Blade 300 CFX Review Coming Soon

[MrCrash]

Here is my 2 cents.

Blade have kinda lost the plot with the cfx ! It looks like merging the best of the Pro series kit knowledge with worst of the micro/bnf/300X tech and called it progress. Sorry, but I do not get the strategy !

As others have stated, the heli is now very expensive as entry point for newbies and needs better, stronger motor, esc gov and decent servos for the experienced who would now skip and go to decent kit bird.

For me, the 300x is good for what it is, and needs stiffenning and better tail servo out the box - low cost, big payback in reliabilty and customer perception. The CFX should be sold as PRO series kit, and offer either the experienced pilot to build with whatever electronics they want, or 300x owners who have progressively upgraded, a cf frame option.

Whilst I am sure that it will sell, there is just no way that I would part with cash on this model.

[sn00p]

Originally Posted by Chris Reibert

Suck hattred for such a fun little back yard basher... I do agree electronics could be better but the heli design isn't bad horrible. Out of all my 300x's in the past only one had faulty issue and HH sent me a new one. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but the 300X's make it easy for people to budget into a 3D heli without spending $1000's of dollars. I would love to see a PNP or Airframe only version in the future!

Here is my cuz flying my original 300X. Obviously you need to perform collective managment with a stock motor but for the price it is still one of my favorite go to practice machines.

http://youtu.be/BY_uiJbkVeg

My flying a year or so ago with the 300X

http://youtu.be/-Z2mPpQ2w7o

This was an exciting day for me! All my buddy box training and my Dad's sim time paid off. He taught me how to fly r/c planes 28 years ago so it was very rewarding to teach him how to fly helis. He is my Best friend in the hobby and without his help and support growing up I would not have this wonderful hobby to share with others!

http://youtu.be/lN9sEnLQvOo

Sorry if my reply seemed a little curt... i mean no offense. I was merely pointing out that the 300x at the price of the BX alone is a GREAT package at that price point. Its a real shame they didnt deal with the motor. IMHO thats a bit of a deal breaker. The servos and ESC we can live with. Upgrading a tail servo is cheap afterall (cheaper than a stocker) The cyclics are fine as long as you dont mind replacing gears on most crashes. With the extra weight of the Alu and CF parts im looking forward to your review. Bearing in mind this little helis loading disc isnt great and the weak motor it has me pondering... $400 NIB..... Geesh i know most of us have spent that cash along the way but it has been a personal choice on parts both type and manufacturer, some essential others less so. It has also been a buy when you got spare cash or upgrade when you break something scenario which although works out the same at the end of the week its easier on the pocket daily.

$400 all alu and CF kinda rules out the newbie back yard basher imho. Being a seasoned pilot you would want to junk all the elctronics and upgrade the motor adding another $150-$200 to get what i would call a pro setup.... Thats $600

BTW your Cuz has some skills.... love that video

[Dustin Mustangs]

Originally Posted by vertico

Not arguing with what anyone is saying but.....
The 300x has always been bashed for having a weak frame.
Now it's being bashed for having a CF frame!

Perhaps they are trying to compete more with the trex250 since it has both cf and metal parts as well.

Is a plastic frame that can handle a whopping 200 watts of power an unreasonable request? Did they really need to jump to the opposite end of the spectrum and make it $100+ worth of carbon and billet? Fixing the frame issue could of been a simple redesign leaving the money otherwise spent on bling available to address the numerous electrical shortcomings.

What could of been an affordable and solid performing 5.0 Mustang is instead a underpowered and unreliable four-banger Fiesta with a carbon hood and tin can muffler. Do. Not. Want.

That said, I do look forward to the review. Here's to hoping it is fair and unbiased which many times magazine articles are unfortunately not.

[Chris Reibert]

Check out my full review in the next issue of Radio Control Heli Pilot magazine.
Here is a video of me throwing it around at the field.
Enjoy

[ame]http://youtu.be/uRM3WNcYuOE[/ame]

[Chris Reibert]

Testing going well despite the week of constant rain, high winds, and snow... But he review must go on.

Got in 8 cold but sunny flights tonight.





Tuesday I put it through the torture test of drizzle and 20+Mph winds!





Hailey helping Daddy out. Love her! Like me she will grow up at the flying field.





Doesn't get much lower than his crop circle. Well it does but with a bad outcome...

