TREX VS MX-400

[The Reaper]

Hey All
I am not quite ready for the CP power of these birds yet as I am still learning on G3 and my Hummingbird V4, but getting better everyday. I have been drooling over the TREX-450 and happened into a LHS (that I just discovered) and the guy there was pushing the MX400.

Any opinions? Also, he would give me a (as he put it) a good deal for virtually everything I need for $540 (including a Futaba 6CH). Would only be missing the charger/balancer. Add another $400 for the 9C.

First, is it comparable, better or not as good as the TREX? or are there others I should consider? Are these prices a good deal, or normal?
I know I may be able to get online deals, but then I would not get the support, which the LHS promised I would get. I figure the support is worth something to a newbie!

Thanx

[broncomech]

Which heli is better is a mater of personal preference/opinion.
The MX400 and Trex both have their strong and weak points but in the end which is better and which one suits your flying style the best is your call .
Check on line for price comparison to the dollar amounts the LHS has quoted you (better than what I paid) but don't forget to add shipping costs to the total.
As you mentioned local support is a major plus, wish the LHS I bought mine from supported it.
Check out GrandRC as they are close by and you can save shipping costs if you pick it up yourself. Check others as well as there are deals to be had many places as long as you don't forget to add the shipping to your total for comparison.

I fly a MX400pro but it has a few TRex450XL parts on it, you can have the best of both and still only own one heli. :wink:

[steve28]

the T-REX is a better heli , the T-REX SE is the one you want , or if your on a budget get the T-REX 450 SA from horizon hobby its the SE , but with aluminum frames , you want to get 120 degree CCPM swashplate design not single servo pitch wich the MX400 is , the MX450 XS is a good choice too but its close in price to the T-REX SE so your better off spending a little more to get the SE ( better quality kit ) . The T-REX SE is around 500 , the mx450 XS is around 400 , the T-REX SA is 199 , The MX400 PRO is worth around 150 i think , but it might be more ( over priced ) .

check out the T-REX SA it has some plastic in it with Al frames AL swash long boom
The T-REX SE is all aluminum with CF frames ( very crash proof ) long boom .
The Mx400 is Aluminum frames and plastic head Al swash Al tail case short boom .
The MX450 XS has Al frames 120 deg Al swash and head , CF boom AL tail case , long boom .

GET THE T-REX SA !!!

[The Reaper]

OK. So TREX it is......

Thanx guys.....

[kgfly]

<soapbox>
If you have not bought your radio yet you might want to look into the new 2.4GHz spread spectrum technology. I am a big fan of 2.4G R/C. It is ideally suited to a 400/450 size eHeli and has lots of advantages over tradition FM (PPM/PCM) radios including far higher noise/interference/glitch rejection, no channel conflicts/frequency management, immunity to shoot downs and more. Horizon/Spektrum have the DX6 but even better, will be announcing their DX7 next week and that's looking to be a very nice radio and a worthwhile step above the entry level 6ch Txs. At the high end you could get a modular Tx like a 9C or JR9303 without Tx module or Rx and in a month or so you should be able to get a 2.4G solution (module and rx) from these guys: http://www.xtremepowersystems.net/
</soapbox>

[Helder22]

You can get the MX450 at tower for 269 if you use the coupon. Its a lot of bling for that kinda money too. I loved it.

Originally Posted by steve28

The T-REX SE is around 500 , the mx450 XS is around 400 ,

[steve28]

dont forget , 269 for the mx450 is without motor and esc or anything else , i was comparing the price of the T-rex SE kit with motor and ESC , to the mx450 kit + motor and ESC it was approximate

[Squirrlybird]

Trex SE!

They are both good, but the Trex SE is better.

I fly an X400/Trex frankincopter. I wish it was all Trex . If for any reason you get the X450, be sure to fix the swash.

[Raven_darkcloud]

Hay I like My tmix400. :twisted: The mx/x400 ark is ment as a more stable heli and is suted for learning. A trex can be tamed down but is more suited for people who eat, sleep, live 3d. The trex se as the ultimate. The kinda new 450 sa is an alumi side frame if you want alumi and ccpm. Also for slightly more then the se you can get the 600. its varry stable and can stomp the crap out of 90 size nitros with just some minor tweaking. What it comes down to is the bigger it is the more stable it is and therefore easyer to learn on. but DONT make your first large bird a 90 size, as that too much power.

[StatiC]

This is all my personal opinion from my experience going from an mx400pro to eventually getting a trex 450se v2 as a second heli.

The mx400 is much more stable than the trex with weights The trex is much more responsive with cyclic and has more functional upgrade parts available from the manufacturer and third parties. It seems to me that Align is making an effort to improve things on the trex where helimax is kinda sitting on the basic design. For an example I had a tail blade thrown on the mx400pro as soon as I installed carbon tail blades. The aluminum hub(housing in mx terms) is aluminum and snapped at the root. Trex has changed their design to use a steel hub for that reason where the mx450xs still has aluminum. Trex also has official slow down gears to make the tail slower too. I was running at 2550 RPM and yes I am not 100% sure that the hub was not stressed before the flight but it is real difficult to tell and it flew fine 10 flights before that with the default plastic tail blades. It just makes sense to make important parts like that out of steel. If that blade were to have hit someone it would have been bad.

