I of course purchased the BNF kit and as you can see, everything other than the radio is included. Binding the Blade mCX S300 to my Spektrum DX7 was very simple and programming was a breeze, nothing like the Blade CX3's setup procedure !

I selected the Heli software setup, programed in the name of the model, ensured the swash mixing was set to 90 degrees in the "Swash Type" menu, and didn't touch one other menu item. The mCX S300 jumped into the air at half stick and held perfectly still with no trim and no other menu programing, not even servo reversing - I was amazed.

The video's don't lie! This thing, just like the mCX will hang in a solid hover with no radio input what so ever. With the right amount of throttle, I have been able to set my radio down for over 2 minutes without touching it and the heli stayed flying over the kitchen table the entire time.

The Blade mCX S300 comes with a nice little hardware package that includes a set of upper and lower white rotor blades, rotor blade trim tape, number and letter sticker set for additional scale call signage, a small Phillips hobby screwdriver, and most importantly - six spare canopy mounting o-rings, and two spare servo shaft retainers. These parts are tiny and are easy to loose when doing any maintenance - nice they included spares.

FLIGHT PERFORMANCE

As I just stated, stability and ease of control is the first thing you will notice with the mCX or the S300 version. Hovering stability is simply the best going and toilet bowl effect was nonexistent.

Forward, sideways, and backwards flight is predictable and just like any good coaxial, movement stops as soon as you return the sticks to neutral. Perhaps a little too easy for anyone with RC helicopter experience, but the small size, good looks, and easy flying nature keep you coming back for more - I can't put this thing down.

Pirouettes are amazingly fast! Faster than the base mCX. I can't count how many a second since it is a blur, but I am guessing 5 to 6 piros per second. Gyro performance is outstanding - the tail stops with robotic precision and holds very well. No twitch was noticed, and only a small amount of drift noticed throughout the flight as the gryo piezo crystal warmed up on the 5 in 1 unit.

There is considerable blade flex with the flexible blades and just like the base mCX, if you do an aggressive maneuver like a death spiral (full forward and left cyclic coupled with fast left rudder) you will get blade strike (lower blade contacts the flybar).

Yup, the death spiral lives up to its name in this case. Thankfully the blades and flybar can take the abuse as can the little Blade S300 as it tumbles to the ground most of the time. It is so light, it is hard to do any damage, but avoid crashing if possible. The tail boom mounting is probably the weakest part on the S300 and I have snapped the boom off twice during blade strikes.

Flight time on the stock 110 mAh E-flite LiPo battery gives on average a 7-8 minute flight - longer if you take things easy. I purchased a set of

Common Sense RC LiPo batteriers (2 per pack for only $18.95) to get more flight time.

The Common Sense RC LiPo's are rated at 130 mAh and will give a 9-10 minute flight, again longer if you take it easy. They also must have a higher discharge rate (C rating) seeing that there is a noticeable improvement in climb out power over the stock E-Flite battery. If you crave more flight time (you know you do) and want to save some money over additional stock E-Flite batteries - I highly recommend them.

They are a couple millimeters longer than the stock E-flite LiPo's, and come close to touching the lower servo gear if pushed all the way forward into the battery holder. Just something to watch out for and is not an issue if not pushed all the way in.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As you know I like scale RC helicopters and that is one reason why I like my CX3 more than my base mCX. But like I state on my CX3 review page , the CX3 needs a good size room to fly in to fully apreciate the performance and it is more complicated. If you have limited space, like scale RC helicopters, and want the easiest to fly micro coaxial going, the Blade mCX S300 is a real little gem and worth every penny.

If you don't really care for scale or the 300C - you won't go wrong with the base Blade mCX . I honestly don't know one person who I talk to or e-mail that has nothing but good things to say about their mCX or the mCX2 new .

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