If you don't think electric RC helicopters have caught up to nitro in terms of performance? Watch Bobby wring out Miniature Aircraft's Furion 450 - amazing!


I swore I would never fly an electric hobby grade single rotor RC helicopter, but once I did, I am now hooked on electric flight. This seems to be a very common and easy conversion for many of us die hard nitro people - I know so many nitro folks who have jumped on the electric band wagon.

This is a transitional time in the RC aircraft hobby right now. RC electric helicopters and planes are getting better and better. Flight times are equal to or even longer than on nitro and gas models. Some electric RC Helis and planes are getting 15 - 20 minute flight times on a single battery charge and are showing up in very large models.

The introduction of electric toy RC helicopters and electric micro coaxial RC helicopters is introducing a whole new group of people to this wonderful hobby. To say the future looks bright for electric RC aircraft is an understatement.

Electric Helicopter Sizes

The size spectrum for electric RC helicopters continues to grow.

The most popular size hobby grade single rotor electric RC helicopters right now are the 400 class/size electrics (around 700mm rotor diameters). They are large enough to be a good trainer right up to 3D flight, but small enough to be inexpensive to purchase and operate. E-flite's Blade 400 is one of the best values going in this segment right now - here is my review on it if you wish to learn more about this wonderful little electric heli.

Of course going bigger on any RC helicopter if you can afford it is certainly beneficial as bigger = more stability and the ability to fly in windy conditions. The Align Trex 600 is one of the best bang for the buck quality electric RC helis in the biz right now.

With a rotor diameter of around 53 inches (1350mm) it is a great size - very comparable to a 50 or 60 sized nitro RC helicopter. I have just purchased one myself and will be doing a complete review on it shortly. More die hard nitro RC heli people have made the jump to electric with the Trex 600 than any other model. It really is one of the best quality electric kits on the market right now.

RC Electric Helicopter Design

The overall design of hobby grade single rotor electric helicopters is no different than that of nitro or gas. The controls and construction are exactly the same. In fact, several manufactures offer the same model helicopter kit in both electric versions and nitro versions, or supply electric conversion kits. The only differences of course are having an electric motor instead of a nitro or gas engine, a battery pack/s in place of a gas tank, and an electronic speed controller in place of a throttle servo.

As I indicated earlier there are three reasons electric RC helicopters have caught up to the performance of nitro helis and are poised to surpass them in some areas:

High Power Speed Controllers.

Without these three technologies, electric RC helicopters would remain small with poor performance.

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BATTERIES

Lithium polymer (LiPo) battery packs are usually supplied with smaller less costly electric RC helicopters, but generally not supplied with more advanced RC helicopter kits. This is because the helicopter manufactures recognize that once at that level, people have different needs when it comes to flight times, performance, and yes - budget.

I should mention that some micro electric helicopters use Nickel-Metal-Hydride (NiMH) batteries. They cost less than LiPo or Li-Ion batteries, but don’t provide enough battery capacity for larger electric rc helis.

If you want an in depth understanding of RC LiPo batteries, check out my RC LiPo Battery write up.

As Li-Po batteries continue to come down in cost,Ni-MH are being phased out and only the cheapest of RC heli kits use them now - stick with lithium power.

My advice when you are learning is to get the largest capacity battery you can afford that will fit in your heli. Stick time when you are learning is more important than saving weight with a smaller battery. There is nothing more frustrating than just being on the verge of controlling a hover and the battery dies out every 5 minutes.

Get a battery that will give you at least a 10 minute flight per charge if possible. Size constraints as well as cost we be the two limiting factors as how large of a battery you end up getting. It is a proven fact that hand eye coordination will improve much quicker with longer practice sessions. This also means it is beneficial to have one or more spare battery packs if your budget allows.

This is where electrics can get expensive, but you won't ever have to purchase fuel. Pay now or pay later... In the long run, you will be money ahead in operating costs with electric over nitro fuel.

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Electric RC Helicopter Recommendations

Blade make some very nice little electric RC helis at very reasonable costs including their latest and greatest - the Blade 120 SR and the smaller Blade mSR .

The reason I am so impressed with all of E-flite's stuff (other than the Blade CP, CP-Pro, and the Blade SR ) is all the new models use DSM2 spread spectrum modulation. Meaning that they can all be controlled with any good Spektrum/JR DSM2 radio (this system is called Bind-N-Fly - BNF). This saves time and money - two things most of us are short on these days.

You can also find E-flite parts at almost every hobby shop in the world. As you know, parts availability is one of the most important criteria I place on choosing a good heli.

Check out the entire line of Blade RC Electric Helicopters at Red Rocket Hobbies to learn more about them and why they are so good for your first steps into RC helicopters.

Once you progress in this hobby or want to start out with a good quality bird off the bat - Align's Trex electric helicopters offer the best quality for the price in my opinion. Here is my full write-up on Align Helicopters if you are interested.

From the small Trex 250 to the large 700E, Align's parts and components in all their kits are top notch and offer great value (obviously why I now fly two Trex 600's out of everything else comparable on the market). Once again just like E-flite, Align's parts availability and pricing is outstanding.

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Electric helicopters are a compromise between size, power, performance, and flight times - in the years to come, those compromises will fade substantially - in fact, they already have.

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