That's it I'm done with 3GX

[ukiah74]

I have spent over 6 months not being able to fly a perfect heli due to a poorly designed unsafe flybarless system! Not to mention a 3GX system in my friends 800 went ape%*&@ and almost killed him. HE WAS HOVERING.. Swash decided to tilt and come right at him.
Been using the same system/set-up for years no changes just tilted to its death..
Plus I have had my 550 down since the week after the Helifreak Fun fly. Try this, try that. completely replaced the 3GX unit and now a different issue.. I still will fly my T-Rex 700N DFC with the time bomb on it, but only until I can afford to replace it..
I just always felt I would eventually learn enough about the 3GX to be able to work through all the issues it has and be able to use it.. You know try this version, try this mounting tape, try these mods, try,try,try....... I'm done trying. I just bought the spektrum 7200BX..
I am going to look into legal action against Align on the 3GX.. They should not be able to sale an unsafe inferior product. I have a brand new unit that doesn't work..
And this is not just a frustrated rant.. I have three (3) 3GX unit's and if i swap them all out one by one on the same bird, same settings, same mounting tape, same dongle, laptop, version,ect.. each one has a differant issue that prevents it from being flown except the one on my T Rex 700N DFC.. It works well on my 550E DFC... yet I can only fly it in one bird at a time.. And it isn't right either.. the tail isn't worth a crapolla but I can fly it..
Why else is the average price of a BRAND NEW 3GX Flybarless system on E-BAY is $80.00 and dropping.. If you are running the 3GX system at least put your kids in the car so they are safe..
And the data logger showed there where no issues that would have caused a brown out, or loss of power in any way.. And kept a good strong connection.
LONG STORY SHORT THE ALIGN 3GX IS UNSAFE, AND SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE MARKET!

[krauley]

Imo its not the unit but the user that is the problem. ive never had and issue with the units i have and still use. Plenty of others at the field i fly also use the 3gx without problems. A lot of people switch to other units as they learn to fly more extreme but i think most of them do it because its popular to do then needed. hey just my opinion but do what works for you, i know i do!

[Inverse]

Originally Posted by krauley

Imo its not the unit but the user that is the problem.

This is a pretty big call to make.

[Riff]

3gx and swash tilt = vibrations

Vibrations can come from bearings, bent axles or blades that cause a lot of vibrations when doing hard 3D.

I have had problems with bearings, replaced them = all OK
Lately when doing hard maneuvers (stock trex 600 efl pro, dfc head) I get vibrations on the heli, little bit scary but when it calms down all is ok again, probably should reduce gain, check dfc dampers, fine tune blade tracking or replace main blades to more rigid ones to get rid of it.

3gx is sensitive but I really like how it flies, my 600 is fantastic My smaller heli has a sk720 blue, it is more stable against vibrations but I like the feel of 3gx more.

[ukiah74]

I know 10% of the 3GX units work fine.. Mine worked fine for awhile to. I was once on your side with the 3GX trying to defend it.. But I finally looked at it with facts.. Go to the microbeast/7200BX forums. I didn't see one last night where a heli went nuts or shut down, or the swash tilts and murders your $2,000.00 investment. Thats ok just build another one and try again. BS...
If a car decided to say, turn all in the sudden for no reason, full left.. and the shop said I have no clue what caused it, but heres a 75pg list of all the things THAT MIGHT have caused your car to try to kill you and whomever was next to you..
Would you pay to have it fixed then just try again and see if it kills you? I consider myself alot smarter than that.. If a car dealer finds an issue there is a massive recall to repair the issue SO PEOPLE AND PROPERTY ARE SAFE AS POSSIBLE..
I can't wait to get my 7200BX.. I will finally be able to fly with confidence that my heli is safe..
I was standing right behind my friend as it happend.. There was no vibration, and he is like myself and is animate about preflight checks and replacing things before they are worn out.. Not to mention he is a Pro level pilot.. Luckily it hit almost perfectly inverted and didn't fair to bad..
If you are still a 3GX follower after all this I will sell you both of mine ( I have three but one has a dent in the top plastic cover from a crash but works as it did before the crash.. whatever thats worth.. So I can replace the one in my T Rex 700N DFC with a 7200BX as well.. So lets say $200.00 shipped.. they will never be used again..

