500 size heli

[JCLs]

I don't get concerns about belts. Belts stretch very little and use teeth for meshing so a little stretch doesn't matter. I converted my old Align 550 to belt drive after seeing little bitty things like cutting a little grass strip out a gear on torque tube. Did some serious looking then went belt and also got a Compass 7HV and a Warp all belt drive. Warp is almost a 500 also.


KG5BBF AMA#954079

[jmtyndall]

Exactly. Belts break less in a crash and are quite reliable. When brand new sometimes you have to retension after the first 5 flights. After that I've never had to adjust it.

Plus in a crash, you only kill the boom and tail shaft. With my tt helis I strip the front tt gears, the auto gear, the tt breaks, the boom, usually the rear gears too if you go in hard enough.

[Longhornfan]

I like the main aluminum support on the goblin and the way the servos mount on the align. Belts are quiter but you guys are right, Align is cheaper to start and fix in a crash. But I think the goblin is more durable in a crash.

[markxp51]

After seeing 700 size heli's go down from gear driven tail failures I don't think I will ever build a non belted heli. I am seriously not interested in losing a 2,000 plus dollar bird because of a 2.99 part.

[jmtyndall]

Well usually tail gears are like 12.99 :p

[Longhornfan]

still not worth a $2,000+ bird so Im going with a goblin.

[SumOFparts]

Cant go wrong there - I think I'm gonna get a G570 this spring -

figure the higher crash costs will be offset by being able to see it higher and futher than most other helis....

That front great in all the align tail boom mounts is a pain in the as to change out on every tail tap....

[Danny Dugger]

Synergy E5. One of the most versatile helicopters on the market. Tough helis with a fantastic torque tube design and can be flown 6s or 12s with 556, 606, or 626mm main blades. Adjustable tail speed ratios too, pick your poison. All gears... even the bevel gears in the tail are precision cnc cut delrin. No molded stuff here and no runout problems. Synergy helis are top quality machines and fly freaking awesome.

[Longhornfan]

What are some good servos to use for cyclic other than jr.

[Danny Dugger]

MKS, Torq, BK, Futaba
I love MKS personally

[Danny Dugger]

FWIW Synergy TT bevel gears are very strong. You'll have to do a lot more than "cut grass" to damage them, and I've never seen them fail in flight unless someone stabs the tail rotor on the ground. I've had a few tail-ground incidents and never had to replace a bevel gear. The big mod 1.25 auto gear always went first. They're not indestructible, I'm just saying it's a really strong design. Autorotation performance is better with torque tubes than belt helis I've flown. Buy what you like! There are so many great helis to choose from these days it's awesome, and everyone has their reasons to love what they fly. I will say I've flown a good number of different helicopters and and aside from Synergy helis flying extremely well, the level of quality, support, friendliness, and commitment to customer satisfaction I've experienced from Matt Botos and Team Synergy has been second to none.

[Gladius]

Originally Posted by SumOFparts

That's not a fair comparison

Sure it is. The guy has enough money to buy a new 425-520 size heli, and those are the ones he's interested in. Now he just needs to decide which features of each are more important to him.

I personally would not write off the belt driven tail either, but when I got my 500 I also had to get a heli with a TT, because I had never had a TT before, and wanted to see what I thought of it.

[lineus]

I've always been partial to belts. I've had maybe two issues ever, so I trust this system a lot.

I recently started building a 500 Dominator, and the thought a of a tail failure in flight make my stomach turn. This is only my 2nd TT heli (got a 180CFX at release). I'm really hopeful it takes more than cutting a bit of grass to break the tail on this thing.

For comparison, my other larger helis are 2 Raptor 50 Titans and an align 450 that started life as an SA and is a SEv1/v2 now. Tough, belt-driven birds :-)

Seems like TT is popular enough though....is it really that fragile? Hoping I didn't chose poorly when I picked this 500!

[Longhornfan]

Originally Posted by Gladius

Sure it is. The guy has enough money to buy a new 425-520 size heli, and those are the ones he's interested in. Now he just needs to decide which features of each are more important to him.

I personally would not write off the belt driven tail either, but when I got my 500 I also had to get a heli with a TT, because I had never had a TT before, and wanted to see what I thought of it.

I'm not writing off a belt driven heli nor am I writing off a tt heli. True 500 or not, I'm looking for the company that has the most support and cares about the average flier and not just their pro fliers. Sab Goblin looks the best to me.

[Mr. Rmz]

Originally Posted by Longhornfan

I'm not writing off a belt driven heli nor am I writing off a tt heli. True 500 or not, I'm looking for the company that has the most support and cares about the average flier and not just their pro fliers. Sab Goblin looks the best to me.

I thought about a Goblin 500, it's just too expensive for me to justify crashing. I'm gonna stick with Align as they get the job done and parts support is second to none. They aren't very fancy and everybody's got one, but i see that as a good thing when looking for spares and info.

[Ron_R]

Originally Posted by Mr. Rmz

I'm gonna stick with Align as they get the job done and parts support is second to none. They aren't very fancy and everybody's got one, but i see that as a good thing when looking for spares and info.

Goblin parts can be found anywhere. Have you ever tried to contact Align? I have and NEVER got a response. I e-mailed SAB and one of their reps got back with me less than 24 hours later. That's pretty good CS as far as I'm concerned.

The one issue with Align, too, is their constant turnover of new models. Sometimes this means that parts for older models are hard to find. I smashed the Main Blade Grips on my 500e. Even though this is a model that is a few years old, the grips aren't available anymore and I'd have to upgrade to metal grips. I can't seem to find a genuine Feathering Shaft for my model, either. So either buy a clone version or upgrade the head. I love Align products, but nothing is perfect.

[Longhornfan]

I agree with Ron_R. Id rather spend a little more for good cs then go cheap and have hardly any cs. I can tel Sab Goblin is a good company by the amount of youtube videos they make and what they say on their website.

[jmtyndall]

Longhorn is this your first heli?

My experience with align cs is the opposite. Quite good. I just call Tim Terrones whenever I have an issue and they hook me up

[Longhornfan]

No not my first heli. I had a Thunder Tiger Raptor 30V2 that was stolen from me. I had it for about 2 weeks. Its been years since I put my fingers on a pair of sticks. I have raced 1/8 scale off road, 1/10 sedan and 1/12 scale. I want to fly again and get my wings back. I did fly planes for awhile but my trainer moved and I never learned to land.

[SumOFparts]

You know there is Thunder Tiger E550 FBL ARF -

with coupon or on sale I've seen them sell complete $550~600 range -

https://vortexhobbies.com/thunder-ti...FcxcMgod5jkAmg

-

A little late - but going price -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thunder-Tige...item43d3ab17d0