best upgrade route from mcpx

[carbon11]

So I have been flying the living bejesus out of my mcpx love this little heli able to do circuits piros and some mild 3D flight. Now the big question is at hand what do I get into as my next bird? I was looking at a lot of different options I don't know that I have enough money to get vested in an align helicopter yet, common tax return! Found a lot of posts on some align clones like the HK450 GT full alloy that some people have suggested as a step up trainer/ beater heli, I would also like to do an actual build to familiarize my self with the inner workings of the higer end machines. Then the blade 130x fbl comes out. Looks like a nice little fully assembled bnf package a lot smaller potentially a lot less intimidating and ready to fly but $100 bucks more. So any advice or words of wisdom would be much appreciated!!

[wocka_wocka]

Well, I'm loving flying my 450 sized heli. Stepping up from a twister CP gold early on it seemed quite scary indoors (sports hall) with all the extra noise and fuss but once you are outside and in FF that all goes. I've recently bought a s/h 500 size too - a lot of people like this size as a "go to" heli but to be honest I'm still with the 450. Probably I have more confidence with it and I'm sure a good gyro helps - I'm still fully flybarred.

I'm really happy with the 450 size. In your shoes I'd probably try the HK 450 but the size of your flying site will have a strong bearing on your decision.

[rhodesengr]

you first have to decide whether you want to build or get something that is already built. I went from an mCPx to the 450 3D which I soon converted to FBL. Now you can just get a 450X but the 300X is now available as is the 130X. I don't know much about the 300X. the 450X flies great but it is a big jump from the mCPx. It actually flies much better and is much more stable but it is intimidating at first. You have to get over that hump at some point. I have an X2 that is similar in size to the 300X. It was pretty expensive but it does fly well. The problem with smaller heli like the X2, Trex250, and probably the 300x is they are harder to see in the air. This does not really matter if you are just keeping it close and hovering but it becomes an issue later when you take up higher and further away. The 130X would be the smallest forward step.