What to buy?
Back to Main Page	1. Advantage to 30 2. Advantage to 50 3. Advantage to 60 4. Prices of 30 and equipment 5. Prices of 50 and equipment 6. Prices of 60 and equipment
Advantages of the Rapter 30	1. Lower fuel consumption. 2. Low cost on Blades - both wood and carbon versions. 3. Does not require high cost servos. 4. Belt drive survives almost all crashes, another cost savings. The 30 is good for those who are just learning to fly helicopters or a pilot that can do some aerobatics and wants a low cost machine to advance to the 3D level. The initial cost is low, fuel cost is less, and most importantly crash repairs are easy and low cost. For the new pilots another benefit is that this helicopter is less picky about putting together and maintaining and balancing. The downside is that it does not have enough power for some maneuvers. The TT 39 engine will give plenty of power for any 3D, but the OS 32 is a bit on the weak side. Even with the increased power you still won't have the auto performance of the 50 or larger helicopters and the wind will push the heli around more then the larger helis. The extra 50mm on the blades make a lot of difference here. Now this is not to say that the 30 does not auto good and not stable in the wind. It does fine with autos and as for the wind, the first time I ever flew a Raptor 30 was on a windy day at a fun fly and I was impressed with how stable it was for a 30 size helicopter.
Advantages of the Rapter 50	1. Little more fuel consumption then the 30 but a lot less then the 60/80/90. Note: The OS 50SX-H uses more fuel then the TT50. I have found with the TT50 that I get the same amount of fuel consumption as with my TT36 and Leo 37 (roughly 0.92 oz per minute). 2. Same low cost on wood blades and a little more for the fiberglass and carbon versions. 3. Does not require high cost servos, but I would recommend servos with more then 50 oz torque. 4. Belt drive survives almost all crashes, another cost savings. 5. Crash cost is the same as the 30 when using wood blades. 6. Great for autos! The 50 is good for those who are just learning to fly or learning 3D flying. The 50 size engine has the power to get you out of mistakes. The larger blades also give a smoother flight characteristic. Autos are also better then the 30 class.
Advantages of the Raptor 60	1. Power 2. Autos 3. Smooth flying 4. Wind has less effect on it. Power and autos! If you are at the stage where you are trying to learn some of the 3D moves that require tons of power, like hard tic-tocs and tail down power take-offs, then it's time for the 60. Also autos are much better then a 30 and about the same as a 50. Stability and forward flight are better. The wind does not bother the 60 near as much. Just be ready to spend some money, a 60 size kit, engine, and a good set of blades is going to cost. Crash cost is much better then other brand 60's but more then the Raptor 30/50.

What brand heli should you buy? Most of the helis on the market today are all good. With any helicopter the good experience you have is almost entirely proportional to how well the helicopter is built and setup. That is why it is so important for people starting out to get help from someone that understands how to best set one up for the flight level you are at. I see this all the time, but just as an example we will use the one from last weekend. It was a JR Venture and it was in need of a little help. The guy was having problems with the helicopter not lifting off the ground. This heli has eCCPM and I found that two of the servos were hooked up in the wrong positions. After getting this straight (it was causing the top end pitch to unexpectedly change) then I did my normal setup for throttle curve and pitch curve. I flew it and got the blades in track then set the tail to feel nice. After a half of tank of adjusting I handed the controls to the guy and after he flew one circuit he kept saying this helicopter has never flown like that before :) That did make me feel good and is the reason I help others :) Anyway the point is no matter what helicopter it is, how well they fly is dependent more on how well they are assembled and setup. For me the determining differences between one helicopter versus the other are in how easy they are to work on, how easy it is to get parts, price of parts, and price of kit. And if you have other heli pilots in your area that you plan on getting help from then you should get something they have experience with. Talk to them about the helicopter you are looking at to purchase and make sure they can help you with it.

There are many combinations, different radios, gyros, engines, mufflers, but here are a few with current prices. I encourage you to look around and check for best price or combination of equipment you want. Some people insist on an 8 or more channel radio so you might want to look at the Futaba 9C or JR 9303. I have been using the Airtronics RD6000 and RD8000 and really like them. Very easy to program (the easiest of all of them) and a well thought out design. One less known feature I like is if you accidently leave the power on after you get through flying, the radio will beep and display a warning letting you know it has been on with no activity. I think this happens after ten minutes but not sure of the exact time. Also the digital trims for hovering throttle not only move the middle point but also move the 1/4 and 3/4 points (nice!!!) BTW: The RD8000 has 8 channels and a switch just for the gyro and all this for the same price that the RD6000 was selling for.

Of the various size helicopters I really recommend a 50 size. Specifically I think the Raptor 50v2 is the best bang for the buck. Here in the U.S. the 50 is only $100 more then the 30 and for the price difference you get both a set of wooden blades and TT carbon fiber blades. You also get a good single piece aluminum muffler, metal swashplate, and header tank. The 50 size has more stability then the 30's and autos much better.

Electrics - currently I do not recommend going electric if you are just starting out in the hobby. I like the electrics and think that one day they may dominate the flying fields when micro fuel cells come along. However at this time the main issue is that you have such a long recharge time. When you are starting out you really need to be able to do at least three flights each time you go out to fly. The first couple you are nervous. It is not until the third tank that you feel relaxed enough to really concentrate on advancing your skills. So for every flight past two you will see improvement. With electric this makes it hard to go out and get in eight or ten flights in a day.

Click <here> for stores to buy from.