Should I get a new ESC

[cjcj1949]

There are many threads on Clone or Trex. It depends on your experience. There are lots of useful parts that are cheap. You can buy a complete 450 head from GiantShark for £20 or an Align for £110. Cheap gyros were no good a few years ago. I bought an align one a few years ago for around £50 that was useless. A good one can now be bought for £7 (an assan 250) or a slightly more expensive one a 410 alleged clone that is useless. If you look on HobbyKing at all the bits that are out of stock you can be fairly sure they are good. A heli is only as good as the sum of its parts. That includes the radio. There is not much point in buying a quality heli and flying it with a DX6i with loose batteries. I've recently bought parts and a heli from Wings Wheels and Rotors, but they have stopped doing the Flasher range. Gootch helis have had some good reports. I think the electronics is more important than the mechanical as it can be more unreliable.

[robbancs]

Should I get a new ESC

What's wrong with a dx6i? Mine has 100s of hours of real and sim time in it without any problem. I couldn't be happier.

[pug907]

Mmmmmm X5 goodness! Looooovely machine. Get it in the air! You won't look back

+1 to this post. I built a 450 pro FBL as my first ever heli, which I loved, but sold it within a month to fund my Gaui 425FBL build. I could only just about hover the 450 (keep it within 5 foot circle), so was petrified of the 425 when I first spooled it up, so didn't go any further!! I then got an experienced pilot(Tim) to maiden it for me, just as well ,as it was soooo skittish. Tim then helped me set DR's(65%) and expo(30%) and once I had seen it hover, I never looked back. In fairness, it was FBL, so IMO easier to fly, well more stable anyway!! You don't have to start 3D-ing the minute it's airborne just because it's a 550, softly softly catchy monkey!!
Get someone who knows what they're doing to check it over and test fly it for you and you won't regret it. I now have a Gaui550 FBL and Logo500 (V bar), and don't miss the 450 one bit!!
Is there nobody you know that could buddy lead you?? This gave me a mahuuuusive confidence boost when I tried it with a friend!! It sure beat the "snatch and recover" technique we were using LOL!
Good luck anyway.

[ianmat]

My 2 pence...
I restarted this hobby with a brand new trex 450 sport super combo kit... I built it and followed the suggested beginner set up that RChelicopterfun's ebook suggested. I was able to hover it relatively easily and was suprised how well it flew. Only issue is it's size, it really needs the calmest wind conditions to fly at beginner level.
I then decided to upgrade to a 500 size heli ended up buying a second hand clone 500, then spent weeks swapping out components and stripping down / rebuilding, chasing problems... I got to the point where the heli was flyable but only just, it was all over the place in a hover. I would have needed to replace the cyclic servos, gyro and tail servo to make it useable... at that point I cut my losses and bought a trex 500 e super combo, which I managed to find for just under £350 new... what a revelation... It's rock solid in the hover. The electronics are well matched to the heli. You need to be careful when assembling and use decent tools, to avoid damaging the soft screws, but I had no issues and thread locked everything... 30 flights it, I have had no problems at all (barring a small tail issue, which was down to slightly tight linkages in the tail.

If I was to do it again, I would go straight for the 500... set up correctly it's much better to fly, gets longer flight times from the 3000mA batteries and will give you more opportunity to fly in slightly higher winds. I love the 450, but prefer the 500...

[aamacgregor]

Well, my Overlander 3A UBEC arrived today, so I'm going to put that on my Belt-CP and then make sure it is all set up properly. I'll then try it on Saturday (if the weather is OK). If the Belt CP is still a pig to fly, then at the moment I'm torn between the idea of getting a Gootch 450SE V2 for £60 new (and transferring the upgraded electronics from the Belt-CP), or getting the X5 in the air with a little supervision.

Thanks everyone for your input, I really appreciate it.

[cjcj1949]

What's wrong with a dx6i? Mine has 100s of hours of real and sim time in it without any problem. I couldn't be happier.

It shouldn't be used according to the BMFA as it has removable batteries. I have a DX6i and it's failed twice. The quality is not good compared to a DX7 or to Futaba or Multiplex. It's not really reliable enough for helis, especially big ones. Individual txs may well be ok, but on average not as good as others. People are not as happy with Spektrum as they used to be.

[cjcj1949]

Get the Gootch and build it. Also fly the bigger heli if you can afford to crash it. Hovering crashes are not that expensive, mainly main shafts and blades. You can buy cheap blades for a trex 500, don't know about yours. You should have someone to help until you are experienced enough.

[MarkG_R1]

Should I get a new ESC

My 450 is based on a Gootch SE V2
Belt drive tail and has been transformed into a dfc headed, flybarless using heaps of align parts

I'll never ever sell it it flies great

[cjcj1949]

450s are not that difficult to fly. Try flying a Walkera 4#3B. 450s do seem difficult, but you have lots of time to keep it under control so long as you have enough space and you don't over control. It takes a while to realise how easy it is though, and a lot of trousers. That's tail in and assumes the heli is set up ok. Flying a heli after a repair is not that easy until it's been checked out.