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MRC's XRB RC Micro Helicopter Review
By Michael Heer
Dec 12, 2004, 02:00 PM
Introduction
At the January 2003 AMA Convention in Pasadena, CA. I first saw an XRB Mini Lama electric helicopter and I thought it flew great and was a very cool item. In my review of the convention I expressed my interest in getting the item but that: "I resisted...for now!" That model flew at the end of a 12 foot tether and for some reason that tether kept me from buying one. In October 2004 they came out with the new XRB SR (Sky Robo) Lama, flying without tether using a four channel FM radio system and a two cell Lithium battery for power. They even improved the looks of the model by making its basic color silver with red highlights. My resistance was now gone and I had to have one.
Kit Contents
The quality of this product was apparent to me well before I had finished unpacking the kit. I saved the box -- I can easily store my XRB in its original packaging when not flying or displaying it. The copter took up the front 2/3s of the box and was packaged in plastic that allowed me to see what I was getting through the front of the box, while keeping the copter from shifting or being damaged in normal transport. The back 1/3 of the box securely held the transmitter and all other parts in individual bags inside two cardboard boxes that were secured in the cardboard "tray" in the back packaging. The box was/is an excellent way to store and protect everything when not in use.
My kit included a two-cell Lithium battery all ready resting in the battery tray under the helicopter. In a small box to the right of the transmitter were six sets of replacement blades with three pairs for the top of the mast and three pairs for the bottom of the mast. Also in that box was the hub for training gear for a beginner to use. In the second and larger box that was stored to the left of the transmitter were all the other parts. This included the Lithium battery charger, the safety (beginner) skid parts, the skid braces, the blade balancer, two small screw drivers and an Allen wrench, light weight stabilizer weights, a card to fill out and an excellent instruction manual.
The instruction manual was excellent and I highly recommend that every pilot read it before flying the XRB. It was a very quick read with large text and many pictures/drawings. Pages 19-23 described how to balance and adjust the helicopter for blade tracking, movement in any direction and adjusting the yaw. The instructions also covered fine tuning and setting the XRB up for an expert pilot. They clearly showed what transmitter control caused what movement with the helicopter and gave recommendations for starting flight. The assembly and reading of the manual took little time and was well worth the effort. I did need to buy 8 AA size batteries and installed them in the transmitter. Otherwise everything I needed came in the box.
Assembly
For the inexperienced helicopter pilot they supplied a simple to assemble training skid that they called the Safety Skid. It snapped together as shown on page ten of the instructions. It's to help keep the beginner from tipping over on landings and take-offs.
The Lipoly battery slid into a battery holder under the copter and plugged into the copter only for flying. They recommended that it remain unplugged when not flying to avoid having the voltage drawn down and possibly ruining the battery. The three wire plug was unusual to this reviewer and complicated trying to use another brand of Lipoly as a backup battery.
The XRB came with the standard round stabilizers that supply higher stability and slower response. But they also packed a pair of light weight (flatter) stabilizers for use by advanced pilots. These reportedly supply lower stability but quicker response. The switch between the two different pairs of stabilizers appeared simple in the instructions. They also showed how to change the connecting rod on the stabilizer to the other side of the stabilizer to get quicker response. All flights for this review were with the standard stabilizer.
To store my assembled XRB in the original box, after I installed the skid braces, I had to make some cuts in the protective plastic with my Exacto knife to fit the copter with the skid braces back into the protective plastic. The two pictures below show the plastic with parts removed to fit the skid braces. The second picture, showing the black back piece, best shows where I cut out plastic.
Side notes:
As mentioned in the introduction, I first saw the tethered version of the XRB at the AMA Convention in 2003. Below is a picture I took of it being flown in demonstration and a picture I saw on the Internet of the RED tethered XRB. in talking about it with a friend at the time, he didn't like the look of the counter-rotating blades and thought it didn't look real because of them. I told him that some of the first attempts at helicopter type vehicles involved counter-rotating props and that the Soviets even had an attack helicopter powered by them. The photo below of the KA50 Black Shark won me a free lunch. I have included a couple of pictures of it below.
If you would like an XRB Lama to look even more scale then the one I reviewed, they do sell an interior for the copter as an accessory. While I loved the scale looks of the Lama I understand that at the Tokyo Toy Fair last year they unveiled an Airwolf body that may become available as an accessory for the XRB in the future. The second picture below is from the Tokyo Toy Fair. The third picture is one that Tikaboo posted in RCGroups as I was reviewing the XRB. Unfortunately, I know nothing more about the Airwolf versions of the XRB other than the pictures are cool.
Improvements over the Tethered XRBBesides the most obvious changes of RC vs. tethered and silver vs. red, I noted several other changes in the new XRB from the original. The first was the addition of the little jet engine on the top back of the copter. While purely cosmetic I found it a very eye appealing addition. A more important change was the taller mast which gave more separation for the counter-rotating blades. This change was not important for most slow beginner style flights but was significant for the pilot that wanted to do faster more aerobatic maneuvers. In the faster maneuvers the blades of the original XRB were known to sometimes strike one another as the foam blades flexed during the rapid change in direction. With the taller mast that should be far less likely to happen. This is a design improvement that affects performance in a positive way.
