RohaN
07-04-2006, 02:19 PM
Well, to carry on with the review thing, I'll write a bit about my Walkera 4
So yeah, after ignoring RB's advice on the twin rotor heli's (they just...look kinda dumb :p ) I had a bit of a look around the entry level fixed pitch market to see what was on offer.
I'd read that most of the small "dragonfly" heli's were pretty much exactly the same but re-badged, so I went a-lookin'
The main choices for me were Venom's Night ranger II
some smartech dragonfly thing, and this Walkera 4.
I read some reviews & some people were bashing the walkera heli's so I was leaning toward the venom NR2,
Then I actually went and looked at some in a shop.
The smartech heli wasn't good. It had a horrific plastic shell that encased the entire heli, tail arm & all. and was misaligned together by clear sticky tape. the main rotor didn't appear to have Barings, rather bushings etc, the radio looked REALLY REALLY bad, like it had been a cheap blow-moulding exercise gone wrong. very flimsy, & light.
The thing was cheap & nasty. I'm sure it would have gone ok but it looked really badly made.
ee-gads, that was an ugly heli.
they go for about 130 on eBay with training kit & all the regular guff.
next on was the venom night ranger. this thing looked damn cool, all black & green & sleek. everything looked well made, carbon fibre rods all over it, bearings throughout, very well packaged & clear, concise instructions. It was $200 from all the cheapest vendors & came with just the radio & charger. no training kit, no simulator cable.
so with the NR2 looking like a good, but expensive by comparison option, I went and organised to see a walkera 4.
It was exactly the same as a NR2.
Same box, same packaging, same helicopter. but with a different colour canopy. the only things that appeared to be different, were the graphics on the box, the instructions and that the walkera came with:
flight sim cable
Training gear
spare set of main blades
A burnt mystery CD from the dude I bought it from which contained several really good in-depth guides & the FMS software, drivers & everything needed to get it working
and it was $120
So I got one.
it looked very breakable when I had it on the table charging up, thin carbon rods, plastic everything else. I wasn't looking forward to crashing it.
So I read some of the guides & asked some questions & set the thing up. Very easy to do, having never touched a heli until that day it was a bit daunting compared to a car or a glider, there were really small bits everywhere, but I levelled out the swashplate & adjusted the tail rotor so it wouldn't continually spin on me & I was away.
At first I just scooted around the floor, then started doing some little hops up into the air. & oh boy was I glad for that training gear. anyone who's thinking of getting a heli - The training gear, its well worth it!
After my first few big accidents, I was wondering when this thing was going to break. despite the flimsy look, it seems to be very durable. its hit the usual tables, walls, chairs, posts, shins, housemates neck and other humorous things, but as I write this, I still haven't had anything break on me. The main blades just collapse when they hit something & once straightened out again are fine. the only thing I've had irk me is the blades are VERY sensitive to weight, I took a small gouge out of the end of one blade & the heli really got the wobbles. on Remote's advice I filed a small amount off the opposite blade & that seemed to fix it well enough for me to continue practicing.
I can now hover it without training gear no problems, I'll be on to forward flight soon enough, but patience is without a doubt a virtue needed. if you aren't patient or get frustrated with difficult things, I'd recommend sticking to cars.
To illustrate this point, My housemate who has had no experience in RC other than doing donuts and powerslides with my cars, bought an identical heli to mine, from the same dude, 2 weeks after me.
He has little to no patience. without consulting any manuals, any other people, he took it out of its box, charged it up & took it outside. His maiden flight saw him hop once, hop twice then hear up into the sky, up to about 4-5 meters in the air, outside, in the wind and loose control completely. career backwards into the side of our brick garage.
broken tail rod, broken tail rotor & large chunk missing from main blade.
With that fixed, he heads out again, this time I was attending the performance, standing nearby trying to convince him to learn to hover first. I wont lie, I just wanted to see him crash. He took off, started careering out of control and begun heading toward a telegraph pole about 10 meters away. It flew full throttle toward the pole, climbing as it went
Me: "uhh, dude, might wanna bring it down"
Him: "watch and learn Mr boring-hover-on-the-spot, this is learning to fly, high stakes style"
helicopter remains heading on a bee-line for the pole
Me: "seriously. at least steer the thing"
Him "yeah yeah, I'm trimming it"
helicopter remains on its pole bound heading, but starts to wobble all over the place
Me: "dude! right thumb, move it right! qui..."
The main blades exploded into about 10 small shards each, and the heli dropped like a maimed insect, plastic raining down around it as it hit the ground.
Him: "awww....aww.. gay"
Still remains one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen
So these things aren't indestructible, but are dirt cheap. replacement blades on eBay are about 7-10 bucks, new batteries are 12. the eBay seller who I got mine off (Sydney based) has all the bits and lives about 20 mins drive away from me, so its worked out very handy & real cheap.
These Walkera 4's are an absolute blast. They seem to be well made, the 4-in-1 Rx-Gyro-2xESCs thingo look a bit cheap, but i havent had anything conk out on me yet & it seems to all work smoothly. the radio is solidly built, mode 1 & works just fine.
Some of the materials aren't super-high quality compared to expensivo deluxe helis, but for $120 complete with EVERYTHING you need, and a spare pair of blades to boot, its a bargain, an ongoing challenge & a helluvalot of fun.
