View from aloft

            The single most common question asked by anyone seeking his or her first heli is which ones should I buy! To answer this is pure opinion on the part of the responder. Now that I’ve said that I’ll give as much of my opinion as you can stand. No not really, I’m just going to give you as much information as I can to help you make choice that works for you.

            Personality, budget, and desire, play a big part in what you buy. Don’t want to spend too much and it is just for a youngster anyway. You might consider a 2ch heli or one of the low-end twin rotor heli’s. These heli’s tend to take a bit of banging around, but a 2ch is limited to up/down and tail spin control. In what I’ve read and heard the low-end twin rotors are ok and easy to hover but don’t stand up as well.

Were you at?

            What’s your skill level? Do you know a servo from a Gyro (not the Greek sandwich either)? Maybe you come from the RC car or airplane ranks and you want to build it to your standards. In this case a kit might be your ticket. I won’t need to tell you much than. Perhaps you have a buddy that knows his stuff; he might recommend you to buy an ARTF. You have a good connection with the LHS guy, that’s a good place to start as well. Seeking out a knowable LHS and seeing want they sell and keep parts in stock for can have an influence on what you buy.

I’ll take Tyra banks!

            Which model is the best is asked all the time. I won’t tell you to buy anyone model over another, that’s a trap! What I will say is I have read opinions from one end of the spectrum to the other on just about every heli out there. They all have their good and bad points and depending on the personal experience of the owner the review can swing either way. So my advice is read on with an open mind on any review of a heli.

Once upon a time.

I’ll pass on a story I have personally lived, about a heli I bought. I bought a Syma dragonfly 2ch for my wife. It was broken when she opened it Xmas day. Now. If I wrote a review of this heli you might expect me to say it was a piece of junk. I got a letter from a man that had just bought the same heli and his came in undamaged. He flew it many times and had a ball with it. What you to think his review might say? Now, I think you understand the mindset. This type of stuff goes on all the time. Don’t let any one opinion sway you!

Alpha bit soup.

Let’s move on to FP’s and CP’s, as well as RTF heli’s. FPs tend to be low to mid price heli’s. They require more skill to fly than a 2ch or a twin rotor heli. Movement of an FP is not limited to the up/down bit of a 2ch. They can be controlled in all four directions, alone with vertical. The difference between a Cp and Fp is in the level of control of pitch. Pitch is the twisting of the main rotor blade to aide with lift control. The FP being Fix pitch is left to the design of the main blade. I have seen many opinions on FPs more people are of the opinion that an FP is a good trainer heli. Once your skills are good with an FP, moving up to a CP is made easier.

Once you’ve made the move to CP things change a lot. The CP heli is not difficult to understand and set up. This is mainly because CPs come in a wider range of design than you find in a FP. While 2ch, FPs and some CPs have two motors main and tail, other CPs have  shaft gear or belt driven tails. Not all CPs are created equal. Twin motor heli’s control tail movement with mixing of the tail motor speed to act in the desired direction. I have only seen shaft and belt drive on CPs and only on the higher end models. Cps with a tail drive system have a rudder control systems which work with and additional servo and rod to a pivot arm which moves a slider to change tail rotor pitch. These systems add even more to the setup of a heli. To get your head around this, a tail drive system is more like a common heli you’d see taking shots for your local news program. If you know a bit about a real heli a Bell jet ranger would fit the bill. It's not likely you'll get an RTF just pop it out of the box and start flying. In most cases you'll find yourself ajusting things just to keep it in one place, from swash plates out of trim to blades running the wrong way, I've heard or seen all kinds of issues. RTF, Not likely!

Brushing up!

As a final bit for you to think about, let me toss in a brushless motor w/ esc. This type of motor is AC as opposed to a DC brushed motor. The electronic speed control (ESC), turns DC to AC for the brushless motor. In short the Brushless is the most costly and more powerful, plus it eliminates brunt out brushes. If you buy a Gear or belt drive CP I’d go with the extra cost and add Brushless.

So go forward armed with what you’ve learn and make the choice that suits you best and shop around you can find really good deals out there. Best of luck to all!

Written by CaptKDS