renelu
Heliman
Location: Virginia Beach, VA, USA
| I can't really recommend one of the other - they are both good helis. I have a T-Rex 450, 500, and a 600e. Right now, with all of the people worrying about static on the 500, so you may want to read up on that issue first. Personally, I haven't had any problem with it.
From a learning perspective, I started out on a Raptor 30, before there was a V2. When the 50 coversion kit came out, I put that on and liked the stability of the larger rotor disk plus the extra power of the .50 - essentially what the 600e is. Keep in mind, this was before 3D went mainstream.
I am starting to favor the size of the 500 over my 600. I think the 600 is a smoother and more stable heli, but batteries are more expensive. For me, there is better parts availability locally for the 600. If you buy everything online then that shouldn't be an issue, except for maybe blades. It may be better now, especially since the vblades are out, but a few weeks ago, the 500-sized blades were scarce. I'm also waiting for the torque tube for the 500 - I have it on my 600 and like the feel of it better than the belt.
I don't think the 500 and 600 fly the same - you can set them up to behave the same, but the 500's power to weight ratio is higher and the cyclic response is much faster. It also feels a lot lighter in the air. Because of this, it might be the better stock 3D learning platform. If money is no object, then a high voltage 600 setup will give you great performance and runtime on big lipo packs. The 500 is maxed out on 5s/6s 4000 mah packs, and fitting a big pack requires some cutting of the frames and/or modding the canopy (usually the bottom clip) to fit.
In my case, I'm running A123s on both the 500 and 600. Runtime is kinda short, but adequate: 4:30 on the 500 (6s A123, stock 500L, 16T) and 5:30 on the 600 (15s A123, Neu 1912/1.5y, 15T).
Neil |
