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| Century Hummingbird V4 |
Average Rating: 8 |
Nov 6, 2006
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Reviewed By: octotus
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Join Date: Nov 5, 2006
Location:
Total Reviews: 1
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Rating: 7 out of 10
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Bought this as a first step into this amazing sport.
The box comes with everything that you need to fly. You need 8 AA batteries for the Tx. (In fact my LHS provided me the kit + 8 AA batteries).Like most beginner's helis, this came with a training kit. really useful. And needless to say, the bird borrows heavily from its predecessor the V3.
There is very little to assemble as it comes completely assembled. The blades tracked fine. The heli is lively for an economical bird. put on the training gears and we are off. for people who know how to fly helis, this will be a pack of indoor joy (though cannot do any 3D stuff). can literally fly in a 6x6 space and it is capable of stable hovers (a bit difficult - but still capable). at the cost of a Blade CX (online) you can get a good heli - that has both a main rotor and tail rotor. gives beginners the fell of a real heli. I bought it for about 240 USD at my LHS.
Now it is time for an indepth analysis:
1. battery - it uses 7 cell NiMH battery pack. it is a 600mAH / 8.4 v pack and provides at least 10 minutes of stable hover. More in the hands of experienced people. it is upgradeable to 8 cell / 600 mAH / 9.6 V pack. pity that batteries are not available for more flight time. the battery comes with a charger. it takes approx. 90 minutes for a complete charge. the charger doesn't have a automatic cutoff circuit breaker / an indicator for charge completion. In essence - a barebone battery-charger setup that WILL WORK.
2. build - the heli is sturdily built. I am amazed at its capacity to take hits and come out of it with minimal / no damage. May be i am a very cautious learner - but still it is a sturdy beginner's heli. the tail boom is made of carbon - which makes it a pain to change in case it is broken. (yes it did break once) otherwise, it is quite sturdy and light.
3. the motor gives a pretty decent output. this heli has a motor driven tail rotor - which would mean surprise to the beginner - at the end of battery charge the heli would go pirouetting. In retrospect, this actually is a good indicator to let the beginner know that the battery is low on power. a nice way to stop over draining the batteries. nevertheless - the company declares that its motors will last 50 (main) or 20 (tail) flights. which i think is good enough for a beginner to learn flying.
4. the base of landing struts are made of aluminium. yet another good news for the beginner. my LHS specifically told me the landing struts of Blade helis break at the drop of a hat. the HB landing struts are really strong.
5. the battery holder leaves something to be desired. by design it will break under the impact of crashes and also the spares are flimsy. this, i think is the weakest point in this heli. but for all the crashes that I have done, I managed to break only two.
6. Blades / Head Assembly: very simple with ball links to swash plates and two servos. response is good. it is also strong. My heli has so far had at least a hundred crashes, with at least 10 of them real bad ones, there is no damage to the head assembly. Also, I have gone through only one pair of blades. Blades are made of plastic and are of a good quality. The main blades (and yoke) are held in place on a ball bearing assembly.
7. The transmitter itself is quite good. It feels solid. Inspite of the heli being a 4 channel FP machine, they supply a 6 channel transmitter which can be used in case u upgrade to a CP bird from HB. My friend had bought the Blade CP and I see that their transmitter for a 6 Ch heli doesnt feel as good as this does.
Spare parts for this bird Century heli are costlier than its Blade helis. All the parts are a few bucks more (yes. just a few bucks). But i think the few extra bucks pay for themselves as fewer broken parts. I have been through only one crash kit (40 USD at my LHS - 25 USD online) and a tail boom (3 USD) in one month and a battery holder (20 USD - note my comment on the battery holder). The crash kit comes with 1) a pair of main / tail rotor blades, 2) a battery holder and 3) landing struts.
Now the flops:
Absolutely NO WIND. the heli is so light that it sways even in its own buffetting (esp for beginners). Century heli doesnt provide flybar weights with the helis. It might really help the starter if they supply that. The box says RTF - it doesnt mean it would fly right out of the box. This heli needs tweaking on all the movement dimensions - yaw, roll and pitch. The rudder trim has to be adjusted in the gain. I dont know how they fly this stuff in the factory the way they send it out. probably has to do with interference inside their testing area?? Get another pair of batteries. this bird really uses batteries up if you are a learner. buy a crash kit the moment u get the heli.
Till the HB V3, Century heli provided the free FMS simulator and an adaptor cord with for its Tx. This was great help for beginners. Trust me, FMS is better than NO SIM at all. It (FMS) also allows you to download various models and use them for practice. However, for reasons best known to the company, they decided to sell it apart for 30 bucks. Essentially, you pay only for the cord and you pay 30 bucks for that. It will be better if the company gives it off with the kit.
Overall, am happy with the choice. IMHO it is a good heli for anyone who wants to get into helis and doesnt want to start with a co-axial chopper.
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• durability
• value for money
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• battery holder is cheap. design could be better
• spare parts can be a bit cheaper and more available
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