heliharry you need to ask yourself is FBL right for you!
I've been in the hobby 26yrs and just went FBL this summer and still trying to grasp it...
My 2cents go with a Flybar Chaos 600 and I've got the perfect gyro I could sell ya.
Gyro setup would be as easy as 4 quick steps
Is FBL for you??
Good read I found, check it out!
Okay, another very popular question I get asked almost daily! Simple answer – yes, no, maybe... As you see – I can’t answer it. It depends on the person, what they are flying, how they are learning, and of course their budget. That said, I feel at this point in time, a beginner who is self learning should stick to a flybar and here’s why (again, this is for regular sized birds, not micros with stabilization systems).
For most beginners just getting into single rotor collective pitch is a big commitment in time, resources, and of course the all mighty buck. Flybarless (at least right now) is just one more added expense/complication that could go towards more battery packs, a good computerized charger, a step up to the next size heli, a good flight simulator, one step up in computerized radio, etc.
This pushes a FBL system pretty far down the priority list for the marginal advantages offered at this level of flying when there are so many more beneficial ways to spend your hard earned cash and stretch your RC dollars.
Setup as I said is also more difficult seeing that not only do you have to understand the programming/adjustment of the flybarless system, but on top of that, most require that you are able to at least hover and fly some simple circuits to set the gain of the cyclic gyros correctly. If you have someone with FBL experience to help you out or are getting one on one lessons from an instructor who could setup the system properly, then that would certainly be okay and is a great option.
To really put this "difficult setup" issue in perspective, think of tail gyro setup. This alone can be very difficult for a newbie to grasp and get their head around. Flybarless essentially adds two more gyros to the mix and anywhere from a few to well over a few dozen other parameters to set correctly - much of it all abstract. Mechanical setup has to be nearly perfect as well. In short, it's less forgiving than a flybar.
Some FBL systems also do very funny things when training gear is attached or while performing ground handling exercises. Just like a heading lock tail gyro that can get confused while on the ground from either vibration or command input induced feedback, the two cyclic gyros can also get confused from training gear oscillations or get stuck in a feedback while the heli can't move freely as it does once airborne.
I only say some, not all. If you have watched the nose-in hovering video lesson I have on day 10 of the flight school, you will notice I'm flying with a flybarless Trex 600ESP with the 3G system and with training gear on. It was perfectly fine and reacted almost the same as the flybar version while performing ground handling exercises. Most systems will give warnings if training gear should not be used, so take that into account if you have your heart set on learning on a flybarless machine - make sure you know the flybarless system will function okay with training gear in place.
Lastly, most virtual flybar systems offer increased performance and crisper more reactive cyclic control. For a beginner, this is generally not what you want or need. There is a reason soft head dampening and lower head speeds are recommended for beginners – so they don’t over control the cyclic. Most flybarless heads are set-up with stiff dampening and require faster head speeds to work correctly; not all, and it depends on the system as many now can be tamed down to be less reactive, but in general, electronic flybar systems give sharp and instantaneous cyclic response and therefore are not perfectly suited for a beginner.
I've also been seeing a lot of misinformation lately that states things like a flybarless heli with electronic stabilization is easier for a beginner to learn on and in most cases that is just not true! It feels different, but it's certainly not easier in most cases not to mention some training gear compatibility issues. So watch out for all the "easy to learn on" flybarless hype right now - there's a lot of it! The only way a flybarless stabilization system is truly easier to fly for a beginner over a conventional mechanical flybar is when they are paired with "auto pilot electronic stabilization systems" that use CCD cameras or GPS to detect heli movement and correct for it giving a true hands off the sticks flying/hovering experience.
The learning curve for a beginner getting into collective pitch is already steep, flybarless pushes that curve to near vertical! Just keep that in mind. It doesn't mean it can't be done and we are all different in our abilities, but I know if I had to learn all this flybarless stuff when I was first starting out in the hobby on top of everything else, I likely would have never got off the ground - but that's just me - monkey brain