@informer? Please advise? Can you drag yourself away from the @dronegirl and head down to walkera? I realise the engineers may not have the same "appeal" but nonetheless, news is news!

 

Here is a link to Walkera Online (looks like EHirobo site, same parent company)
http://www.walkeraonline.com/walkera-helicopters-282995862
Here is the official Walkers website, which looks to be all multi-rotor now.
http://walkera.com/
I don't see anything "new" as far as helicopters go, looks like they might have decided cash in on the drone craze.

 

They've been actively on multis since a few years back, i think the last heli offerings were the master n genius cp. N also a fpv micro, can't remember the name.

 

WOW it seems their prices on helis have dropped considerably!

 

Well gentleman i am just back from speaking with David Staelhlin CEO of Walkera Helicopters. Eventually he asked me in (after 20 minutes of pounding on his front door and walking around to the back door, peering through the windows - he gave in). I asked him some frank questions:

Informer: Hi David how are you going

David: Why the hell wont you leave me alone? I told you to go away 10 times already.

Informer: Its just that the Heligods have requested i come here to come over and get the lowdown on Walkera

David: Ok ok.. lets get this over with... what do you want to know.

Informer: Why are you not making any new models of helicopter - and why are their drones plastered all over your websites

David: Look its like this - Why are you pestering me and pounding on my door for 20 mins? - its the money - right? Otherwise you wouldn't be making such an idiot of yourself. Its the same with drones. The market is pounding on our door asking for drones - so we provide.

Informer: Well actually David.....

David: What?

Informer: Well actually I don't get paid. I do this for the love of the heligods - and also so that @Crash Heligod wont beat the shiz out of me when i get back - he always beats me if i don't get the stories.

David: What sort of sick twisted individual are you? I mean my god son grow some kahunas!

Informer: I cant... I mean - Im a muppet!

David: Oh yes sorry - back on topic. The truth is until all you heli dudes start buying our helicopters, we aint going to release any more. So pull out your wallet and do your bit to support our company.

Informer: Thank you David. I must get back to work now. I think the drone girl is about to release a new video and she promised me muffins next time i visited.. Bye for now.


So there you go. Thats whats happening......

 

I keep getting a strange feeling that someone around here has "multiple personality disorder"..... or I need to cut back on the caffine.

 

David needs a restraining order from the courts. I'd be getting one too if a muppet with a man's hand up his backside was pounding (?!?) on my door (is the door a euphemism?) for twenty minutes...An informative read none-the-less, there is truth in those words. Buy More Helis
Simon

 

I'll admit, a couple of those Walkera 450 models were intriguing, but I decided against them for Align type models with plentiful parts availability.

 

The question would be which bloody heli to buy, in their hey days walkera was releasing a heli model every forthnight. This created a major headache for the stores that sold them coz it was a nightmare trying to stock parts that would be obsolete in a few months.

 

It would appear that Blade (Horizon Hobby) has developed a similar habit.
I can't blame the designers entirely though. The technology seems to be advancing quickly these days, and they have to either keep up, or get left behind. On the other hand, they have to develop products on speculation of popularity and demand...... so I can see why Walkera would opt out of helis and start cranking out drones. That doesn't mean I like it..... I'm not a drone enthusiast.

 

Not much information for a conspiracy plot but entertaining nonetheless

 

Cast walkera the company into the fiery chasm of the heligods but it'd be interesting to know if any of the team of heli designers went on to create anything we've today with another company.

 

I have a prediction.... The manufacture of clones is so whitelabel - ie not much performance can be gained by the shape of the chasis etc. So there are going to be soon high quality clones of drones. I dont believe the heli market will evaporate. But as a result of chasing the rainbow many heli companies may. I know that lynx have done really well with the oxy3 - its what the market was looking for. A high quality small heli that is tough, can be smaked around and will do every single trick a big heli can. But the other companies - ie blade and walkera. Im not so sure they will survive with the strategy of moving JUST to clones. Every one I know who flew a heli is still flying a heli. They may have brought a drone, but the market has not dried up yet. Its only the newcommers attracted to the drones due to instant gratification i suppose. New commers often buy the smaller helis due to cost.

 

I'm a perfect example of that. I started with small and cheap RTF Blade helis. I spent $120 for a 120SR and DX4e, then $99 for the Nano CPx BNF. They did the job, but left quite a bit to be desired due to limited options. I probably would have felt no different if I had gone with Walkera.
Drones never interested me. They appear to be more like flying a robot and less like an actual "model aircraft".

 

Well my opinion, walkera has never really been clone producers in the sense of a blalant copy. They've had some innovative ideas in their micro range, like a belted tail in a sub 300 size heli which competitors like Esky copied, yea u can use almost the entire tail on a walkera n surprisingly even did a thrusted main, an idea that has never been considered by many of the big names even now.

 

On buying n flying multis, well it's a good way of relaxing therapy in between heli flights, almost no fear of crashing when flying through obstacles. For the young minds n fast fingers there's always the 3d versions to keep the adrenaline flowing.