The mx400pro/mx450xs is a very good stable heli for learning on and I am glad I got it over the trex for learning because it is extremely stable in the wind. I plan to still fly the mx400pro on windy days.. Going by my experience though you will end up putting trex parts on the mx400 so I personally would plan to eventually upgrade to a trex. There is a lot more third party support for it.

Competition is a good thing and hopefully HeliMax/Ark will step up to the plate and start improving more of the mx400/mx450 design instead of just releasing a longer boom and aluminum parts.

[StatiC]

As for the recommendation to get a Spektrum DX6 controller I would also highly recommend it. I fly out back of my house with several 2.4ghz wireless gateways around and 2.4ghz phones and never had a lockout during flight. With the DX6 you never have to worry about your next door neighbor (or someone at the field) turning on thier transmitter and taking down your heli that you just spent a bunch of money on.

[raknin]

If you go with the following configuration basic mx400 and upgrade it immediatly to CCPM with fixing all the weeknes with:

LXMRF4 Heli-Max Center Hub Aluminum w/Bearings MX400 MX450 22$
LXLYC7 Heli-Max Aluminum Seesaw Short MX400 16$
LXLBR9 Heli-Max Aluminum Tail Case Set MX400 42$
LXLBS0 Heli-Max CCPM Upgrade Kit MX400 46$
LXKXU8 Heli-Max MX400 EP ARF 100$

You are ending up with: 226$

Minus the 20$ with the coupon and free shipping you will end up with 206$. With something thats look good, very close to the MX450.

On the other side almost with the same price you have the TREX 450SA 200$. I think now you can compare, and I think that in the upgraded MX400 you will have also 80 Aluminum Tail rotor and Head that in the SA it is cover completley.

[hfgencollon]

Basically, the ccpm upgrade kit just rearranges the servos to ccpm format, where all three interact simultaneously to move the swash.

I would like to know why you are recommending it so highly, and if I should get one.
I know CCPM is more direct, and will make the cyclic and collective respond faster, but does ccpm enable further swash travel?

I guess I am asking the advantages besides less slop and slightly quicker response.

[raknin]

Originally Posted by hfgencollon

Basically, the ccpm upgrade kit just rearranges the servos to ccpm format, where all three interact simultaneously to move the swash.

I would like to know why you are recommending it so highly, and if I should get one.
I know CCPM is more direct, and will make the cyclic and collective respond faster, but does ccpm enable further swash travel?

I guess I am asking the advantages besides less slop and slightly quicker response.

It is up to you, the 120 ccpm give more precision less binding meaning less problems. Look the mx450 and other high end Glow Heli most of them use the 120 CCPM.

[hfgencollon]

Right... my trex 600 uses ccpm, but if one servo goes out on a ccpm bird, there is less chance of saving the heli
-yes I know the chance of saving it is still almost zero, but any chance is better than none, and if you take the time to set up the standard setup (they are calling it eccpm, right?) so that it is nearly slop free, and moves freely (this should just take careful assembly and possibly some sanding) then I don't see why it would be any worse than the ccpm.
-i assumed that you meant binding in the links and not servo interaction type binding

[kenpsych]

Honestly, I love both Heli's. I'd go with the one that has the "best local" support. It would have bben nice to have a LHS with spare parts and someone with know-how to get some help. This is nice, especially as a new heli pilot. The online community is great but it's so much better having "live" help!

[Helder22]

MX450xs is now 229 with the coupon at tower. hard to beat

[fedex]

Originally Posted by HeliDan

Hey All
I am not quite ready for the CP power of these birds yet as I am still learning on G3 and my Hummingbird V4, but getting better everyday. I have been drooling over the TREX-450 and happened into a LHS (that I just discovered) and the guy there was pushing the MX400.

Any opinions? Also, he would give me a (as he put it) a good deal for virtually everything I need for $540 (including a Futaba 6CH). Would only be missing the charger/balancer. Add another $400 for the 9C.

First, is it comparable, better or not as good as the TREX? or are there others I should consider? Are these prices a good deal, or normal?
I know I may be able to get online deals, but then I would not get the support, which the LHS promised I would get. I figure the support is worth something to a newbie!

Thanx

If I had it to do over again, I'd buy the dragonous, go read about some of its reviews. It beats the Trex and MX400 hands down. It can suit anyones flying preferences or style of flying depending on the way you set it up.

540$ for that mx400 setup? depends, what kind of electronics is he giving you? Some crappy electronics is what it sounds like to me. Do yourself a favor and only put quality electronics on whatever you buy. GY240 or better, Good servos, good rx, esc, and a couple of 1800-2200 mah packs, can't just fly on one. Either way you wind up spending at the least 800 - 900$ or even more on everything you need, including a good charger & balancer.

Just ask yourself a couple of questions. Do I want to build a heli then wind up replacing electronics in the future costing me even more money? Which frame is going to be easiest to rebuild? which flys best? lightweight ? Which frame will be strongest? How much are most of the spare parts? How available are they? GL on whatever you choose