[ukiah74]

Originally Posted by krauley

Imo its not the unit but the user that is the problem. ive never had and issue with the units i have and still use. Plenty of others at the field i fly also use the 3gx without problems. A lot of people switch to other units as they learn to fly more extreme but i think most of them do it because its popular to do then needed. hey just my opinion but do what works for you, i know i do!

All I can say is good luck and I hope you don't get killed or kill anyone else.. I just went through my heli and I am damn good at it.. I got rid of my small tail vib issue and I can bet my 550E DFC runs smoother than yours and I still have issues with each different unit. I too have been using 3GX for many years. And for awhile liked it. Some just have to learn the hard way good luck.. Its funny you just agreed with me in your post.. "A lot of people switch to other units as they learn to fly more extreme but i think most of them do it because its popular to do" exactly because 3GX is unsafe garbage..

[krauley]

Originally Posted by ukiah74

LONG STORY SHORT THE ALIGN 3GX IS UNSAFE, AND SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE MARKET!

Originally Posted by krauley

Imo its not the unit but the user that is the problem. ive never had and issue with the units i have and still use. Plenty of others at the field i fly also use the 3gx without problems. A lot of people switch to other units as they learn to fly more extreme but i think most of them do it because its popular to do then needed. hey just my opinion but do what works for you, i know i do!

Originally Posted by Inverse

This is a pretty big call to make.

Yeah and thats not...?

[Inverse]

I'm not saying that shouting about a lawsuit and stating that it's an accident waiting to happen isn't a bit over the top but there's a reason the 3GX is held in the regard it is and is available NIB for $30-$50 in the classifieds.

[nameci]

Originally Posted by ukiah74

All I can say is good luck and I hope you don't get killed or kill anyone else.. I just went through my heli and I am damn good at it.. I got rid of my small tail vib issue and I can bet my 550E DFC runs smoother than yours and I still have issues with each different unit. I too have been using 3GX for many years. And for awhile liked it. Some just have to learn the hard way good luck.. Its funny you just agreed with me in your post.. "A lot of people switch to other units as they learn to fly more extreme but i think most of them do it because its popular to do" exactly because 3GX is unsafe garbage..

All FBL units are dangerous if it goes to wrong hands, IMHO. They should ban all FBL period, wait they should ban all cars(you can kill yourself or someone else).

On all these FBL forums, people are just so quick to blame FBL unit when many don't even know how to set up the heli properly. This is the reason why I advise against new comers to FBL w/o going through FB first. Some FBL units are more sensitive to vibration/set up than the other. No one is trying to convince you that you should fly one FBL unit over another, it is your call. Find the one you are comfortable with and stick with it. If it is over your head, find something else that fits your bill.

I have owned multiples of many different FBL units and I have a fair share of crashes due to not being familiar with specific FBL unit set up. It is very annoying/frustrating when that happens to 600/700 size helis. After a few of those crashes, I make sure to learn the FBL unit set up and get very familiar with it on smaller heli(450/500) before moving that FBL unit to bigger and more expensive helis. I prefer Vbar flight characteristics(when it is tuned properly) but I find 3GX to be one of the easiest to set up adjust w/o having to carry my laptop when I go flying.

[gabeoravitz]

Originally Posted by krauley

Imo its not the unit but the user that is the problem.

I agree with Inverse. That's quite a accusation. But I guess opinions are like...well you know the rest.

The 3GX has some issues, for sure. Maybe not all of them, but I have personally had a 250 throw itself to the right because of a glitchy 3GX. It's not the user; I know what I'm doing. I've read it has to do with static on some models, because the case of the 3GX has metal in it.

However, the 3GX in my 450L has been fine, and since i put 5.0 on it, it flies great now.

[ukiah74]

So its been over 200 packs through the AR7200BX & AR7300BX, and not a hick-up.. Love it! LOVE IT!! takes off perfect every time, never a worry of tipping over or browning out for no reason and loosing bind.. Responds great and can handle the inevitable vibration that every heli will have at point or another.. with-out destroying my $2000.00 investment.. Can't say enough about how much better and easier it is to use. Sets up fast and never acts up.. Even when I snapped a boom brace during a hurricane and got the worse vibbs. I have ever seen on a heli.. Brought it back and landed on the 4x4 pad I had and laughed.. Thank God that wasn't a 3gx. I would have destroyed my T Rex 700N Pro DFC!!

