Walkera have a wide range of helicopters for beginners (2 channel, 3
channel and 4 channel) to choose from. I’m only going to discuss the Walkera #4 because it was my first helicopter and also the one I’m
most familiar with.
The Walkera #4 is a 4ch R/C helicopter with great flying
characteristics, and in my opinion nice to start with. It has a
fixed pitch main rotor with very hard main rotor blades which will
help you with your training phase. It has a bit of a odd looking
short nose, but other than that I think Walkera did a great job
designing the #4.
This is a RTF (ready to fly) helicopter kit, which means that you
only need to supply the 8 AA batteries for the transmitter and
charge the helicopters batteries for your first flight. Walkera does
test fly each helicopter, but be careful with your first attempt to
hover because the trims might be a bit off. With the factory
supplied 8.4V 650mAh Ni-Mh batteries you will get +- 6 minutes of
flight time on a full charge. I replaced mine with a 7.4V 910mAh Kokam LiPo battery which give me about 14 minutes of flight time
depending on the type of flying you do. You need to buy Deans Plugs
to connect the LiPo battery to the helicopter. I also soldered Deans
Plugs onto the Ni-Mh battery so that I have two battery packs when I
go flying.
You need to buy a LiPo charger to charge the LiPo batteries, but
they are quite handy because most of the digital LiPo chargers can
charge all battery types and different sizes. LiPo is definitely the
way to go for longer flight times. If you want to extend the life
span of your LiPo batteries, always charge them a bit less than the
capacity of the battery. Say you have a 910 mAh, you must set the
LiPo charger to charge 900mAh. Make sure that you have selected the
correct voltage for the LiPo battery. If you charge a 7.4V LiPo, you
must set the LiPo charger to 7.4V for the charge.
I found that the Walkera #4 is quite crash resistant. I had lots of
mild crashes with my Walkera #4 with minimal damage. When you crash,
the main rotor blades usually pops off, or you only have to straighten
them to fly again. The helicopter skids can take a some beating, and
are not that expensive to replace if you need to. Buy yourself the
training kit that fits most of all the small electric helicopters.
The training kit clips onto you helicopter skids and helps you with
the hover learning process so that you don’t easily damage your main
rotor blades.
Reason to buy the
Walkera #4
The Walkera #4 is a nice indoor and outdoor helicopter in light
winds. It is quite easy to learn with, due to its low main rotor head speed. It has a powerful tail rotor motor. The build in gyro is very effective and can be adjusted later on. It can fly up, down, left right, yaw left and right and can hover
still in midair. It is cheap to maintain. The parts are easily obtainable and available. The Walkera #4 is quite crash resistant. Transition into forward flight is really good.
I hope this helped you on your first helicopter purchased.
Happy flying...
My Walkera #4 in action flown by myself.
For a first time buy, you can't go wrong
with the Walkera #4.
This is the Newest! Latest! Improved! 2007
model of the famed Dragonfly #4 Helicopter. New features for this
newest version are "Self regulate for balance", "New cabin", "New
Rotor Blades", "New Rolling Head", and MORE!
Click on the HiModel banner below
to buy a LiPo battery for the Walkera #4. They have a wide
variety of LiPo batteries to choose from.
If you don't mind the the previous
Walkera #4 model, click on the HiModel banner above for the best
price. It is the same Walkera #4 that I have which can be seen
in my video clips and photos.
