Hi,

I want to buy a decent radio to keep for a long time. After reading through the forum, i came up with the final list of 3.  Now i am totally confused and cannot take a call between the three  . Please someone push me to any one of the three listed below. I will be flying heli's mostly.

My choices are:

1) Sanwa RDS 8000
2) Spektrum DX7
3) Futaba 7c

Thanks

i hav a futaba 4 ch fm 75.750mhz remote(tx + rx) in perfectly working conditions
following are the pics ......
current price in market is 8000/-
expected price is abt 6000/-
the radio contains all the crystals.....

The above post seems to have no connection with the models posted earlier, and is not at all in the same league.

I would choose the 7C, from amongst the three. 

If you can spend some more , Sanwa SD10G , it is good value for money, it is back in stock with RCDHAMAKA too, sd10g is technologically better esp with FHSS-3

@ spinzdude - Sorry and thank you for the offer. I am looking for a 7channel or more  radio

@ anwar - I was expecting a "7C" from you.  Thanks

@ augustinev - Sanwa SD-10G is overboard by miles. I cannot afford it right now.

i am using 7C, when using HK receivers (Orange or Frsky) for some reason all of my Rx gets locked onto Sandy's (Sundaram's) Radio, doesn't matter whether he switched on first or i did, cant figure out why. if it is futaba 7c then either original rx (Flying Doc tells me it happened at HFAA with two original Futaba too), so if it has to be Futaba then i will go with 6014 with 14 mz or then SD10G, that's why SD10g, why not Sanwa RDS 8000

If only i had the monnies  i would have got the sd-10g.

And by "why not Sanwa RDS 8000" in the last, are you saying do not go for rds 8000 or telling me "if not for SD-10g go for rds 8000". I am sorry I did not understand that properly.

Sanwa rds 8000 is good and worth the money, i dont have one but flew with one,  

flew a lot with DX7 didnt like the feel and range was less, batt didnt hold for long and body wasn't too gr8 either.

these are purely personal views

I can see dx7 moving out of the race and Futaba being the more superior of the 3 here baring the one issue that augustinev mentioned.

But something unique I have observed about the RDS 8000 is - Although no one really says the radio is excellent or ground breaking and it is categorized only as a "Good" radio, I am yet to come across anyone who had problems with it. Does this mean something or is my research limited?

Sanwa per se and RDS 8000 in particular is not very popular and not in as much as circulation as Futaba or Spektrum, these two do resort to agressive marketing, i am flying with SD10G it is really really good, feel, build performance everything.

here read this
http://www.lrp.cc/en/news/news-archive/archiv-detail/?tx_ttnews%5BpS%5D=1306683442&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4670&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=140&cHash=3be4a844402a17b650de96be5f645870

http://www.rcindia.org/radios-and-receivers/sanwa-the-choice-of-champions/

by no means i am trying to sell you Sanwa here, Futaba Clone Rx is cheap, i have a Turnigy 9 Channel, cheapest, Rx is good, no lock out issues i have faced so far, they are for my foamies, and in fact i am flying my helis with it.

Well, I would not say that the Spektrum DX7, is Not going out of the market. In fact if you are a heli flyer, I guess it would become very easy for you to understand the radio and the programming part. The new radios from Spektrum has a new technology called DSX and in 2.4 Ghz this is the best stuff available in the market today. I have used the DX7 and I quite liked the radio. I have never experienced range problem or any other kind of problem with the radio. So I would suggest if you fly helicopters then read a bit more about both the radios, the Futabc 7C and Spektrum DX7 them go for it. Both are equally good.
Thanks,
Jamal Ahmad.

+1 Jamal

Just to clarify a typo, it is DSMX.

It is important to note that DX7 with older DSM2 may not be a top choice, just because of the fact that Spektrum had to release a DSMX to fix possible issues with the older DSM2 standard.

There are no cheap clone receivers yet for DSMX, if that is a consideration.  The clone DSM2 receivers are available aplenty, and are some of the cheapest receivers available. 

Another thing I personally hated about the DX7s is its trainer switch, it is very hard to "hold on" to a slider switch for extended periods.  Again, this is an issue only if you are using it in trainer mode often. So is throttle activated timer, another often used feature which is missing on the DX7.

Radio is a very temperamental issue. Flyers with Futaba hate JR radio and vice versa. It is a matter of personal choice. I agree with Anwars description on the Spektrum DX7 (DSMX). That the clone for DSMX is not yet in the market, as this introduction is new, but it is a matter of time, as we all agree that the Chinese are very quick in cloning RC items such as radio,receivers, servos etc, and to a certain extend people using these items swear by their products with their experiences.
I would suggest that the buyer should visit his nearest field and I am sure there he might be lucky to find flyers with both Futaba 7C and the Spektrum DX7 radio. He should physically look at the radioes and make up his mind.
Regards,
Jamal Ahmad

I would Agree with Jamal, For heliFlying go for Spektrum Dx7 as it gives you a big display screen with throttle and curve figures which makes heli programming very easy. 

Hellyflyer

As Jamal pointed out, since it is a personal choice, I guess I have to take the leap myself as a clear winner is not easy to find.

Also, from the above inputs,  looks like every radio has pros and cons but all the radios are well above the "good radio" mark. . So I should be fairly happy buying any one.

As far as the technology is concerned, that is something which changes every quarter. So, I would prefer buying something that is existing in my time rather than wait for something better to come out.

Thank you everyone for the inputs.

PS: Since I will buy just one radio and probably wouldn't know how the other radios perform, room for disappointment is less.   

So, what did you buy?

I bought Sanwa RDS8000. Works perfect for me, easy to use.

You still have the RDS 8000?