All my helis had old ZYX. It was performing very well. It was cheap gyro.

I moved to V-bar clones and I love them.

First thing is good servos. With good servos ZYX is performing great. Good servos are more important than fancy expensive gyro.

Main mistake is to miss with PID. Leave it alone and adjust only gains and roll rates (e.g. on ZYX).

V-bar is awesome. Way it flies, tunability, flight log working like black box. You connect BT and setup it on the field with Android phone.

For ZYX programming box is essential. It makes setup and tuning at the field much easier.

I assume every gyro will perform great with good servos. Servos are essential for FBL.

Considering bar clones are $27 on eBay with free worldwide shipment they are way to go.

If you are not comfortable with clone get real one for $220.

New ZYX-S 2 has faster processor and probably improved firmware. I am sure it is great gyro.

Some other brands offer six sensors, bail out and other features. Matter of preferences.

Do not be affraid to play with settings. Good tuning can make huge difference. Gains are crucial for good performance start with them.

 

I dont know how anyone could hate a v-bar.

If they hate the v-bar, I would assume they hate the v-bar pricing, having the pay for firmware upgrades, which is understandable to not wanting to pay an extra fee when you paid a lot for the base unit. Silver line owners pay close to $400 for the base unit.

My opinion, the v-bar flies better in real life than a flybarred helicopter flies in a simulator.

V-bars are easy to setup, I like the setup process, to me, it has no ambiguity, its straight forward.

I have a 3GX sitting in the cupboard, all my FBL helicopters use v-bars. What does that say?

I have original v-bars and one clone, which I use for 450's. It does not hurt to try a clone, you won't tell the difference, its the same thing. If you find its awesome, consider buying the real thing.

 

As I understand it the type of sensor in a V-bar is different than the one in the Ikon. It's the reason V-Bar doesn't offer a 'bailout' or 'self level' feature.

My first FBL was a V-Bar. I bought it when I flew my buddies FBL 450 and it was more stable than my FB 500!

I bought a Robird for my spare 500. I liked it but I didn't think it was as good as my v-bar.

I bought a used Goblin 700 and put an MSH Brain on it so I could get the 'self-leveling' feature. I haven't used the feature, yet. I have trouble with the basic wizard not being able to change the tail settings. I have to use the advanced menu. I can't tell the difference between the v-bar and IKON in flight but then again I'm an intermediate pilot at best. If I were to buy another helicopter I'll buy another v-bar.

 

OK, unfortunately i have not had the pleasure of really getting to know a VBAR yet. I know @3dmick is a vbar fanboy and I am probably a futaba fanboy. But why? For me the futaba cgy 750 has an awesome sensor and quick electronics in the device. I can spin the tail up to 3-4 times per second if the heli can physically do it. Not many people piro their tail faster than 1.5 revolutions per second so its probably not a selling point for most pilots. For me I like at least 2 times per second so it is a requirement for me. Because my heli can spin so quick its cyclic also has to be just as fast and remained controlled. Well so far i found the futuaba to be great at speed. On the down side, its takes a bit more knowledge to get to know the futaba.

Back to the thread topic of cheap vs expensive. I have used a 3gx and worked it reasonably hard on my 550E. Everything was flew ok for general flying. When you start to push the heli, then you can definitely feel the difference EXPECIALLY with fast prio maneuvers! In fact i had a couple of scares where flying exceptionally fast and the 3gx having a hissy fit while entering a fast piro snap turn at speed. The gyro just randomly shot off in different directions. Never ever this problem with Futaba or Vbar.

So there it is... cheaper gyros fine for sport flying. For 3d cheap will still work but it wont be as nice nor as accurate.

 

Well said @smakmeharder

 

I love VBar I have used 3G & 3gx I just couldn't get the Heli to fly how I like it to then got my tried V bar the Heli felt so locked in I loved it all my helis are on VbAr now I did try
The futaba cgy750 for 2 or 3 weeks I did not like it could not get that locked In feel like Vbar so I swapped it to you know what just my 2 cents lol

 

The vbar can be made to spin the tail stupidly fast. just up the tail speed to 200

 

I have all of the FBL units out there except vortex, but I can say vbar is the best

 

well looks like V BAR is the best get the hammer out and smash all the rest hahahahahahahaha

 

Still havnt flown a Vortex yet though buddy

 

From quotes of vbar users...
200 Tail Rate = 720 deg/sec - to slow and no room to grow...

 

254 is the max setting.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25619019&postcount=1497

 

Big fan of Skookum 540, vbar, and it's little ripoffs FUBAR and Kbar...

 

All of my birds are using V-bars. It was what everyone was flying at the time, so I knew I could get help with it. I did have a Skookum on a 550, but there were issues with it and I ended up putting a V-bar on that bird too. (I'm not bashing Skookum, but I bought the bird used and have no idea what the controller had been previously subjected to)

 

@feral Yeaup.. hearing great things about the Spartan Vortex VX1... Thats what im getting for my 550L--Anticipating some beastly hurricanes and funnels

I remember how well the Spartan Quark tail gyros held with my old trex 500 flybarred heli... I heard the tail hold was insane on this VX1

30% off @ recdepothobbies.com ($262.50 shipped)

https://www.rcdepothobbies.com/Spartan_Vortex_VX1_DataPod_Combo_p/src-vx1dt.htm

 

Does anyone know if spartan has a "Pitch Boost" setting? Pitch boost is a good setting if you want agressive collective while still maintaining controll throughout other maneuvers..

 

I believe its called "Collective Boost".. I truly wonder how that function actually works!

Does it sense how fast your input is and "smoothen" out the motion of travel to make the pitch change more effective instead of bogging it down if the feature wasnt enabled?


All this programming is insane

You gotta hand it to these programmers and engineers who make all this happen. Thats why I dont cry about prices being around $300-$400 a pop for a good FBL controller.

 

personally I think a lot of it comes down to how you fly, and what your first FBL is.. if you know VBAR, and have always used it then of course you say it flies better, as you can get it to where you want very quickly and easily as you know what all the different settings are, and where they should be about for how you like them...

with a new FBL, they tune different, you have to work out all the different options.. its another learning curve... unless of course the new FBL wizards hits all your magic numbers, then you thin its awesome...

anyway back to topic. the Sensors in the unit I think are important... if the sensor cant handle what your throwing at it, then your in trouble. With most of the clones you are assuming the software is the same as the original, so it comes down to the sensor and manufacturing quality.. i kinda think with the clones it might be a bit of pot luck.. which would be the same as the originals.. but I just would hope the ratio is smaller in the originals...

 

Yea I like the vBar Silverline sensor. Looks pretty serious. The fact that you can hard mount it to the frame with some plain, thin tape to a nitro heli and it still resists vibes is an awesome thing.