Help Please. What flybarless Unit. Trex 500

[tankie1rtr]

Hi Guys.
I am just getting back into Heli flying after a break of 19yrs, the last heli i had was a large Morley Souix and it had a flybar, and that was it, I have recently bought a second hand Align Trex 500 it has a flybarless system 3G Compact, the guy who I am buying it from said it had an Auto Pilot but he sold that to his mate. now all this flybarless stuff is new to me and a bit of a minefield, so what type of flybarless unit would I want. I was told to buy the following but after my purchase I am on a budget. Aura Spectrum AR700bx or Vortex. he also said I would need 2 DSMX Sats, Data Pod and Vortex VX1N, this sounds like hundreds of pounds I havent got. can somebody please hep me out in these murky waters, I will also be using the Spektrum DX8 TR
Thank You
Tankie1rtr

[trillian]

Well the good news is that quite often you'll see various flybarless units and sats quite cheap 2nd hand. Roughly about £70.00 / £75.00 ish for a Vortex or AR700bx and between £10 and 15 each for the DSMX (or you can use DSM2) sats.

If you get the Vortex VX1e you can use a PC to do the setup, with the VX1N or the original VX1 you'd need a Spartan Datapod.

[tankie1rtr]

Trillian.
Thank you for your reply, its good to know that it wont cost hundreds but the rest is as clear as mud...lol and I mean that respectfully lol. so what second hand kit would you recommend for my 500, I do not know how to set it up by pc,

[tourerjim]

Align's Gpro can be got very cheap, very easy to set up and sats plug directly into it, and you can adjust parameters from you mobile connected with Gpro's bluetooth lead

[tankie1rtr]

Tourerjim.
Thank you for your reply. please pardon my ignorance, is the Gpro an Auto pilot ? and will it work with the 3G Flybarless unit box thats on already or is the Gpro a flybarless unit. and what are Sats ??
Regards
Tankie

[DaveJones]

You could look up KBar on ebay, they are a clone of the old Mikado Vbar, alternatively look for a second hand original VBar they normal sell for around £60 and work just fine (I have them on all my heli's) look either on here or the facebook heli groups. Both need a PC to set them up but its not difficult and the software walks you through it and if you get stuck they are common as muck so lots of help available on here.

Whatever you get will likely need a couple of satellites to connect to your radio, I would recommend you look at some Lemons (Lemon Rx DSM2 Compatible Satellite Receiver), there are a few places selling them in the UK for less than £10, I think I got my last ones from eBay. I'm guessing your TX is old so check if it's just DSM2 or the newer DSMX protocol, DSM2 is discontinued but Lemon still sell compatible kit.

Welcome back to the hobby.

[milly0812]

Personally I would look for a mini v bar on pro software with 2 sats and should be a max of 80quid and that will be the best 80 quid you could spend

[Mike Sanders]

Sats are satellite radio receivers. If you plug them in to a modern flybarless controller as discussed above, they can take the place of a conventional receiver.

For Spektrum, DSM2 is the old protocol. DSMX is the newer and better?! I have never actually noticed any difference between them.

My advice is to do plenty of research and choose the flybarless unit that seems to suit your requirements. As said above, you will learn how to set it up with help from t'interweb and this forum.

PS, welcome (back) to the forum and to helicoptering. Good luck. Don't hesitate to ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

[Sheldrake]

Hi Tankie, welcome back😉 Have you a club nearby or someone to help you through the maze of choice available now? The TRex 500 is a really good model to reintroduce you and with a modern flybarless controller will set you up for whatever direction you want to go in😊
Personally I find I need to have the input from real people standing close to progress alongside the wealth of knowledge on here and the internet. Good luck

[tankie1rtr]

You could look up KBar on ebay, they are a clone of the old Mikado Vbar, alternatively look for a second hand original VBar they normal sell for around £60 and work just fine (I have them on all my heli's) look either on here or the facebook heli groups. Both need a PC to set them up but its not difficult and the software walks you through it and if you get stuck they are common as muck so lots of help available on here.

Whatever you get will likely need a couple of satellites to connect to your radio, I would recommend you look at some Lemons (Lemon Rx DSM2 Compatible Satellite Receiver), there are a few places selling them in the UK for less than £10, I think I got my last ones from eBay. I'm guessing your TX is old so check if it's just DSM2 or the newer DSMX protocol, DSM2 is discontinued but Lemon still sell compatible kit.

Welcome back to the hobby.

Hi Dave
The TX I am using is the DX8 as pictured

[waveydavey]

Welcome back, the unit if I'm not mistaken is a FBL unit in it's own right the 3GX, you don't need anything else as far as I can see. It's a much maligned unit but Jim above has flown them for years as has many others Duncan Osbourn to name one of them, see video below. If you really want to change it then Tim Procter has a Vortex for sale at a very good price, he also had some sats that you can use direct with it. If you can look for someone local to give you a hand in the initial setup, or if you're up for a bit of learning there is loads of help here and loads of setup vids on Youtube.

[tankie1rtr]

Welcome back, the unit if I'm not mistaken is a FBL unit in it's own right the 3GX, you don't need anything else as far as I can see. It's a much maligned unit but Jim above has flown them for years as has many others Duncan Osbourn to name one of them, see video below. If you really want to change it then Tim Procter has a Vortex for sale at a very good price, he also had some sats that you can use direct with it. If you can look for someone local to give you a hand in the initial setup, or if you're up for a bit of learning there is loads of help here and loads of setup vids on Youtube.

Hi Davey.
Thank you so much for that info, the Vortex that Tim is selling, is that better than the unit that is already in the heli, and would i be bettering my heli changing it or would i just be wasting money ?

[bigpops]

Pretty much everything is better than a 3GX. I'd still go for a second hand mini Vbar or silverline.

While a 3GX might work well in the hands of a talented pilot with well over a decade of setup and flying experience (Duncan above), it's a pain in the hands of your average Joe.

[tankie1rtr]

Sats are satellite radio receivers. If you plug them in to a modern flybarless controller as discussed above, they can take the place of a conventional receiver.

For Spektrum, DSM2 is the old protocol. DSMX is the newer and better?! I have never actually noticed any difference between them.

My advice is to do plenty of research and choose the flybarless unit that seems to suit your requirements. As said above, you will learn how to set it up with help from t'interweb and this forum.

PS, welcome (back) to the forum and to helicoptering. Good luck. Don't hesitate to ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

Thank you Mike. Its good to be back. I have been a member of this site since 2007 but didnt post much as I had left helis then. funny how it gets back to you.. I believe one of the lads have a vortex for sale so i am going to see if its still for sale, I believe they are good.

[Grumpy]

If budget is tight then you cant go wrong with a Kbar. The Kbar is a clone of the Vbar but despite it being a copy it still works really well (MUCH better than a 3GX) and at about £25 you cant go far wrong: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Axis-Gy...cAAOSwVtZaAYXp

Add to that a couple of Lemon Rx DSMX satellites (which i prefer to original spektrum sats) and you are all set: Lemon Rx DSMX Compatible Satellite (DSM2 backward compatible but must use DSMX compatible primary receiver)

Lemon also do dual antenna diversity sats which you could get away with using only one of, saving a few more quid: Lemon Rx DSMX Compatible Diversity Satellite (DSM2 backward compatible but must use DSMX compatible primary receiver)