thunder tiger innovator

[multi-planes]

hey, i've been hearing a lot about thunder tigers new heli the innovator. i'm a begginer in the field of helis and was wondering of it would be good for me? i have a lot of sim experience but have never flown a cp.

first how much does it cost?
is it good for me?
where can i get it?

please repily
thanks :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Snakecharmer]

From what i've heard it's aimed at beginners (like me) but it is a bit too expensive for my taste, costs about 600 USD afaik.
And i heard you can't even use different servos etc because of the "security features" but that might just be a rumor, not sure about this. Perhaps someone else can confirm?
I'm sure it's a good beginner heli and they will sell a lot of those but i guess it's not crash-resistant and will need repairs eventually so personally i'm planning on buying something less extravagant and save some money for spare parts.
The J. Perkins Twister CP Gold is supposed to be a great beginner heli, too and is much cheaper afaik. Based on what i know at the moment i'm planning to get me one of those if i go outdoors, next step for me will be Walkera 4#3b.

[Balr14]

I think you may want something else first. It's brand new and has lots of bugs to work out, the software is not available yet and the price got bumped up due to demand. I'd give it at least 6 months. If you are beginner with some money to spend and want something along the same line, buy the SRB Quark. You can get one for $325 and it's a very good heli for beginners, plus general sport flying.

[jasmine2501]

There's a huge thread about it here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=925593

Yes, there's bugs that need to be worked out, and it sounds like you kinda need to understand things about pitch curves and setup issues in order to really take advantage of the software interfaces, and that the default beginner setup "barely flies" - also, while it is designed for beginners, that is primarily to help with setup issues - you still have to fly the thing, and if you crash it, the parts may not be available at this time, and if they are, they seem to be non-standard stuff which is priced somewhat high. Read the thread - lots of good info there, and people are starting to get them now, so you've got some opinions from real users to read over the past month or so.

[osterizer]

I think you may want something else first. It's brand new and has lots of bugs to work out, the software is not available yet and the price got bumped up due to demand. I'd give it at least 6 months. If you are beginner with some money to spend and want something along the same line, buy the SRB Quark. You can get one for $325 and it's a very good heli for beginners, plus general sport flying.

You reallly want someone else to buy a Quark, don't you? :D

When it comes to simple beginners' helis, the only new one that's interesting me is Multiplex' Funkopter, but it's too new, not even on shelves yet, so we don't know how well it's going to work, really. The Innovator is, as mentioned, pretty expensive, and the "safety" stuff doesn't do much for me.

I did an eval of several vehicles a couple of years ago, and one of the models was from the luxury brand of a Japanese company that likes to be seen as safe and conservative, but this was supposedly a "sporty" light truck (SUV for the euphemistically inclined). The track had a hairpin at the bottom of a hill; knowing full well that I wouldn't be likely to carry a lot of speed, I just steered out of the turn and flicked back to drift it, while feeding power back in.... and the truck came to a stop pointing back up the hill on the exit from the hairpin-- the nanny took over and killed just about everything when it detected the (intentional) slide. Reflecting on it later, I was seeing dire scenarios of getting loose in bad weather and not being able to do anything about it because the car decided to overrule me. When it came time to buy another car for myself, I never even considered that brand.

Listening to some of the issues with the Innovator reminds me of that. Maybe if it would tell you why it was refusing to do what you told it to it would be more appealing, but I don't know. I don't think I've gotten behind the idea that you need an aircraft that shields you from knowing enough about it to set up and manage the controls and batteries. I'm inclined to believe that reduces safety instead of enhancing it.

[Balr14]

You reallly want someone else to buy a Quark, don't you? :D



I only mentioned it this time because the guys in the Innovator thread say it's just like a large CP version of a Quark.

[osterizer]

I only mentioned it this time because the guys in the Innovator thread say it's just like a large CP version of a Quark.

Just kidding, B. We have a lot of good choices these days :).