[RC/DC_5000]

Yep, nothing wrong with the 3GX if you understand it. Its the most quirky and royal PITA FBL on the market, but it works fine if not amazing.

Its extremely sensitive to vibration and with any vibes, it will death roll and act very erratically.

This is technically user error to fly with wobbling parts. I flew it for years and every time I blamed the 3GX, I eventually discovered the real problem of a wobbling TT gear or TT or something.

A million things to go wrong... but V5.0 3GX itself is not the problem.

[Smoggie]

Originally Posted by RC/DC_5000

Yep, nothing wrong with the 3GX if you understand it. Its the most quirky and royal PITA FBL on the market, but it works fine if not amazing.

Hmmmm..... Yes the 3GX is a pain to setup and temperamental, but when all is 'just right' I agree it flies 'ok'.

But when you consider that there are many FBL controllers which are much easier to setup, much less temperamental and fly better then it's hard to recommend the 3GX. There is no reason these days to accept a FBL controller that has the 'difficulties' that the 3GX has.

It's discontinued now anyway, so really a moot point.

[RC/DC_5000]

Agreed... I wouldn't go singing its praises lol. Especially because of how good the new FBL controllers are. The 3GX's biggest downfall IMO was that the menu was very complicated and non intuitive and OMG it was sensitive to vibrations.

Any little vibration would send it wandering off on the aileron or tipping over at takeoff.

I flew my Gpro for so long with a bent and wobbling torque tube, the TT actually snapped in half and the Gpro never skipped a beat. It flew perfect with those horrible vibrations.

I still have a couple 3GXs in the old toolbox. I won't exactly be digging them out anytime soon. But it does and can work very well with the right setup. 3GX is the worst for beginners. The setup menu has so many places to make mistakes. You really have to understand it all to make it work. And even then, you'll need to jimmy rig it. Like the timeout feature on the tail delay for a 450. Thats straight up jimmy rigging it. You can't get it a zero value without an inside trick that someone accidentally discovered. Not in any manual and not intended by Align.

[Colorado_Scott]

I'm far from a great heli pilot. I can just somewhat fly inverted. I am a very decent pattern flier. I love to get things set up right and do precision flying on both heli's and planes. I bought my TR 500 FLB 3-4 years ago. I was then reading about 3GX issues very similar to what's still being written about these days; amazing to me all similar problems exist! I took a dremel tool and removed metal from the underside of my 3GX and verified with a meter no continuity to the outside metal case (I had static issues for sure and posted video of this happening). I stopped flying while using V2.1! And it seems to work well for me, but my flying is anything but extreme. I just read the above few posts as I got notification about more 3GX issues, as I see from time to time. Here you are again, same issues as 3-4 years ago. Vibration, static, low voltage, mounting issues, ... All the same as years ago. I am pleased I stopped upgrading firmware, stopped wasting so much time on all this. I'm sure I'll read this forum again in a few more years and all will still be the same. I'll still be using V2.1 (could be V1.2 but it's been so long I don't recall for sure) when I occasionally fly. Until a year or so from now, I wish you all good luck.

[Tman49]

Sucks to be me! I bought a 450 size Huey from a buddy about 9 months ago. It sat on the shelf until this week. I use Futaba tx/rx, and this unit has a remote Spektrum rx in it. I knew that much when I bought it because I've gotten other scale birds from him before and just gave the Spektrum rx back to him.

This time I thought there was a main rx inside the fuselage, where I couldn't see. I needed to make a decision of what to do. In order to bind the heli I thought I needed to remove the heli from the fuselage. I found out after I took the heli out I didn't have to remove it to bind it. However, I did need to remove the heli for access to the 3GX. Let me say at this time, this is my 1st FBL heli. OK, I got a good deal on a DX7s, so I'm thinking I'll program this thing and go fly. After reading these posts in this thread, I must admit I'm not encouraged at all. I don't even know what version my 3GX is or how to even find out. Can any updated version be put on it? And it's discontinued too?!!
My plan was to try to get it flying pod/boom. If I have success w/that then reinstall it into the Huey body.

Any suggestions or help from anyone?

[fastblackbird1]

Originally Posted by RC/DC_5000

Yep, nothing wrong with the 3GX if you understand it.

you're right, I never understand how to setup 3GX, tried for months and I end up selling them, I still have one brand new that comes with a 450L supercombo, I use AR7200bx, for me its more easy and practical to setup than 3GX