I am looking to buy a relatively cheap RC electric helicopter. I am definitely looking for something with full functionality, probably 4 channel, and decent durability/battery life. how much should i expect to spend, and what are good brands? I am looking for something that is small enough to fly indoors, but versatile enough to fly outside in calm conditions.
if you know anything, post up!
edit: forgot to add, where should i purchase it from? local place, or online?
paging zong and paulo
Start with a basic fixed pitch one, cheaper the better. You will crash it, a lot.
Check out what they have in stock at Fields on Union, and sepecifically what they stock parts for. Heli’s are EXTREMELY fragile compared to planes so most little mistakes result in some small part being needed.
Once you get a little better you can toss the cheap fixed pitch and get something with collective pitch. It will fly better and be much more responsive, but be even more fragile because of all the little linkages that make up the collective pitch rotor head.
A good starter:
http://www.hobby-lobby.net/honeybee3.htm
I have a smaller one that I might sell for $15. i’ve used it outside a bunch of times and it’s been fine. Good to learn on thats for sure.
I just might upgrade.
You should just get something that will have enough lift to pick up a full chicken finger sub and bring it to you in your arm chair you fat bastard!
really, start small & cheap. You will crash it a lot initially. My uncle is into these big time. I spent about 3 hours one day trying to not wreck a “basic” one - fixed pitch, full function otherwise. I was sober, but it didn’t look it.
rc cars are more fun
I have a cheap harbor frieght rc plane. IT is soo much fun.
no wai in heck. pffft.
3 axis > 2 axis.
Its hard to fly RC cars…
They keep falling out of the sky.
Luckily, you get to try it over and over and over again.
Thanks, that one looks good… I do have a background in flying rc nitro airplanes, i have actually built a few from kits that required quite a bit of assembly, but this was years ago.
check your pms.
dont you have some spark plugs to change? or better yet, shouldnt you be changing my spark plugs, you filthy disgusting animal?
Uh, yeah… trust me, your plane experience is worthless when it comes to helicopters. To give you an idea I’ve been into RC planes since I was 14. I had a low-wing shadow that was clocked at over 90mph in level flight at a fun fly, and have a pretty quick park flyer that I can fly patterns inverted around the trees and light poles in my front yard. I still struggled to learn to fly my heli.
I’ve heard from lots of people that being a good with RC planes actually makes learning a heli harder. A plane generally wants to fly where as a heli is pretty much in a constant state of crashing while you make tiny adjustments to prevent it from crashing. There is no “gas it and pull up” to recover in a heli.
Start off with just learning to tail in hover. Take off quick enough to get 3 feet or more in the air because that gets the heli out of the turbulent air caused by the main rotor. If you stay tail in (heli pointing away from you) at least all the controls are correct (left = left, right = right etc). Once you go nose in everything is backwards.
I didnt know u flew RC Jay
These are a whole lot of fun. I support your decision to purchase.
thanks for the advice… :tup:
Yeah, I went up to Fields a couple Sundays ago to get some parts for my IFO then realized they weren’t open on Sunday. Right now my fleet is down to a broken IFO MK3 (just missing a control rod) and a moderately modified esky Honeybee CP2. I’ve finally gotten good enough with the CP2 that I can rip circuits with it using the “airspace” consisting of my yard, the neighbors yards on each side of me, the street and the two neighbors yards across the street.
The old .46 Nitro Shadow that broke 90 was reduced to nothing in a horrific crash a couple years ago. Best I could tell was it overstressed the servo mount, broke the whole thing loose, causing it to go pretty much 90 degrees straight into the earth in a dive that was probably over 100 mph. It was spectacular and sad all at the same time. :lol:
wow man, you should get into jets, i hear ducted fan is not so popular anymore, as now everyone seems to be using jet engines.
what field do u usually fly at? besides your yard 
Back when I was into the gas stuff I would just head out to the sticks, use the road as my runway, and fly out over a farmers field.
Now with the electrics I fly in my yard, or sometimes go over to Clearfield Park near my house. I did the whole paying for AMA insurance and club fees to use a real flying field when I was younger but now I’m more of a loaner flyer. With less free time I like being able to walk out my front door and rip around with the heli for 15 minutes or so.
My heli needs some parts too but I’m debating starting over and going with a full brushless/belt driven setup. Not really interested in jets because I find a lot more thrill in flying maneuvrable slower stuff in places most people say aren’t open enough for flying. I used to fly the IFO in the large open area at my old office. Flying inverted with 10 foot ceilings is fun.
I’ve been looking at small wireless cameras to try turning my IFO into my own personal UAV. With the motor/gearbox/battery combo it’s running now it has more than enough power to take off vertically and accellerate like a rocket straight up so it should be able to carry a camera/battery/transmitter easy enough.
I have a Venom night ranger 3d, it was my first heli, and it was a huge mistake. Much too maneuverable and the parts i bought to fix it could have paid for a coaxial heli easily. I recomend something like a Blade CX or other coax. Get good at that then move to the bigger guys. Mine is just awsome now to play with, but by the time i got all the nice aluminum parts and lipo battery, brushless motor, and other crap, i could have gotten a cheap Raptor, which is much bigger and more stable. I can say this, after flying my twitchy bird, flying a heading hold digital controlled raptor is a joke. But i still want a coax to practice on. Get the 200 buck coax and don’t look back, think E-Flite Blade CX.