On March 8, 2007, I purchased my first radio controlled helicopter. My first bird was the Helimax Axe EZ, which is a coax heli with two counter-rotating blades that offers superior stability and is perfect for a beginner. The primary limitation of this heli is the fact that it can only be flown indoors or outdoors in very calm winds.
What I have I learned in the process of purchasing and mastering this heli.
For a beginner, having never even touched anything truly R/C, I decided to go with a 4-channel co-axial helis. Note that '4-channel' means that the heli has 4 sets of controls - throttle, orientation (yaw), left/right, forward/backward - and co-axial means that there are two counter-rotating main rotors and no tail rotor. The upper blade counteracts the torque induced by the lower blade keeping the heli stable. Changes in the orientation or direction of the heli are then effected by varying the relative rotation rates of the two blades.
In the case of 4-channel coax helis, there are many possible choices on the market. Two of the leading contenders are the e-Flite Blade CX-2 and the Helimax Axe EZ. These two were the leading contenders for me because my Local Hobby Shop (LHS) carries spare parts for them. This is a very important consideration given the fact that crashing and breaking parts are to be expected with these birds especially for a beginner.
I was getting pretty good with the Axe EZ and figured I could handle any electric R/C heli of similar size, so I decided to get something with room to grow - a lot! I purchased the e-Flite Blade CP Pro on April 6th. This heli is 3D-flight capable right out of the box and comes with a LiPo battery. What a big mistake! After trying unsuccessfully to get it off the ground into a stable hover several times and breaking a few blades, I decided it was time to take a step backward.
I wanted something more challenging than the Axe EZ but somewhat more tractable than the CP Pro for my next bird, so I did some reading and asking questions on the electric helicopter forums at http://www.rcuniverse.com. I decided on a fixed pitch heli with a LiPo battery, and the eSky Honey Bee Mark 3 was the best choice. Hobby-Lobby had them on sale so I purchased one on May 14th with a bunch of spare parts.
After flying the Honey Bee just about every day for about 2 weeks and practicing occasionally on a flight simulator - I chose the ClearView flight sim for its affordability and realism equipped with a SIM Blaster interface cable for my Honey Bee transmitter- I was able to consistently keep the Honey Bee in a stable hover. Soon after that, I was also able to fly forward and backward without difficulty.
On June 17th, I decided to try my hand at hovering the Blade CP Pro, which had been back in its box for the past 2 months. Success! I was able to keep this bird consistently hovering and stable. I went through 2 batteries and was ready for more!