[terryv83]

I'm liking the look of the new painting of the blades, the original carbons really miss the markings.

[Chris Reibert]

Originally Posted by terryv83

I'm liking the look of the new painting of the blades, the original carbons really miss the markings.

+1 on that! Flying just plain carbon fiber blades suck. You really can't see the disk. Having any color added to the blades really adds contrast when flying and the dick shows up more. A lot of pilots get their point of reference in 3D maneuvers to the orientation of he rotor disk so it's important they stand out. My favorite part of Edge Rotorblades when I flew for them was how bright the yellow lettering stood out when the disk was perpendicular to the ground with the light hitting it!

Wait till you see how the bottom of the new SAB Blackline blades look it the air. They have a really cool look when the light hits them.

[PawnDMonium]

Thanks for all the hard work giving us an early look at this machine.

Really impressed at the coordinating colors between your coat and the canopy

Originally Posted by Chris Reibert

... You really can't see the disk. Having any color added to the blades really adds contrast when flying and the dick shows up more.

The proper spelling for the rotor disc is with a "C". Using the wrong spelling makes the dick shows up more and get missed.

All in good fun!

[Frankel]

Originally Posted by Chris Reibert

Check out my full review in the next issue of Radio Control Heli Pilot magazine.
Here is a video of me throwing it around at the field.

Nice video Chris, I enjoyed that! Looking forward to reading the review.

[hoverfun]

Very nice video enjoyed that a lot

[stevebaker]

Those tic-tocs looked sluggish - as you'd expect from the stock motor.

[Chris g.]

Nice!


Can you take some up close pictures of the motor area Please? Just wondering if a bigger motor Will fit this frame.

[Chris Reibert]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. Yes you need to use good collective managment for hard tic tocs. I will snap a few pics of the frame when I get home later.

[Chris Reibert]

Originally Posted by Chris g.

Nice!


Can you take some up close pictures of the motor area Please? Just wondering if a bigger motor Will fit this frame.

[Nelsonisms]

I don't know, that doesn't look too promising. It does have that hole in the bottom but it doesn't look like it's big enough to allow too much room for taller motors or shifting the position for different pinions. I think I will definitely be sticking with my Lynx frame.

[Uriah]

Originally Posted by Nelsonisms

I don't know, that doesn't look too promising. It does have that hole in the bottom but it doesn't look like it's big enough to allow too much room for taller motors or shifting the position for different pinions. I think I will definitely be sticking with my Lynx frame.

I was just getting ready to post something like this regarding motor upgrade options, until I scrolled further down the page and saw your post. I couldn't agree more.

[Familyman67]

Chris, thanks a bunch for all your efforts putting these pictures and the video together for sharing. Great flying also. Wish I had you level of skills.


if I may ask another question about the spacing in the frame around the motor. many of us are thinking about putting a different motor in - in my case a scorpion, which is a little higher and thus would most likely stick out of the frame through the bottom hole.

do you think the diameter of that hole is large enough for such a thing?
if not, do you think it could be widened without jeopardizing to much of the frame's structural integrity?

furthermore, I am very interested in reading your full blown review in the RC heli pilot magazine, however, over here in Europe I haven't heard about that so far. is that an online magazine, or printed? and if it is over the web, could you post a link?

thanks in advance

cheers
Ruediger

PS: I did post a link of this topic into a German RC Heli forum. I hope this is ok for everyone here. let me know if not.

[Uriah]

If the motor upgrade options are limited for the CFX, within a month or so after the CFX is released, Luca over at Lynx Heli Innovations will most certainly offer an aftermarket skid mounting tray to skirt around the issue (pardon the pun).

[nartac]

Originally Posted by Uriah

If the motor upgrade options are limited for the CFX, within a month or so after the CFX is released, Luca over at Lynx Heli Innovations will most certainly offer an aftermarket skid mounting tray to skirt around the issue (pardon the pun).

I seriously doubt it. I don't see why Lynx would want to fix another company's cf frame when they have theirs to sell. I don't see Lynx's benefit as a competition.

[Uriah]

Luca is a business man. He knows he can either sell a bunch of $15-20 frame upgrades or a few $85 frames. It's the reason he's still selling the Lynx 300X Frame Brace alongside the Lynx Ultra CF 300X frame. Luca will make what he knows people will buy, and people will buy a skid mount/tray upgrade if indeed the motor options on the CFX are limited.