Am I losing it?

[pmerritt]

Originally Posted by Euwan

I liked the first part of this video but after a while it felt like a subliminal message that we should buy walkera helis or mcpx. Finless has the following that people will buy what he backs, it made me question if this video is indeed just ramblings or a well thought out marketing plan by walkera, just take a look at this post alone and think about how many people will be now looking up walkera helis.

I have never questioned your motivations for doing Videos as you have helped me greatly Finless but I question your motivation for doing this video. Your still the best though lol.

You kinda missed his point then, he was saying simply the the mcpx and genius blur the lines of what is traditionally acceptable in the heli world and the they are fun little heli's....fun enough to possibly make you drop your big birds for awhile. There is something to be said about a heli you can crash over and over without having to replace 50.00 in parts.

Also, he is saying that people should be flying for fun not for kudos about your high dollar heli items. I, for one, got told my transmitter was a toy because it's a Walkera but it has more functions than a DX6i that many people use today. It's just because it's not Spektrum, JR, or Futaba. I don't give a damn what anyone says because it flies all my birds just how i need it to for my level of flying.

Do you have either one of these little gems? If you haven't flown either one of them then you won't get it.

i REALLY don't think he spends all this time just trying to push people into a certain camp he seems to be genuinely enthusiastic about this hobby as a whole and simply wants more people to be educated about it so that they can enjoy it too.

sorry for long post peeps

[DVUSHELI]

I don't know WHO ragged on Bob about getting free helis and that's why he does the videos, but that person needs to be slapped!!!! For all the information this man has provided all of us, spending HIS own personal free time to do build vids, responding to personal emails to people he may not know at all, like myself..thanks again Bob, and just basically loving this hobby to his fullest, HELL YEA he deserves to get free stuff for the amount of "charitable" contributions he's given us!!!! He could've been a selfish A-hole and posted his vids and made us all pay for them or join his personal website and become members or some shit like that!!!!
I dunno about all of you, but I'm certainly greatful

Thanks Bob

[Euwan]

Originally Posted by pmerritt

You kinda missed his point then, he was saying simply the the mcpx and genius blur the lines of what is traditionally acceptable in the heli world and the they are fun little heli's....fun enough to possibly make you drop your big birds for awhile. There is something to be said about a heli you can crash over and over without having to replace 50.00 in parts.

Also, he is saying that people should be flying for fun not for kudos about your high dollar heli items. I, for one, got told my transmitter was a toy because it's a Walkera but it has more functions than a DX6i that many people use today. It's just because it's not Spektrum, JR, or Futaba. I don't give a damn what anyone says because it flies all my birds just how i need it to for my level of flying.

Do you have either one of these little gems? If you haven't flown either one of them then you won't get it.

i REALLY don't think he spends all this time just trying to push people into a certain camp he seems to be genuinely enthusiastic about this hobby as a whole and simply wants more people to be educated about it so that they can enjoy it too.

sorry for long post peeps

I understand what you are saying and no I dnt have one but I have flown mini helicopters. I understood what Bob was saying also and agree. I will leave the argument as just this as Bob has done great work for this community and is someone who I look up to and respect

[carpo]

I LIKE VERY MUCH WAHT U SAY ABOUT BIG HELIS .....I OWN A TREX 600N SPORT THE ONE WITH WHITE FIBER GLASS FRAMES AND PLASTIC GRIPS ..I HAVE CRASH 2 TIMES IN 5 YEAR ...AND A 450 PRO ..WITH SCORPION 6 ON IT ...
I LOVE MY 2 HELIS ..AND I FLY WHAT I CAN PAY IF A TRASH IT ....I CAN PAY THE PARTS ..I CAN BUY A 700N OR 700 E SHURE ..MY SKILLS ARE THAT GREAT ..I DONT THINK SO ...SO I LEARN WITH I HAVE ...
IN THE PASS I HAVE BUY MANY WALKERA HELIS ..AND I STOP BUYING HELIS FROM THEM CAUSE THERE WHERE NOT THAT GOOD ...IF U SAY TO ME THAT HIS HELIS ARE GETTING BETTER I HAVE TO GIVE THIS GUYS A LOOK AGAIN ..BUT IN THE PASS WALKERA WAS A BIG PAIN TO MAKE IT FUN TO FLY ....

THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH WALKERA WAS NOT FUNY TO FLY CAUSE U HAVE TO WORK TO MUCH ON IT...
ON THE OTHER SIDE ...NINE EAGLES THE FIX PICH THE LITTLE ONE I LOVE THE SMALL THING GIVE ME THE THING THAT WALKERA DID NOT GIVE ME ON THE PASS ..I HAVE LEAR TO DO FUNNELS WITH THIS SMALL FIX PICH HELI ...
NOW I HAVE TO GIVE A LOOK AGAIN TO WAKLERA IF U SAY SO ...

[Patriot996]

I don't think Bob is losing IT, because he never had IT. I'm not even sure I know what IT is that we are discussing. I just think IT is a way to encourage fun. I think IT helps if we all understand IT.

