drevil

My Feedback: (5)

Hello
I'm a newbie to helicopters. I've been looking at a few of the micro electrics that are out there and have pretty much narrowed down my choices to either the hummingbird or piccolo fun. The reason i've decided on those two is because of their cheapness. They are cheap out of the box, and are cheap to fix when crashed.

With that said i've heard conflicting stories from different people. Some say micro electric helis are almost impossible to hover and fly, nevermind trying to learning to fly with one.
Then i talk to other people (or read their posts) who say that they aren't the best to try learing on but it can be done. Some even say that the electrics arent that hard to hover/fly at all once you get the hang of it. Hell i've seen 20+ videos of people hovering these helis in their living room with no problem at all. One was even of a total newbie....or so they said.

With that said, i know alot of people will come on here and tell me to get a bigger one or a nitro one. To tell you the truth i'm looking to get into helis relatively cheap. If i find i like them i'll go to something bigger in the future. I dont want to sound like a twelve year old ass (LOL) but if i HAVE to get a nitro heli and spend $1000+ right now i highly doubt i'll buy one at all.

All i'm looking for is the opinions of the people who have actually owned/flown one of these (micro electrics) for more than a day to see what you think of flying them. How hard is it to fly and hover a hummingbird or piccolo fun?

Thanks in advance
Mike

smokingcrater

Micro helis are quite a bit harder than a larger glow heli to fly, but I learned on one and it isn't too bad. start with lithiums, it made it MUCH, MUCH easier! The reduced weight of the batts made crashes less damaging... Hovering inside is actually quite easy if everything is trimmed out.

also, don't expect micro's to be too much cheaper than the larger glows... they suck money, quickly! check the cost of replacement parts, and especially upgrade parts, they are often more than larger ones, especially if comparing to a really common heli like a raptor .30. (anodized alum swash's are around $50 or so for the raptor, piccolo ones are more than that!)

how hard is it to fly a piccolo fun?... expect crashes, frequently. half of it is learning to fly a heli, and the other half is knowing the heli and how to trim it for the best flight. there are so many more factors that you now have to take into account. a poorly trimmed plane will fly to some degree, a poorly trimmed heli will crash quick nicely.

drevil

My Feedback: (5)

If you dont mind me asking.... When you started out flying with your electric, how many times did you crash and roughly how much did it cost to fix each time. (or what parts broke everytime)
How long did it take for you to feel like you could fly decently. (no stunt/tricks/3D's, just flying/hovering)
Thanks again
Mike

VinceHerman

I started on the Piccolo. (If you are going to start on this, there are a few inexpensive upgrades that will make life easier).
I did not throw myself into learning, maybe a few times a month I would go through a few packs playing, but not hovering yet. then I took time off for a summer of outdoor plank flying. I bought LiPo batteries when I got back to playing with the heli, and within about 5 sessions, I hovered out a pack.
My older brother got into it. He played with a sim (realflight G2?) for about 40 hours, using a dummy box that has transmitter style controls. He hovered the Piccolo his first flight. It took many more flights to get smooth and stable, and he is still working to advance.

thriller

My Feedback: (28)

I fly a raptor 30 and am no expert by any means but can hover and fly around. I just got a used piccolo and it is much less stable than raptor 30. What are the cheap and easy mods to do to the piccolo to make it more stable and easyer to fly?

smokingcrater

the first and most needed mod is the head bearing kit, otherwise you will spend WAY more time looking for bearings that have been launched than flying. I wouldn't even consider flying a pic without that. Next, upgraded delrin ar link... this make a HUGE difference. Next I would go entirely lithium, the lighter weight made it easier to fly and less sensitive to setup problems. finally, the ball-in-swash mod is cheap and easy, and helps some with stability.

after that, things get expensive... a head stiffiner would probably be the next choice.

