[dklein]

An interesting new product was announced today. Microbeast combined with Spektrum receiver. I just read a bunch of stuff on Helifreak where the product guys at Horizon were jumping in and it sounds great. A full fledged v3 beast with rx at a price that pretty much matches the beast with the satellite adapter cable. Less wiring and no additional units to mount. Here's the link.
http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/D...ID=SPMAR7200BX

[craneman32]

So what Im getting out of all this is do some research. Find which features suit my wants and needs and pick one. Is the skookum 720 worth the $400 price tag when the others are around the $200-$300 mark?

The new Spektrum unit does sound amazing. Especially at that price! How new is it? One should wait for reviews and bugs to be fixed if any right?

[dklein]

so new it won't be out for a month or two! The Horizon guys seemed doubtful on the published availability date of late November.

[craneman32]

ok thanks, I have all spektrum rx's in my helis and I have no reason to change. They have been great. If there are no problems with it I may just stay with them in my flybarless ventures. However I tend to wait till all the bugs are worked out before buying a new product.

Besides that might work out well if the 600 Goblin is comin out in the new year. lol

[sly the dogman]

I'm also window shopping for FBL systems. From what I read and compared
including what somewone said about which brand is more often on the for sale forums and which are not, is something to take notice of.

Skookum, V-Bar, BeastX, more features = more expensive but one thing though all 3 work great if set-up properly.

Personnally; my wallet wants to buy a BeastX but my heli wants a V-Bar.
Skookum is to expensive for both of them. The more I wait, the more money I save up.

[craneman32]

I think I made up my mind. I'm sticking with Spektrum. Its the AR7200BX if I can even get my hands on one. Due out next month.

[waylander]

It really depends on what you're putting it into as well.

I have 3G's in my 450s and they are fine (except the multiblade heads which have vbars) but my hand built balsa apache on a 550 mechanics w/ 4 blade head and 4 blade tail is getting a skookum... I think I would cry if that heli went into the dirt so the self leveling feature is worth it to me.

[waylander]

Originally Posted by belcom

Not exactly sure what you mean about the "clones or others". I did not mention any clones or non-brand units.

Perhaps 3G was around $200 when it came out but the price dropped very quick because it wasn't very good in the first place. BeastX on the other hand started selling at $200 and still holds value, new or used. And I'm sure the company will add more features as time goes on but somehow I believe the price will still be good. Vbar is and always will be the golden standard for FBL systems. But people shouldn't judge these systems and classify them as premium or low end just because it has a couple more features and a nice computer interface. In my books BeastX is on par with Vbar and they both work brilliantly. If I am using a cheaper ESC on certain build I'll choose Vbar because it has an excellent governor feature, if I am using at least a Castle ESC and have a receiver I can put on a heli I will go with BeastX without any doubt that both will perform spectacular in the air on both swash and tail.

Of course you can classify items based on features, we do it with everything. Electronics, cars, hell even with sofas (types of leather, recliner... etc.), so why not with FBL systems? Any car will get you from poin A to point B but I don't want to drive one without a radio or a/c...

But whatever, as with anything, value is in the eye of the beholder, some find the features are worth the cost and others don't, buy what's within your budget and makes you happy. Also, everyone has their opinions but they are just opinions (just like mine in this post). You seem to be vary partial to beastx, that's great, we all develope loyalties and brand favorites... BTW, I've never had an issue with any of my 5 3G units (I did do the silicone mode on all of them though) so not sure what you're issue with them are... again just a matter of preference and experience.

[craneman32]

I have no issue or any experience with any flybarless unit. I too looked at the classifieds and there are a lot of 3GXs' for sale. Is it the old ones? I'm not sure. Mainly I have had excellent service through Horizion Hobby with the Spektrum line. As they are the service providers as well.

I sent in a AR6100 that seemed fried and I received a AR6110e in return or something like that. Anyway they upgraded me because the old Rx was not available anymore. All that at no expense to me except my shipping costs to ge it there!

So Yes waylander loyalty is still worth something. Being where I am at the no experience level I need to start somewhere.

[xv-townboy]

Decided i'm going to give the BeastX a try.Suits my budget and seems user friendly enough for a first time FBL

Totally agree with what Waylander had to say