Newbie-what to buy

[Pat Vance]

I've flown RC planes but no experience in helicopters. I want to buy a good one buy not sure what to look for. I assume 4 channel but what next? Also, how do you find an instructor? I have Real Flight G3 but I'm not sure it is life like enough to learn and not have to buy three helicopters before I learn to at least hover.

[Crashagain]

G3 is a good sim. I have 3.5 and it has saved me tons of money in the field.. They are not super life like but will give you the idea and stick inputs to get you going. Try the Heli hover trainer program on it and see how you like it. It seems to be pretty life like in actions. Make sure you have the dual rates turned on or it is almost uncontrolable till you get some more experience. Also get rid of the circle in it or everytime you touch it your heli will crash. After you get good at that move onto the heli hover trainer where you have to follow another heli around and hold it for a few seconds before moving on to the next spot. Very challenging.
As far as helis, how much do you want to spend and what does your local hobby shop carry parts for make a big decision on what to get.
Stay away from the little helis like the CP Pro and such, theya re very twitchy and expensive to repair. The T-rex or belt cp or copter x are good helis and wind does not blow them away. But these are not cheep heli's either. The blade 400 is a good RTF bird and the radio will work on all your other stuff too with just the purchase of a new reciever.Athe heli is about 470 bucks complete.