From 450 to 600 ?

[Bronek]

I'm starting to plan my next heli purchase. Currently flying (or rather hovering) Trex 450 Pro. The purchase is still months away, only collecting thoughts ATM. Originally planned to upgrade in small steps, from 325mm blades to 520 or smaller, e.g. Logo 500, Gaui X5 etc., basically try to continue to keep expenses on batteries, blades, spares etc. low.

Then it dawned on me that space is serious constraint - I absolutely have no space for 3 helis (not counting sub-micro ones) and second one is already a stretch. This means if I buy 500 size, I won't have space for 600.

I suppose this means I probably should skip smaller sizes and jump straight to 600 size. Even though that means more expense on batteries, spares etc.

My preference is FBL with torque tube, not Align this time (want to avoid "upgrades" such as good bolts and bearings). Ideas, thoughts to share?

[MarkG_R1]

From 450 to 600 ?

I'm building a 550 dfc and this is my last Heli purchase for quite some time

No gripes with quality so far

[est1976]

I have wanted a logo 600 for quite a while, only been back in hobby for a month now and flying a nano and a trex 450 fbl but the logo 600 route is the way I planned on going last time (was flying a Rave 450 & a Trex 250 before I quit) infact as it happens I have this page open on another tab MIK2238 LOGO 600 SX VBar,HKIII 4035-560,Jive 80,Edge

[Dan22]

I started with a Raptor 30 and then built a 50.
I now also have a 500 and a 450 which i find a lot more of a handful than the bigger helis.
The bigger you go, the more stable it will be to fly and more able to handle the wind.
Like mark says though, the 550 is a fantastic heli and would be a good next step. I find my 500 a tad small, but the spare parts and batteries are reasonably priced.



Good look

Dan.

[dogbiscuit]

I went 400, 500 ,600. I thought the 500 was great after the 400, but the sixhundred is fantastic after the 500. the tricky bit is knowing how this jump would be without the 500....the 600 could scare the crap out of you at first, but once you get used to it the extra size and stability blows the 500 away.

it does hurt more though when it goes in!!! ask me how i know this.

[maddog7]

Bronek,
I must admit to having the same reservations about Align but just loved the look of the 600 EFL pro so much that when one came up at very good money (thanks to RC Heli Guru) I took a chance and bought it.

I'd go as far as to say that the quality of the kit is excellent and I had virtually no issues at all in the build. It flies very very well to the point that it's my most flown at the minute and has been for a while. I'm actually more precious about it now than I was before I bought it, thinking I'd not care about it and just use it as a "beater" but it's value has grown on me.

Defo one to consider.

Also the Outrage Fusion 50, it has some necessary mods to do but once they are done, it's a beautiful heli to build and fly.

Both of the above have very reasonable spares prices too.

If you were happy with a flybar heli the Rappy E550S looks a real winner. £399 gets you everything you need except, RX and Battery and it's great out the box. I've just bagged one from FL for a mate of mine, I'd have had one too but they only had one left :-(

See

hope this helps.
D

[maddog7]

I have wanted a logo 600 for quite a while, only been back in hobby for a month now and flying a nano and a trex 450 fbl but the logo 600 route is the way I planned on going last time (was flying a Rave 450 & a Trex 250 before I quit) infact as it happens I have this page open on another tab MIK2238 LOGO 600 SX VBar,HKIII 4035-560,Jive 80,Edge

DO IT FELLA!
you know you wanna!
I have a 600 3D with a few SX upgrades and it's an awesome piece of engineering. Only thing that worries me is reports that they "confetti" on impact.

[est1976]

ha ha, the bank says no, just windows shopping for now

[maddog7]

Haha

[Bob H]

I've gone from Align 450 Pro to LOGO 500. The LOGO 500 actually is supposed to use 550mm blades so the name is a bit of a deception although it'll happily use anything from 520mm to 600mm with the SE boom so it's pretty versatile. Nice thing about the LOGO is that the 500 and 600 share the same body so it's a 'relatively simple' process to upgrade the 500 to a 500SE or 600 at a later date. That's my thinking behind the purchase anyway. Almost two helicopters in one if you're happy to swap the boom as and when.

