Important helicopter life decision.

[tbourner]

Well wavey I will add to the thread by saying I did actually have "drone" on my Christmas list It's been a toy I've wanted for a while. I know what you're saying, and I think I agree in that I would treat them separately; the quad would be a toy and the helis would be a hobby, one for fun and one "serious" (but also fun of course). But it does make sense to merge the 2 at this point? A cheap 4CH and a quad being pretty similar in terms of learning about orientations and all that good stuff.

I'm leaning towards waiting for a few weeks and looking out for a used DX6, and then just buy one new if I don't find one. I'll have to work out which kind of USB lead I need as I'm confused looking through HobbyKing! Then I'll somehow acquire one of the SIM packages and see if I can load it onto my work laptop :P
But! I'm also thinking bo**ox to it, YOLO etc., and I may as well pick up a quad as well....... yeah I haven't mentioned this plan to the missus yet.

[Grumpy]

When i was learning helis i picked up a tricopter. I found it very helpful in learning the basic heli skills, the controls work just the same, less punchy on 'cyclic' obviously but that's no bad thing when you are learning. If you get one where you can adjust the degree of self level stabilisation it allows you to progress from 'your granny could fly this' to zero stabilisation, just like a CP heli. They also crash much better than helis, worst thing you usually can do is bust a prop.

Obviously a standard fixed pitch multi rotor has it's performance limits, so i'm not suggesting that they fly the same as more advanced helis, but as a learning tool they are great IMHO.

[dannybgoode]

Don't get sucked into thinking a sim is just a game. It's an incredibly useful learning tool which can save you ££££ in the long run. Costs nowt to crash a sim heli !

You can also practice in all weathers. Something which is particularly useful at the moment. I'm very much in the learning stage and whilst I have flown my Forza 450 I have just bought a copy of Accurc and am hammering that at the moment and it's really very good.

Don't forget 'real' pilots learn on a sim also.

If it were my money I'd look for the rtf version of the Blade 230S and a copy of Heli-x Has a few things going for it. The Spektrum DXe the 230S is a good entry level transmitter and the 230S has a beginner flight mode taking some of the difficulty out of learning to fly a CP heli.

It is also capable of taking you all the way through to full 3d flight.

Helix is a great sim and excellent value at €49.99. It's not hugely popular in the UK but I have it and find it very good (although I prefer Accurc but that is more expensive). Then a cheap USB stick off ebay and you have the sim option also.