The Blade 450 D or 450 X

[LYKA]

Have been flying my Blade 130X ,not into 3D (yet) .happy to just hover and fly around doing circles etc . I feel it is about time to progress to a bigger helicopter not sure which way to go .I like the look of the Blade 450X but you can pick a 450D for a good price at the moment and has I am not into 3D I wonder if the 450D would be a better buy as I am not into 3D . I am new to helicopter flying and have never flown anything bigger then my 130X so I need someone with a bit more experience of flying helicopter to give a bit of advice which helicopter to buy next

[colin watson]

any of these would be great or even a trex450 (parts are cheaper)(great as you can build up as well) though the 450x does come with the fabulous AR7200bx fbl unit and the 300 also has this at a real bargain price. i use my 130 for 3d pactice. i have trex250 dfc with ar7200bx also trex450 dfc with ar7200bx and 130x all fly outside and indoors.

the main thing is setting the heli up to fly within your capabillity not using hard 3d settings on pitch and throttle when only hovering or gentle circuits. when setting up a novice heli i make them very soft on pitch so they don't shoot for the sun or smack the gound. i.e pitch at lowest -5deg mid stick +5deg top stick +7deg throttle curve in normal mid stick 70% top stick 75%.

you can then increase these as you become more comfortable and adventurous in your flying

learning the set up really helps you during your progression, it surprises me how many club members in my club who are happy to sling me the transmitter and never learn to do basic programme setting so if they need to change something they often wait a few weeks to have it changed.

[Robin Kearney]

Hey Chris, glad to hear you are enjoying the 130x, I picked one up yesterday!

Like you I had not experience before buying a 120SR (the fixed pitch version of the 130X), I got to be ok with that and then took the plunge and bought a Blade 450 3D, mostly because of the price, and I couldn't figure out what going flybar-less would do for a relative newbie like me. Currently I love my 450 and fly it whenever I can.

There is a guy who runs **LINK** he has a few ebooks, the Setup tips was worth the money in my opinion.

One word of caution, I bought a BnF 450, believing it had been test flown at the factory, so I simply bound it to a Spektrum TX and spun her up. Big mistake, she leant over quite sharply and scrapped the blades on the tarmac before I could correct it. I later discovered I needed to adjust the subtrims on my TX to level the swash plate. Although it likely had been flown at the factory you still need to make sure that swash plate is level before you fly!

r.

[LYKA]

Someone has just recommended the Blade 300X, now I am totally confused. I think anyone ( 450D 450X or the 300x ) but which one is best to progress to , I thinking the 300X might be the one, it is the right size to fly in my back garden.what a nice problem to have

Edited By Chris Wise on 23/12/2012 22:27:33

[Frank Skilbeck]

I have a 300x and 130x (you can read my reviews in the review section), The 300x flies really well and is much better suited to outdoors than the 130x being able to handle a reasonable wind. But it depends how big your back garden is, the 300x does need some room, it is a nice package and I think gets overlooked in favour of the 130x or 450

[LYKA]

It is not so much my garden but the field at the back of my garden.Just looked at your review , I think I take your advice and go for the 300X and drop the rates to 65% with 30% Expo. Thanks for all your help

Edited By Chris Wise on 24/12/2012 11:39:20

Edited By Chris Wise on 24/12/2012 11:39:53

[Robin Kearney]

Frank, how is the 300 to work on? I've aquired a Trex 250 which is quite a similar size, but whenever I have to work on it I hate it. The screws either strip their heads, dont quite fit the correct hex drivers or just break off - in short it is a hateful experience! Nice once it is in the air though.