Flying
I took my XRB to my church for the first flight out of an abundance of caution. This gave me a large and mostly empty fellowship hall in which to fly and got me away from possibly breaking Christmas decorations that are all over our family room, and I do mean all over the room. At the hall I did a final ground check of the XRB and listened to the smoothness of the servos as I slowly moved the transmitter sticks with the throttle off. I also did a range check with the transmitter antenna down and it failed my normal test with the antenna all the way down. However, I had plenty of range with the antenna at half mast. (They did a nice job wrapping the receiver antenna in the cockpit area of the copter.) With all systems go it was time to fly.
The power up procedure:
I got my friend Bob Ramirez to come out of the church kitchen to videotape my first flight. I set the XRB on the ground facing away from me and I positioned myself behind it by about six feet. Its right was my right and so on. I powered up the motor, lifted off, and it wanted to fly backwards.
It was tail heavy (my fault) so I shut it down and landed. Per the pictures below, the wire from the battery can hit the bottom of the canopy. I had felt that resistance and thought the battery was all the way forward. When the XRB initially wanted to go backwards, I immediately thought of the battery and landed and I was right. I bent the wires coming out of the battery slightly, and it installed properly immediately. I put the canopy in place and was ready for attempt # 2.
The XRB hovered on the second flight, hands off, with only one or two clicks on the rudder trim tab during the flight. After the short videotaped portion of the flight I was able to get in another ten minutes of flying and was moving the XRB where I wanted with very good control. I even tried a few emergency let goes of the right stick when the XRB was in forward and slide flight and it stopped its progression and went into a hover within a few feet. This is a novice friendly flier. I went and asked my pastor, Reverend Robert Mitchell, if he could take a few still pictures of the XRB in the air and the stills below were some of the ones he took. After about 16 minutes of flight time I lost the ability to climb with the copter and during the next minute or so I flew just above the ground in a small box pattern before the low voltage forced me to land. No damage, no crashes, and, most amazing for me, I was not the least bit tense. I did intentionally make some slightly fast angled landings during the main portion of my flight time and safety skids helped the XRB land upright.
I went home and recharged the battery. (It takes about one hour and fifteen minutes to completely recharge after a full flight discharge.) I got in a second flight but this time I was by myself. I started on the coffee table and flew up and over the sofa and landed on the informal dining table in the family room. This was a tricky approach because of a low-hanging light fixture but I was successful. I had never tried that with my other copters but you can bet I will in the future...when I am home alone. Taking off from the table I slowly flew through the kitchen and a couple of archways as I went through the dining room and living room and back into the family room. I made a pass over part of the Department 56 "Dickens Village" and I caused a blizzard with the artificial snow and made an emergency landing as I was a caught off guard. Cleaning up that mess was the only downside to my flights. I recharged the battery so the XRB could be flown at my club's Christmas party that night. This was easily the most relaxing hands on flying experience I have had with any helicopter. I did get pushed around a Little when I was flying up near the air duct in the church hall when the heater kicked in. That action helped confirm that this is an indoor flyer unless there is no wind at all outside. At the Modesto Club's Christmas party I again had trouble getting the bubble compartment on the front of the copter due to the wire from the Lipoly battery. I had Jeff Hunter fly without the front bubble in place. This was Jeff's first flight with the XRB and it was in a room full of people...but I had assured Jeff the XRB was rock solid. He took off from the table in front of me. I started the video camera about ten seconds into the flight. Jeff is an expert pilot, and he acknowledged that the XRB is very easy to handle as it flies so steady in the original set-up.
Conclusion
This review focused on the XRB RC version in its most stable set-up, the way it was sold. With the battery properly forward the XRB was rock solid indoors with no heating or air conditioning on. When they came on I could no longer fly hands off but it remained very easy to control. If someone has some flying experience so that they know the vehicle's left and right, coming and going then they can probably master this copter with just a little practice. Start with a lot of room and when you feel comfortable you can start flying in a regular room with furniture. I am fairly new to helicopters but I felt completely comfortable after I got the battery properly positioned during the flying on the first battery charge. I even felt comfortable flying it through archways between rooms at my home during the second battery charge. I love how it handles! The only problem I had of any sort was getting the canopy on over the battery wires where they come into the fuselage. I was successful at the church and at home earlier in the day but I again had trouble at the party. I examined that more closely. A truly minor problem when I think of problems people have with some other micro helicopters! I removed a small piece of plastic about 1/16th inch wide about 3/8ths long center bottom of the plastic compartment. now the wire just jits in that slot and i have no problem with it. I look forward to flying it frequently during the next month or so in the current stable set-up. After that I will change over to the more responsive settings with lighter stabilizer weights with a flatter shape and move the rod to the other side for more movement. If that makes a substantial difference in performance I will either report that here or do a mini review update with a video. For now, if you are interested in learning how to fly a helicopter, this is an excellent choice.
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Dec 13, 2004, 01:12 AM
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#2 |
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Mayor of Simpleton
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Cleveland, OH, USA
Posts: 2,184
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Great review.
