Edward Chew: I would like to correct what you said on the heli more channels is better. for normal operation every heli maxing out would only have 5 channels and 1 more for gyro gain ( say heading hold or rate gyro) , the extra channels if you say for a 7-14 channel radios, are mainly for scale flying where there is smoke screen launching , landing gear retract etc which is quite useless to know the basic of heli flying.
Helis are separated into 3 categories , fixed pitch ( dragonfly gws , walkera #4 etc) , collective pitch ( falcon 3d , trex , walkera 36 , 60 , 52 , raptors and a lot more 3d helis) , multirotor or co-axial which means they do not need a tail motor to counter the main blades torque( lama v3 , blade cx , etc which u will see 2 main blades on the heli spinning and opposite direction).
willie_hwl: fixed pitch helis which only uses 4 channel , so you get forward motion , backward, roll left , roll righ but no inverted flights( upside down) . fixed pitch helis as the name suggest means the main blades already have a certain amount of pitch fixed which u cannot change at any time and how the heli flies depends on the motor speed/rpm which u raise with the throttle stick. it does teach you how to hover a heli , do fast foward flight and banked turnings( stall turns) .
a 6 channel , actually 5 channel+1 ( the 1 channel is for gyro gain which you dont really mess with unless u go into intermediate stage) , is a collective pitch heli , the headspin ( motor speed/rpm) will be held constant and how the heli lift off is with the chance of pitch that you can control with your throttle stick , if u move it up and down u can actually see the main blades change position which u cant see on a fixed pitch ( 4 channel) heli. well all helis are hard to fly , crashing is always lurking somewhere that is how they learn how to fly better , u just have to learn how to crash( so u get minimal damage). as heli pilots loses orientation easily( cannot differentiate left to right , then u thought it was right but it's actually left)
try the blade CX if you can get it in malaysia. really tough heli , or better dont even start with a lama or anything , get a fixed pitch heli like a GWS dragonfly , ESKY honey bee FP , century FP . there is a lot more on the market , with a fixed pitch at least u learn how to hover like a real heli does compared to a multi-rotor which u dont have to control the tail and it is "too" stable.
Starting out:do not buy the stock walkera RTF kits , as the electronics are horrible and you will end up frustrating yourself more. there is always an initial "dump " of money into the hobby to get you goin but later on the cost will go down. if u want to get a collective bird. get a A-tech Falcon 3d or a Esky Honey Bee CP2. Those comes in rtf and can teach u a lot , the sky is the limit to see how fast u learn.
I also dis-agree on edward's "training" of bolting the heli with ropes on the table , yes you can limit the heli travel lift off height but once u get used to it , it does not fly like that without the ropes on , unless it is a co-axial heli or multirotored one. a fixed pitch or collective pitch in no way can behave the same. He is right , get a good simulator and practise there. if not try this flight program below if u do get the heli. discipline is the key here.
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html
jasonchan: fake or original doesn't really matter , get the cheaper one or whichever heli that you can access to spare parts with convenience . it's easier to learn that way so give your local hobby shop a visit. they will be the same , as in china , taiwan and japan market they are copying one another and US is following the trend.
the video edward showed , i've seen Alan and Danny Szabo flew his raptors , trex600 and a trex450 marvelously here in Las vegas, though he is only 20 years old but he's been flying since the age of 8 . so that gives him 12 years experience already.
i didnt know this thread revived , so hope i can contribute to some of you .
Pardon my lengthy post , i just couldn't help it but contribute my experience as 3 months ago being a noob myself i have the same problem deciding myself.
I fly the TREX 450 , Honey Bee Cp2 , Honey Bee King , Falcon 3d , and a Helimax mx400.
cheers