most crashes, especially when starting out, aren't that bad. you are still low and slow. I would say 1 out of every 10 crashes actually break something, most of which can be easily repaired with CA, carbon fiber, and carbon fiber tow. (threads of CF) Tail rotors and the small plastic pin on the swash are the first things to break, both of which can usually be repaired fairly easily. (drill out the plastic pin and use a metal piece epoxied in place, and the tail rotor can be repaired with CA and thin fiberglass matting, just make sure to balance it afterwords)

thriller

My Feedback: (28)

do you have any links that show pictures of these mods? Sorry but I don't even know what the delrin ar link is??[sm=bananahead.gif]

is_hady

After read most of posting about electric heli, i think the best rating is corona, which they said "flying out of the box". But since I cant afford US$500 or so for a new hobby, I just bought the cheapest...(lol)...aerohawk...(shy). Well, I think if the corona just fly out of its box, then the cheapest one is flying too, but it had its own mind!!! (again lol). You have to be a great tolerance at these machine, or it will make pain in your head.
As I still learn how to fly the aerohawk (correctly), may I give some suggestion? If you have the money, please buy corona. If you wanna some pain as I do, but really want a r/c heli, then buy the cheap one. It only cost US$256 total, and it look expensive in your living room (LOL), but make some excuses not to demo fly it in front of your pal.

VULTCH

In reply to "how hard is it to fly and how expensive" For a newbe BABY STEPS is the answer. I have a Nexus 30 and a Hummingbird I started with a GMP Cricket nitro, years ago (Now that was a real challange to learn on, that thing chased me all over the place). One thing I will say the HB or other micro electrics has very little cost of repair for most crashes as opposed to nitro. You guys correct me if I'm wrong, but I've yet to smack anything with my nitro rotors without breaking them. Cost about $35 . Once I had it idling on the ground while talking to a friend, the next thing I saw while looking back was the heli tilting over costing me another set of blades. With the micro electric I've hit walls, small tree limbs and rolled it on the ground with no damage. You won't get by with that with nitro. Although my nitro is a little easier to fly and can do a lot more, the learning curve is still the same (Small steps at a time and a lot of patience). Some people like to push the envelope while others are satisifed with just the basics. Who is to say which one has more fun? If money is a factor go electric. I really like my HB, although I'm sure the others are good also. If repair costs are not a factor go nitro. This depends on what you are satisifed with, your personality, and how much adrinalin you can handle. I'm not saying you will not break something, but with electric it is less likely.

is_hady

This Vutch guy make sense; u r cool, man! After about tens crash or hit; the aerohawk cost me nothing. I just simply re-arrange the main airfoil, or a little touch to the side airfoil, then go practice again. The really heavy accident I had, only to straighten the bended tail rotor gear and there you go. But I really curious about how much indoor space you guys need to practice; most of us dont have the luxurious space of the indoor tennis yard, do we?

rødebaldakin

I would say that its more than just cost factors. Sure mikros usually are harder to fly but that does absolutly not mean they arnt great for beginners. yes they will suck some money, but nothing even close to what a larger heli will.

And these little things you can go practise alone in a fairly large room so you dont have to worry about, killing someone, breaking property for potentialy large sums or getting all your neighbours on your back for making that freaking extremly unpleasent noise. Makes for a much less stressed learning situation.

Chanses are that you will walk away from most crashes unharmed wich is propably the biggest pro, being able to get back on the horse right away and try again.

In the end its like comparing apples and oranges, the micro is plugg and play in your livingroom on those rainy days and the nitro is hardcore force in the sunshine . So taking the first steps on the micro i would highly recomend.

rp56

I have also looked around for a long time before i bought my heli. I bought the Hummingbird. The biggest factor that i came up with is that the HB might be a little stronger or be able to take crashes a little better. At least I like to think that. I bought the kit and all the parts to fly for less than $285US with shipping. In about 1 weeks i could hover 10 to 15 sec. I know that sound short, but you will feel pertty good about that when you hover that long for the first time. As far as the cost i have never seen or heard of a glow chopper cost less. (just for the chopper without the expensive stuff) I also think if you can learn on a micro that is harder to fly, then flying a larger one later will be easier.

Good luck

painly

My Feedback: (4)

personally i have only owned a piccolo, but have been around rc helis a while and seen many crash and they rip apart. but micros are so gentle when they crash, i think they are a good learning tool, and once you learn on a micro the full size will be easy. i lost sight of mine behind a 20 foot tree and i let go of all controls and i went around teh tree and there it was sitting upright on its training skids. there is no way a full size woulda done this. i have also landed it on its rotor head in my living room with no damamge, mind you i have msotly all Alum parts, it still is great for that.

r/cpilot

I have a piccollo for sale for 175.00 plus shipping and it comes complete except for a transmitter the ad is in pod and booms[8D]

JasonRP

First things first, I've never flown a nitro heli.. Every time I've asked the hobby shop guys, they always say "Go GAS!". However, these are the same dudes that told me I could only successfully learn to fly R/C planes with a 40-60 size trainer at an AMA field. Instead, I bought Realflight G2, and crashed literally hundreds of times both planes and helis. I can now take off and land every plane in Realflight, thank you very much.. Then I built a small plane (.049 size) and I've been VERY happy with my results.. Right now I've got 11 good flights on it, and it still looks and flies like new..

