PunkStar Studios
Member
Well it seems the RC world is in love with the Bixler V1.
And as expected here as well.
Well... I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion here.
Granted I'm only 2 years into the hobby - but I've had a lot of aircraft - probably a few dozen. Mostly foam, some balsa, mostly prop, some EDF including A320, A380, and my current "go-to" aircraft the Habu.
I've assembled FMS/Airfield, Parkzone, and EFlite mainly (and a few odd balls thrown in).
I'm here to tell you the Bixler has been the WORST of the lot. In no particular order :
1)
Delivery times from HK is a nightmare - at least to Canada. Plus - literally a week after I ordered it (but 2 weeks before it shipped) the Bixler 2 was released. Kinda feeling raped over this one but hey. (I admit this point is not a Bixler point - rather a HK point).
2)
Frame came in halves. Ok - perhaps that's ok - it allows you to really customize it - but the halves don't really fit snugly together. No screws - everything relies of glue and lots of it to fill the gaps.
3)
Tail assembly is very flaky. I've used a ton of glue etc. just to try and get it sturdy. Waste of time. And I thought the E-Flight Beaver 25 was bad - it was a dream compared to the Bixler.
4)
On the first flight the motor burned out after 2 minutes. After going back and forth with HK I finally convinced them to send me a new motor - a whopping $8 motor - no wonder it burnt out. You get what you pay for.
5)
Wires from the motor that lead into the body are simply way to short - they don't even reach into the fusalage. Better have some leads or a BEC with long leads on it.
6)
Decided to remove the old motor in prep for the new one. Well - the motor mount is a a bunch of strips of balsa (cut to shape) glued together with hot glue. Nice and cheap :-/. But the hot glue is also on the wires and mounts it to the fuselage. And it's not even glued symmetrically - just one glob of glue on one side - they had to I guess because the fuselage is shipped in halves remember? Basically I tore the hell out of it to get the motor out. The plane is looking like a disaster.
At this point, when that uber-expensive motor comes in - it's going into a draw and the bixler is going to stay in a heap on my basement floor.
What a disappointing piece of crap.
Now - that's the Bixler V1. Perhaps V2 is a lot better? (I can't for the life of me see how it can be worse).
I still order from HK mind you - I've learned my lesson on this one though. Batteries and components only - forget getting kits (unless it's a name brand like parkzone, FMS, etc).
This whole thing got me thinking... didn't Josh Bixler give his stamp of approval on this plane? Didn't they do a review segment on it under sponsorship from HK? Then there was the whole thing about dropping sponsorship because of perceived positive bias (an oxymoron I know). I couldn't help but think perhaps Flitetest did unfairly give it a good review so I pulled up that episode.
Well - actually they didn't give it a "great" review. In fact there was a bit of a cautionary tone there. With other frames that I might have said were "good" I expect Flitetest to say they are "great"... generally flitetest is a little more positive in their reviews than I would have been. So when I saw the Bixler didn't get an excellent review - when really politically it should have - I should have taken that as an indication that this plane wasn't great.
The love affair with Flitetest is still going strong with me. I still love the episodes, and the Josh/Josh team is a winning combo but if I could offer one word of advice to the show...
Be a little more critical of products ok? One of the two Joshs' (or Chad) should step in and be the hard nose. When you guys say something is "fantastic" I want to bank on it - I don't want to have to say to myself "ok - that's code for really good".
A good example of fair reviews : http://www.rcairplanereviews.com/
I've emailed back and forth with this guy a lot. He does real thorough reviews, lots of pics/vids and gives the straight goods. If something sucks he says so.
And as expected here as well.
Well... I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion here.
Granted I'm only 2 years into the hobby - but I've had a lot of aircraft - probably a few dozen. Mostly foam, some balsa, mostly prop, some EDF including A320, A380, and my current "go-to" aircraft the Habu.
I've assembled FMS/Airfield, Parkzone, and EFlite mainly (and a few odd balls thrown in).
I'm here to tell you the Bixler has been the WORST of the lot. In no particular order :
1)
Delivery times from HK is a nightmare - at least to Canada. Plus - literally a week after I ordered it (but 2 weeks before it shipped) the Bixler 2 was released. Kinda feeling raped over this one but hey. (I admit this point is not a Bixler point - rather a HK point).
2)
Frame came in halves. Ok - perhaps that's ok - it allows you to really customize it - but the halves don't really fit snugly together. No screws - everything relies of glue and lots of it to fill the gaps.
3)
Tail assembly is very flaky. I've used a ton of glue etc. just to try and get it sturdy. Waste of time. And I thought the E-Flight Beaver 25 was bad - it was a dream compared to the Bixler.
4)
On the first flight the motor burned out after 2 minutes. After going back and forth with HK I finally convinced them to send me a new motor - a whopping $8 motor - no wonder it burnt out. You get what you pay for.
5)
Wires from the motor that lead into the body are simply way to short - they don't even reach into the fusalage. Better have some leads or a BEC with long leads on it.
6)
Decided to remove the old motor in prep for the new one. Well - the motor mount is a a bunch of strips of balsa (cut to shape) glued together with hot glue. Nice and cheap :-/. But the hot glue is also on the wires and mounts it to the fuselage. And it's not even glued symmetrically - just one glob of glue on one side - they had to I guess because the fuselage is shipped in halves remember? Basically I tore the hell out of it to get the motor out. The plane is looking like a disaster.
At this point, when that uber-expensive motor comes in - it's going into a draw and the bixler is going to stay in a heap on my basement floor.
What a disappointing piece of crap.
Now - that's the Bixler V1. Perhaps V2 is a lot better? (I can't for the life of me see how it can be worse).
I still order from HK mind you - I've learned my lesson on this one though. Batteries and components only - forget getting kits (unless it's a name brand like parkzone, FMS, etc).
This whole thing got me thinking... didn't Josh Bixler give his stamp of approval on this plane? Didn't they do a review segment on it under sponsorship from HK? Then there was the whole thing about dropping sponsorship because of perceived positive bias (an oxymoron I know). I couldn't help but think perhaps Flitetest did unfairly give it a good review so I pulled up that episode.
Well - actually they didn't give it a "great" review. In fact there was a bit of a cautionary tone there. With other frames that I might have said were "good" I expect Flitetest to say they are "great"... generally flitetest is a little more positive in their reviews than I would have been. So when I saw the Bixler didn't get an excellent review - when really politically it should have - I should have taken that as an indication that this plane wasn't great.
The love affair with Flitetest is still going strong with me. I still love the episodes, and the Josh/Josh team is a winning combo but if I could offer one word of advice to the show...
Be a little more critical of products ok? One of the two Joshs' (or Chad) should step in and be the hard nose. When you guys say something is "fantastic" I want to bank on it - I don't want to have to say to myself "ok - that's code for really good".
A good example of fair reviews : http://www.rcairplanereviews.com/
I've emailed back and forth with this guy a lot. He does real thorough reviews, lots of pics/vids and gives the straight goods. If something sucks he says so.