The Futaba GY401 Gyro Is Still King
After several years, the Futaba GY401 Gyro remains to be the bench mark gyro that all others are judged. Ask 5 RC helicopter enthusiasts what the best Gyro is and 4 of them will likely say the GY401. It is said that copying someone or something is the highest form of flattery; guess that is why there is a cheap GY-401 clone hitting the market almost every month it seems. Unfortunately while many try – none provide the performance or piece of mind Futaba’s GY series of gyros offer. The Futaba GY401 gyro is for the heli pilot who wants both flexibility in terms of what model heli the gryo works well with and wants the assurance that a gyro malfunction or failure won’t bring down his/her dream machine. The GY-401 works well in almost every single rotor bird out there from 400 size electrics up to 52cc gas or MW54 powered turbine monsters with rotor diameters approaching 2 meters. In fact, Bergen RC recommends the the GY 401 in their industrial Observer line of heavy lift gas and turbine RC helicopters. The large range of heli size usage and outstanding performance is why the GY-401 outsells every other performance gyro on the market right now - It works in almost anything! In fact, when I asked my local (ok, 500 km away) hobby shop how many Futaba GY-401’s they sell – the numbers were remarkable. More 401’s than all the other gyros combined – pretty impressive! I know many people who started with a Futaba GY401 gyro in a small 400 size electric knowing one day they wanted to get into a larger electric or nitro powered heli. The GY-401 follows the progress and that alone offers some nice value if you don’t want to have to purchase another gyro for your next bird. Futaba GY401 Features AVCS (Angular Vector Control System) is Futaba’s patented heading hold gyro technology. AVCS works better than other HH gyro systems at correctly compensating for and eliminating drifting issues in heading lock/hold mode caused by temperature changes within the gyro. The GY-401, just like all of Futaba’s AVCS gyros uses a SMM gyro sensor and is said to be better than other conventional solid state yaw sensing technologies since all the electronic components are combined on a single chip improving performance and reliability. SMM stands for Silicone Micro Machine. Both Gain and Heading Lock/Rate modes are remotely adjustable through the gyro settings menu on a computerized radio. If you don’t have a programmable computerized radio that you can program in different ATV values for the gain settings, the Futaba GY401 will not work for you – there are no gain or mode selection options on the gyro case. A better choice for non computerized radios or if you are lacking a spare channel for remote gain would be the Futaba GY240 or the E-flite G90 (for smaller helis). The Futaba GY401 has a built in Limit Trimmer adjustment so you can set the amount of tail rotor servo travel to avoid servo over travel and stress on the servo. This is an easy way to set the travel over the more conventional method of changing servo arm/tail rotor pitch arm lengths. As mentioned, the GY401 supports both slower analog tail rotor servo pulse rates or can be switched to a 270 Hz high frequency rate for fast tail rotor specific digital servos. Speaking of servos, the 401 comes in two different packages. You can purchase the Futaba GY401 Gyro only package or the Gyro/Servo combo package. 
The servo combo includes the ultra fast digital Futaba S9254 tail rotor specific servo. This servo boasts a speed of 0.06 sec/60 degrees and a torque of 47 oz-in. It has been perfectly matched to operate with the GY401 in fast digital mode.FUTABA GY401 GYRO SPECIFICATIONS FUTABA GY401 INSTRUCTION MANUAL
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