RunRyder - t-rex vs blade 400

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e-Electric General Discussion > t-rex vs blade 400

WAFlowers
Heliman
Location: Clearwater, FL - USA

David, mostly I agree with you despite what I said above. The "mostly" is that there is an overlap in the market for these two helis (whether eFlite planned it to be that way or not) and because of that I believe it is fair to compare them, within that overlap.

My point wasn't which is the better heli (better for what? for whom?) but that the price difference between them doesn't have to be as big as is commonly believed.

Of course it is still comparing apples to oranges because the comparison is a new Blade 400 to a used trex 450. I'll grant you that point.

Still, it could be something for some people to think about. I did and you know how I chose.

--
Bill

02-18-2008 06:43 PM

davidg51537
Senior Heliman
Location: Omaha, NE

Be that as it may, you chose what was best for you.

The Blade is a good heli and with the Radio (if you do not have one to begin with) is a great value.

I look forward to some bling coming out for it so I can do some things to it. But I will keep a stock one to beat on and learn to fly well with it.

David

02-18-2008 06:51 PM

captainjack
New Heliman
Location: Seattle, Wa

I completely agree with David. Could have not been better put.

I choses the B400 because I didn't have a good radio. I didn't have any expert on call to help me trim it out a new heli. I work on a cruise ship kind of hard to find someone with that kind of qualification and just so be cruising on our ship. If the stock Trex 450 came in a box with a DX7 radio ready to fly, then I would have purchased it. Simple as that. Price was not an issue. None of the kids at LHS where good enough to build me one, trim it and ship it. It was a pain just to get them to call me when the B400 was available. I had to take a cab 20 miles to the store and pick one up. They lost my order sheet. Don't get me wrong they are great guys. They just dropped the ball.

I had been flying my CX2 inside the ship. I was good enough to fly it in the crew spaces with hallways only 36 wide. Love coaxial! I added all the upgrades they sold, 4 batts, and 2 complete sets of commonly broken parts. I work a ship and LHS are hard to find when you only have 1 night in port to find one. Since the CX2 was a good choice for me and was very happy with it. I was thinking of after market parts for the bird but then I said to myself I could $$$ into it but its still only a coaxial heli and will never be a trex.

This led me to look at the B400 much closer. I decided to get it add a few upgrades when they come out. But I will always remember its not a trex. Now that I have one and flew 2 packs through it. I see this is a good purchase for me. My next purchase will be trex 600e with JR 9303 radio.

Now I know why they call it a Jesus Nut!

02-18-2008 09:43 PM

HOMEPAGE

davidg51537
Senior Heliman
Location: Omaha, NE

Exactly, Captainjack. That is the route I will take as well. I am looking at getting a Trex600e right now.

The Blade 400 does a nice job for what it was intended for. Some people are missing that small detail.

David

02-18-2008 11:28 PM

helidude2
Senior Heliman
Location: marietta georgia usa

hmm

chase
Owner www.rchelipit.com

02-28-2008 02:04 AM

HOMEPAGE

helicraze
Veteran
Location: Victoria - Australia

I actually saw one at the LHS and I was surprised at the quality, it is much better built than the walkera helicopters and considering a upgraded walkera 60 would cost almost the same the B400 is a much better choice.

I was thinking of getting a B400 to bash around but decided not too, instead I spent $500 stocking up on spare parts!

Thunder Tiger E620SE, Thunder Tiger E550, Mikado Logo 500 3D

02-29-2008 10:33 PM

revomix
Senior Heliman
Location: Stanton Ca

T-Rex hands down i saw a blade 400 fly and i was not impressed.

Fly It Crash It , Fix It!!

02-29-2008 10:37 PM

hawkkw
Heliman
Location: Salem, Va

Trex by far. You get what you pay for.

