Before you buy, please read this

[Malcr001]

A lot of newbies ended up choosing Mikrokopter and that included me. The cost is a reassurance that you buying quality electronics and like others have mentioned its not perfect......at all. The documentation is in germlish so it can be hard to understand. Thankfully at the time many people at mikrokopter.us helped me out. Something that annoys me with mikrokopter is that there is absolutley no support from holger, he wont respond to any emails. Although mikrokopter regularly update their firmware, all their updates focus on features you would never use rather than focusing on reliability of the system which is what everyone just really wants. It is just terrible when you experiance an MK death roll. Stuff like that can appear out of the blue and totally ruin your day.

If I could go back I would of chosen DJI electronics. That being said though DJI was either non existant or no one was using their gear. These days though they are really taking off and in my opinion are surpassing mikrokopter in terms of the products they are bringing out now. Their plug and play system is a dream compared to mikrokopters half made kits. Unfortunatly I wouldent be able to look at myself in the mirror if I spent a ton of money just to replace MK electronics with DJI's so for the time being I'm stuck with them.

I also made a similar mistake with FPV gear. Again the huge price tag was a reassurance that I was getting the best of the best. I bought a yellowjacket pro reciever with vtx and two over priced patch antennas to go with it. Had I learnt a little more about frequencies I would had understood that I could get 3 times the range and better penetration with 1.3ghz gear at a fraction of the cost. What I didnt know at the time is how LOS 5.8ghz really is. Its penetration is poor and this really wasent what I was looking for. What I know now is that no matter how amazing these businesses are going to tell you their products are, they cannot change the fact that 5.8ghz is a LOS frequency. I paid £500 for the yellowjacket reciever which is essentially just 2 recievers with a built in diversity controller. Now I have sold my 5.8ghz gear and I'm much more happier with 1.3ghz especially as I'm in a suburban area its great to know businesses wont be blasting any power out on 1.3ghz.

We all live and learn and I can imagine plenty of newbies making the same mistakes simply because its so hard to tell whats right to get and whats not. Its hard to judge advice and differeniate peoples opinions scewed by their unfortunate experiances or preferences over genuine facts.

 

[lorbass]

Hi, verry interresting to hear that there is an other frequency for FPV than 2.4 or 5.8 GHz. Where did you by your ecquipment?
Thanks, Otto

 

[Malcr001]

Hi, verry interresting to hear that there is an other frequency for FPV than 2.4 or 5.8 GHz. Where did you by your ecquipment?
Thanks, Otto

Usable frequencies depends on your countries frequency allocations, so what may be ok for me to use may not be the case for you. The bands of frequencies for video transmission is 900mhz, 1.2ghz, 1.3ghz, 2.4ghz, 5.8ghz in the future we may see 3.8ghz.

There are LOADS of FPV shops out now but the main place I buy my FPV gear is readymaderc.com Tims a helpful guy and is happy to provide support.

 

[Search49]

Here's my 2 cent worth: I agree that the quad "thing" is becoming popular, I watched the videos on YouTube, watch the units on Ebay, and never ever actually saw one fly in person. After buying a cheap toy copter and playing with it for a month in my office, I decided to take the dive and purchase a quad. I purchased a XAircraft 450 Pro. Had Jeffery put it together for an additional $175 and it was delivered RTF. Now comes the strange part. One of the best things that happen to me was that I crashed the 450 numerous times. Arms broke, landing gear broke, my ESC died of was damaged as a result of one of my many crashes. I decided that I needed to learn my lesson the hard way. So I rebuilt the unit atleast 3 times, found some used parts on the net, and took my time rebuilting. The unit flew until I crashed it again and I ended up back at square one. I found someone selling a used X650 Frame on Ebay for $100 so I purchased it.

I took the FC and other electronics from the 450 and mounted them onto the 650. Now I have two units to fly and can switch the FC Board over to either copter and fly (or attempt to fly). This hobby seems to relieve me of the stress from work, I'm truly enjoying it. I think to date, I have purchased an additonal $300 in parts just to learn what make these thing tick. Its a learning experience to say the least. Everything on the net looks so easy, the videos are truly amazing and one day I hope I can shoot videos the same way. But I'm still crawling, playing with the software to make my flying experience more enjoyable. Its not easy, but it can be fun and it can get costly, it you don't take the time to think out what your doing.

