TX neck strap and thumbs on sticks?

[Heli_Chris]

Hello,

Up until now I have been using my transmitter without the neck strap, I'm only flying a MSRX so flight times are reasonably short and the transmitter seems easily holdable. But then I saw a photo of someone flying their heli and they were using the neck strap to support the transmitter so that they could control the sticks between thumb and forefinger. I've been using just my thumbs but I am now wondering which is the better method, I'm new to this so hopefully can change habits early on before they become ingrained.

Is there a 'proper' way to hold the transmitter?

Best wishes,

Chris

[Tiger Tank]

I think it's down to what suits you

[SaneAdam]

No. There is no proper way at all. Whatever suits you is fine

[p4ddy]

I fly thumbs & use a neck strap, this is because i once dropped & caught my TX & i do not want it happening again. I do have a lot of slack on my strap though as i tend to use a fair amount of body english to fly at times lol

[jimmyhorns]

Ah the age old debate of thumbs vs pinch grip.

Im an advocate of pinch (finger and thumb), but only because it made my (at that time plank) flying much more accurate. I stopped putting in 'mixed' inputs so if I wanted pure elevator, thats what I got, instead of elevator with a bit of aileron, which is what I was getting with thumb grip. I also use a transmitter tray, so I need to do less holding on to the Tx.

In truth though, so long as you are happy with what you do then thats fine. Try both (but you will need to give it a good month or two with pinch to see if you like it), and then choose.

Either way, using a neck strap is a good idea, as if you slip with the controller, its going to take you a long time to recover, if of course your Tx is in one piece

[Heli_Chris]

Thanks for all the responses, I've just had three flights using a relaxed pinched grip on the sticks, and it seems a bit less natural. I think I must waft the transmitter around a lot when controlling with just my thumbs! But having said that, I think there is the potential to keep a more relaxed grip on the controls, so I think I'll continue to try the pinch grip for a while and see how I get on.

Thanks also for the heads up about using the neck strap in case the transmitter, for whatever reason, slips out of my hands, that would be a potentially expensive mistake.

Many thanks,

Chris

[450man]

I flew planks before helis and I used just thumbs and no strap but when I started flying helis I was told by several at the club to try using pinch and to get a strap. I have stopped using just thumbs now for all my flying and I do prefer it. But last week I saw that actually it makes no difference which you use providing it works for you. I saw a fantastic 3D heli flyer just using thumbs. So it can be done either way.

Which way should a beginner use when starting out? Try both and use whichever feels most comfortable I would say. I think that with a strap and the pinch it has more potential for accurate control IMO.

[Nick B]

Try thumb on top with a finger on back of stick

IMAG0592.jpg

[jimmyhorns]

Try thumb on top with a finger on back of stick

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53857[/ATTACH]

Ah, now we are talking pinch variations

[Nick B]

lol,i tried true pinch but felt i could quite easily let go!

never had a prob pinthumbing

[helimadness]

Try thumb on top with a finger on back of stick

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53857[/ATTACH]

Thats exactly how I fly. I started thumbs only but after some nervous learning with wiggly sticks I started putting my finger in front to help steady the sticks. Dont use it all the time now as does restrict forward movements a little on the sticks but for accurate flying cant beat it.

[Varelco]

Im a thumber and use a neckstrap for support. I tried pinch as I thought it may improve precision but it felt totally alien. Stick tension is important for use of thumbs I have a lot of tension on them.

[Stevec]

TX neck strap and thumbs on sticks?

I thumb on cyclic and pinch collective.
For some reason if I fly pinch on the cyclic I find it too slow, like too much expo.
But if I use thumbs on the cyclic I can't stop putting in rudder inputs when I use the collective.

I also use a longer stick on the collective side..

I learned before programmable expo on the tx so I adopted this strange control method...

So like the others have said try it and see how you get on.

The pro scene seems pretty evenly split so there is certainly no right or wrong.

/Steve

[tourerjim]

When i last looked down there i was --@@- thumb strap thumb