Ground School - Flybarless - Good for Beginners, Not So Good For Advanced Flyers

I'm not saying flybarless isn't the future - I believe it is. However, from my experience and observation of other competition pilots, the following are my conclusions for now:

Good for Beginners and Sport Flyers because:

1. Less parts to replace during maintenance/repairs - save time and $$$
   
2. Heli is more stable in wind, inverted flight and generally more stable just flying around!
   
3. More recent flybarless systems are much easier to setup
4. Though not recommended and within certain limits - mechanical setup and CG are less critical cause the electronic stabilization straightens the flying out.
5. Tunable! Change the agility of your heli from docile to crazy just by changing a few settings. (Within the physical limits of your heli of course!)

Not So Good for Advanced/Competition Flyers because:

1. Properly tuned flybar system feels more connected and reacts ever so slightly faster.
2. Servo stress and load are much more - a 90-size heli would kill the servos much faster.
3. Flybar acts as an airbrake so some 3D maneuvers can be done tighter and more aggressively.
4. Piros feel more natural and carries momentum that presents some 3D maneuvers better.
5. So far both the simulators I use (Reflex and G4.5) do not simulate the feel of a flybarless heli accurately during piros and aggressive flight (i.e. flying hard and fast)

I hope this post can help all those out there wondering what flybarless can offer to have a few more things to help their decision making/curiosity. I do feel, however, in a few years time, maybe the technology will mature and better servos and simulators will make flybarless systems universally better for all, but until then, I love the feel of my flybar heli better than the flybarless

What Does The Results Of 3D Masters 2009 Say About Flybarless?
At the Experts level at this year's 3D Masters, the 2nd, 3rd  places when to the Mikado vbar helis.(1st and 4th went to 90-sized nitro helis - The Raptor 90 and Synergy N9 respectively) That could mean that the technology is catching up and is beginning to be competitive... however at the Masters level, the top 4 spots where 90 sized nitro helis with flybars... The Hirobo Turbulence followed by 3 Trex 700s.

Maybe all the Masters pilots are seasoned veterans that "grew up" on flybars - they just could not get used to flybarless. On the other hand, the Experts pilots are newer, therefore they have adapted, early-on to flybarless and thus are more competitive with it... but only time and more results will tell definitively...