Extreme-Flyers X350 RTF coaxial heli revisited

My, how things have changed in this hobby in five years.

It was January 2012 when my review of the Extreme-Flyers X350 5A2 coaxial helicopter was published here at RCGroups. Since then, Global Hobby Distributors have, sadly, ceased operations and the X350 seems to be all but discontinued through other outlets.

Time hadn't been particularly kind to my X350. I spent more time crashing than flying and I turned my attention back to standard CCPM helicopters and early quadcopters, not to mention a lot of airplanes. Since long before moving from the place where I'd written the review and taken the photos, the X350 had been sitting in closets in both my previous house and my new house ever since.

After five years which included a great deal of flying a variety of models, I thought it was time to look at this chopper once again through the lens of history and some more polished flying skills.

I had everything I needed to get airborne again with one exception. I couldn't find the transmitter. I checked some boxes in my garage without success and that's when I thought to look where I'd once stored a couple of other oddball transmitters. Bingo. Still wrapped in the plastic grocery bag I'd used to protect it during the move. Even the transmitter's batteries were OK.

The original li-po had long since been discarded; I had one which I'd gotten as a gift from Max Ettinger at Park RC Models. It was almost totally discharged from lack of use, but I was able to get a small balancing charger of mine to recognize it and charge it up. Amazing as it seemed, the battery took a full charge and I managed to get in a full length flight.

As I'd written, how things have changed.

The X350 actually flew well, but not nearly as stable as a quadcopter or other coaxials. I'd done the upgrade to longer shafts and a Double Horse Volitition flybar per an early thread here at RCG, but I'd reinstalled the stock flybar at some unremembered point.

With dead calm outdoor conditions, pinched control sticks and easy input, the X350 flew far better than I remembered, but with a slight tendency to want to go into the "toilet bowl effect" during hovering. Many of the problems I had with crashing started after the review was published, but in retrospect, five additional years of practice on a variety of model aircraft were a huge help.

So, I'm on the lookout for another battery and in the meantime, I have a nearly new 1300mAh 3S which seems to fit just fine. The ironic part is, it's from Global!