So yeah, after ignoring RB's advice on the twin rotor heli's (they just...look kinda dumb :p ) I had a bit of a look around the entry level fixed pitch market to see what was on offer.
I'd read that most of the small "dragonfly" heli's were pretty much exactly the same but re-badged, so I went a-lookin'
The main choices for me were Venom's Night ranger II
some smartech dragonfly thing, and this Walkera 4.
I read some reviews & some people were bashing the walkera heli's so I was leaning toward the venom NR2,
Then I actually went and looked at some in a shop.
The smartech heli wasn't good. It had a horrific plastic shell that encased the entire heli, tail arm & all. and was misaligned together by clear sticky tape. the main rotor didn't appear to have Barings, rather bushings etc, the radio looked REALLY REALLY bad, like it had been a cheap blow-moulding exercise gone wrong. very flimsy, & light.
The thing was cheap & nasty. I'm sure it would have gone ok but it looked really badly made.
ee-gads, that was an ugly heli.
they go for about 130 on eBay with training kit & all the regular guff.
next on was the venom night ranger. this thing looked damn cool, all black & green & sleek. everything looked well made, carbon fibre rods all over it, bearings throughout, very well packaged & clear, concise instructions. It was $200 from all the cheapest vendors & came with just the radio & charger. no training kit, no simulator cable.
so with the NR2 looking like a good, but expensive by comparison option, I went and organised to see a walkera 4.
It was exactly the same as a NR2.
Same box, same packaging, same helicopter. but with a different colour canopy. the only things that appeared to be different, were the graphics on the box, the instructions and that the walkera came with:
flight sim cable
Training gear
spare set of main blades
A burnt mystery CD from the dude I bought it from which contained several really good in-depth guides & the FMS software, drivers & everything needed to get it working
and it was $120
So I got one.
it looked very breakable when I had it on the table charging up, thin carbon rods, plastic everything else. I wasn't looking forward to crashing it.
So I read some of the guides & asked some questions & set the thing up. Very easy to do, having never touched a heli until that day it was a bit daunting compared to a car or a glider, there were really small bits everywhere, but I levelled out the swashplate & adjusted the tail rotor so it wouldn't continually spin on me & I was away.
At first I just scooted around the floor, then started doing some little hops up into the air. & oh boy was I glad for that training gear. anyone who's thinking of getting a heli - The training gear, its well worth it!
After my first few big accidents, I was wondering when this thing was going to break. despite the flimsy look, it seems to be very durable. its hit the usual tables, walls, chairs, posts, shins, housemates neck and other humorous things, but as I write this, I still haven't had anything break on me. The main blades just collapse when they hit something & once straightened out again are fine. the only thing I've had irk me is the blades are VERY sensitive to weight, I took a small gouge out of the end of one blade & the heli really got the wobbles. on Remote's advice I filed a small amount off the opposite blade & that seemed to fix it well enough for me to continue practicing.
I can now hover it without training gear no problems, I'll be on to forward flight soon enough, but patience is without a doubt a virtue needed. if you aren't patient or get frustrated with difficult things, I'd recommend sticking to cars.
To illustrate this point, My housemate who has had no experience in RC other than doing donuts and powerslides with my cars, bought an identical heli to mine, from the same dude, 2 weeks after me.
He has little to no patience. without consulting any manuals, any other people, he took it out of its box, charged it up & took it outside. His maiden flight saw him hop once, hop twice then hear up into the sky, up to about 4-5 meters in the air, outside, in the wind and loose control completely. career backwards into the side of our brick garage.
broken tail rod, broken tail rotor & large chunk missing from main blade.
With that fixed, he heads out again, this time I was attending the performance, standing nearby trying to convince him to learn to hover first. I wont lie, I just wanted to see him crash. He took off, started careering out of control and begun heading toward a telegraph pole about 10 meters away. It flew full throttle toward the pole, climbing as it went
Me: "uhh, dude, might wanna bring it down"
Him: "watch and learn Mr boring-hover-on-the-spot, this is learning to fly, high stakes style"
helicopter remains heading on a bee-line for the pole
Me: "seriously. at least steer the thing"
Him "yeah yeah, I'm trimming it"
helicopter remains on its pole bound heading, but starts to wobble all over the place
Me: "dude! right thumb, move it right! qui..."
The main blades exploded into about 10 small shards each, and the heli dropped like a maimed insect, plastic raining down around it as it hit the ground.
Him: "awww....aww.. gay"
Still remains one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen
So these things aren't indestructible, but are dirt cheap. replacement blades on eBay are about 7-10 bucks, new batteries are 12. the eBay seller who I got mine off (Sydney based) has all the bits and lives about 20 mins drive away from me, so its worked out very handy & real cheap.
These Walkera 4's are an absolute blast. They seem to be well made, the 4-in-1 Rx-Gyro-2xESCs thingo look a bit cheap, but i havent had anything conk out on me yet & it seems to all work smoothly. the radio is solidly built, mode 1 & works just fine.
Some of the materials aren't super-high quality compared to expensivo deluxe helis, but for $120 complete with EVERYTHING you need, and a spare pair of blades to boot, its a bargain, an ongoing challenge & a helluvalot of fun.