(It flies wonderfully too )

[vinny155]

i went from 450 to 500 to 700 to 550,if i was to skip one it probably would not be the 500,i considered it to be my first proper heli,big enough to cope with decent wind with great presence in the air,especially coming from a 450,it taught me loads and allthough i dont have 1 in my fleet at the moment,if i had a choice to have only 1 heli,it would be possibly be the 500,you dont want align and logo is belt drive so thats out,not sure what else i would go for

[bulnose]

whats up with belt drive tail?

All this snobery against align kits,( and no i dont own one now since getting a logo 600) does my fruit in, they are great kits for the money, most of the problems with bolts and bearings are down to the person building and maintaining the heli..and when there is a genuine problem its not so bad as is made out on forums, and not just this one, everyone is ready to jump on forums and slag stuff off yet not many praise things, and just imagine how many kits align sell, so the % of people with problems isnt what u think..

Its your cash m8 so go for whatever u actually like, the logo 600 or 600se is freaking sweet though, both to build and fly, low parts count although not that cheap to repair, but if u go with a align 600 u wont be disapointed either and wont need instant "upgrades"..

[panosg]

Why is the Align 500 belt? The 500 EFL it's a torque tube!
Also nothing wrong with belt. Actually more forgiving with heavy landings.

[trillian]

What do you have now in a charger / PSU? The reason I ask is that if you're charging the 450 packs now with a charger capable of going up to 6s you can probably use that charger to do 500 size packs (6s 2650/3000mah). However, going up to 550 or 600 size may mean investing in more charging power (depending, obviously on what you have now).

If the cost is not a big issue then jumping up to 550 or 600 size means a really big leap in stability, presence in the air, versatility etc.

If you want to keep the cost to the minimum then the 500 (Trex or another 500 size) is truly an excellent in-between size because it's big enough compared to the 450 to where it flies quite differently. I cannot describe it verbally but I recognised this imediately, when I got my Trex 500 is feels much more like a small version of a 600 size heli than a big version of a 450, if that makes any sense. It's big enough to be able to handle way way more windy conditions and the size makes it much easier to see at a distance. So for me, the 500 quickly became very useful as something easy to carry around, cheap to crash and just lots of casual fun without seeing £ signs in the air.

But I went a very strange route in terms of heli size because I actually started in the beginning with a 450 and didn't get on with it straight away, then jumped straight to a Raptor .30, then a .50 and eventually came back to the 450 and then I liked it. Only after I had everything from the 450 to .90 nitro did I finally get a 500 and loved it.

[highlightshadow]

I went from 450 to 600 (Fusion50) size and it was a scary size jump and took me a while before i would brave a move in it ... i then bought a 500 (Trex500 efl pro eventually) and found that these 2 are 'my size'

The 500 & 600 combo is great because they both share the same LiPo's (~2000-2300 mah 6S) ... the 500 uses 1, the 600 uses a pair 12S ..get good flight times from both and eventually scrapped the 450 due to not enjoying it as much anymore.

I too am space limited so find these 2 are decent. The Align 500 efl pro is solid ... only weakness is the umbrella gears if you clip the tail but other than that I can run it slower headspeed for gentler movement or crank it up (as it really likes it) and it is almost too fast for me (still consider myself noob just beyond hovering and into flight)

They Fusion50 is a lot heavier and flies lovely ... it swoops and moves so smoothly and handles the weather so well ... i have it setup in vbar on the most docile settings but i've seen it been flown reasonably agressive and was find ... and i know i am only at the beginning of its capabilities so i can grow with it.

Its suffered a lot of bad press and i'm hoping too that all its problems are behind it... only issue i had was a stripped main gear but i think i accept that was down to an over-tight meshing on my part.

Get what feels right.. Align are better now than they've ever been and any brand / heli will have its neigh sayers etc