Is The Blade Helicopter The Best Beginners RC Helicopter
Should You Consider E-Flites Blade Helicopter
The answer is definitely – Yes. Why do I consider Blade Helicopters the best RC Helicopter? They’re continuing to raise the bar for electric helicopters and advanced technology goes into each one. Their long list of models and the variety of experience they require can get anyone interested in rc heli’s able to fly their first time out. From the very beginner to intermediate and experienced, they have a model to suit every one.
Blade Helicopters
E-Flites Blade Helicopters are the most popular and sought after remote control helicopters on the market. Blade develops all of their helicopters with the pilot in mind. Their selection of electric helicopters range from completely beginner to advanced, with big, powerful aerobatic performance, from ultra micro helicopters to micro helicopters and mini rc helicopters. Their logo is: “Blade – #1 By Design” and for good reason.
Coaxial Helicopters
The easiest to fly helicopters are going to be the “CX ” models, meaning CoaXial. They have counter-rotating blades that make it very stable so you don’t have to worry about pitch and rudder and are meant to fly indoors.
It hovers and flies level, no matter what you do to the controls. All you really have to worry about is flying too high, hitting the ceiling or flying into things, walls, furniture, etc. and decreasing the speed too fast and drop to the floor.
Fixed Pitch Blade RC Helicopters
The next level of helicopters are the “SR” models, or Single Rotor – Fixed Pitch. These do not have counter-rotating blades and fixed-pitch means you don’t have to worry about the pitch of the main rotor blades as you fly, as they are “fixed”, they don’t change pitch.
Note: the Blade SR is a single-rotor collective-pitch heli, but is designed for a smoother transition to collective-pitch.
Collective-Pitch Helicopters
Then there are the “CP” models, single rotor – Collective-Pitch. Here, you have throttle, main rotor blade pitch, left/right cyclic and forward and back cyclic, all going on at the same time.
Beginner RC Helicopters – Coaxial
The mCX Blade RC Helicopter is what made these ultra-micro coaxials so popular. It is the smaller version of the CX and CX2. The mCX comes set up from the factory, so the helicopter is trimmed correctly and ready to fly after unpackaging and charging the battery. It has a coaxial, counter-rotating head design that makes it stable and very easy to fly. It’s equipped with Spektrums 2.4 GHz DSM technology, all but eliminating any frequency restrictions.
The Blade Scout CX is a scale version of the mCX. Nothing changed but the scale looking body. It has the same beginner friendly flight characteristics as the mCX with the counter-rotating head design making it super stable.
The Blade mCX2 is an upgrade from the mCX and has all the easy-to-fly characteristics of the mCX with a whole lot more fun. The mCX2 has an additional setting on the swash plate that allows the pilot to fly at a somewhat “advanced” setting. There’s also a few upgrades available for the mCX2. Read More:
The Blade CX2 would be an upgrade from the mCX and mCX2 and has replaced the Blade CX. It has the same stability characteristics as the mCX’s but incorporates some features not found in the others. It’s almost twice as big, has an aluminum head, it’s even equipped with an over-current protection device with resettable fuse, 3-in-1 control unit, a 5-channel transmitter with Spektrums 2.4GHz DSM technology and AR6100e receiver.
The mQX is Blades first Quadricopter desingned for stability and aerobatics.The prop shafts are made from carbon fiber rod and are supported by ball bearings. The feet that the motors sit in double as the landing pads and eliminte the need for training gear. Read More
Intermediate RC Helicopters
The Blade mSRx, maybe the best intermediate rc helicopter, is an upgrade to the popular mSR with one major change, no flybar. It comes in an RTF version and a BNF version (you need a Tx). That means the inherent stability of a coaxial (counter-rotating rotor blades and flybar) are gone. If you’re considering going to a single-rotor, collective-pitch helicopter at some point and don’t have the experience to jump into a collective-pitch, then it’s definitely worth considering the mSRx. Read More:
The Blade 120 SR is modeled after the Blade mSR. The 120 SR is a hobby grade fixed-pitch heli that has become a popular upgrade for many micro rc helicopter pilots. The sub-micro-sized 120 SR is larger, faster, and more powerful, which makes it possible to fly outdoors (in very light wind) and also comes in the RTF and BNF versions. Included with the RTF is a 2.4GHz DSM2 transmitter and 1S 500 mAh Li-Po battery, a single-cell, variable rate Li-Po charger and an AC power supply. Read More:
The Blade SR is a single-rotor collective-pitch heli, able to fly indoors or out. This Blade Helicopter has a 21.8″ rotor span and a 3900 Kv motor, that also comes in an RTF (Ready-To-Fly) version and a BNF (Bind-N-Fly) version. For beginners flying this helicopter, it’s strongly suggested you invest in a flight simulator, able to give you the basics and flight characteristics of a collective-pitch heli. A good flight simulator to use with your own radio is the Phoenix RC Pro Simulator Version 4.0. The advantage of using your own radio will get you comfortable with the actaul controls when you fly your helicopter and your model already set up on your radio. For a good tip, read this Review.
The Blade SR UH-1 Huey Gunship is a Vietnam scale look of the Blade SR platform and the 6-channel HP6DSM 2.4GHz transmitter.
Advanced RC Helicopters
The Blade mCP X 2 is another single-rotor-collective pitch (CP) ultra-micro heli without the flybar. The mCP X will give learning pilots a more agile collective pitch helicopter that will give them the confidence to master indoor aerobatics. It has the AS3X digital flybarless system that controls cyclic response, making it possible to fly indoors in relatively small spaces. Available in RTF and BNF.
The Blade 450 3D is yet another superb model from the Blade Helicopter line of models. An improvement of the Blade 400, it has taken the best and newest technology and incorporated it into the Blade 450 3D.
The G210HL gyro uses the latest in MEMS technology to provide excellent holding power during aggressive 3D maneuvers. The AR6115E receiver provides the response of Spektrum’s new DSMX technology.
The new Blade 450X is out with even more performance and agility with the same platform as the 400 and 450. It comes as a BNF version only, so your own transmitter is required.
