Helicommand vs Copilot II

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Mr Boombastic

You must live in the land of plenty my friend.

Options/support are limited Downunder.
But everything we do have makes others envious.

Extremely happy with Chris's product support and I hadn't even bought one at that time.

My version of a good heli is any one that firstly doesn't fall out of the air. Everything else is a bonus.

I hear that!!!..well have to pay for the 600ESP first, the land of plenty is a wee bit light these days for lots of folks.......but I have my eye on it....then I'll look into it

[Gregg]

Was there ever a clear cut winner to this? There's a good bit of difference in price between the Helicommand and the Co Pilot. Of course I'd like to get the most bang for the buck, so in the end which unit is going to give that. With approximately $400.00 difference in price if the Co Pilot will come close to the HC then it might be worth looking into, but here in WV with the hills and trees if it can't find it's artificial horizion then might be better off to just bite the bullet and get another HC 3D. Any clear cut ideas of which unit is going to work the best?

[t2o]

Originally Posted by Gregg

Was there ever a clear cut winner to this? There's a good bit of difference in price between the Helicommand and the Co Pilot. Of course I'd like to get the most bang for the buck, so in the end which unit is going to give that. With approximately $400.00 difference in price if the Co Pilot will come close to the HC then it might be worth looking into, but here in WV with the hills and trees if it can't find it's artificial horizion then might be better off to just bite the bullet and get another HC 3D. Any clear cut ideas of which unit is going to work the best?

I hear you loud and Clear. I tried the original CP and found that it did not work well with the wall of trees that literally incircles my flavorite flying site. I have ordered this newer version and will try it out soon. I live in Kentucky and also have lots of hills. I have a big swell on a portion of my land that I will test it on and report back. I should know something this weekend.

[everydayflyer]

Co Pilot II does much better over flat terrian than slopes as it keps heli level with terrian thus it follows a slop down hill and backs away from a hill in front of it. I find it more of a training aid and an emergency recovery device than a habds off hold a staedy hover in one place auto pilot. Makes it easier to fly but does not fly the heli for you. The site I fly at is mostly flat approx. 80' X 250' with approx. 30 degree slops on both sides and one end. My Blade 400 wil go into slow FF when it see the slops.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Gregg

Was there ever a clear cut winner to this? There's a good bit of difference in price between the Helicommand and the Co Pilot. Of course I'd like to get the most bang for the buck, so in the end which unit is going to give that. With approximately $400.00 difference in price if the Co Pilot will come close to the HC then it might be worth looking into, but here in WV with the hills and trees if it can't find it's artificial horizion then might be better off to just bite the bullet and get another HC 3D. Any clear cut ideas of which unit is going to work the best?

OK in a nut shell, for the money the CPII does a very nice job, exactly what they said it could do, but gating the factor of hills and trees, there is one of the down sides to it, on the other side of the coin ,HC not being hindered by the environment ie. trees hills buildings etc...also can be flown indoors if desired, will cost you...so not being one to put my hand in anyones pocket , the choice does come down to what you can afford.

One other item you might consider, hands down the CPII is far easier to setup compared to the HC

Owning both units, I enjoy both with no complaints so it still comes down to your own needs and $$$

[t2o]

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Co Pilot II does much better over flat terrain than slopes as it keeps heli level with terrain thus it follows a slop down hill and backs away from a hill in front of it. I find it more of a training aid and an emergency recovery device than a hands off hold a steady hover in one place auto pilot. Makes it easier to fly but does not fly the heli for you. The site I fly at is mostly flat approx. 80' X 250' with approx. 30 degree slops on both sides and one end. My Blade 400 Will go into slow FF when it see the slops.

This is good, drift I can deal with and as long as it returns it level or close to level right side up or inverted I will be grinning from ear to ear. The area I like is flat, but has a wall of trees on either side about 400' apart. All I want is for it to go level, if it pushes it to the center away from the trees that's even a bonus. My heli thinks it's a tree eater but in fact has never managed to even leave a dent in one.

[Guntars]

Lot of my AP work with plane was in tight places with tree walls around. So, it seems I will go with HC 3A (used, to save money). The most beautiful video/still helicopter material I have seen is here:
http://www.gravityshots.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Video

I think it is so nice when shots/video are taken just little above trees (or from side of them). So using Copilot might be a little problem.

[Gregg]

t20 I'm very interested in your finding and results of your test of Co Pilot II. We have a lot of hills and valleys here in WV. I live on a hill with a huge front yard that falls away on 2 sides. I think it would be a great flying place but if CP II wants to follow the contours of the land it could cause a problem. All around nightflyr if you were going to buy another unit which one would you buy. There's maybe 350.00 to 400.00 difference in the price, if that wasn't a factor which one would you chose. When you look at it not a lot of difference if it saves a 2000.00 heli and maybe more than that if I ever get into scale, which I would like to do one day. Thanks for the info guys, appreciate all input.

