jostafew great suggestion on the Blade Series from HH! The beauty of getting a Blade series is that you pretty much get everything you need out of the box.
I've been flying (and instructing) R/C since I was 6 (didn't start teaching that early lol) and got into rotorcraft about 5 years ago. The "Blade" series are pretty well put together and most hobby shops carry spare parts for them. That's a huge plus because you will need spare parts. The only way to NOT crash is to never put a battery in it and never pick it up. Crashing is part of flying. I have flown everything from "humming bird" sized heli to planes with winspan of 8' and a 26" prop.
By far the most common (and probably will only get more popular in time) mode of propulsion is not battery (aka electric). It used to be that liquid fuel (nitro, gasoline etc) was the way to go because electric was just too heavy and your power to weight was way off and performance just sucked! That's not the case now. Because of major advances in battery and controller technology electric is taking over big time. I used to only fly fueled birds but now everything I own is electric and I doubt I'll ever buy another gallon of R/C fuel or gasoline for an RC aircraft.
Below is a list of the current offerings from Blade and how they are stacked up in order of easiest to hardest:
mCX2 is a small and fairly durable heli. It's indoor ONLY and I wouldn't even suggest getting it near a door let alone outside. This one is a blast to fly and I've even had first time pilots be able to fly this one on the first battery pack.
For you very first a Coax is a good choice. It will teach you the basics in R/C heli but wont require you to be "good". The
CX2 is a good size if you want to "sample" some outdoor flight but you want NO wind. A gnat fart will blow it off course and much more you wont be able to correct for it and will crash a longggg way from home.
Moving up if you want a single rotor to start with the
mSR X is a very durable and fun little heli to play with. It's light so outside you want no wind but due to it's small size it carries very little momentum so it can take a pretty good smack with little damage usually.
Then to take it up another notch (
still fixed pitch here) check out the
120 SR which is just a slightly larger (and more stable) version of the m SR-X (
but mSR-X doesn't have flybar but that's another conversation)
.
Next in lineup is the SR which is again slightly larger but this is the the first step into Collective Pitch (CP ) heli and isn't really your best bet for first heli. It's a lot of fun to fly and an excellent 2nd or 3rd heli.
Now let's step it up a notch to some touchy but fun helis!
Next in the lineup is the
450 3D (
3D means acrobatics and some crazy flying to say the least). This is a newer version of my favorite "All In One" heli.
If I can help in any way please don't hesitate to ask or shoot me a PM! Flying is a PASSION I've had since day 1 and I love helping other people get into the hobby and STAY in the hobby!!
Sincerely,
Allen