When should I upgrade to FBL ?

[James75]

Hello,

this is my first post ! I have built a fyl-barred Tarot 450 pro following the Gourvelos YouTube vids and have ready the ebooks that are available via REHELICOPTERFUN.COM for setting up the bird and levelling the swash. I have had about 15 batteries worth of flight, but currently I am just hovering and doing ground hover exercises using the cyclics.

i've been along to Widnes Fliers, albeit on a very windy day with no-one flying, but I will be joining as I know I'll greatly benefit from the knowledge of experienced fliers!!

i am just curious about anyone's views on going flybarless. Should I learn and gain competence on the fly barred version and then down the line buy a larger flybarless heli or is there an argument to upgrade my current setup and FBL on the 450 ?

Which leads me to my next question, is the Tarot XYZ gyro any good. I currently have a Quantam Spark gyro for the tail, and although I am not even tapping into it's potential, it is proving very reliable. I have a Spektrum DX6i and have been advised that the Spektrum AR7200BX would be good choice as it will eliminate the need for the main receiver that I currently have. I take it that it also does the job of my current gyro so I could sell the Spark and the receiver to go towards the AR7200BX ?

I may be getting way ahead of myself, I really enjoy the tinkering element to the hobby so quite happy to change things about, but any views or opinions would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

James.

[Big Burt]

Hello,

this is my first post ! I have built a fyl-barred Tarot 450 pro following the Gourvelos YouTube vids and have ready the ebooks that are available via REHELICOPTERFUN.COM for setting up the bird and levelling the swash. I have had about 15 batteries worth of flight, but currently I am just hovering and doing ground hover exercises using the cyclics.

i've been along to Widnes Fliers, albeit on a very windy day with no-one flying, but I will be joining as I know I'll greatly benefit from the knowledge of experienced fliers!!

i am just curious about anyone's views on going flybarless. Should I learn and gain competence on the fly barred version and then down the line buy a larger flybarless heli or is there an argument to upgrade my current setup and FBL on the 450 ?

Which leads me to my next question, is the Tarot XYZ gyro any good. I currently have a Quantam Spark gyro for the tail, and although I am not even tapping into it's potential, it is proving very reliable. I have a Spektrum DX6i and have been advised that the Spektrum AR7200BX would be good choice as it will eliminate the need for the main receiver that I currently have. I take it that it also does the job of my current gyro so I could sell the Spark and the receiver to go towards the AR7200BX ?

I may be getting way ahead of myself, I really enjoy the tinkering element to the hobby so quite happy to change things about, but any views or opinions would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

James.

Hi James,

I'm new to the forum too mate. I started last year with a trex 500 clone flybarred and it did me fine to learn with. Not the same heli i know but it was flybarred. I have now upgraded to a trex 550 dfc Fbl and am loving it. But i loved flying the 500. Sorry i cant help with any of the other questions just thought id put in my 10 bobs worth.

Regards

Neil

[milly0812]

When should I upgrade to FBL ?

Don't feel pressured to go FBL. It is not a magic thing that will turn you into a 3d god overnight.

Don't get me wrong I'm all FBL and am very happy with it, but that's from choice not because of need ;-)

[Big Burt]

Don't feel pressured to go FBL. It is not a magic thing that will turn you into a 3d god overnight.

Don't get me wrong I'm all FBL and am very happy with it, but that's from choice not because of need ;-)

Agreed

[tomatwalden]

When should I upgrade to FBL ?

Honestly,I wouldn't bother right now as it won't make much difference for you at your stage. Until you get past the figure 8s and circuits stage, your money would be better spent on lipos and spare parts.

In fact, lipos and a decent charging setup! Unless you've already got that. If you have, you might want to consider getting a micro too for practising in the garden. I started with flybarred 450, then complimented it with an mcpx.

Or buy the wife/girlfriend flowers! It'll serve you well when you want to fly, and shopping's being discussed ....

[James75]

Hi James,

I'm new to the forum too mate. I started last year with a trex 500 clone flybarred and it did me fine to learn with. Not the same heli i know but it was flybarred. I have now upgraded to a trex 550 dfc Fbl and am loving it. But i loved flying the 500. Sorry i cant help with any of the other questions just thought id put in my 10 bobs worth.

Regards

Neil

Thanks Neil,

i appreciate your 10 bobs worth, I am probably getting ahead of myself, just curious what others thought, I know I'll be able to learn plenty from the fb 450!

cheers James.

[450man]

Hi James75 and welcome!

I totally agree with the others... I really wouldn't get hung up on FBL just yet. If you already have a FB set up that works then I suggest that you stick with that for now. FBL isn't necessarily better. It won't make learning to control the heli any easier and many people don't consider FBL at all better. In fact there are some good flyers at my club that just fly FB and have no intention of going FBL at all.

As Tom says, more batteries (I have 6 for my 450), decent charger/PSU and a micro (MCPX is ideal) would be worthwhile before spending on FBL upgrades or a new FBL heli... and if you don't have one already then a rc simulator such as Phoenix would be well worth the investment.

