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Nine Eagles Solo Pro V2 Review
Chris Mulcahy takes a look at the Solo Pro V2, from Nine Eagles.
By Chris Mulcahy |
Dec 21, 2011, 07:36 AM
Introduction
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| Rotor Diameter: | 7.5" (190mm) |
| Length: | 8.1" (207mm) |
| Weight: | 0.95oz (27g) |
| Transmitter: | 2.4GHz |
| Battery: | 1S 3.7V 120mAh LiPo |
| Typical Flight Duration: | 5 - 7 min. |
| Manufacturer: | Nine Eagles |
| Available From: | Tower Hobbies |
| Price: | $54.99 |
| Winter is always a good time to take another look at micro helis! With the colder days, and the sun setting before a lot of us get home from work, it's nice to have something that you can still fly around at home (or work!). This is the Solo Pro V2, from Nine Eagles. You may have seen it being discussed here on RCG already, the difference now is that Hobbico has announced that they are starting to carry the line, so let's take a closer look! |
Kit Contents
| The Solo Pro V2 arrived packaged in a colorful box, with molded styrofoam holding everything in place. There is also a plastic handle on the box, so it can act as a carrying case. Included in the box was the Solo Pro heli, a 2.4GHz 4 channel transmitter, batteries for the transmitter, a flight battery for the helicopter, a small screw driver, and the instruction manual. |
| The heli is a fixed pitch, single rotor design, with a motorized tail. The head runs a 45 degree flybar, which aids in stabilization. In fact, with this design, the pilot can let go of the cyclic stick and the Solo Pro will just about stabilize itself. The difference between this V2 version, and the V1 version, is nothing more than color scheme. The V1 has a red trim scheme, and this V2 version has a yellow trim scheme but with an added bonus - it glows in the dark! The swash is actuated by two linear servos, one for elevator and one for aileron (forward/backwards, and side to side). |
| To make the Solo Pro glow, all you have to do is hold it under a strong light for a few minutes to "charge" the glowing parts. Then shut out the lights for some glow in the dark fun! It is quite unique flying this way, and can be a lot of fun. The glow in the photo is exaggerated to show it off, imagine it at about half that brightness in complete darkness where all you can see are the actual glowing parts. |
Assembly
| There is no assembly per se, the Solo Pro is ready to fly out of the box, however you do need to load the included "AA" batteries into the transmitter and then charge the flight battery. The flight battery is a single cell 3.7v 120mah lipo, and is charged by plugging it into the back of the transmitter. The transmitter is unique in the fact that it can be set to either mode 1 flying or mode 2. You simply turn the transmitter upside down, and rotate the antenna 180 degrees so that it points out the opposite end. The transmitter has duplicate trim buttons above and below the sticks, so no matter which way around you use it you will still have your trims. Also on the back of the transmitter is a door that hides the charging station for the flight battery. A green LED next to the charging port indicates when the battery is charging and when the charge is complete. However, unlike in the instruction manual, the green LED actually flashes when the charge is complete, and doesn't actually go out. It took about 25 minutes to fully charge the flight battery. The transmitter also an LCD display, which shows trim status, battery life, and throttle position. I'm not entirely sure why the throttle position is displayed on the LCD as a numeric value, other than perhaps to show which mode you are flying in. The two sticks can both be pushed to activate the bind feature and the dual rates feature, the transmitter was already bound to the Solo Pro out of the box. |
Flying
| I started flying it indoors to begin with. While taking off I found that it wanted to skip sideways across the floor before getting up into the air. This resulted in my getting in the habit of punching the heli up with some authority on takeoff to prevent this. I immediately noticed that the Solo Pro didn't exactly sit straight in the air, it was kind of tilted a little to one side. After reading around the various forums I found that this was a normal attribute. It was very stable in a hover, and responded well to control inputs. Its self stabilizing characteristics were immediately obvious, as once I returned the cyclic stick to center the heli would put itself right back into a hover. I found that I had to hold the stick forward to keep the heli moving forward. After flying it around my kitchen for a few minutes, I decided I wanted more of a challenge, so I set up a chair in the middle as an obstacle to play with. I didn't have much difficulty guiding it through the chair legs, and it survived the various contacts I made with the chair without any damage. Of course any time I thought it was going to hit something I would throttle back, and this proved to be the thing to do in order to survive a crash. |
| I also discovered that it would pirouette pretty good in one direction, but wandered off on its own flight path when doing a pirouette in the opposite direction. It took a few attempts to get used to it, and it was one of the few quirks that I discovered. The dual rate switch didn't produce much of a difference as far as I could tell, but I found it to be fairly nimble as it was. |
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Flying outside was pretty interesting! It definitely doesn't like any wind, as I found out in the light breeze I was trying to fly in. When the wind is calm it's great, but with a small breeze the Solo Pro would suddenly turn into leaf mode and float away on the wind! I never could seem to get it to penetrate into the wind at all, though it was fun trying.
