Eco 8

[Icon]

Hmm Fuse you got a point there... if the price is the same.. i would think that ECO8 would be a better buy then the hornet too.

[Fit]

In terms of startup cost, both birds amounts to almost the same.
Let me give a general breakdown of costs excluding tranmitter and receiver:

Hornet 2:

Kit: $350
ESC: Jeti 05 $65
Servos: $120
Gyro: GY240 $150
Battery pack: Kokam 3S1500 $85
Charger: 3S charger around $60

Total: $830
-----------------------------------------------
Eco 8:

Kit: $250
ESC: $80? 35A esc
Motor: Kawada 23T $45
Servos: $130
Gyro: GY240 $150
Battery pack: Sanyo RC2400's 8 cells plus battery bars $78
Charger: Hitec CG350 $150

Total: $883

Pros for the Hornet 2:
-flies for 14 mins on a charge
-small size
-will do 3D in its stock configuration with a BL
- stable flight characteristics
- great local parts support

Pros of the ECO 8:
-Inherent stability due to the bigger size
-Relatively cheap considering the size of heli you get
-Requires a bit less fiddling
-easier maintenance due to not being CA'd together

Disadvantage
Hornet:
- Tricky assembly due to the small parts
- Maintenance is a bit more involved due to parts being CA'd together

Eco 8:
- its bigger so you need to find a suitably sized field to fly
- Flies for 6-8 mins on a pack
- Requires some upgrades and work to get it to do 3D
- No local parts support

So as you can see there's not much between the two and it all boils down to what you want and what suits you best. If you have the space, transport, doing only mild flying and want a bigger more stable bird get the ECO 8.

If you don't have the time, transport and space and want to do some aggressive flying right out of the box without spending on upgrades get the Hornet 2. Even if you do normal flying, the Hornet will do it just fine.

As for a Hornet being a hassle to setup is only true to a certain extent. Its not as bad as you might think form all the gnarly posts regarding the Hornet. In fact I was against buying a Hornet as I thought it would be more trouble than its worth due to all the negative posts. But after owning one, this perspective has changed. I'm flying my Hornet as problem free as I'm flying the Feda. The only real work and time needed would be on the initial setting up of the servos and throttle and pitch curves. I think this applies to all CP machines and not just the hornet.

The one thing that makes it more complicated to setup would be due to it being a 120 degree E-CCPM swash. So you need to carefully align the servos and setup the linkages equally and then move on to your radio and tweak the settings to get all of it moving right.

[AceViperX]

If you want to praise something, by all means praise it. But don't try to emphasise it by condemning something else.

Eco 8 is a good EP heli. Period.

Hornet 1/2 is a good EP heli. Period.

What is almost always the limiting factor in the performance of any RC heli?

Answer:The owner of the two thumbs that move the sticks.

[HZM]

Originally posted by AceViperX
If you want to praise something, by all means praise it. But don't try to emphasise it by condemning something else.

Eco 8 is a good EP heli. Period.

Hornet 1/2 is a good EP heli. Period.

What is almost always the limiting factor in the performance of any RC heli?

Answer:The owner of the two thumbs that move the sticks.

Agreed.

[loyn]

May be useful for those who are interested in mid size EP heli

http://www.dokidoki.ne.jp/home2/tohrus/

[MicroHeli-Nut]

Actually the real differences and pros and cons are very hard to define btw the Eco 8 and the Hornet 2. As some of you know i'm steepping up to my next heli. The only difference is wat the flyer wants and what his flying style ( inclusive of what his flying time table is like ) is.

Frank when u ordered the Eco it was 149.99 at sly's hobby issit?

For those unfamiliar but interested, i'd like to specify again, the Eco 8 will perform well on brushed motors as well, just not hardcore 3W stuff or aerobatics.

And for the Hornet 2, no, actually it's plastics molding quality is a tad higher than the Eco 8 ( sorry Frank, not so sure for the US kits though.)

Although the H2 is small and fiddely, one has to realise that it takes little to get it to do aerobatics.






So just pick one.

[Frank]

The price of the ECO at sly's has increased to 159.99.
Didn't get the ECO to fly today although I had the 10 cell packs and 3s4p kokams
Was trying to change the stock brass screws on the tail rotor hub to steel screws and the stupid screw broke in the hub
No tail no fly.
Changed all screws on the bird to steel screws, no more breaking them.
Replacements and upgrades on the way, will fly again next weekend

[MicroHeli-Nut]

Ya got the 3s4p packs? whcih ones?
And where to get the steel screws from?
I'll see if i can Jeff to lower the price.

[Frank]

3s4p kokams 1500HD.
The screws are from the popular screw shop near to champion.
They sell all types of screws, nuts, bolts, etc....

[MicroHeli-Nut]

Frank i dunno if this works, but feel free to try, since u already condemned that part( hope u havent thrown it away).

Screw back the head slowly and gently to check for fit... next, get your self some strong metal to metal bonder. Then place the drop of it precisely on the head part and screw it back in again gently and quickly while holding the part upside down.... ( u need to put enuff of that stuff to bond, yet not too much that it will flood the sides to the thread on the inside ( U can try it first with a regular screw of the similar size.) Screw it all the way in. Let it set for a while upside down.. then flip it over to right side up whilst holding the part and not contacting the screw... then wait for time for the bond to set fully. Then unscrew.

Learnt this from technical back in sec. school, hope it works for you. It did for me. U can try a few times on other stuff b4 doing the exact thing.

[Sebastian]

Originally posted by Frank
3s4p kokams 1500HD.
The screws are from the popular screw shop near to champion.
They sell all types of screws, nuts, bolts, etc....

"popular screw shop near to champion"

i'm looking for nylon nut 2.5-3mm you think i'll be able to get them there?

whats the shop name?

[Frank]

Ray, your method will not work for me, The screw broke because I had thread lock on it. Thanks for the tip anyway.

Sebastian, I can't remember the name of the shop, if I'm not wrong they should have what you want.