I'm thinking about upgrading my FC to the Naza, been researching and like what I see. My recommendation to folks is don't get into Multi Rotors unless you are willing and able to give it the time you need and it needs. Learn your machine, learn what it can do and what it can't. Be prepared to crash and be prepared to rebuilt. Be prepared for the old lady to question you, be prepared for her to tell you I told you so, it coming and its going to happen. But remember th most important thing is to have Fun!!!!

 

[sheban]

where can buy that? wana know too....

 

[3dheliguy]

Wow Great forum Thread here... Just wanted to say FINALY... I hope a lot of beginners read this thread. There are People spending so much money, and they really don't have a clue as to how to fly let alone work on these things. Being a Helicopter RC helicopter pilot has taught me a lot about mechanics and hardware, but this still means almost nothing while entering the Multirotor world... I feel that there is so much money being thrown around, and not nearly the testing, and quality for the astronomical price, and being experienced in how they price the RC industry all I can say is wow.

I feel this industry has a place in the near future, but for you beginners out there... Really try spend time on the SIM, and by systems that are tried and true with a lot of support... These systems are complicated even for me, and weaving through the malarky is worth every penny. Also plz don't buy RTF, all your doing blowing massive amounts of money, and not learning a thing.

I here this question so many times..." Can they pick Up a Red "?. Plz guys think about what your doing... There is a fascination with that camera, and I know its mostly true, but buying a rig that someone say can pick up a red is Insane.. Before you can even think of picking that monster up you need to super proficient flyer, and mechanically inclined so you know how to manage that thing from all aspects, electrically, Battery, software, hardware, flyer. The Guys you see in these forums talking aBout there flying red, are incredibly knowledgeable, and they have earned there strips through testing and testing and testing... At the expense of thousands of dollars or more. It's like watching a lion Tamer, and saying you could do that, but when push comes to shove and your in the ring what do think is going to happen? Most likel your going to get eaten... No amount of money is going to buy your way to that level alone.

As top 3D pilots... We spend Hours and hours on the sim, checking our rigs, because we know that if those 700 blades come flying off we might be 6 feet under or worse bystanders.

I'm giving you this info because, your here and your ready to learn about RC, and these guys here are willing to guide ya bit... That is by far the most valuable thing you can hope to get.

BUILD BIND FLY

 

[Sanderx]

Amen. Over a year ago I bought a RTF mikrokopter hexa2 after playing around with a parot drone for a month (it flew away, never to be seen again). I was hooked but the learning curve has been incredibly steep and the amount of money I spent on additions, repairs, replacement parts followed the same steep curve. I wished I hadn't bought RTF as I had to learn all skills regardless (flying, soldering, electronics, software, fpv, etc.) Almost lost my copter because I didn't take the time to look into the failsafe settings, flight parameters, soldering etc. A few crashes and repairs later I am still hooked but man, you have to take this hobby serious, otherwise you enter a world of frustration and pain (let alone the risk involved if you don't understand your machine and the consequences it can have).

So I would hate this thread to put people off as this is an absolute great hobby but please read this and other threads before diving in and don't treat your MR as a toy.

 

[Zen Mitt]

The interesting point here for me is, there is not a real "learning" process for the multi rotors, I often find that people will view you tube as the source of "learning", when I started in RC there was a buddy box system and I had a good few months of training, including the ground prep of the plane, there were no multi rotors around back then, you would pitch up on a Saturday morning and wait for the experienced "guy" to take you up and then learn with them, the RTF and multi rotor movement in the past year has opened the hobby to many new people (which is great) which don’t have the first idea how dangerous these machines are or any RC experience, how to put them together, if you are new to this hobby nothing will replace talking to either an experienced person who owns and fly’s one, or a good store which sells them and will help you understand what you are getting into and support your new adventure. Read the forums and check what other people have done and see what works for them, you will be better placed to move forward and have safe, fun and cost effective flight!

