I have had the blade 400 for about a year now, I learned to fly with it, now that I do not crash that much here is what I can say...
The servos can't take a slight hard landing or even heavy flight loads, and they are almost certain to strip gears in a crash. How they picked the material for the feathering shaft is a good question because it bends very easily... Also the feathering purshrods have bent slighly in flight throwing the rotor out of alignment. Other than that it is a pretty good starting heli but I'm not sure it can grow with you for more aggressive flying... I changed all the servos with ds410m (metal gears) bought an aftermarket steel feathering rod and that took care of most of the issues (but of course servos alone was an investment $$$)
I later bought an align 250 ESP and have found construction is far superior and durable. Obviously a different size class, but nevertheless...
A nice point about this heli is that it comes preset out of the box ready to fly, so If you don't know how a heli should fly, you can tell by how it comes out of the box, at the same time, as we all know that won't last long and soon you will have to figure out how to set it up after crashing... So it may be better to actually buy a kit and learn how it's built.
The stock gyro has failed to initialize many times for reasons still to be determined...
If I did it all over again, I would probably spent a little bit more and go with a more durable heli that can grow with me...
Not bad, electrics are harder to fly than nitro ones, thats IMO.... But RTF is a good thing for this heli. Very nice construction, replacements are average in terms of cost, althout some parts can be designed better like the landing skids and should have used a better material as well.
Common parts for replacement, Main rotor blade, tail blades, flybar, main shaft, and most common of all is the feathering/spindle shaft that holds the main blade grippers. This feathering/spindle shaft is ballpark range of 3mm thick, and may be hollow too, made of regular steel, can be bent from mishandling of the main blades. Since, torque is force times distance, the distance of the blade and the force applied at the tip causes lots of bending forces on the spindle. If bent, will cause tracking problems and lead to possible vibrations.
For new users. Go ahead and give this a try, the CP and the CX is a waste of money. Before first time flying, you are expected what the basic flight dynamics of the helicopter. If you dont, read the manual, or if you have tons of money on hand, forget about reading the manual. -//- Ready to fly for sure! Good thoughtout frame construction, seemed like the frame was built around its components. A big leap in terms of difficulty to fly from the Blade CX to the Blade 400 3D, I skipped the CP. Battery life is bad, only 5 minutes maximum before discharging it beyond safe charge right after. Well worth the fun, be prepped to have spare main blades, tail blades, and feathering shaft for the rotor (gets bent easilly from any sort of blade strike). As well as spare landing skids/strut for those heavy landing when battery power starts to die. You will know when the batt starts to run low after a few flights. You will learn to feel it since the ESC does help you cut power a bit when power goes low. Use the timmer on the stock Radio! it helps.
Kit comes with Heli, 3s li-po battery, battery charger box, battery charger plug (round plug on one end and allegator clips on the other), Radio + 4AA Batteries, that foamy stuff that holds the main blades together and rests on the tail boom, and ofcourse a bag of misc (allen keys, double sided foam pads, phillips screw driver, some zap straps).
Overall, I was pretty pleased with it, considering that it had a brushless motor and a fairly smart ESC. But the quality on the plastic parts could be better...A few improvements can be made, the swash rotor is able to tilt more that the blade pitch. The flybar control set actually touches the top of the main blade holder. And that prevents the swash to tilt any further. Does a bit of shake o the servos which cant be good....At least thats the case with mine. Kinda hard to find carbon blades for the 400, infact, havnt found any with 6mm thickness. Tons of 4.5mm ones though.
Heli design is good, materials quality is like made in china stuff, the radio system included in a kit setup is fantastic! Battery included could be better though for such a power hungry motor.
Just had my first flight, last Saturday. Great heli! I hovered perfectly on my very first try, and with 5mph wind too! Hit the stunt switch, and I was doing loops and rolls with ease. This is my first 6ch heli and I love it! This thing may cost more than a Trex clone, but I'm telling you it is worth every penny! The Blade 400 is very stable and easy to fly, its the next step for any fixed pitch or co-ax pilot. With enough sim time, maybe it can be your first ever! However, If you buy this, be sure to get a 12v for the charger, it doesn't come with a wall adapter and DON'T ever use a PC power supply! (I fried my pack with one and can't fly until its replaced) Also, don't do stunts on your first flight, I almost crashed once, get some practice first! Overall, this is the best choice for anyone interested in the 400 size market; it just needs a battery with more than 1800mah. So in conclusion, I say, Great job Eflite! This one's a winner!
I received my Blade 400 about 2 months ago, and i am a novice flyer. the first time i took it up it was nerve racking but after a couple of practices (and a few crashes) this thing really moves. For the Price its a great buy. do recommend changing the Servo's or buy alot of spare gears. crashes are relatively inexpensive usually around 10 to 20 dollars if that. As you get better you can upgrade to aluminium parts, at little pricey but well worth it. This is definately a great starter heli and with room to grow.
It's taught me a whole lot in the past month. However, (only got a short month of experience), I would recommend, the Mini Titan if you like plastic helis, In my opinion, it's much better for the price when I looked it over in my local hobby store I saw less "made in china".
The DX6i is the best part, having a quality radio system is great! I will buy a Beam E4 next.. Glad I bought this first so I could crash it, instead of a nicer heli.
The servos need to be replaced right away IMO, one of the HS-65 series will do just fine.
Also flip the blade grips, washout base and flybar seesaw before you ever fly it, LE control is superior, it just makes sense, I don't know why it came with TE. Look at helifreak.com for more info...
This is a very good introduction to rc helicopters! And probably the cheapest way to do it properly! Go for this one instead of cheap bad substitutes! cheap parts aswell!
A+
Well, I must say, I bought the blade 400 last tuesday, and today is Friday. I have never in my life flown an rc heli (only planes and heli's on simulators), so I did bunches of research before I flopped down 470 bucks on this bad boy. Very nervous, but I did it. I got it in, and was going to read all the instructions from top to bottom, and really do it right... I couldn't wait! Right out of the box, no charge on the battery and fired it up (talk about RTF right out of the box) I actually hovered first rattle out of the bag!! I have flown several times this week, but have not adjusted one single thing! Last night a buddy of mine that flies helis came over and he really had that thing hovering (3 feet from our faces!!) Once I get up and hover, it's only for a moment, and then I am all over the place, but getting better. I have heard a lot of reviews say absolutely not for beginers, well, I am here to say that I am the epitamy of beginners, and I am flying. Oh did I mention indoors as well, in about a 30X30 area! I love this bird, get a bigger battery though, the 1800 only last about 5-7 minutes. All A's in my book.