03-03-2008 07:08 PM

leftyatm
Senior Heliman
Location: Elkton, MD, USA

Ok, I bought a T-rex 450 SE V2. While it was around 800 for the total set-up from servos to the radio it is worth it. While I was waiting for it to come in the mail, I went out and bought a blade 400. Here is the thing. The blade 400 is a very good helicopter right out of the box and very good for beginners like myself. It is smooth and flies well especially if you decrease the responsiveness until you get used to it. But I finally built my Rex and have been in the beginning stages of getting it to hover. I haven't worked on it for a few days but I think I have the tail-wag figured out. But even with the SERIOUS tail-wag and the lack of right rudder, it was so much more stable than my Blade 400. They are both great helicopters and fun to fly. My opinion is the Rex is significantly better but what the hell when you get the extra money buy one of each, you only live once!

03-21-2008 01:36 AM

TwistedrotoR12
Senior Heliman
Location: Wichita ks

Were i live the 400 is $469 and i just purchased a used trex 450se v2 off rr and it came with the 401 , the battery ,all servos, a case and a spare canopy for 525,,it flies great.. well worth the money,,i dont think the 400 has a carbon frame or all aluminum head does it? ..on guy said on here you get what you pay for...SOOOOOO true.. u dont have to get a brand new heli..you can get a used one too..if the heli is too responsive or a not an "intermediate" heli..dual rates exist too.
Good luck

,Luke

03-21-2008 10:23 PM

leftyatm
Senior Heliman
Location: Elkton, MD, USA

Yup I agree 100%. You do get what you pay for. I got my blade 400 for $450 and I have heard of places letting them go for $400. Either way being an owner of both the T-rex is better hands down but the blade 400 is still a good helicopter to own. In other words, I don't regret buying it at all.

03-21-2008 10:42 PM

rbgrn
Heliman
Location: Chicago, IL

I was considering buying a Blade 400 but after discussing my intentions with several experts, I was coerced into going the T-Rex route. I bought a 450SE v2 w/DX6i, GY401/9650. After about 18 hours of assembly, I had my first test flight. I had checked the swash mixing and all Tx settings to ensure everything was working as it should. The gyro was holding as it should in the proper dir and everything seemed like it was ready to go. I brought the heli out into my back yard and spun it up. At just a few degrees of pitch it lifted off the ground very nicely. I pushed up on the right stick to bring it forward just a bit but instead of inching forward, it lurched back right at my at about eye-level! Realizing that my swash as 180 degrees off, I pulled back and set it back down within a few seconds. It got about a foot away from me but never made contact. I was lucky! After figuring out to reverse the elevator on my DX6i swash mix, everything worked as expected.

I hovered the 450 in my bedroom, did one pirouette and set it back down. I was never able to control the Blade CP I had in such a tight space but I can imagine the 400 would do a little better. The tail control on my 450 is so, so solid that I can't imagine having anything else now.

Robert Green - http://www.rbgrn.net/

03-26-2008 04:08 PM

T 3d
Heliman
Location: Boston Mass

bandit

I got A T rex se for my birthday i just do not no should i keep it or sell it and wait for the bandit 450

03-27-2008 03:59 AM

davidg51537
Senior Heliman
Location: Omaha, NE

Keep it and fly it. IT should be a very good heli.

David

03-27-2008 01:29 PM

mn_heli
Heliman
Location: wilmont minnesota

blade 400

im still kinda new 2 all of this so i started cheap, a walkera 22e.

just wanted to see how i liked this hobby... i love it but not the 22e! not going 2 bash so moving on. sold the 22e and bought a nice new shiny yellow blade 400. im so freakin glad i got it. still keepin bird close to me but man this baby can hover. perfct right outa the box. yes parts are cheap, but i dont think the quality is. i went through several flights, then CRUNCH! dead head stop into my vise! BUT i only broke the blades, main blade holders, flybar seesaw holder, and bent the feathering shaft. not even 20 bucks in repairs. every thing else was fine. NO striped servos. i think it held up very good.
oh i paid $419 at my lhs.

thats the cheapest iv heard from a lhs.
mn heli

i know kung fu, karate, and about 45 other dangerous words!

03-28-2008 03:01 AM

apitman
Heliman
Location: Pleasant View, UT - USA

No one has mentioned simulators. I think for learning you can't beat it especially for helicopters.

