I finally hovered my HBFP v2 tonight. I did not have a set of training gear, however the carport here is slick concrete so I went for it.
Initially I just went out there to set the potential (never got it spot on, got lazy and used 2 or 3 clicks of trim but will fix it later) but once I got the tail on, I decided to just push it up..a little bit at a time. Then a little more. Etc.
After a while, not sure how long, I was able to keep it in the air in a 15'x15' space for a few seconds. Then I got up to 1 minute. By the end I was up to 3 minutes. Heck yeah! This is better than a cup of coffee in the morning!
There was a very slight breeze.
Eventually it would start to pendulum and I would have to correct it quickly and set it down....But.. (forgive the shout) I NEVER DAMAGED IT EVEN SLIGHTLY!
One whole battery through my little bee, most of it 3' off the ground, and it's undamaged. I'm very happy I must say. I know I can do this now. All the months on the simulator, all the videos, the days of setup and fiddling till it was balanced..all worth it. All paid off.
It was smooth, no weird vibration. It seemed to lift off with no effort, very nice. I'm super glad I took the time to learn to set it up and do it right. I'm 100% sure I would be unhappy right now if I flew it "out of the box."
Thanks NuttCaze, Thanks forum members who gave me such great links.