I honestly think Realflight, 1)although kinda a hit to the wallet at first, has saved me a gazillion dollars not to mention frustration and "pain in the head" as someone else said! 2)flying smaller models, while possibly slightly harder to fly than the big ones, have less enertia when they crash, so damage is minimal..

I got an XRB lama for X-mas (thanks Santa!), and I've been able to hover it as soon as I turned it on for the first flight. I'm still shakey on nose in hover, but I can do it.. The ability to practice in the privacy of your own home without wind and spectators is worth many many points in my book..

But, take this with a grain of salt, as the only heli I've flown that wasn't in realflight is the lama.. I'm thinking about getting a Hornet 2 if I can find one!

Jason

jerbo6iks

It isn't that hard. Fist heli this xmas. I have been fooling around with a dragonfly for 5 days and can help it off the ground for the life of the stock battery pack. My hovering isn't as stable as I would like it to be but trimming is the key to making hovering easier. I have never had a bad crash because like others have said I have taken small steps. First just learning to run it around on the floor with the training skids. Then small hops with increasing flight time. The crashes I have had have all been power off skids on the foor into a solid objects. Broke 1 main rotor was the worse. Just keep the blades reasonably loose and alll you have to do is straighten them out and re-level the paddles.

In that week I learned also how to balance the main blades and to test and set the rotor tracking. I wont even try any nose in stuff for at least a month. All along the way it is a lot of fun.

I am definitely going to rework my transmitter controls to have the forward/backward/left right controls on the same joystick. Can't figure why it would be set up otherwise.

Schafe

You mention price. I bought a Hummingbird this fall. Although you can buy the complete kit for $265, my first order was about $550. I bought a much better charger - Great Planes Triton, a Li-Ion battery, replacement main and tail motors, training gear and several replacement parts. I really don't think anyone will be happy with the wall charger that comes with the kit. It does not have any way to tell you when it is done, therefore you can over charge the battery. I bought the Crash kit from Century for the HB. The only thing I have used from it is the main and tail rotors. I suggest getting more tail rotors than main rotors. If you look at all of these models, they all have relatively delicate tail rotors. I broke 4 of these before I broke a main rotor. I did have pretty good luck using Scotch tape to simply tape them back together if they weren't too bad - be sure to put the same amount of tape on the opposite side to balance the rotor. I finally built a frame of sorts to help keep the tail rotor from touching anything. I have had a few other breaks. I have been wrapping the broken parts with thread and then soaking the thread with instant CA glue. So far, so good with these repairs. I have about 30 or so flights on my HB. I still have trouble holding a hover and am not considering removing the training gear any time soon. There are still many aspects of my helo that I do not understand. The learning curve is steep and long. I am finding out that this is a hobby where the term "budget" is not used very often. I don't regret purchasing the HB, I am just surprised at how long it is taking to master. I know it'll be really cool once I do master it.

Argile

The hard part for me was getting it properly trimmed and tuned. After that I found helis very easy to fly.

swashplate

Hey I learned to hover about and land in two days on a hummingbird with all stock parts and a cheap gws trans. I made training gear with two crossed booms, 4 ping pong balls, and Duct tape. THe initial flight times were short but i took off the heavy gear and it was rockin. all i have busted so far is a main rotor and a tail rotor. The humming bird is supprisingly durable. one thing that helped me was figuring out that you must hop it up to about a foot and a half to two feet up so as to over come ground effect. a well trimmed heli realy shows it self once clear of ground effect.

rabbitt

ive benn flying my piccolo fun about 2 weeks now and crashed it 20+ times so far and all that has broke was the ting on the swash plate i found flying the heli very easy after i trimed it and set it up. i would definitly get a li-ion barrery pack.