Hi, I need some advice from some of you great heli pilots out there I am an intermediate pilot who is looking to upgrade from a 450. I started the hobby with an Align 450 plus and am now wanting to upgrade to a 500 class heli or higher. So the question is, should I go with a 500 or 550?

I have read some other threads and people usually say that a 600 is great but I sadly don't have the constant amount of money to maintain it. A 550 class just cuts it. I enjoy doing acrobatics but not crazy 3D like any world competitors out there. Also, I like watching scale flying and it may become something I intend to do in the future.

Thanks in advance for the advice

If budget is your main consideration, go with the 500. It flies well and once built it's cheap to maintain if you don't crash. The 550 is probably a much better flier though. It is close to a 600 in size but still uses only 1 battery. I fly both a 500 and 600 and the 600 is much more predictable and stable in flight. I think in the end, if you can squeeze your budget enough, go for the 550. I'm sure you will be happier with it.

Go with the new Align 550L dominator or a SAB Goblin 570. The 500 is nice and nibble but the 550 is going to be able to do autos..

I have both a Trex 500 and 550 DFC.

I really like both of them, I have the 600 boom and longer blades on my 550.
Both are controlled by Bavarian Demons (the 550 is actuall a Heli Command).

I can't say say that I really like one more than the other. Both are big enough to be pretty stable, as far heli's go anyway. Both fly well, cost of maintenance and repairs if needed isn't much different between the two.

Battery cost is different though, batteries for the 550 are much more than for the 500. At least for good batteries.

The 550 is a bit more floaty, while the 500 feels a bit more nimble. The 550 is a bit easier to see.

The big difference at least for me is the "pucker" factor. It took me 5-6 packs to get used to the 550, another couple to get used to it. Probably only 1 or 2 for the 500 and it felt good.

My largest Heli prior to he 500 was a Trex 450 Pro DFC. I bought my 550 within 2-3 weeks of buying and building my 500.

Either would be a good step up from the 450. Of I had it to again though I would skip the 500 and get the 550.

All that said, it's been a while since I've flown any of my heli's (I have 9 of them) I've made the decided to get out of heli's and will be selling all my heli's and related equipment in the next couple weeks.

Of anyone might be interested in some very well maintained heli's (I'd rate all of them 9.5's-9.75's out of 10'd) none of them are stock, all are well upgraded none with the exception of my 500 have been crashed.

The 500 had a minor crash from a low hover due to a brown out and was completely rebuilt.

Anyway, if anyone ipmight be looking for some really nice heli's reach out to me by PM.

Both are nice I had an align 550 and I currently have an Atom 500 which swings 430mm blades both are nice the 500 class is cheaper overall though. If your looking to build a scale heli I would go with a 500 as there are more fuselages in that size. If you not looking at a scale heli I would not limit myself to align also some 500 size helis can be readily stretched such as the atom gaui x4ll ect to swing 515mm blades. There is also the Goblin 470 and 500 to consider I dont have any experience with them but they do look nice in my opinion plus lots of visibility with the big boom.