Did you ever get to build and photograph?
I read your thread with interest as I too want to build a flamewheel after disaster with a 350QX from those jokers Horizon
Hi there,
Yes finished the build early last year:
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?9069-New-DJI-F550-AP-GoPro-Build
I was happy with it for a while but then "up"graded to a Phantom 2 and H3-2D at Christmas (since upgraded to the H3-3D). Main reason was because of how much cleaner it looked, much easier to transport, super easy charging and much longer flight times, I got about 8 minutes with a 4500mah 3S on the F550 with gimbal and GoPro compared to the 18 minutes I now get with a fully loaded Phantom 2 with H3-3D, GoPro, 2.4G Datalink, ImmersionRC FPV Tx etc. The stability of the picture from the H3-3D is incredible, and to me, I don't really see much point in getting a larger rig as you can't really improve on rock-solid video unless you want to fly a bigger camera.
If you definitely want a larger quad/hex then the flamewheels are a good choice if you are on a tight-ish budget.
I was recently looking to upgrade to the new Walkera Tali H500, which is a new hexacopter 500 sized with similar looks and build of the phantom and is completely RTF including a very cool transmitter (Devo F12E) which has build in video receiver for FPV. They are quite expensive however at about £1040 if you get it from China, just have to hope you don't get stung by customs. It does however include everything you'd need, hexacopter, transmitter with built in monitor, 3 axis brushless gopro gimbal, charger, battery, 1080p camera with built in video transmitter. Walkera are also making a 3 axis gimbal for the Sony RX100 camera so it should be an easy upgrade to a larger camera in the future.