 Where can you find these?
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Dec 13, 2004, 09:17 AM
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#3 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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Thanks for the kind words. The XRB is a relatively new product and is proving very popular so some of the stores that sell them are currently sold out. (Especially true of the stores that discount it.) Click on discussion here in Ezone and go to Electric Helicopters, Multi Rotor Forum. There you will get even more information on this great copter and read how much other owners are enjoying theirs and see where they are being sold and in stock. Mike
Last edited by Michael Heer; Dec 13, 2004 at 11:26 AM. |
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Dec 13, 2004, 04:21 PM
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#4 |
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I want to fly everything!
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Hillsboro, OR, USA
Posts: 569
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I enjoyed your review. Didn't the Black Shark experience the same rotor interference problem? I think the Black Shark is the meanest looking chopper ever. Somebody make a KA50 body kit for this heli, PLEASE!
Lance |
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Dec 13, 2004, 04:22 PM
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#5 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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It has just over 2 hours of flying time on her and everything is still working perfectly. I am still on my first set of rotors but I suspect when I transition to the more manueverable version in January I will need those spare blades. I have had 1 hands off hover of over 40 seconds. Most of the time I am landing on different tables in our house. I have even had a flight ouside in the fog with no wind.
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Dec 13, 2004, 04:28 PM
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#6 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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Lance I hadn't heard that about the KA50 but it could very well be true. If I come across anything about that in the next week I will post it here. Mike
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Dec 13, 2004, 09:16 PM
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#7 |
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Leave me alone!
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Posts: 15,107
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Fantastic review, Michael! I want one
 Martin |
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Dec 13, 2004, 11:03 PM
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#8 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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Thanks Martin I don't blame you. This is a quality product that flies as great as it looks. Mike
Last edited by Michael Heer; Dec 13, 2004 at 11:25 PM. |
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Dec 13, 2004, 11:05 PM
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#9 |
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Leave me alone!
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Posts: 15,107
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The "hands off" portion of your second video is what did it for me. Now to convince Christine that I need this
Martin |
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Dec 15, 2004, 05:54 PM
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#10 |
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Manhattan, Kansas, United States
Posts: 3,391
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I have the tethered version, and love flying it, but this looks great!
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Dec 17, 2004, 07:41 AM
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#11 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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In the Multi Rotors Forum someone mentioned that the Sky Robo does not track staight forward or back but actually when given forward command from the transmitter actually goes forward and slightly to the left or back and slightly right. I wasn't aware of this despite having two hours plus flight time on mine and actually went to test mine to see if mine worked that way as well and it does. The movement to the left/right is not very pronounced but it is there. I was simply supplying counter direction, ie right on the right hand stick without even thinking about it. This is off line flight is apparently an effect of the flexible foam blades bending up in rotation. I don't consider this a problem but it is something you should be aware of...although it appears a number of us pilots simply self corrected with our thumbs and didn't notice this. On mine the pull to the left at slower forward speeds is really minimal but it increases slightly at higher forward speed. Thus trim tab adjustment does not cure the condition.
Last edited by Michael Heer; Dec 17, 2004 at 10:48 AM. |
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Dec 17, 2004, 10:21 AM
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#12 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Fayetteville, GA
Posts: 3,148
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I got a chance to fly one of these at an indoor event in Melbourne, FL last weekend. I was sold.....
I called Mac Hodges at Hodges Hobbies and ordered one first thing Monday morning. He is selling them for $325 and is expecting a large shipment in today or early next week. His number is (866)924-9505 http://www.hodgeshobbies.com/ |
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Dec 17, 2004, 11:45 AM
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#13 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: East Anglia England
Posts: 1,260
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Thanks for a great review
It is possible to fly the XRB with other batteries as the centre tap is not used by the model. The charge uses the centre tap to keep both cells balanced. I made an adaptor cable to convert from teh molex connector on the model to two bullet connectors on my battery that way I could use my ecxisting ETEC 1200 cells. the wieght went up a bit which reduced agilty so I'm thinking of getting some 350mAh cells . For more details see the multirotor heli forum where I have posted details and pictures Regards Terry |
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Dec 21, 2004, 04:51 PM
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#14 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,933
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Broke my first rotor today.
Well I finally broke a rotor today. I have about four hours flying time now on my XRB and I was doing slightly more radical manuevers in the original basic stable set-up. Doing a high speed climb with forward motion I had one of the "A" props snap and break in mid-air about 3/4s of an inch in front of where the rotor is attached. I shut everything down and made a one bounce landing on the skids and nothing else was damaged. I am sure that I weakened the rotor in my previous flights but I was surprised when it suddenly snapped with a quick power-up by me. Surprisingly loud noise when it happened.
I have now been baptized, so to speak. Mike |
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Dec 22, 2004, 01:40 AM
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#15 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Newport Beach, CA
Posts: 127
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Bare Bones Kit?
Do you think they will ever make a kit less transmitter for those with their own 4+ channels? Less receiver, battery, &/or motor? Also, can you explain the design of the three wire lipos and what it would take to use conventional 2 wired versions? I suppose there is no need for a gyro - or - is one built in? Excellent review!
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