600 electric or nitro

[fishface]

I currently fly a TREX 500, 450 Pro and Sport. I'm thinking about getting a larger heli and first thoughts went to a TREX 600 ESP electric as I have never done Nitro.

Just keen to hear peoples thoughts, if I go to a 600 size, is it really better suited to Nitro rather than electric?

When I go flying its generally not for the day, so I don't need the ability to just keep throwing fuel in a heli tpo keep flying all day, and electric seems so much cleaner and easier, but am I missing something here by not thinking about taking the plunge to Nitro?

Thanks

Steve

[wildc4rd]

For me, its the flight times of fuel helis, over 10 minutes on a tank of nitro with sports flying, opposed to 5 minutes with electric. Yes they are a little messy, but you get used to that.

[mark lane]

Nitrooooooooooo

Long standing debate..... same answer mate

[moonmanflyer]

Nitro here too, more power in standard form, haven't got to spend a fortune on batteries, and i think the above 500 size elec market is near dead now, expecially with the new 50 size engines coming out very very very soon

[fishface]

Nitrooooooooooo

Long standing debate..... same answer mate

My worry is that Nitro seems a black art. I guess electric has taught me about heli's but i know nothing about nitro, hence the hesitation!!

[GravityKills]

I'm mostly electric. Today I took the 600 NSP to the field and really enjoyed it. No hassle with chargers, balancer wires etc. Since fuel is so cheap in UK, it's a no-brainer, really. And crashes tend to be cheaper.

When it comes to sheer power, electric leaves nitro far behind: Bog an electric motor, and it starts to draw nearly infinite amounts of current. But electric tends to be heavier.

[SLIPPERY STEVENS]

Go nitro,much better more power,just a little more cleaning.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mark lane]

My worry is that Nitro seems a black art. I guess electric has taught me about heli's but i know nothing about nitro, hence the hesitation!!

All the more reason to dive in and enjoy mate something different to learn your way around and enjoy

[tourerjim]

If you got a 600e you'll still wonder about nitro, personily I prefer my electrics but thats when my nitro takes over when all my batteries are used up.

[gramey]

You have to weigh up less cleaning and less stick time against a bit more cleaning and more stick time. With batteries your basically buying all you fuel up front and the initial cost is high to have sufficient packs to get a decent amount of flying in.
The long term cost of nitro may be slightly more but you have to balance this against having to replace your batteries at some point. Also if you do stack it there's a chance of destroying an expensive battery in the process whereas your far less likely to total a nitro engine.
In case you haven't guessed I'm in the nitro camp but I went that route due to the high initial cost of electric. Still love the sound of a big electric spooling up though!

[trillian]

My worry is that Nitro seems a black art. I guess electric has taught me about heli's but i know nothing about nitro, hence the hesitation!!

I guess since I had flown fixed-wing nitro it was more my 'comfort zone' and to me the electrics were uncharted territory in the beginning, It seemed weird having the three wires from the motor, learning how the ESC worked etc. And connecting a LiPo always freaks me out just a bit, knowing it is then live.

I was worried about nitro engines being fiddly and troublesome but the modern heli engines are usually very easy to tune, very forgiving of needle settings and basically pretty trouble-free most of the time.

[Gareth-71]

MARMITE

I've all electric and a nitro 90.

Electrics are sooo easy and I question the power thing - However the arguments between the two seem to balance out enough for it to come down to personal choice.

For me, electric - especially with the price of Zippy batteries.
I find the 90 very expensive on fuel - about £4/£5 a flight, AND it still has electrics (4200mAh lipo, regulator etc etc).

Good Luck!

[liambaker996]

nitro hands down to earth

[derrick]

Nitro all the way, Our club is mostly nitro so there is always help to be had.It don't take long to get the hang of setting up the motor, they just sound so nice. fill it up fly land fill it up again so to me it's more time in the air.
Del.