Cheap V expensive..

[RcRotaryMadness]

I have been so impressed with the quality / affordability / availability of Align Kits...

This for me is one of the key deciders when I buy a Heli - If i smash it, is their a strong supply of spare parts.

I would love an Avant Aurora but spare parts for them is next to nothing compared with Align's (you can get align spares, new & 2nd hand pretty much everywhere).

Other makes of helis can be a little harder to get.. It varies of course.

Buy whatever you're happy with - and go fly!

[maddog7]

I appoligise for assuming, but my experience of repairing Mikado Logo's are very different to yours then.

I have seen 4 logo's go in, each time they were between £200-£300 providing all electrics are ok, this includes canopy, edge blade replacement and parts, i added my last crash up which came tp £274 on my 600 if i would have crashed a trex 600 same size it would havecost £342.36 plus links and bearings.

Main shaft £11.24 (get 2 of these)
vertical fin £8.99
Main thrust bearings £6.75
Complete tail assembly as it went in very hard £70.36
Main grips £26.09
Both side frames £72
Main gear £13.95
Boom £8.99 (get 2 of these)
main blades £65.00
tail blades £23.99
Canopy £35.00 canomod

Mainframe left LOGO 500/600	MIK4058	£21.74	Ordered:1	£21.74
Mainframe right LOGO 500/600	MIK4057	£21.74	Ordered:1	£21.74
Spindle shaft 86mm, steel	MIK2347	£9.98	Ordered:1	£9.98
Support for horizontal fin (tailboom dia. 25.0) (PAIR)	MIK4096	£4.25	Ordered:1	£4.25
Ball bearing flanged 5 x 13 x 4 (2)	MIK3069	£5.24	Ordered:1	£5.24
Ball Bearing 8 x 14 x 4	MIK2351	£5.44	Ordered:1	£5.44
Thrust bearing 6x14	MIK2349	£8.50	Ordered:1	£8.50
Blade holder 12 mm blade grip, incl. screws	MIK2314	£8.50	Ordered:1	£8.50
VERTICAL STABILIZER, CARBONLOGO 600 3D	MIK4079	£16.50	Ordered:1	£16.50
Carbon tail boom brace LOGO 600 3D	MIK4097	£14.99	Ordered:1	£14.99
Tailboom dia.25x755 mm, LOGO600-3D	MIK4098	£15.50	Ordered:1	£15.50
Control rod 60mm	MIK1586	£1.75	Ordered:1	£1.75
Ball links 2.5 mm (10 pieces)	MIK1565	£5.50	Ordered:1	£5.50
Ball bearing 10 x 19 x 5	MIK1329	£5.50	Ordered:1	£5.50
M3 X 10 NYLON BOLTS (10)	MH-M3X10NYLON	£1.99	Ordered:1	£1.99
LINK ROD 2.5 X 65	SYN-107-065	£2.99	Ordered:1	£2.99

Plus tail assembly £25
main blades £65.00
tail blades £23.99
Canopy £35.00 canomod

Ross,
You answered my post with considered grace fella, cheers for that.

Undoubtedly every crash is unique, My Logo had a batt come loose (my fault, not the heli) and go through the disk about 100 feet up, I'd forgotten my canopy so it was not on the bird at the time. The heli literally exploded in mid air and had zero HS by the time it's lifeless carcass hit the long grass.

Without the canopy the damage was £280. It also had cheap £28 TT blades on at the time. It was not the money per se that galled me but the disproportionate cost of certain items that grabbed my attention.

My friend had his Trex 600 go in hard enough to put 6" deep cuts in the grass and his bill was about £150 IIRC though I understand a split second before or after or a degree or two different attitude and it might have been £350.

I can't help feeling our discussion will have helped the OP a little to understand what they are getting into.

This hobby is like the anti-lottery, you roll the dice and the amount your out of pocket can be totally random no matter what brand you fly.

Cheers
D

[martin_b]

Thanks for all the replies, an interesting discussion.

I think I'll go for the metal and carbon fiber option when the time arrives just because it looks so damn sexy, and when one of your previous hobbies was motor racing its really not that expensive!

cheers

Martin

[tonystevens]

In my experience the logo was one of the cheapest to repair heli's id owned parts wise, in a like for like crash against other models. Only problem was that it didn't take much to break a lot of parts.

[steve_b]

This for me is one of the key deciders when I buy a Heli - If i smash it, is their a strong supply of spare parts.

I would love an Avant Aurora but spare parts for them is next to nothing compared with Align's (you can get align spares, new & 2nd hand pretty much everywhere).

Other makes of helis can be a little harder to get.. It varies of course.

Buy whatever you're happy with - and go fly!

Have to agree with this post, it's the availability of parts as well as the cost that's important, especially in the early days as you will need a fair amount of parts, or at least I did in the early days

[Supa Koopa]

Snobbery my arse! I only base my comments on previous experience and not on what joe blogs thinks. It's hard to remember but I have had or still own,

Raptor 50V2
Raptor 90se
Trex 450 se
Trex 600 Nitro
Hirobo Sceadu 50 Evolution
Velocity 50
Trex 600le Nitro
Trex 700 Nitro
Avant Aurora
Synergy N5
Trex 700e
Trex 500
Trex 550
Trex 250
Trex 600e pro
Trex 500pro
Trex 450 pro V2
Synergy E7
Goblin 700
Velocity 90
Goblin 630
Goblin 500
Synergy E5
Rave 90 ENV
Logo 500

Do you think I'm qualified to comment on an align helicopter now or is there something I've not tried that I need to before I can say which is better? I always use vbars although I have tried Align 3G, Align 3GX, Skookum 720, Skookum 540, Beast X, Thunder Tiger GT5, Spartan Vortex and I'm just about to try a Brain. Can I comment on flybarless units or not?

Hands down the Logo is the best flying of the bunch and I have confidence that when I go to the field I can plug in a battery and fly the thing without something braking or falling off. I agree when you are learning that you will more than likely crash more often and parts cost can play a big role in decisions. But saying that crashes caused by mechanical failures are one of the most annoying things in this hobby. I can suffer a crash because I dumb thumbed it, but crashing because a cheapo bearing failed causing a lock or something is very frustrating. I slagged Logo's off for a long time before I bought one and now I know why people like them so much. I take a few helis to the field I fly the logo and then come back to the pits thinking why did I bother bringing anything else or even having anything else. My opinion obviously for it's worth.

[trexamanic]

Cheap V expensive..

This is all subjective to each and every ones own opinions up to that point of what they have owned and compared too.
It's not a question that can be answered conclusively unless you have 100 peeps that owned all of them and got an average answer.
I like my aligns but that because I've not owned anything to compare. I saw danches 360 and the engineering wS sublime as was his goblin.
I enjoy all the models and hope to own different ones once I can actually fly the damned things lol