What a weekend!

[ryem3]

Oh man, great weekend here in the Northeast! Temps getting up to 60 deg (balmy for us at the moment!). Was great to try out all my new equipment!

Just finished programming all my birds on my new DX8 (thanks to RC Depot). Finally upgraded from the DX6i. Of course, it wasn't as simply as copying all of the settings into it. Servo directions were not the same and the subtrim didn't match either. Not to mention, the gyro settings are completely different. As a result, I had to reset up all of them. This time, I am now much more experienced and I really did a better job of setting them all up. Swashes leveled and all the pitches setup accurately (new RC Logger). Figured performance will really improve.

Also had the adventure of setting up my first FBL, a 450 pro with BeastX. Once you watch the videos, and pay careful attention, I was really amazed that the BeastX is actually pretty straightforward. Also, the mechanical setup is a lot more fundamental, so it is much easier to get it right. I checked other people's settings and had very good luck. I maidened her (actually a bird I bought built from someone else) and it was great. I bought a really well made 450, with Hitec servos, a 9257, a CC ESC and a Neu motor. First, I got monster tail wag. Figured out gyro gain was too high. I also had the Pitch Boost on, which really made it tough to handle. Took it back, reduced the gain on the TX, took away the pitch boost and went out. Handled really great. SO fast! I set it up with +/- 13 deg of pitch and it just does crazy snap flips! Very stable for a 450.

I would have enjoyed it more, had I not taken out my 500. Perfectly set up now, it was awesome. Maybe better because of smoother performance from the DX8? Anyway, I was very excited about the new 450, but just still love the 500 so much more. I've been looking at 550's, but didn't want to maiden one with FBL. Just too big and expensive to experiment! Now that I've found it was so easy, I may very well get one!

Too many thoughts for one thread, but I also had terrible battery issues. My Voltz 6S 2600 batteries were store charged for the winter with about 15 cycles. Charging them now, they're worthless. No power at all. They are crap. I've had very bad luck with batts. First, I always kept them fully charged during the season in case I could fly in the evening. Then I read that was bad. So, the whole season, I store charged them and only fully charged them right before flying. Well, that was BS, they died anyway. If I've got to buy a f'n pile of batteries every season, this really sucks. It's expensive enough anyway. I'm going to Zippies or something. I started with Hyperions and toasted them within a season. The Voltz were pretty good, haven't puffed, but nothing seems to survive a few months off. Not sure what to do.

Hope other enjoyed the weekend as well!