My heli journey is similar to much of the above, though influenced significantly by what I was lucky enough to be gifted by a generous and enthusiastic parent. I've only ever bought three heli's myself, an E119 FP and two XK 110 CP's.
Started with the MCX co-ax, the yellow Mk1 version, remember those? Then MSR & 120 SR (never keen on the jerky flight characteristics of the little flybar equipped blades), then an MSRX - a very squirrely / tricky little bird, then my first XK 110, prob a bit much for my small indoor flying space at that stage in my heli learning curve. Then an E119, which whilst having a really rubbish transmitter, was a very stable and easy to fly little micro FP heli, great for practicing all the orientations. Then a 120S & 200 SRX joined the fleet, again gifted to me, and then more latterly, another XK K110, but the S version this time. In between these have come various quads including a La Trax Alias, a Blade 200 QX and a XK X251.
What would I do differently if starting out again? Well, assuming I wasn't gifted anything this time, I'd scrub round all the FP stuff, and go straight for a little micro CP bird like the XK K110 or a Blade Nano. Both have full 6G stability modes and can also be dumbed down considerably when used with a decent computerised radio (DR, expo, Throttle Curve etc), making fairly early 3G / agility flying a realistic target. They can be flown, or at least hovered in most peoples front rooms, and can even be flown outside when there's little breeze.
My job means I spend a fair amount of time in front of a screen, so I specifically didn't go down the SIM route, hence the little K110's, live SIM as I call it. Numerous lawn / carpet darts and almost no damage to speak of, well nothing expensive anyway. I try to practice most lunch times in our training room, and now no longer fly in 6G mode at all, and can fly the little K110 around my lounge without stability mode, doing basic circuits and figure 8's. I can't over emphasise the value of a small bendy 1S CP trainer if you intend to go all the way and just fly CP unaided or even progress on to mild 3D.
My next chapter will probably involve selling some of the FP birds and either getting myself a 120-150 size CP like an OMP M1, Goosky S1 or Blade 150S, or just go for it and get a 380 size bird like a 450X, Align 470 or maybe even an OMP M4 kit. Who knows, but what I can say is the heli side of the hobby really is addictive, and a hell of a challenge for those of you like me that have left starting this journey rather late... Happy flying whatever you choose to do.
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