Quadcopter pilot wants a CP heli.

[Matt24683579]

Hey everyone, ive been looking at some micro-to-mid size rc heli's to get and start learning about. I'm looking primarily for something cheap as i know the crash risks are very high, especially for new pilots.

I personally think my girlfriends dad's trex400 pro is way too big to start on. it would be a disaster where I live In Florida. I was thinking about a blade nano cp but always hear people saying it Cannot be flown outside. I like the thought of the next size up blade heli, but think it might be a tad overpriced c9nsidering the brand it's coming from.

So...I went online and did some digging and came up with the walkera Master cp as a good cheap choice.

I'm really in need of a good way to stabilize the heli assuming it doesn't do what i expected it to do and starts acting wild. someone said the safe technology is good on the horizon heli.

I guess I'm asking for a good heli to do inverted flight. I like the idea of cp and think it's an engineering masterpiece. I also need a way to hook up my turnigy 9x radio I have a frsky xjt module in it and I'm thinking I'll need an orange rx module for satellite rcvr.

Thanks guys and sorry if this is really sporadic, you know how it is just starting a new vehicle. Happy flying!

 

[TazRC]

Howdy. I have a Walkera 450 size heli but I'm afraid to fly it because parts are getting scarce (especially Stateside) since Walkera abandoned their heli line as well as the folks that own them. I'm sure the Master CP is a great heli, I've considered it too, but you gotta think about parts availability. Crash and repair is common with learning CP helis. A sim helps if you don't mind sitting in front of a computer. I have the mCPX too, and like the Nano CP, it doesn't like much wind. I think the heli to consider is the Blade 230 S. It's more mid-size and has Safe but requires Spektrum TX or a compatible module. I've had my eye on it for a while and have been subscribed to the thread on RC Groups for a couple years. Many folks rave about it, even a few guys here locally. It seems to require less crash-fix parts and relatively less expensive to fix.

 

[F106DeltaDart]

I would agree. The walkera Helis can get scarce on parts quick. And there is another thing to consider. If you have a Spektrum transmitter, the blade Helis have the setup/programming completed. That can be one of the main hurdles in getting flying. The 230S or the smaller 130 S would both be great choices.

 

[Pete678]

in complete honesty your asking for trouble jumping straight into a collective pitch helicopter. Your quad skills will not help as much as you may like! a collective pitch requires constant input on the sticks or your in the ground. The usual parts are main shaft, main gear, feathering shaft, boom, canopy. Im not trying to scare you off but youll be much better off getting a fixed pitch helicopter to start with. Alot cheaper to buy and fix. Or better still get phonenix flight simulator if you have a transmitter already. imho cp helis are the hardest of all to fly safely

 

[PsyBorg]

I started my CP heli wayyyy over powered and sized nitro for a new pilot but I was able to "Walk The Dog" with it out back in a short amount of time. The larger disk area and the weight made it very stable even in ground effect. Then I tried my hand at a micro and that was nothing but problems. It would never track well and was too under powered so you are either bouncing off the floor or bouncing off the ceiling. There was no in between for control with it.

Then I got the Walkera 200 size one which I think is a perfect size for learning CP on. Specially since it had a higher head speed which translates to more control once you get past that whole scary motor screaming at you thing.

I do advise to not get one that has a motor on the tail rotor. You will take forever to learn to fly and have to over come really bad habits when you take the next step up. What happens is on a full pack the rotor over compensates and most tend to tune on a full pack. As the pack draws down so does the effect of the tail and you have to work the opposite to keep it tracking correctly. Then all thru out the span of the packs flight time every time you change head speed that draws power from the tail motor which again requires more or less adjustments. with constant pressure on the yaw stick to keep the heli straight that kills batteries fast and does not make learning fun on extremely short flight times.

 

[ChrisOlson]

I personally think my girlfriends dad's trex400 pro is way too big to start on.

I guess I don't understand why a 400 would be way too big. There's a big difference between a 400 or 450 and a 500 as far as stability, ability to fly in the wind, and learning the ropes. And the 500 is no more expensive to crash than a 400. If you put a training gear on it you won't crash it anyway. I'd vote for getting a used 500 (look on HeliFreak), put a training gear on it, run it at low headspeed to start with and you'll be just fine. A 500 will handle a 5 foot X training gear and you'd have to get really wild to tip that over until you learn how to hover it.

A well set up and detuned 500 trainer is so easy to fly you'll lose your fear of it right away and you won't be constantly fighting the collective as bad if you practice in a little wind.

My wife, who is a fixed-wing pilot, decided to learn how to fly heli's this past summer. She learned with my 500. I detuned it so it wasn't quite so snappy. Her biggest issue was learning collective management so I took the negative pitch out and set it up with 0 degrees until she got a "feel" for the collective and if she panicked didn't slam the heli into the ground by pulling the collective too fast. This is what she was doing with it, flying it in pure rate mode, after only a week of practice.