Shortman

I love this question because it is so easy. Raptor 50 with an OS 50 Hyper, some Futaba 9252 digitals, and a futaba 401 (if your looking to save a little) or gy611 if you want all out performance. You're looking at about $2,000 but this heli will take you from beginning hovering to competition with no upgrades (besides maybe some 3d paddles $10 and a metal head). I started out this way, learned how to hover and forward flight in 1 day, after properly breaking in the motor after 2 gallons I was flipping it, trying to tic toc, etc. Now I have also jumped into the electric helicopters as well (Align Trex 450se). While they fly awesome, they are still not in the same league as the nitros in my honest opinion for a couple of reasons. One, a 450se micro helicopter just doesn't have the stability and control of a larger 30/60 size nitro bird, the rotor disk just doesn't allow for it. Secondly, maintenance, the align trex for me still has a few issues it needs to fix with its quality control. I've crashed mine a total of 4 times really, all but one were due to parts falling off (after I specifically thread locked and in one case even glued the part in or replaced it with a brand new (in this case washout arm). Now it's one thing to dumb thumb a helicopter into the ground, but when a part falls off in flight and you have no control, I don't think there is any worse feeling then seeing your machine go in knowing it wasn't you that caused it.

To make a long story short, the raptor 50 has a proven track record, and now with the coming of new 50 size helis' your choice is becoming even more open. If you want something to invest in and see it through, I would highly suggest a 50 size nitro. The 30 size nitro are okay for hovering, but again, they feel like they are on a bungee cord when your flying them, a 50 has the added power to start and stop on command (like when tic toc'in and you only have inches to spare) a 30 will stop and then slide a foot or two where the 50 and 90 helis just lock in and don't move.

And to compare it to airplane terms here, a 30 size nitro is exactly like a 40 size Sig LT 40 trainer, it can fly, but will it hover and do those wild blenders like you see the other planes doing, no. A 50 size nitro is like a 50cc gasser, it's inbetween the big boys and the smaller planes while giving you all the performance of a big plane for 1/2 the price while sacrificing very little. The eletrics are still new and batteries are going to cost you $400 a set for a 30 size machine. If you plan on doing more than 4 flights a day, your going to be spending a thousand or more on just batteries.

Just my opinion, Steven