Fbl question

[Dan Minick]

I run an old mini vbar. Works better than my flying

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[Ben Kerr]

FBL systems are a very personal choice. I have seen every system under the sun on an E5 and all work well for the owners. All anyone can tell you is what their personal choices are.

I have tried a few systems over the years with most of my time being on Vbar. I never liked Ikon. The feel of the pitch was never right for me and the cyclic always seemed a little harsh, tail was great though. Vbar has a great feel on the cyclic and pitch but the tail is garbage in my opinion, but you can fly around it. CGY I have flown version 1.4 and recently started testing 2.0. I don't have too much experience with it yet but I so far I'm loving it. Right now all the settings are stock and need to do some tuning but I might be changing to it completely if my testing goes the way it has been.

No matter which system you go with, even if you stick with the same one, there are a lot of knowledgeable people in here that can help you get the best out of your E5. Let us know what we can do to help.

[J Anthony]

I started out using Microbeast units (which I feel have gotten a bad rap) but now mostly use iKon. I've got a CGY750 V2 but haven't used it yet. I've used the SK540 on one 600 size machine and loved it and I'm now anxious to try it on my N5C when I build it to see how well it's gov works with nitro. I loved the gov on electric. I love the ikon gov too, but I'm very curious about how it's gov pitch comp will work with a nitro engine. Good luck with yours.

[James F]

I started out using Microbeast units (which I feel have gotten a bad rap) but now mostly use iKon. I've got a CGY750 V2 but haven't used it yet. I've used the SK540 on one 600 size machine and loved it and I'm now anxious to try it on my N5C when I build it to see how well it's gov works with nitro. I loved the gov on electric. I love the ikon gov too, but I'm very curious about how it's gov pitch comp will work with a nitro engine. Good luck with yours.

I can tell you the sk540 gov works great with a fuel engine. I used it on my gasser.  It took some playing to get it to work on the gasser as it was never intended for it.  I had to set it to nitro and adjust a lot of little settings to get it to work well but the first event I took the gasser to , heliseast,  I had others with the same model how I got mine to fly so well.   I know the sk gov helped a lot but I also think I was more tempted to push the G20 to what century said it would do.  I had to learn collective management coming from pure electrics to a gasser but it would do everything my electrics would with my limited 3D skills.

I am torn between a synergy  N5C or building a 1/5th scale truck.   I plan on putting my spare sk540 on the N5C if/when I get one.  It may be a piece by piece build.  Airframe first, motor, servo's, etc. as I limit how much I spend each month on the hobby.  It would be easy to blow a lot of money fast building various models.

[J Anthony]

Cool. Thanks for the insight on the SK540 with fuel helis. As for the 2nd part, I hate to be the one to point out what you obviously haven't realized, but a fifth scale truck won't fly 3D nearly as well as an N5C. Hope this new info helps you decide.

[James F]

Lol, i was trying to find video of one doing a hurricane.  I do love my helis now that i got back to flying them, well it as i sold off my trex.  I will be called a synergy fanboy on helifreak now. 

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[Danny Dugger]

Trucks have been known to fly now and then. Lol @Mike Dipalo

[cml001]

It's FREAK'N AWESOME!

[James F]

Ok i want it lol

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[James F]

Well i have a brain 2 HD with BT  coming for my E5s.  The sk540 on it is flawless after replacing a bad tail gear but i am looking forward to the new features.  After trying some new stuff and bailing out literally with a foot or two to spare the rescue function is going to be nice.  The vibe logging will probably make me more anal about how well everything works on the E5s but i am looking forward to it.

Having only ever used skookums i am a bit nervous trying another fbl.

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[curmudgeon]

One nice thing about staying with Skookum is that they are selling very cheap on the classifieds.  There was an ad the other day selling an SK-540 for $60 shipped asking price, and there were three SK-720BE's selling for $215.00 each shipped asking price.   It is my understanding that Art is now putting all of his efforts into the FPV thing and has pretty much dropped support for the 3D side of the house.

[James F]

One nice thing about staying with Skookum is that they are selling very cheap on the classifieds.  There was an ad the other day selling an SK-540 for $60 shipped asking price, and there were three SK-720BE's selling for $215.00 each shipped asking price.   It is my understanding that Art is now putting all of his efforts into the FPV thing and has pretty much dropped support for the 3D side of the house.

The problem with used is when the gyro or accelerometers are damaged and sold as next to new.   Art isn't doing anything on the support side anymore for the heli's and as you said he is concentrating on commercial automatic flight control units for commercial drones from the last I heard.  At one point Art would send messages every so often but I haven't heard from him in a long time.   If the 720be wasn't so expensive new I probably would of went that route but MSH appears to at least answer concerns in the forums.

[curmudgeon]

I owned 5 of the now discontinued blue SK-720's.  I also tried the SK-540 and recently sold my last SK-720BE.  They all flew fine.  The tail and the governor held just as well as the VBar Silverline (I owned 5 of those at one point).  However, the SK-720/BE self-level was hit or miss.  When it worked, it worked well, but if it sensed too high vibrations it would shut off mid-flight without warning.  Art also refused to add the collective pitch bailout feature.

Now you can get a Spirit or Spirit Pro ($195 and $215, respectively) or a Brain2/iKon2 for $165 ($200 with integrated BT) and they are more modern and pack more features than the Skookums.

[Danny Dugger]

James the Brain2 is a great unit. I've run a number of FBL systems and Brain is my personal favorite. They're very easy to set up and I feel like the software is pretty intuitive. If you have any questions feel free to hit me up with a PM.

[James F]

Thanks Danny.  If i have any issues i will let you know.  I don't  forsee any going through the software.  Just a bit different terminology for the same functions between my skookums and the brain.

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