[James75]

Don't feel pressured to go FBL. It is not a magic thing that will turn you into a 3d god overnight.

Don't get me wrong I'm all FBL and am very happy with it, but that's from choice not because of need ;-)

Thanks for the reply. I am just unsure how much I would benefit from converting. The ebooks from RCHELICOPTERFUN advised was best to learn on a FB but when I've spoken to a member of staff in a heli shop they were saying that FBL was the way to go. It's not something I am going to do straight away but was curious to the best approach going forward; convert current heli or wait until I get a bigger one further down the line. Cheers.

[James75]

Honestly,I wouldn't bother right now as it won't make much difference for you at your stage. Until you get past the figure 8s and circuits stage, your money would be better spent on lipos and spare parts.

In fact, lipos and a decent charging setup! Unless you've already got that. If you have, you might want to consider getting a micro too for practising in the garden. I started with flybarred 450, then complimented it with an mcpx.

Or buy the wife/girlfriend flowers! It'll serve you well when you want to fly, and shopping's being discussed ....

Thanks Tom, I could do with more lipos to be honest, and have also thought about a micro heli for practicing manoeuvres on. Will give it some thought, cheers.

[gilb]

If you've got a fb heli set up well then id agree with the others in that i don't think theres an awful lot you'd benefit from going fbl. (perhaps maybe on windier days, fbl tends to be more stable in the wind then fb).

You mentioned you really like the tinkering aspect of the hobby which i can really relate to lol, I'd suggest if you're desperate to go fbl to have something else to tinker with, wait until you have a crash with the heli. You could work out how much the new parts would be and if its similar to the fbl conversion go fbl then.

Regarding the tarot xyz, i have one on my 450, im pretty pleased with. Theres a lot of information on rc groups about it i think, the key to any fbl i think really is getting it set up well and tuning it in, which you can do with the tarot (although i haven't got mine really dialled in where id like it and i really should do lol)

[expensivhobby]

I woukd like to dissagree if I can. Im only a year or so in starter with a fb 450 now dead then I got a fb 500 trex that niw sits on the side while im out with the 300X or 600n fbl. I think fbl helps alot. Fighting (compensating for) the flybar is just one more thing to think about. About the fbl unit I have a vbar on the 600 and the ar7200bx on the 300X personaly I like the bx best and its simple to set up. (Bring it on vbar fans im ready for you)

[450man]

Thanks for the reply. I am just unsure how much I would benefit from converting. The ebooks from RCHELICOPTERFUN advised was best to learn on a FB but when I've spoken to a member of staff in a heli shop they were saying that FBL was the way to go. It's not something I am going to do straight away but was curious to the best approach going forward; convert current heli or wait until I get a bigger one further down the line. Cheers.

The shop probably is correct... FBL is the future of model helis and I wouldn't be at all surprised if most new models now are FBL only. However, FB has been around a long time, it is easier to understand because it does not involve computers and the mechanical set up allows you to learn a lot about the mechanics of heli flight. I wouldn't knock flybars... they work and work very well and there is less to go wrong too. Many top 3D flyers fly FB helis! The downside is they are mechanically more complex and so there is more bits to break when you crash but to be honest that is very much over played. Once you know how to set up and repair FB then it is as easy as FBL.

I would suggest that your next heli might be something bigger than a 450 and if that is FB then that wouldn't be a big issue for you either. If you particularly want to go FBL at that stage then great because you will already have all the basics from the 450 but if not then just stick to FB.

[MarkG_R1]

I too started with a fb clone 450, got to gentle circuits and then got an mcpx to help overcome my fear of going nose in hover
Once i started flying the mcpx i realised i wanted my 450 flybarless, bought a dfc head and a 3g unit, messed around trying to get the 3g to work and eventually gave up on it and splashed out on an AR7200bx

Never looked back
And have since bought a 550dfc with another beastx

[450man]

I like the AR7200BX as a simple but very competent FBL controller. For most set ups you don't even need a computer like you do with many of the others. Tail holds well and being a combined receiver it makes the set up even easier. If you do go FBL then you could do a lot worse than one of those.

Just reread my previous post and I sounded like I was trying to put you off FBL... I wasn't. Sorry! I love FBL and that is why I most have FBL helis. I love the looks and I too love tinkering especially with computers. So if you do want to go FBL then great. Go for it and you won't regret it IMO. I just think I was saying that you certainly shouldn't feel as if you needed to in any way. You could learn and progress perfectly well without if you didn't want to.

[scuba steve]

i also started with a FB Tarot 450 Pro (i still have it flying over 2 years and 15 crashes later). it has 3 other FB friends too and i've never felt the pressure or need to go FBL. i AM just finishing a logo 600 with Vbar but that was only because i wanted to know what all the fuss was about and fancied a winter project.

i agree with the others, if your FB 450 flies well then keep it as it is, you'll get peanuts for the gyro and clone FB head 2nd hand anyway...if you could even sell them.

happy flying