[nightflyr]

If I was to do another scale, HC no doubt, my 600 has topped @ $3,000.00 so far and seriously considering a safety net for it, but to get you up hovering and training in the basics and a bit further most definitely would go with the CPII

[Navigator53]

Great information guys as I need to make a decision on which way to go.

My Wife says it's ok after seeing what others are spending at a Heli fun fly.

I'd like a safety net to help me improve on flying skills but wanting to do some AP sometime in the future.

Eventually I'd like be able to take videos over water and the beach is lined with trees so even though the CPII has a good price not sure if it would work for this, I dunno

Mel

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Navigator53

Great information guys as I need to make a decision on which way to go.

My Wife says it's ok after seeing what others are spending at a Heli fun fly.

I'd like a safety net to help me improve on flying skills but wanting to do some AP sometime in the future.

Eventually I'd like be able to take videos over water and the beach is lined with trees so even though the CPII has a good price not sure if it would work for this, I dunno


Mel

In your case..."water and trees" ..yes i would look for a gyro based unit instead of a thermo pile based

[SDGeo]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

OK in a nut shell, for the money the CPII does a very nice job, exactly what they said it could do, but gating the factor of hills and trees, there is one of the down sides to it, on the other side of the coin ,HC not being hindered by the environment ie. trees hills buildings etc...also can be flown indoors if desired, will cost you...so not being one to put my hand in anyones pocket , the choice does come down to what you can afford.

One other item you might consider, hands down the CPII is far easier to setup compared to the HC

Owning both units, I enjoy both with no complaints so it still comes down to your own needs and $$$

I really don't know how either system works but I put out $200 for the FMA and even fly it in my cul-du-sac at the end of my street. Trees and buildings everywhere.
Must be witchcraft because it still would recover to level flight.

My usual places still have lots of trees and 1 story buildings and it calibrates fine.

For me the FMA is a great parachute. I can slowly watch my turns and see what I'm doing wrong. If I get to low, I just center the stick and give it some pitch to get it away from the ground.

I fly 10 batts today just working on turns. I screwed up big time a few times. I have this tendancy to keep flying higher and higher until I can barely see the thing.

Bottom line: 10 batts, no crashes. No it does not go into a perfect level hover; it does drift a bit but it keeps me out of the dirt. I'm anxious to hear more about the heli-command.

For me, I just put a batt in my t450, do the preflight thing (10 sec or so) then just fly. I don't have to repeat the preflight or mess with the adjustments at all. I change batts, turn on and off my TX and it seems to remember everything, For my budget Its fine. Perhaps if I knew more about the heli-command, I would be all over it but for now, I have everything I need. PLUS... I know I've saved at least $200 in parts from CPII recovered mishaps.

"center stick, lots of pitch" and I'm gone... out of trouble!!!

[Navigator53]

Originally Posted by SDGeo

"center stick, lots of pitch" and I'm gone... out of trouble!!!

One of my concerns with getting my heli stabilized is letting go of the sticks to center.

Thinking "is this really a skill I want to learn"?

But my old way of fighting it into the ground hasn't been working very well for me either

My hope is to learn to get past the barriers and be able to unlearn the center stick thing and have the skills to recover then mostly use it for AP

Mel

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by SDGeo

I really don't know how either system works but I put out $200 for the FMA and even fly it in my cul-du-sac at the end of my street. Trees and buildings everywhere.
Must be witchcraft because it still would recover to level flight.

My usual places still have lots of trees and 1 story buildings and it calibrates fine.

For me the FMA is a great parachute. I can slowly watch my turns and see what I'm doing wrong. If I get to low, I just center the stick and give it some pitch to get it away from the ground.

I fly 10 batts today just working on turns. I screwed up big time a few times. I have this tendancy to keep flying higher and higher until I can barely see the thing.

Bottom line: 10 batts, no crashes. No it does not go into a perfect level hover; it does drift a bit but it keeps me out of the dirt. I'm anxious to hear more about the heli-command.

For me, I just put a batt in my t450, do the preflight thing (10 sec or so) then just fly. I don't have to repeat the preflight or mess with the adjustments at all. I change batts, turn on and off my TX and it seems to remember everything, For my budget Its fine. Perhaps if I knew more about the heli-command, I would be all over it but for now, I have everything I need. PLUS... I know I've saved at least $200 in parts from CPII recovered mishaps.

"center stick, lots of pitch" and I'm gone... out of trouble!!!

The CPII uses thermo sensing reading an IR difference between the ground and sky and creates a IR horizon to maintain level flight, where as a Helicommand is gyro based such as your tail gyro but in 3 axis.

[Navigator53]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

In your case..."water and trees" ..yes i would look for a gyro based unit instead of a thermo pile based

Thanks buddy, always appreciate your adivce

[nightflyr]

your quite welcome