 

[TopViewImaging]

Its been almost 2 years since I started in this hobby. Bought the Gaui 330 SX as my 1st craft (figured I better start cheap), and having never flown anything before (hey it looked easy to fly on the internet) it was a real challenge but that little quad taught me a lot, no auto leveling or any of the good stuff the multi-rotor FC's have now, just plain ol' man, machine and willingness to learn even though I had no teacher but myself and the internet I feel I was successful. Had my fair share of crashes and rebuilds and the area where I live does not have many large open spaces, forest and mountains but all this taught me how to control my quad in tight areas and how to fix and modify my craft when bad things happened.

Sometimes I wish something like the Naza existed when I started but then I would not have been forced to learn in a full manual mode cause you will learn to control your craft because there is nothing in the FC to make up for lack of experience like auto leveling, altitude hold and so on.

After the DJI Wookong WK-M came out I took the plunge into the big buck FC's and flew it as a quad for awhile then decided to build my own heavy lift X8 octo and once again another learning experience. Purchasing the individual components, properly cutting the carbon fiber arms, putting the thing together and learning from by build mistakes....bad soldering/connectors equal bad crashes and more bucks and time spent, always double and triple check your work for flaws, Murphy will find you. I am still working out the bugs but almost there and in the meantime I use the Naza FC and F450 frame as my main multi-rotor.

So the bottom line is yes you can do it all on your own but do your homework 1st and start with an inexpensive new or used machine, read all you can in the forums. especially for the flight controller you've chosen as your 1st, do your own repairs so you learn your machine in and out and you will be successful. Oh, and keep all body parts away from the props, I've been sliced and diced a few times, it aint fun.

As a side note, learn about the power supplies used, namely the Lipo battery. Without understanding these you could end up losing a lot more than a crashed multi-rotor. They can be very dangerous in the right situation, like burning down your house. This happened to a guy a few months ago on youtube but luckily he only lost 1 room and smoke damage, could have been much worse. I've had one burst into flames in a crash....very hot fire and some nasty, nasty smoke.

-Don

 

[Paul881]

This is my first post on this forum so please be gentle with me!

I am a real Newbie with this and so you should take some comfort in the fact that I have found this site and this thread and before I part with my hard earned cash will thoroughly probe and lurk here until I feel confident that I know what I am getting into.

Already, I have made a list of what I am looking for; my main interests are in APV so have tentatively listed a Flamewheel F550 with Naza controler as well as a Spektrum DX8 radio system. Later on, after I have learnt to fly properly, a Hero3 HD camera and then longer term, some kind of FPV system.

Until then, I would like to thank you all for taking the time and effort with this site and thread and look forward to sharing experiences with you all as I progress.

 

[kloner]

consider futaba for this, you'll be alot happier in the long run. 8fg or 8j, take your pick

 

[Lifter]

consider futaba for this, you'll be alot happier in the long run. 8fg or 8j, take your pick

As he says ^^^^ I have used JR / Spectrum for 5 years and have decided to jump into the Futaba camp - it just seems to work better with Multi Rotors.

 

[Paul881]

As he says ^^^^ I have used JR / Spectrum for 5 years and have decided to jump into the Futaba camp - it just seems to work better with Multi Rotors.

Thanks guys but can you really say why Futaba is better? Most of the MR users seem to use Spektrum that I have seen or read posts from so I'm interested for you to qualify this. Or is it a Microsoft vs Apple argument?:tennis::tennis:

 

[kloner]

it's the connections feel. the spektrum is mainstream cause horizon is marketing genius..... futaba is used by people that use the stuff cause it's performance. i have flown since 93, all i ever owned was JR till 4 months ago. Retired my 11x for a cheap futaba 8j and the thing is amazing. over a mile range stock. super quality link. the fhss instead of fasst is the future of futaba

 

[kloner]

2 more reason. it has sbus so one wire instead of 8 to hook from rx to fc and when you move on to fpv, head tracking and LRS uhf systems work much better on futaba, it has a true 5 volt ppm out, no hacks, mods needed

 

[mailman35]

i started with a futaba. and have had 0 of the random crap problems that everyone else with defective spektrum stuff has had. no fly away's, etc.

