Think I'm gonna pick one of these up tomorrow!
 

Well, the bug has bit this die hard rc car guy, I think I'm finally going to get something that flies.......and pretty sure it'll be a heli. I was thinking about getting a Global EvoFlight Sabre RTF, but the guys at work said they're kinda prone to sway, and more difficult to fly for a "beginner" heli. I've been mulling over the thought of settling for a cheaper one, specifically one that even admits it's a toy, but saw a vid of one in action tonight and now I think I'm hooked on it! Oddly enough, the vid's on a ebay auction page, but shows off how cool this little sucker is......I still think it'd be more than enough for me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Blade-Runner...QQcmdZViewItem

The ebay page has them for the same price our store does, but I'd have to shell out for shipping, and I get the employee discount at work anyway! We got a huge shipment of 16 today, so tomorrow I might have to make a dent in the stack!

I have one of those BladeRunners and it is pretty cool, but really is a toy. While it flies ok, the controls do not mimic a real RC heli at all, so far as being able to use it as a trainer for a more realistic rc heli it doesn't help much. I was kinda disappointed by that...

How about the new Blade CX RTF micro Heli from Horizon? I saw that one in their catalog and am kinda interested in trying one of those -- it looks a lot better than a Dragonfly type heli, and they have a CP version too.

Also Hirobo and MRC dual blade helis look fun too. I just think based on my experience one of these other ones may give more of a Heli 'fix' than the Bladerunner...I'm still looking for mine. :) See if your shop will let you try the Bladerunner as a demo model, then you can really see if you want to buy one.

Yep first heli go with a cheap version aka toy. It isn't capable of doing stuff pro heli's can, but you don't need that. Heli's are very difficult to learn to fly, so get ready for some crashes which will hurt your bank account.

I've tried to fly the Eco 8 a few year's back, and it was so much fun. But since I cannot judge depth vision very good I can't really enjoy it. Always afraid i'm crashing into the ground.

I know it's a toy, but that's all I need anyway. I'm not looking to drop a ton of cash into something that I might not get hooked on, because just like a airplane guy that came into the store said, "Take off is always optional, landing isn't." Pretty much, whatever you have in the air is going to come down, either pretty, or hard......but it's not going to escape the law of gravity!

I've got 2 of them. The first one I bought was the Heli-Max Rotofly from Hobby People (I'm sure your aware of this one dabid) I paid WAY too much money for it ($300) when it first came out and the thing really doesn't fly that great. Don't even try to fly it outside.

The second one is the E-flite Blade CP (what standard_63 mentioned). HUGE DIFERENCE! For about half the cost that I paid for the Heli-Max (got it used on ebay), the Blade is bigger, better quality and flies way better. And it has the colective pitch for inverted flying that the Heli-Max doesn't have.

If I could recomend one thing to anyone that is going to attempt to fly a helicopter is to practice on a simulator first. I have the Real Flight G3 that was a good investment for this. You could probably get one for a good price with your discount dabid.

Practice, practice, practice...... then go out and crash. :D

David, if you do get a full-function heli (not just a toy one), we could have an aerial bash! (just not where the two would "bash" into each other...)

Hopefully my helicopter will be slightly in the air this weekend.

hmmm - the sims are definately a good idea - but i wouldn't say it was a necessity - unless u go straight into something larger than a micro heli, or if the heli is CP IMO...

I had a mini dragonfly, and it was ok to learn and get the hang of, but the mixing in the tail rotor wasn't good enough for me - it kept yawing out of control when you'd give throttle....

As you go up the throttle band - the tail would gradually add throttle (while being mixed with the main throttle) - which in turn would swing the tail out to the right as you give more and more - meaning you had to correct more and more as you got higher and higher (gave more and more throttle)

Dunno if it was due to me never getting the mixer board setup properly - or it was just because of the mixer -lol-

Persoanlly - if i was to get another heli - it'd be CP for sure with the tail rotor on a belt through the boom. I'd go looking for a second hand deal - something better than those 'toy' heli's would be a far better way to go even though more money is needed to be spent....

Its definately something i reckon you'd get into more and more tho - there's so many different tricks you can pull/learn - all ya need is a decent area to fly tho - that was my main reason for getting out of it.... i had nowhere to fly without getting totalled by the wind, except in my house - not really big enough after a while tho -lmao-

Too late, already got the "toy", pretty impressive for being only $60 too! They make them in 3 different bands, mine's the 27mHz, and it flies pretty good. Granted, if you fart next to it the thing gets thrown around, but my living room was nice and still, and big enough to do some dog freaking out cruising.

-rotf-


hey get some video man - cause a mate of mine is keen to get a cheap heli to play with at his place....possibly me too if ya think it'd be worth it -lmao-

After flying around with dabid's, I just had to get one my own. :D These things are so cool! I made a little vid of his flyin, but the camera is recharging right now.

Yeah, these things have got to be like the best toys ever, they get better with every flight!

Bla, bla, bla.....Let's see some videos!:L:

Nah, too late, and too easy.......I'll run my mouth about how cool they are some more. :D

I'm having a ton of fun with my Hirobo XRB - so much in fact, that I bought a Trex 450XL! The hard thing about moving from cars to helis is that in trucks we're always trying to get more extreme - in helis, this leads to a ton of repair bills :( - Working on inverted flight at the moment, I'm 0 for 3 :)

Video! :D

http://www.rcpics.net/view_single.php?medid=69456