I've updated my units to the latest software and really like the banks. I'm flying the Spirit on a 6hvu and a Raptor E700.

Im coming from the BD HC3-SX controller. It's a fantastic controller, but there are many features I like better with the spirit. What I'm struggling with on the spirit most, is trying to get it to feel as "solid". With the Spirit, my heli's feel lighter and looser. Still precise, but not as stable and predictable. I make the difference analogous to the spirit feeling like a MX race bike, and the 3sx feeling like an enduro bike (sorry for the bad analogy). Can someone better explain the Flight Style? I've read the manual several times, but many of the descriptions are very vague.

I don't know if the issue may just be my tuning. I don't really understand what the Flight Style changes. And CFF seems to be like initial response. But CFF is tricky.... get it too low and the heli is slow and imprecise. All in all, i can get the Spirit set up decently, but i can't achieve that telepathic feeling i had with the other controller. 

I don't know if anyone sim's with Phoenix, but if i can get my cyclic to feel like the goblin 700 on the sim (default setup, 1950rpm, zero expo) I'd be in heaven. 

Thanks, 

Hi,

first from all you want definitively increase Cyclic Feed Forward. With this you can make feeling as direct as possible.
In my helicopters I fly with values around 10. But there are more ways how to do it even more direct, but mostly Cyclic Feed Forward is enough.
Be sure your helicopter can't make boom strike, because you can set extremely agressive behavior.

Also helicopter should be more stable than BD, be sure you configured your cyclic precisely (especially Servos tab/subtrims in the software) with cyclic leveler and that your Geometry 6° is configured properly as well.

With Spirit you can set the behavior to be similar to any FBL controller.

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Spirit System developer

Thank you for your help Tomas. I'll try your suggestions. The mechanical setup is perfect.... the swash is level top, middle, and bottom.

Can you please explain how Flight Style changes the feel and behavior, and how it interacts with CFF. Typically, do FS and CFF increase together, or apart? What settings do you use on your heli's?

Do you use Expo in your transmitter?

Thank you again for your help. I'm very impressed with the Spirit! I'm just trying to better understand it so i can make it work better for myself and others.

No problem.

Flight Style is independent of Cyclic Feed Forward.
Both are doing different job.

Technically Flight Style determine how long each maneuover/user input lasts. Practically you can feel the difference in linearity of your steering.
Low values are more linear during whole range of stick travel. While high values are rather non linear, are smoother around center but "faster" in further stick positions.
But it is not Expo of any kind, it is very natural. Higher values are more similar to steering known from Flybared helicopters. You can feel the difference in piro-flips, tic tocs and any fast one. You can also feel it in precision of the flight, respectively how precisely you can steer your helicopter.

Cyclic Feed Forward is just increasing and decreasing initial response linearly all the time. So with low values you can feel that helicopter is very smooth or that each stick input is very sharp and agressive.

The best is that greatest of both parameters can be combined to fulfill any requirement so helicopter can fly exactly as you wish.
So you can combine it even in contradiction of normal needs - your helicopter can fly very smoothly and precisely, yet it can be very agressive.

You can try any value in allowed range to see the differences. All possible variants are good for different flight style, so it is not good to copy it from somebody, because you can set it exactly for yourself.
I prefer high flight style (6-8) and high cyclic feed forward (10).

There are lot of pilots that switched to this unit from BD and mostly they prefer flight style in low values and cyclic feed forward to high.
Be sure your Cyclic Gain is not very high, because it can induce more smoothness too.

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Spirit System developer

Thank you Tomas. Your explanation makes perfect sense. Basically low FS is linear and high FS is more aggressive and non-linear.

Yes, but feeling of aggresivity can be different by any pilot. You will surely need to set Cyclic Feed Forward first. Then I recommend to set Flight Style.

Also I do not recommend to set high Rotation rate as it is only used for changing maximum rotation rate (of flips, rolls).
Rotation rate should be configured first from all of these parameters to be as low as possible while it is fast enough for you.
If configured too high than steering will be inprecise, rather unpredictable and still you do not gain any change in the response you need.

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Spirit System developer

This is the information I've looking for.... THANK YOU!!! I think i may have the Rotation rate too high. I didn't realize a high setting would adversely affect the feel. When i set the Rotation rate higher, the heli does feel imprecise.

Great, it shouldn't be configured to values that helicopter is incapable of. Spirit is able of doing flips/rolls/piros in very fast rate, but if your mechanic can't not allow it, it will be very fast and inprecise only around center while each manouver will look like as there is some kind of post-input. But still even it is fast around center, the response speed can be too low because of low Cyclic Feed Forward.
So you can set small rotation rate but high CFF.

Mostly, rotation rate is between 8-11. But it is dependent on the rotor head and blades. DFC heads are mostly faster, so even values around 7-9 can be too high.

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Spirit System developer

This is making more sense now. I currently have CFF values of 4-6, but Rotation rate up higher (12 or more i believe). In using the model presets, the default Rotation rates seemed low. I thought this was to be conservative and safe. But what your saying is that i can have the lower Rotation value (7-9 or 8-11) but get the speed and precision in roll and pitch with higher CFF values.

Then adjust Flight Style to suit your style.

Tomas, what do you recommend for Expo? Or is it just user preference?

Thanks

One more question Tomas.... Will decreasing servo deadband (advanced page) change how the helicopter feels? The preset deadband on most models is 10. With quality brushless servos can/should this be decreased?