Helicopters For Christmas

[PBR Allstar]

So I was thinking about Christmas and RC today as I was goofing off and realized that my Blade MCX is about to turn "1" here in a few weeks. So seeing as a lot of you guys are just rc guys in general and often venture outside of Gold anno'd aluminum, (not to mention, many of you live in places where running RC10's or any car for that matter in the winter months is not so much of an option). I thought I'd give a quick review of the Blade MCX in case any of you wanted to add it to your x mas list.

So my mom got this for me last christmas, she never knows what to get me and know I like models and RC she wanted to get me something fun, instead of clothes. She went to Hobby Town, she knows I race RC cars so she wasn't going to get me anything like that, but the guy behind the counter suggested the Blade which she got.

Christmas when my mom gave it to me I was excited but at the same time I thought "this is going to be junk in about 5 minutes" I've never flown a helicopter, and can manage a slow flying plane in a wide circle and that's about it! Once I opened it and saw how small and fragile looking it was, I thought again, "this has no chance!" But I looked at some youtube vids, read the manual and gave it a try, just starting with short hops, getting it trimmed, it seemed well, easier than I thought.

So after owning it a year now, I have broken a couple pieces, I broke the upper head/flybar mount, and a rotor blade for a total of about 10 dollars. This happened when I tried flying it outside. (even though id feels like there is zero wind, trust me, there's enough to send one of these into the trees). I've crashed the thing hard inside, to the point where I thought "oh man, it's done" but to my surprise, it's okay. The main thing is if you know your going into something, just cut the power and let it fall.

I've done just a couple mods to my Blade for performance, from microheli I got the precision swashplate, lower head, and aluminum/carbon shaft and upper head. These are not needed by any means, and only add a little bit of fore/aft/front/back speed. I'm still using the stock battery and charger, although I did buy 5 more E-Flite lipo's for under 15 dollars on ebay. I've also had zero problems with the stock 2.4 radio.

The blade is very fun indoors, challenging, as well as relaxing. My favorite challenges are landing on coke cans across the room, and weaving figure eights through the ceiling fan (stopped obviously). At this point I sometimes take it in the bathroom with me instead of a magazine! LOL!

So, for something that is truly ready to fly, out of the box, with an internet price in the 80 dollarish range, I highly reccomend this micro heli! I've wanted to upgrade, but at the same time, I think having a nicer, fancier heli might take the pure fun out of it, so I'm sticking with the blade!

[madweazl]

I got hooked on the helis a couple years ago while playing with the tiny ones in the mall. I tried a few different models like those and eventually grabbed the CX2. Wow, talk about learning curve. While the coax helis are "easy" to fly, there still isnt anything easy about helis. I never did much damage to it but I certainly knew that these little guys were no joke. I ended up selling it after about a year and thought I was done with helis but when the MSR came out I thought, hmm, I really should get another. I havent done it yet but I'd really like to give another one a shot. I consider myself an above average car racer but it just didnt cross over to helis, these things are no joke to fly!

[civilguy]

The MCX and MCX2 are great little coax micro helis. My son and daughter have inherited my MCX, and I have a MSR now. I tried bigger helis, but I have always been an airplane guy so I got out. I flew an Axe CPV3 and then a TREX 450 and collective pitch is definitely a huge step up but it was fun while it lasted. We got back into nitro planes this summer.

I bought a Scout CX for my nephew for Christmas. It is only 3 channel but it's a HUGE improvement over the Air Hog helis. And at only $50 it's not much more than the toy store junk!

I'll try to upload a video I took of my son flying today at a local gym.

[MelvinsArmy]

My MCX2 will turn a year old this Christmas too. I love it. I had always wanted a heli, but had never flown one and was afraid to try any larger birds. This little guy is sooo easy to fly. it's also very durable. I broke the landing gear once, that's it. Probably one of the coolest r/c things I've ever owned. Definitely the best bang for the buck of any r/c I've ever had.

[Diamond Dave]

Most interesting that three of us will have the little MCX2 for a year now.

I bought mine on boxing day last year, I can say the same thing everyone did here. Only a few small things that have broken. Nothing major at all.

I bought another 5 or 6 batts as well. Great heli to zoom around inside with.

[rhino1]

You should give the Blade 120sr a try they are a fixed pitch heli and a blast to fly.

[Coelacanth]

At this point I sometimes take it in the bathroom with me instead of a magazine! LOL!

Is the run-time on one of these sufficient for your typical business in the crapper?

[PBR Allstar]

At this point I sometimes take it in the bathroom with me instead of a magazine! LOL!

Is the run-time on one of these sufficient for your typical business in the crapper?

I think I get about 4-5 minutes on a battery in there.

[RC104ever]

I've got the MCX2, which I really like with the flashing LED lights. I bought it first after the crappy Syma one I bought from Amazon stopped working after just a few minutes. I really like that it works great indoors (almost lost it in one foray outside) and once you get the hang of it, you can really do a lot of things with it and fly around everything. It's a lot of fun!

I would like to step up to a bigger one with a full tail rotor and stuff next but I'm not in any big hurry since I've got my focus on the land vehicles at the moment!

But after that, I'd really love to get an EDF jet someday but obviously would have to start with a small plane first.

[Mindwarp]

At this point I sometimes take it in the bathroom with me instead of a magazine! LOL!

Is the run-time on one of these sufficient for your typical business in the crapper?

I think I get about 4-5 minutes on a battery in there.

Wow, I get double that. You sure they are ok?

[RC104ever]

Is there a higher voltage / higher mah battery for the mcx2?

[civilguy]

The original MCX came with 110mah batteries, and I think the MCX2 comes with 120mah (like the MSR). I use 160mah Turnigy batteries and they last twice as long as my eFlite 110mah ones. You can't get much more than the 160mah's into the battery holder.
Here's my son and a brief flight with a dying 110mah battery :


Here's one of his first completely solo Vapor flights (except for dad's coaching of course):

[madweazl]

Damn you guys, now I'm thinking about buying another

[Diamond Dave]

You can order some 160-170mah batts online for very little money.

I get atleast 8-10 min run time from my Eflite 150mah batts. They are rated at 12C.

I also have some Hyperion CX G3 25C 160mah lipos. They last almost as long.

[PBR Allstar]

I have all old 110 batteries. maybe they are 6ish minutes, they are not 8 minutes though.

civil, your kid is pretty good with the vapor! I'd get sweaty sticks flying indoors with other flyers! (I also get what I call "the minute 4 shakes" on the drivers stand, whenever I'm running up front! it's the point where you realize you're in the lead, it's almost over and you better not step on it! HA)