 

[kloner]

the spektrum DX8 almost broke horizon and spektrum. It had three major return to manufacturer recalls. i have friends that left thousands of dollars of models in pieces behind em during all that, would just lockout and there models flew off into never, never land. it changed the way horizon warranties stuff since then. they used to be carefree, now there tight about how long you had it, what happened to it. Weird how one little rock in the shoe snowballs into a making a business model into something else entirely. used to be a die hard horizon fan, but not so much anymore. horizon is spektrum/jr distributor, tower hobbies is futaba. Tower has 3 pay on all them radios that lets you spread it out over three payments as well.

Futaba is very high quality

 

[MombasaFlash]

Thanks guys but can you really say why Futaba is better? Most of the MR users seem to use Spektrum that I have seen or read posts from so I'm interested for you to qualify this. Or is it a Microsoft vs Apple argument?:tennis::tennis:

I changed four years ago from a JR 9303 to a Futaba 12Z because the Futaba has vastly superior functionality. This is important if you need to organise a lot of channels into sensible switch grouping. It has very versatile switch assigning, to the ridiculous extent that you can fly using only switches instead of gimbal sticks. Not that this is recommended of course but it illustrates the point. If you want to have a certain function controlled by a certain switch you can. With JR you use what they have already decided.

JR and its cheaper disco relative Spektrum are extremely widely used mostly due, as Kloner said, to heavy marketing. Although JR has a long standing reputation for quality, the same cannot be said for Spektrum. Futaba has been around the longest and whilst no one is perfect they are the professional's choice.

 

[Paul881]

2 more reason. it has sbus so one wire instead of 8 to hook from rx to fc and when you move on to fpv, head tracking and LRS uhf systems work much better on futaba, it has a true 5 volt ppm out, no hacks, mods needed

Hey, many thanks for all your inputs guys, much appreciated!

Over 30 years ago I used to fly r/c planes and had a 27Meg Futaba 6 so it's good to know that the quality today is the same standard as back then and maybe even better.

Kloner can you please explain to me in a bit more detail the last part of your post please about fpv? Thanks. :tennis:

 

[RTRyder]

I changed four years ago from a JR 9303 to a Futaba 12Z because the Futaba has vastly superior functionality. This is important if you need to organise a lot of channels into sensible switch grouping. It has very versatile switch assigning, to the ridiculous extent that you can fly using only switches instead of gimbal sticks. Not that this is recommended of course but it illustrates the point. If you want to have a certain function controlled by a certain switch you can. With JR you use what they have already decided.

JR and its cheaper disco relative Spektrum are extremely widely used mostly due, as Kloner said, to heavy marketing. Although JR has a long standing reputation for quality, the same cannot be said for Spektrum. Futaba has been around the longest and whilst no one is perfect they are the professional's choice.

Not true about JR and the switches, on my 11X I can assign any channel other than the basic throttle, alieron, rudder, and elevator to any switch or slider on the box, pretty easy too, just select the channel and the toggle the appropriate switch or slider and it's automatically assigned to that channel. I bought and still have some of the first Spektrum gear on the market and one of the first DX7, it works as well now as it did when new. I have to say I'm not particularly impressed with the DX8 which is why I have the JR 11X, bought mainly because I needed more channels than I had on the DX7 once I got into APV. As for the Futaba stuff, all I can say is I've never owned one that didn't have a problem of some sort or another, the last being a 10 channel that came with an XCell Spectra G that had been flown maybe 6 times before I bought it. The throttle trim stopped working before the end of the first season of flying, true to the experience I've had with the rest of the Futabas I've owned going back into the mid 1980's. For me Futaba is the last radio I consider when looking at new ones, I find them heavy, clunky, and not at all intuitive to setup but maybe that's just me.

Ken