everywhere. Also as so many people use them the knowledge base and discussion around each new model is huge, providing a great begginers resource. however, they do seem to introduce new models at a fair old rate, and i think its fair to say that not all their helis are as good as they could or should be, so pick your eflight model with care as you may find it needs a bit of improving. The aligns however tend to be a bit more consistent in quality, and are a step up in quality. they work from the start. I have an eflight blade 400 and an align trex 500, and have used both in equal measures to learn on and progress with my flying. both have their place and both have their pros and cons. I have really enjoyed both. You wont go far wrong with either as a beginner, but I think the general concensus would be (at pressent) that once you get to the 500 size heli then the align is probably a better option.

[tomatwalden]

Interesting thread this for me!

It was only earlier this year that I really started out in the hobby. I still remember very clearly my first nervous hops in my lounge with my Blade 120SR. This is one of the reasons I post a fair old bit on the "newbie" threads - because I feel that I'm still quite a newbie myself and can remember just how difficult it all seemed, how complex it was and how confusing the myriad of options were.

As you can see from my sig - I've very much taken the Blade route to start with before just recently building an Align 500. Obviously therefore, I wholeheartedly back Boggy's position on this. There is absolutely no chance I would ever have managed to build an Align heli as a newb. Sure, I could have mechanically built it, but the chances of understanding pitch centering, travel limits, etc. etc. are pretty much nil. The Blade helis gave me a route into this hobby. By providing a 450 (450-3D) that was trimmed perfectly out of the box, it allowed me to start learning to fly - the bit that I desperately wanted to do! I later bought a 450X and love it.

As has been said - the Align helis (for the same price) offer CF in place of plastic. BUT, the Blade helis are pre-built - and that costs money. Actually, this has changed recently, with Align releasing ready to fly "kits" complete with 6-channel Futaba radio. But if you look, they have cut back in places to make the RTF helis commercially viable. There's also a chance they're using them somewhat as loss leaders to get newbs into their TX/RX standards.

Anyway, my point is, despite getting ribbed incessantly from Ross, Graham et al (I'm think skinned, I can take it! ) I stand by Blade. For my money, they are great helis for beginners.

[owend]

I started with a mCX2, which I now find quite bland but it was a great confidence-booster, then a Blade 450-3D RTF, which got me a Spektrum DX6i and a ready-built machine. Like tomatwalden, I could have physically built a kit machine, but I wouldn't have been able to set it up, and having that done for you is a great benefit!

Another point no-one's mentioned is whether there's a local, good, hobby shop - if so, talk to them and listen. If you're local (ie in person not on the phone or Internet), they're almost certainly going to give good advice, hoping to keep your business; it's probably worth paying a bit more than Internet prices to get the personal touch and advice. I'm near King's Lynn Models for instance, and they recommended the Blades, discussed spares etc with me and let me hold/examine the models before buying; if they'd recommended Align I might have gone that route. And they carry Blade spares!

Owen

[450man]

Another point no-one's mentioned is whether there's a local, good, hobby shop - if so, talk to them and listen. If you're local (ie in person not on the phone or Internet), they're almost certainly going to give good advice, hoping to keep your business; it's probably worth paying a bit more than Internet prices to get the personal touch and advice.

Owen, I cannot agree with that more. Being out in the wilds of Devon and Cornwall hobby shops are few and far between and so perhaps they have a bit less incentive to help but not so withmy local shop in Plymouth. They, or I should say he because it is run by one guy, could not have been more helpful and it is a massive benefit to have someone with some experience to help. I am always prepared to pay a bit more for that local help and I always check out the local shop prices before the internet and if they are not too much more then I will always buy locally to support them. They will always price-match if the difference in price is too much anyway.

[The Jim]

Its a very valid point about local shops in your area, I"m fortunate, where I"m moving to in Lancaster there are a couple in the area that supply the major brands, Starting to get the my head around thinking in 3d and looking at the pro's and cons of several manufacturers, whilst I"m new to rc heli's I've dabbled in nitro truggys etc so I know full well how one brand can be flavour of the month & then next week something new & shiny comes out LOL

I do like the workmanship that goes into the Gaui range and to be fair there are bargains to be had at this time of year both new & second hand.... mmmmust be strong mmmm 'resistance is futile!' LOL

Jim

[sp4rky-m4rky]

Not quite understanding the whole negativity towards the plastic. I am not saying blade or align is the best. Just saying if I totaled my airframe I would rather it be plastic and not CF. Im still flying a (heavily modded) belt cp, you can get like the full airframe for about £5 and swap the parts over in almost as few minutes. Converted to flybarless I am flying something that performs really nice and cost me under £100 to build.

[The Jim]

I know from personal experience in many aspects carbon fibre is stronger & should stand less chance of breaking on impact thus in the long run it should pay for itself with surviving more crashes however if your a good flyer your going to crash less generally anyway hmmm lol

[vinny155]

if your learning you are going to be crashing lots,its part of the hobby,doesnt matter what you get,when you crash it will break and it will cost money,plastic,carbon fibre,all the same at this stage of the game,just get something and fly it crash it build it fly it crash it build it and so on,get what you like