Ah you big cynic!

 

a fool and his money?

 

It is. There are tons of others like it as well. The lift these things are capable of is amazing

 

Those things have huge power to weight ratio.

 

Still waiting on a parts list from my manager. He's had it for 3 years now and never did build more than about a third of the kit. Wife wants it gone, so hes thinking maybe just a couple hundred dollars for the whole thing even though he speculates investing around $1000 on it.

If I do buy this thing I'm defiantly taking the advice of everyone on the sub-hundred dollar trainer chopper..

 

**** 1k in helicopters... I have a $40 full control metal mini choppah with 4 channels... I can fly that bitch indoors and not give a ****. Thing is badass for chasign the cat.



WHOLESALE FTW!!!

 

I'd go small scale to start. Used to watch my dads buddies 20 years ago fly them upside down and they'd been doing it for years. Lots of cash down toilets and no girlfiends I believe was the quote.

 

Oddly, I admin this site. Fixed wing and heli sections are really busy with tons of very smart (old school) guys over there.

Free healthcare if you join up too!


I had a small heli. I cant fly worth a crap in real life or in battlefield bad company. RC cars and trucks for me, heck, even boats.

I am also a LiPo guy, i hate nitro.

 

First, get a sim. Realflight or Phoenix, either is great (I think realflight runs a bit more though). Dropping $2-$300 on a sim will save you _thousands_ if you get into the hobby, and lets you try out new stuff you wouldn't dream of doing with $1200 worth of electronics in the air. I know realflight has some heli trainer vids / exercises as well to help with spatial orientation / basic maneuvers / etc.

Second, do as everyone said and get an el cheapo learner heli. Dunno what's out there now, but maybe a Blade CP / Honey Bee King / Blade 400 / Trex 450, from cheap to pricey. You're going to crash, so factor in the cost of spares: blades, main shaft, main gear, tail boom, and servo gear sets will likely be broken. The smaller helis are much more squirrely, especially in anything more than the faintest breeze. Once you can handle that, move up to the 600. It'll feel rock solid and stable, with more power to boot. Just don't crash, it becomes exponentially more expensive the bigger the bird is. Not only do parts cost more, the larger helis have more mass / momentum with which to break things.

I fly a trex 450se v2 and 600n, learned on a blade cp. When I'm working on new maneuvers, I dial it in on the simulator first, then move up to the 450 (it's cheap-ish when I inevitably crash). Once I can do that comfortably, I move up again to the 600.

It's a fun hobby, but if you push yourself slightly past your limits it gets expensive fast. Start small, work your way up, have fun.

 

A friend has a new $130 Blade ready to fly micro heli that seemed impervious to damage despite multiple crashes. I'll say it's the perfect starter heli.