heli or sim 1st?

[Garth84x]

Ok, here what's happening, I've got £150 Suggestions for a new heli please, have now outgrown the 3ch its a bit boring now.

Garry

[tomatwalden]

Did you get a sim, and therefore do you have a TX already (if so, which)? This determines if you need to get an RTF (inc. TX) or BNF (no TX) ..

[Garth84x]

All I have at the moment is a little 3ch thingy.

[tomatwalden]

ok, so you're going to need a combo including a transmitter. For a decent TX (eg. DX6i), £150 is going to be quite limiting, but it can be done. Certainly, you can get RTF combos for much less, but the TX you get with these units won't grow with you, and almost certainly won't work with other models. Examples that fall into this lower category are

Align Trex 100 [RTF] ; Blade 120SR [RTF] ; Blade mSRX [RTF] ; Blade mSR [RTF];

However, if you can stretch your budget, I would then look at getting a DX6i TX, and coupling it with something like ..

Blade mSRX [BNF]; Blade 120SR [BNF]; Blade mCPX [BNF]; Blade 130X [BNF only];

I've ordered that second list from easiest through to most challenging. For reference, the 130x is about £140 BNF, and you should be able to pick up a DX6i for around £70 if you hunt around, so that would be in the £210 to £240 bracket I'd imagine.

Something like the 120SR is a good trainer heli (it's fixed pitch) which you'll pick up easier than the 130x. However, there's a risk that you'll out-grow the 120SR within a few months.

My personal recommendation would be to look at a DX6i+mCPX(v2).

[kieranar]

Re: heli or sim 1st?

Having just started myself I would go with a dx6i and Msrx or if you want a real challenge a nano cpx I am learning on a dx8 and a nano and with the advice from the forum have it damped down .So its not acting like savage wasp on LSD . I have pheonix SIM but its no way like the real thing especially for the micro heli.

Get a micro you can practice indoors and when you have mastered orientation etc get something bigger like 450x ..

[BavarianRob]

heli or sim 1st?

As mentioned above, a DX6i will help tame things down if you're struggling and is a godsend when just starting out. Couple that with an MSRX bind n fly and you should be around the £150 mark.

When you get used to the MSRX and want to move on, flog it on eBay for £45 and put the money towards something else like a nano cpx or an mcpx. Once you can fly one of these, you can fly pretty much anything!

But remember, the bigger the heli, the bigger the repair costs when you bin it (and you will bin it i promise you)!

[kieranar]

heli or sim 1st?

You can get a MSRX for £ 49 new and dx6i for £89 new ! Great way to start

[TheDarkPassenger]

+1 for the MSRX and DX6i, bearing in mind your budget.

I went with the RTF for £110 and had some success, 2 weeks later went back and bought the DX6i

Knowing what I know now I would have bought the MSRX with the DX6i first as the ability to 'turn down' the settings on the transmitter to make the heli less mental has helped no end.

If I'd bought the MSRX and DX6i together I'd have been in for about £170 (£60 heli + £110 tx)
The way I've done it has cost me £220 (£110 rtf heli + £110 tx) so I've effectively overspent by £40.

Plus the tx will be usable across multiple models to will grow with you.

The benefit of hindsight...

(I have also bought Phoenix to go with the heli and time on this has definitely helped me practice, to the point where I felt excellent after a day at the local gym flying)


tl;dr. Get both and use both

[tomatwalden]

It's been a while now since the OP. Curious to know if/what Garth84x bought!

[helimadness]

You can always get free sims. Maybe not the best but better than nothing. Its how I got started. Will at least tell you which way to push the sticks.
Certainly spending a little money on a TX that can grow with you is worth it. I have several old TX around home form cheap throwaway coax etc.

[Garth84x]

Thanks for the replys, as it turns out my £150 didnt go as far as id hoped, the wife got wind of it, and well you know how it is.....

However i did manage to buy a 120Sr RTF from ebay, been flown around 6 times, comes with 2 sets of main blades, 4 batteries, 3 rear blades, canopy gromets? rotor head linkage set, and a tail rotor protective sleeve.

Not sure what some of those bits are as yet, but it was £60 in the end which left a bit of money spare to go towards a tx

just waiting for mr postman to deliver it.

Garry