I started out with a Blade CP and trashed it until I was good enough to hover. Later I got a Shogun because it was still a little up in the air whether the rex or shogun was better (this was a while ago).

I didn't crash that one nearly as much, but I also didn't do more than hover and fly in circles. I never could get the hang of nose in flying.

Then I did trash it and finally put down the money to get a TRex 450. I loved it! I still couldn't do much more than circles and hovering because of all the money I had into it. I scared myself a couple times just turning slowly in a circle and quickly getting the controls confused.

That is when I got a USB cable for my transmitter and downloaded FMS. I flew the heck out of it. That is where I learned nose in, loops and such. I crash a bunch of times, but it didn't cost a penny.

I am not going to debate the accuracy of this sim or that one or how close to real they fly. That is not the point. They are not really the same. They are, however, close enough to the real thing to learn some new skills like nose in (which is the hardest for some people).

After flying the sim a ton I was able to nose in with ease and do loops without scaring myself on my TRex.

Then a tail servo went out and trashed the whole thing. I was looking at $200 just to replace the parts or just spend $180 to get a new SE kit. I decided I couldn't afford it for a while and sold my radio and all my stuff.

It has been about a year since then. I saw the Blade 400. I couldn't believe the price. A couple weeks ago I got a Blade 400 and love it. It tracks fine.

Since I had sold all of my stuff I just couldn't pass up getting everything all ready to fly for only $400 (the LHS sells them all day long for $399).

I am taking is slowly and just purchased PRE-Flight and a cable for the Spectrum DX6i. I am already glad I did because my skills are rusty.

I will probably replace the tail servo at least because of my previous experience. The Gyro seems fine, though.

Sorry for such a long post. The bottom line of my post is to get a sim. It can be the free FMS or the expensive FS One or others. I don't think it really matters to the purpose of getting the hang of Heli flying without spending money on a ton of crashes.

I have to plug for PRE-Flight, however. It is great. It only costs about $30 and comes with a multi-player server. You can fly with several friends at once in the same sim space. It is way cool.

04-09-2008 05:48 PM

rbgrn
Heliman
Location: Chicago, IL

I have both PreFlight and PhoenixRC. I tried pre-flight but didn't enjoy it much. I LOVE phoenix. I think it's a fantastic sim and the multiplayer is really nice. It feels more true to life than preflight for sure.

Yes to sims. My skills are so much better now that I can practice whenever I want (more stick hours) and not fear crashing when trying new things.

Robert Green - http://www.rbgrn.net/

04-09-2008 07:53 PM

drdarren
New Heliman
Location: Boca Raton, FL

I purchased a Blade 400 after playing with the blade cx2. After multiple crashes, i could not get the blade 400 to fly. I bought a flight sim which helped tremendously, then I bought a trex 450 se v2. What an amazing difference!!!!!!!!! After building it, it was as smooth as butter. It hovered perfectly. I have had about 10 flights with it and NO crashes. To me, these two heli's are like night and day. I would tell anyone, if they can afford the difference, to buy the trex over the blade 400 any day.

05-01-2008 07:46 AM

CDH
Heliman
Location: Kansas City MO

http://www.ronlund.com/blade_400.htm
Ron Lunds opinion.

05-09-2008 03:56 AM

HOMEPAGE

madman22
Senior Heliman
Location: Alexandria Louisiana

i have had bot and i will say that the blad eis my fav to fly. not a first, i smashed this thing really good into the ground, after that i replaced servos with hs56 and immediately loved it. at first i just bought it because i wanted the tx. after servo replacement i like it more than my rex. i understand the price deal. and for the money if you had nothing, you wont be having a good time for 400 hobby shop to field dollars. i really love it after servo replace ment. powerful, fast and stable, oh and still under 500 bucks. so yeah i think you couldnt go wrong either way, some folks like to build and some like to plug and play. the choice is yours, either way you wont be dissapointed.

how far away can it get? oh that far huh?

05-13-2008 06:24 AM

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