[ncostes]

Originally Posted by Euwan

I understand what you are saying and no I dnt have one but I have flown mini helicopters. I understood what Bob was saying also and agree. I will leave the argument as just this as Bob has done great work for this community and is someone who I look up to and respect

The MCPX and Genius are unique. You may have flown "mini" helicopters, not sure what that category is, but unless you have tried these sub-micro flybarless collective pitch 3d-capable wonders, you won't get it. The fact that they can do what your big bird does and yet when you crash, it's not the end of the day, you don't have to hit the bench and start fixing, that's so good. And the fact that you can fly them in your yard...means you can grab some stick time anytime.

[marty_one]

This video should be a real eye opener to a lot of people because like Bob has said in the video a lot of the cheaper helis like walkera are slowly maturing. Look at how things went for companies like align in the past. When their 450's came out they were all that great but look at them now and walkera are no different in this instance.

But there will always be those kinds of people who see themselves as elitest and will always try and put down any heli brand that they are not flying. Sadly this fact will almost never change. Bob im glad that your putting it out there and its great to see you looking at and reviewing helicopters that so many people are buying now because they are in the price range of your average person.

[Chigoe]

Less than two months ago I picked up a Blade 120SR.
Absolutly 0% RC flight of any kind before.
Day one...spin around on a record album to figure out the tail.
Day two....lift inches off the deck a few times.
Day three...first hover
day four ...buy six hyperion 550 and charger adapter and SIM and DX6i
Day Five....fly a whole 8minute battery out.
Day ten.....fly very poor figure 8
Continue 90 minutes a day flight time (2 charges x 6 batts...sometimes three)
Week two ...better figure eights....eyeball bigger chopper
Week three...Buy Gaui 425
Week four...find myself 400 miles away at the HeliFreak FunFly!!!!!
and getting introduced by FinlessBob to Pro pilots!
Week five... pathetic figure eights with Gaui, move to nose in hover on 120SR
Week six....work on FFF with 120SR
Week eight...nice eights with Gaui now.

Invested in Blade= kit, three sets blades, two tail motors, TREX250 skids with three bigger crashes.
Invested in Gaui=over eight hundred bills for build (Scorpion, Futaba, Hyperion, Castle)
and ZERO in repair parts.(yet...knock on wood blades)

That 120 Micro copter saved me a ton of cash in repairs on the big one , gave me confidence to push and learn, and is frankly fun to fly. As it doesnt do 3D, Ill soon go past its limits for training, but it got me through lift-off, hover, orientations, nose-in, and some free flight work.

Cost of Micro...$200
Cost of 425.....$800
Value of Micro training...priceless

[littlechop550]

Bob i have to say i agree with you..I have tons of hellis. Trex 550 and 700. and a boat load of others from x heli and such..I due fly my 700 like a glass slipper. The 550 maybee i beat on it more. But the smaller helis you cant due as much with. But i agree...
http://video.helifreak.com/?subpath=...=ramblings.wmv

Bob[/QUOTE]

[WillJames]

Originally Posted by DVUSHELI

I don't know WHO ragged on Bob about getting free helis and that's why he does the videos, but that person needs to be slapped!!!! For all the information this man has provided all of us, spending HIS own personal free time to do build vids, responding to personal emails to people he may not know at all, like myself..thanks again Bob, and just basically loving this hobby to his fullest, HELL YEA he deserves to get free stuff for the amount of "charitable" contributions he's given us!!!! He could've been a selfish A-hole and posted his vids and made us all pay for them or join his personal website and become members or some shit like that!!!!
I dunno about all of you, but I'm certainly greatful

Thanks Bob

I can assure you that more than half of what Bob has built was paid for by Bob or myself over the years. Together we have spent many thousands of dollars out of pocket procuring everything it takes to do the build videos and to purchase and maintain the video equipment. I have also traded many thousands worth of advertising here on HF as well. That is not including the HUGE amount of bandwidth server maintenance drives, etc. We have two dedicated media servers to keep up with the load and two dedicated backup servers to make sure we have good backups. Bob is up to over 200G of videos live on our servers right now. The guy is a machine for sure. Personally I think he lost it years ago when he kept saying that as soon as someone comes out with a micro that flys great, they will sell millions of them. You were right Bob!

[guyincognito]

Geez Bob - even your rants get a crazy number of responses. I'm lucky if I get 5 for any of my posts. Did you ever see the movie Jerry McGuire?

It's like your a guru or something. Any way I'm absolutely sure I wouldn't have stuck it out and been successful with helis at my age (50+) if it wasn't for your videos - Kudos

It seems like your being worked to death at work - you are such an amazing teacher have you ever thought about teaching full time.(I've been teaching for 25 years - best decision i ever made)

As for RC - long ago I took on the moto - if it makes you cry when you crash you probably shouldn't be flying whatever made you cry - cause you're gonna crash. Fly something that you can fly,fly,fly. I see it all the time at my club. No one flys anymore.

