Greg Covey

Hi,

I'm reviewing the new E-Sky [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/honeybee.htm]Honey Bee[/link] RTF Electric Mini Helicopter from Hobby Lobby.

You might ask yourself why is a guy with no heli experience reviewing this model? Well, for one, it claims that it is good for a beginner wanting to learn how to fly, and, it comes complete ready-to-fly in a handy carrying case. We'll be testing that claim out.

I was also relieved to see that a complete line of [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/honeybee-parts.htm]spare parts[/link] is available right from Hobby Lobby.

I plan to let an accomplished heli-pilot fly it for the first video so we can see what it does, and then, either fly it myself for the second video or give you guys a real good laugh!

Any help or comments will be appreciated as I am just starting the learning curve on any helicopter.

Plenty of instructions came with the model, but i'll admit, I simply charged the 7-cell, 600mAh NiMH pack and tested it in my living room. As it lifted off the carpet, I dropped the power to keep it safe until it is flown first by my friend, Scott Miller.

You can see in the photo that it easily packs bac into the box. You only need to unscrew the transmitter antenna.

Greg Covey

Here are the parts taken outside the box. The wall charger and battery pack use red JST connectors. The 7-cell, 600mAh, NiMH pack can easily be replaced with a 2-cell [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/lipo-heli.htm]Lithium pack[/link] and charger to double the flight time.

Greg Covey

Some close-up photos reveal a very compact design that weighs only 10oz with the battery pack.

Uneek

Hi, I am looking forward to seeing the videos. I’m a newbie to RC Helicopters and decided to order a Honey Bee just to try it out. I should get it within a week maybe you will have the video’s up soon?

One thing I noticed in one of your pictures it says “Indoor� in the box, but if someone wants they can still fly it outdoors right?

tweaksalot

you can fly it outdoor, but the slightest wind might throw you off. with proper upgrades soon all youll be wanting to do is flying them outdoors. do not get frustrated with this thing either, the learners curve is really tough, and without being set up properly it might be the hardest thing youll ever fly

JohnY2004

I guess so the learning curve is tough and high for all these micro helicopters. The correct setup on the ground will reduce the amount of stick connections in the air. One single crash is enough to throw off hours of your effort of setup and tunning.

Fasa

My Feedback: (5)

you need a bit more than the slightest wind to throw you off. i fly outside every day and i have yet to have a wind problem. Light winds make you correct a little more but the slightest wind won't bother you.

Uneek

That's good to know, the only reason I bought the heli was to fly it outside.

Uneek

Hey Greg, do you have any idea when you will have the videos ready? Thanks

jt_aus

Hi Greg,

Let me know what sort of range you get. I have had feedback on the E-Sky, and at about 10m they struggle..... 15m and they are out of control. I would be interested to know if this is normal.

All up, I think they are a pretty solid machine though.

Cheers,

Justin

Acs_guitars

My Feedback: (3)

I don't know how you have you RX antenna, but if you unwind it and let it hang your range will increase a little. Just my .02

codeboye

be interesting to see some videos... :-)

Billy Hell

My Feedback: (2)

One of the guys at the shop has been flying his Honey Bee outside. I have seen a lot of micros fly and I was really impressed with how this one flew. It had great forward and reverse flight outside right out of the box. The guy flying it was really excited.

slovensko

Greg Covey:
Hi, I was wondering if the interface for the tx is connected to the tx with ps2-like connector (your keyboard or mouse is connected to the pc with it). I have the same tx but I was unable to find the interface for it. Could you be so kind to look at the interface how it is wired? Thank you!

Deleted User

[Deleted by Admins]

sunday_flier

I got mine last week and after a few early crashes, no damage though, due to poor set up and pilot error I'm now really impressed. I'm sure the experienced heli pilot will get the set up spot on for you, but if the purpose of your review is as a beginners heli then you should really do this yourself.

All it needed was weight in the nose for the CofG (and/or modify the battery harness so that you can move it further forward), straighten the paddles and adjust the track of the main rotors (increase the pitch of the low blade by gently bending it). It's now more than stable enough to fly round the office and reorganise my colleagues' desks. All in all the best big boys toy you could possibly get for the money.

Uneek

At least you know how to fly it. I got mine and I crashed it more then 10 times till one of the plastic skid broke. It’s only a $8 part so no worries.

I'm a newbie so i don't know how to modify the heli yet. What I did before it crashed or when it was about to hit something was lower the throttle all the way down and then it would just fall on the floor. As you can tell it's not the smartest thing to do but it sure beats crashing at full throttle

sunday_flier

Uneek

The only modification I did was to remove the lip on the forward battery holder so that I could push the battery further through. Doing this distributes the weight further forward (to where it should be in the manual). If you've not got a simulator get one, you can learn without but really there's no reason to. FMS is a free download and whilst there are prettier and more advanced sims around it's more than adequate for learning the key aspects of flying. Fly the sim until you can get the helicopter into and out of ridiculous situations and when you come back to the real one and all you're trying to do is hover it will seem easy.

Uneek

Yeah I got "Tru-Flite 3D" I allready configured it so it has the same controllers as the honey bee etc.. I even make the same mistakes with the simulator so I will fix the helicopter and practice on the simulator till I get it right

hadis

I have this heli, it almost Ready to fly out of the box.
I fly it indoor and outdoow in calm wind. I use it to learn how to fly helis before flying my dolphin/Zoom 400 . I crashed my e-sky many times, with only minor damages. The parts are cheap . The learning cost is less than when using gas or bigger ones.
with 2-cell Li-poly 1500 ( KOKAM ) I can fly it up to 25 minutes. or even more than 30 minutes using Li-ion 1800 mAH.
The only drawback is the tail motor. You should have some tail motors for spare.

Do use lithium battery when learing to fly this heli. , or get some battery packs.
Use Futaba Transmitter instead of stock tx to make the controls a bit easier and smoother.

You can download my video from http://knvonline.net/files/esky1.wmv

Hadi S

camra88

My media player (windows media player 8) cant play it. It says the file format is not supported, yet its a wmv file [&:]

Greg Covey

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the feedback! I've been busy at some R/C shows so I haven't checked back in a while.

I finally got some photos of my heli flying and actually tried a flight myself (after the photos, of course). The video guy didn't show up so we'll try again on Labor Day weekend.

My friend, Scott Miller, flew it first for the photos and we didn't touch a thing right out of the box. He said that it flew much like a Humminbird heli with the usual difficulty in reversing directions without adding more throttle. We didn't play with the gain settings and flew it with the antenna wrapped around the landing bars. He thought that it might be a little nose heavy but the 7-cell pack was already all the way forward. He was able to take off from gravel, hover a bit, and go in some 20'-30' circles, then land.

After my photos were taken, I dropped my camera and had my first flight! Scott suggested that I just take off hard and get airborn without trying to hover. I did just that, and, to my surprise, flew it around a few circles (seemingly in control) until I tried to hover. When reversing a forward movement to backward movement, I didn't add enough throttle and the HoneyBee went down 5' into the grass. After we inspected it and found no damage, I decided to save it for when we have the video camera.

P.S. I'll check the PC interface soon.

Greg Covey

Here is the second quarter of photos.

camra88

Cant wait to see those videos!!! [sm=sunsmiley.gif]

Greg Covey

more HoneyBee photos...