Blade MCP-X?

[akent]

I bought a Blade MCP-X on Saturday at the fun fly in Austin from the Hobby Town booth, after watching a pro fly one. He was a paid pilot from someone.
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It is a piece of junk! At least this run of them are.

Out of the box:
Read manual and bind to my JR-9503. Check.
Place the transmitter in throttle hold to verify servo movement and head setup.
FREAKING elevator servo is DEAD!
I swapped the elevator servo plug with the aileron. The aileron servo works in the elevator plug.
Elevator servo is broken.
Ok. I sent an email to Horizon. I don't know if they will replace the servo or make me send the thing in.

I decided then to read up on this thing.

There are all kinds of issues with these, such as bad main blade grip bearings causing the main blades to let loose!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I removed the blades and checked the head. Voila, the feathering shaft screw was LOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The bearing on the other side had fallen apart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My tiny screwdriver touched in there and removed the bearing race!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!

I haven't even spooled this thing up yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called Hobby Town, who I bought this from, and the owner said they have had 95% failure rates from these! There are no main blade grips available anywhere as they are sold out from all the bearing failures.
HOLY COW!!!

I found that you could order a replacement bearing from a Trex 250 (Blade doesn't even offer these bearings separately). I ordered some. We'll see.

Anyone thinking about buying one of these, DON'T, at least until they fix the quality control issues.

After the servo was dead and there were no more blade grips or bearings available, and after Hobby Town said that they could not replace this thing, I took the servo out.
It had several cold solder joints. I resoldered them and it worked. I then pulled the other servos and they also had bad soldering in various places. I then pulled the main board. Where the discreet wires enter it, there were questionable solder joints, too!
I think they hired 5th graders to build these, without training.

UGH!!!
Kent

[Solitaire]

I had considered one of these, but have read a ton of complaints about blade grip bearing issues. Hadn't read anything on solder issues, though.
I'll wait.

Not sure why HobbyTown wouldn't replace it, Kent. Especially when they can't supply the parts to fix it.

[scarface26]

Kent:
You might try Red Rocket Hobbies for parts. They were showing quite a few 3 days ago. Thanx for the report. I have been watching and waiting since the MCP-X came out. I have seen numerous reports of bad bearings. Glad that I waited.

[r/c basher]

Thanks for posting this Kent good thing I didnt buy one. I read all the things on Rcgroups about the blades flying off but didnt hear about the solder joints. I was seriously considering getting one but I think Ill stick with my Novus 125 Cp for now.

It seems like after the Blade Sr failure they would of made sure they didnt screw this up too.

[akent]

Sol, Hobby Town doesn't have any in stock. They ran out from replacing so many.
They mentioned that they were not going to order more until Horizon gets these fixed.

Thanks Scar, I ordered some blade grips from Red Rocket. I didn't see where they show inventory levels, so I guess I'll see if they really ship or not.

Well, if anyone is interested, I can continue to post about this thing here as parts arrive.
Kent

[19000rpm]

Keep us posted kent.

[Doozer]

I had a DX7se fail right out of the box. Luckily, I bought from a LHS and I took it right back. I didn't have a radio because I just sent my DX6i back for recall. I had the issue where the throttle would just jump. I still stuck with Horizon though and bought a X9303. It's worked as intended so far. Seriously though, two out of three radios ain't good odds.

The MCP-X is just another issue in a growing line of recalls and failures. My next radio will be a Futaba.

[19000rpm]

They, Horizon, has also produced amazingly good stuff as well, but it's become more and more of a hit and miss result because they're outstripping their production and QC capabilities trying to deliver too many new products in more condensed timelines. They need to slow down a bit and expand and extend development and new product testing. Unfortunately, they probably won't.

The only thing saving their arse through all of this is their warranty service; which is still the best I've seen.

[Doozer]

Mar 24, 2011 14:26:41 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

They, Horizon, has also produced amazingly good stuff as well, but it's become more and more of a hit and miss result because they're outstripping their production and QC capabilities trying to deliver too many new products in more condensed timelines. They need to slow down a bit and expand and extend development and new product testing. Unfortunately, they probably won't.

The only thing saving their arse through all of this is their warranty service; which is still the best I've seen.

Agreed on all counts. It's just hard to understand because when you pay for a toy, you want to play with it. When I sent back the DX6i, I was grounded. These guys are buying these helis right off the shelf and they're breaking before they can crash them. You'd think there would have been at least some effort put towards QC.
I wouldn't like paying $220 to be a beta tester.

[akent]

19k, you hit the nail on the head, I think.

I had the same issue with the DX6i, Dooz. Mine caused crashes before I figured it out!
HH was great in fixing it, though.

I have not had an issue, luckily, with either my DX7 or the JR9503. I sure wish I would have waited on the 9503, though, as the DX8 is looking really nice! Several folks are flying them at the field here and the telemetry and transmitter programmability are outstanding.

The products that HH is coming out with are incredible! As you said 19k, they just need to take a little time to debug this stuff!
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Updates on the MCP-X:
Red Rocket does NOT have stock on the blade holders.
The Trex 250 bearings were also backordered as the word got out that these were better than the stock MCP-X bearings. These are not available anywhere that I have seen.

Boca bearings has this size in stock, to the tune of over 50,000 of the steel ones! They are really expensive though, at 6 bucks a pop. I ordered 2 different types from them. They are really slow to ship! Ugh.

What is amazing is that as I was typing this, I received an email from Horizon!!!! It included a PDF file that you fill out where they will send you a newly redesigned HEAD!!! Not just the blade holders, but a whole new head!
Those guys better not get rid of their customer service folks. They would be out of business in no time!!

I wonder how long it will take to get the new head???

Oh, and if any of you go out to buy one of these, make sure it has the letter B on top of the blade holder!!
Kent

Attachments:

[Raygun]

Hi Kent Hoizon has a fix for it for free here is the link..

publications.horizonhobby.com/read/archive?id=3528&e=ACEMANINWA%40comcast.net&x=45a2485d

[Solitaire]

That was pretty quick. Good for Horizon.
Now, maybe the mCPX is worth considering.

[akent]

Yep, Ray, it's free!
It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get one.
Kent

[19000rpm]

I flew a BNF yesterday. First I checked the screw in the bearing: it was tight.

It didn't bind easily. I used a DX5e. It took a few times for it to bind. The extra step of throwing the rudder left and releasing the bind button/switch (non computer radio) has to be timed perfectly or it will bind with the pitch reversed.

It flies pretty well. Responsive with only a little drift and relatively well balanced and stable.

In sport mode; after a couple of minutes it gets a tail bob when throttle is added above about 3/4. This means one of two things or both: 1) the battery is already starting to deplete or 2) It doesn't have enough head speed.

In idle up it responded even better with the higher head speed. I didn't try to flip it or roll it since I was in a very close space. I just did some throttle pumps.

I think they should have gone brushless with the mcpx. At least, for the main motor. At the price point they're at it justifies a brushless main, IMHO.

Bottom line for me is: I'm underwhelmed.

[Raygun]

Another premature release of a product.