20 flights with the 700N and my thoughts on it...

Been a busy month with all the reports and quizzes in school...so I am having very little time for fiddling with the heli in between surfing forums and school work...

But anyway, here is my take on this heli...

Problems/ Complaint...
1. Main Gear- Don't know why they make it white, it is super dirty, even more so than the raptor's 87T ones.

2. Tail pitch slider/arm- Mine is getting slightly loose from a combination of slop from different places along the tail shaft. Don't feel it in the air though. The grip are loose too, but I thought it should be normal coz of the thrust bearing.

3. Ball links are wearing...unbelieveable...20flights ball links feel worst than 200flights old raptor links.

4. No sure if its because of the spacer I used on the canopy mounting post, but the canopy simply does NOTHING to shield my electronics from oil. I get oil droplets on my regulator.

NOT ALIGN/700N induced problems...
5. WHY is there no normal mode on the solid-g? I am used to carrying the heli around in non-heading hold mode and then spooling it up before turning on the heading hold so that the tail won't start spinning on spool up. Due to the lack of non-heading hold mode in the solid-g, I have been fighting my tail quite a bit on spool up. I am sure wiggling the stick before spooling up helps, but I don't have that habit...

6. The anodizing on my YS engine is dropping...not sure why. I stripped the engine coz I thought it might have gotten too hot...but apparently it isn't...Wiping with tissue shows the bits are falling off. It makes good power, so I am not too worried about it for the time being.

From 90size

From 90size

From 90size

From 90size

Flight Characteristic
This heli is amazing compared to the raptor. While the quality is not quite there, the flight characteristic is exceptional. Cyclic is VERY fast and direct, which means now I can do multi-point rolls/flips without struggling. I might try some super stubz in the future, but for now, the stock paddles are good enough. Collective "pop" is impressive too. Anytime you want the heli to stop, just bang the stick and it stops right there, with a nice "pop" sound. The punch is exceptional too. And as with all 90size, this thing has got that hang time, whereby it just stays in the air without losing height even when you put it in knife edge and its most noticeable when doing piro-flips and slappers. However, because of that floatiness, I am still having a little trouble learning to control it so it comes down nicely.

Only thing that I think is still lacking is the tail gear ratio. Its a little too low which lowers the tail authority. Somehow, the tail authority on the 700N just doesn't feel as good as the raptor. Other than that, everything else is great. Also, it tracks very good in forward and backward flight, with no hint of pitching. Everything has become faster, even a simple big loop just get BIGGER AND FASTER.

BUT having said that, this thing is in not a unboggable heli. It still requires good management, even more so than the 50size. On my raptor, most of the time I am using the full pitch range on the throttle stick, but on the 90size, most of the time I am just playing around between the +/-7/8 region. Full stick will definately bog it. The full stick is really just for that instantanous pop. A 50 size uses rpm to produce power and lift, but a 90size uses its torque. Comparing them is like comparing a 2.0l engine with a big turbocharger(a 50size), where you have to keep the revs up, vs a 6.0l v10 american muscle which just pulls and pulls from the start. Its definately worth that extra fuel cost. Like the saying goes, 2 good(and expensive) flights is better than a few average(and affordable) flights.