I have by far the most fun and reward flying my old beater TREX450.

Good luck. ( you would make an amazing teacher - go for the college level )

[WNCmotard]

Excellent video (as usual), and it really nailed me down good. I've quit CP helis on two separate occasions due to the glass slipper effect. I was just so consumed by not really the cost (as I've stuck to birds within my crash budget), but the time it took to properly set up a CP heli to get it to fly nice. I have the Phoenix sim, but let's face it, there is no fear in the sim because crashes are free; both in cost, and setup time. But, the Blade MSR lured me back in. I beat on that thing for 18 months, and broke one landing gear, that's it. So when the mCP X came out, I just had to have one. I waited six months after launch due to past E Flite parts support issues, and I"ve now had it about a month or so. I cut the MCP no slack at all, if I can do it in the sim consistently I will try it in the air with the MCP. Once I got the issues of the MCP fixed (tail blowout and lack of power), I have learned more in a month than I did with all the time spent on CP helis previously combined, simply because there is no glass slipper effect. And you know what, I flew it right off the bat in upright orientation without any issues. It was fear holding me back all that time, and that was it. It's a beater, a real life sim, and IMHO an invaluable training tool. Even if I completely lawn dart the MCP, the most expensive part is the $70 3 in 1 board, and that's one good crash with a 450 and up. I love my MCP, and for as long as they're produced, I'll own one.

But, there is a downside for me. The MCP tempts me to do silly things instead of work on my actual flying. In other words, there's times I need to work on flying circuits and orientation, but I'd rather hover inverted for a while.

[Evercopter4]

Good vid.............yup, walkera is what started me off! My first heli was a green Exceed-RC (walkera) Classima 300 and I loved that non-wind tolerating 4ch heli! The only ofther heli I had ever flown was a micro Syma s107 indoors. The classima was so much fun I would giggle like a little kid, I am 46 years old.
I have been flying for about a year and have 2-450s' that I am still working on but what I fly for now while I'm in training is 2- Walkera V400D02s' that I'm trying to get my Walkera 2801 Pro Tx to work with. The 2801 tx manual leaves MUCH to be desired! Any vids on the WK-2801 Pro tx??

Thanks Finless for ALL the Vids!! Still watching and learning. I have learned more from your tech room than everywhere else put together!

[krobinson103]

Walkera V400D02

Standard mods? Servos and pehaps brushless motor?

But, there is a downside for me. The MCP tempts me to do silly things instead of work on my actual flying. In other words, there's times I need to work on flying circuits and orientation, but I'd rather hover inverted for a while.

Thats when you pull out the larger bird so the glass slipper effect takes over and you don't want to do more than fly circuits and practice orientation.

[Evercopter4]

I am sorry, I'm new to this forum stuff. Not sure what quote means, but I have only modified the tail by custom building a ladder to reinforce. The servos are borrowed rom the Exceed-RC Eag;e 50 because the stock ones are too expensive. Everything else is stock.
I reall need help trying to figure out the WK-2801 TX.

Thanks!

[aramb]

Great video, Bob. I agree with everything you say. I fly the 700 and 450 like glass slippers! Since getting teh mcpx, I don't have fear of trying new things and building my skillset which then transfers nicely (and easily) to the larger helis.

Keep up the great work!!!

[maverickk]

Bob, your message is right on - we are all in this to have fun. There does seem like a paradigm shift, as larger helis just flew better and that’s why a lot of us gravitated to them, but they also had a huge downside in cost, time and safety. It is great seeing the strides that are made on these smaller helis, so we have all the upsides on performance, but none of the downsides.

I too really enjoy working with companies who are OPEN to feedback and want to make their product the best - it is fun and satisfying being a part of it.

I have also benefitted immensely from you videos saving tons of $$$ and time when first learning about helis by watching them over and over and over again until I got it.

Keep up the good work!

[PauloG]

Bob,

Great video! Your message is right on!

I've been flying Blade for a long time and was just recently that I started going to the airfield. I hear so much "crap" about, buy a real heli, you will be better off, and this and that... I have soo much fun flying what I have that I look at them and say "What are you saying?" and I really don't need a lot more than this right now. I'm having soo much fun with it. Even if the other brands are really better, I don't need that extra edge. I'm still learning...

Anyway... we hear you, you got it... and keep on doing the great videos you produce.

Thank you so much!

[John Q]

I,m with you on this Bob. I was thinking of this a couple of months ago when i got my MCP X. and now Walkera comes up with its micro and now you give us your side. I fly my MCPX and the my 700. i go back and forth all day. Maybe you seen me do this week-end after week-end and i inspired you...LOL

[krobinson103]

am sorry, I'm new to this forum stuff. Not sure what quote means, but I have only modified the tail by custom building a ladder to reinforce. The servos are borrowed rom the Exceed-RC Eag;e 50 because the stock ones are too expensive. Everything else is stock.
I reall need help trying to figure out the WK-2801 TX.

Thanks!

Take yourself over to the Walkera forum. There are plenty of people who know how to program them.