Another fun dimension to the Solo Pro V2 was flying it with the lights out. I had to give my eyes a minute to get used to the dark, but with the Solo Pro glow I was able to fly it around without losing orientation. The only problem was not being able to see all the other obstacles in the room that didn't glow! The battery gave me about 6 to 7 minutes of flight, and took about 25 minutes to charge up again. An extra battery in the box would have been nice! |
Is This For a Beginner?
| I handed the Solo Pro V2 over to my Wife to try. She had it up in the air and hovering without any trouble. For learning to hover, orientation, and basic forward flight I think it is great for a beginner. It is very durable during crashes, and very stable in a hover. That being said, any advanced pilots can have a lot of fun with it too. It's a lot of fun trying to fly around obstacles, then flipping it around and doing it in reverse. I had my flying buddy Bob visiting, and we were soon competing and trying to better each other's adept skills at flying through chairs! :-) |
Flight Video/Photo Gallery
Conclusion
| For something to play around with at home, without the fear of damaging anything, I think this is a great little heli for beginners or pros alike. The self stabilizing feature is also great for beginners, and won't take advanced pilots long to get used to it. You actually get a lot of heli for the price, and it will get you in the air learning and having fun fast. |
Inexpensive
Unique glow in the dark feature
Self Stablizing
Cons:
Doesn't like light wind
Pirouettes better in one direction
Only one flight battery
Discussion
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Dec 21, 2011, 07:50 AM
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The Netherlands
Joined Jul 2010
8,360 Posts
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Looks like a fair review. Michael Heer already reviewed the Revell Proto Max, which is nothing but a Solo Pro with different color canopy and tail fin, and a decent manual, the standard Nine Eagles manual leaves a little to be desired here and there.
You did mention the single battery being a con. When buying the Deluxe Version, which comes in a alu-case, you get 2 batteries, and a wall charger, as well as a set of spare main blades. The wall charger is a must, if you don't want to keep burning AA batteries using the TX for charging these. And the case is very convenient if you, like me, like to carry a heli with you in your car, to be able to fly anywhere when the conditions are right and you have some time to spare. Another heartily recommendation I would like to add, get better flight batteries for this heli. Unless Nine Eagles improved this, the stock 120 mAh LiPo battery has trouble keeping voltage under load, and this may mess with the receiver board's programming, if allowed to drop too low during a flight. A very good alternative is Hobby King's "OEM" 120 mAh battery, but there are other options. |
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Latest blog entry: Vintage Kyosho Buggies, why I love 'em...
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Dec 21, 2011, 09:45 AM
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Oak Ridge, NC
Joined Jun 2006
1,159 Posts
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Quote:
Thanks for the comments. The review was done to show people what to expect when they purchase the Solo Pro through Tower Hobbies or their local hobby shop (if they will be carrying it). Right now Tower doesn't carry the deluxe version, though it may be available elsewhere. |
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Dec 21, 2011, 09:45 AM
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Dekalb,Illinois
Joined Oct 2003
1,489 Posts
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Tower is always late in the game. Bringing out items that are well seasoned....
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Dec 21, 2011, 09:50 AM
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Oak Ridge, NC
Joined Jun 2006
1,159 Posts
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Quote:
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Dec 21, 2011, 12:34 PM
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USA, VA, Spotsylvania
Joined Jan 2011
2,939 Posts
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Allerc has good hyperion batteries w/ the 9 eagles connector on them http://www.allerc.com/hyperion-g3-cx...or-p-6009.html
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Dec 21, 2011, 02:29 PM
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Southern California
Joined Feb 2006
1,940 Posts
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Great review, Chris.
 I had the opportunity to fly both the Solo Pro and the Draco at the local hobby shop and both fly beautifully. The Solo Pro is a nimble little thing; it's one of the most fun-to-fly nanos I've ever played with. |
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Latest blog entry: A great day had by all!
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Dec 27, 2011, 12:50 AM
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Tokyo
Joined Jan 2010
700 Posts
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Great review. I have two solo pros and love them. I picked up some 120mah oem batteries from hobbyking and after 50+ flights they are still going strong. I would mention one more con though...the inability to bind to a better (i.e. programmable) transmitter. Other helis in this class (e.g. xieda 9958 & v911) are able to bind to the turnigy 9x. Just my 2.
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Dec 29, 2011, 01:45 AM
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Joined May 2009
490 Posts
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Been flying this little bird for two years, here finally comes the great review. Nice job Chris!
NE has launched their new 3G flybarless micro helis, the solo 100 125 and 180. Looking forward to a review. |
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Dec 30, 2011, 07:08 AM
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Joined Dec 2011
3 Posts
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For the price, how does this compare to the Syma S032?
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Jan 01, 2012, 01:22 PM
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Joined Jan 2012
2 Posts
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Hi, I am a newbie and I have been recommended this helicopter by a friend. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to fly multiple helicopters in the same room? I am looking to buy 1 for me and my son with the possibility of flying with my friend so 3 in total.
Thanks in advance for your help. |
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Jan 01, 2012, 03:15 PM
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USA, VA, Spotsylvania
Joined Jan 2011
2,939 Posts
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Quote:
 )They bind to the transmitter, and won't interfere with each other like the old AM/Fm or infrared radios. |
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Jan 01, 2012, 03:20 PM
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Joined Dec 2010
199 Posts
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delete.
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Last edited by gettinglucky; Jan 01, 2012 at 03:44 PM.
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Jan 02, 2012, 04:14 PM
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Joined Jan 2012
2 Posts
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Thank you for your advice, all ordered and I cannot wait to get started.
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Jan 06, 2012, 06:55 AM
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Stockholm, Sweden
Joined Feb 2010
3 Posts
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I've done small modification which allows me to use other (cheaper) LiPos. Description is in Polish only but there are some photos and everything should be self explanatory... I guess
If not - google translator should do the job Solo Pro V2 battery connector modification |
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