maxwelltub
Member
I'm not usually one of the first to jump on board a new product, but I have been on the market for a new X8 for a while and when I saw the Gryphon Dynamics X8, and I just went for it. There isn't a tone of information on them right now so I thought I would share my experience incase anyone was thinking of getting it.
First I think its important to say that earlier last week before I bought the frame I emailed Gryphon Dynamics with a question. Within 24 hours I got a response and was able to actually talk with someone at the company. They kept answering my questions and this made me feel a little more confident.
So far my thoughts are this thing seems pretty sweet. The box came neatly packed and organized, they emailed me the instructions because they are not up on the web yet. I put the whole thing together fairly quickly. There are a ton of screws and they are not all the same, which can be a pain. But after putting it all together is seems very sturdy and robust. Lots of real-estate for putting PDB and other items. ESCs will fit in the arms for a clean build. The carbon fiber seems very high grade. I actually had a very hard time believing the arms were carbon fiber. They seemed to be some sort of light aluminum but on further inspection you can see the layers on the end. Who knows, maybe it is some carbon fiber wrapped around some type of core, but its super light and very strong.
I am moving from a CarbonCore frame which I still have and use with out incident. However moving into larger camera systems and remote heads I wanted something much sturdier and robust. From what I can tell at this point this frame is rock solid.
To summerize here are pros and cons
Pros.
Great Carbon fiber and metal parts.
rock solid design/ very rigid.
lots of room to put flight electronics
modular expandable design.
does not rely on threaded inserts that are epoxied onto carbon fiber like some other brands.
Cheaper then Cinestar and droidworx
Cons
Lots of parts, not all the same type of screw
potential weak point in removable arm (so far seems solid but need to run it through its paces)
All the mete parts, including the screws are aluminum, which make me nervous about eventual stripping. (plus screws are not magnetic which really messes with the way I do things)
more expensive then carbon core.
First I think its important to say that earlier last week before I bought the frame I emailed Gryphon Dynamics with a question. Within 24 hours I got a response and was able to actually talk with someone at the company. They kept answering my questions and this made me feel a little more confident.
So far my thoughts are this thing seems pretty sweet. The box came neatly packed and organized, they emailed me the instructions because they are not up on the web yet. I put the whole thing together fairly quickly. There are a ton of screws and they are not all the same, which can be a pain. But after putting it all together is seems very sturdy and robust. Lots of real-estate for putting PDB and other items. ESCs will fit in the arms for a clean build. The carbon fiber seems very high grade. I actually had a very hard time believing the arms were carbon fiber. They seemed to be some sort of light aluminum but on further inspection you can see the layers on the end. Who knows, maybe it is some carbon fiber wrapped around some type of core, but its super light and very strong.
I am moving from a CarbonCore frame which I still have and use with out incident. However moving into larger camera systems and remote heads I wanted something much sturdier and robust. From what I can tell at this point this frame is rock solid.
To summerize here are pros and cons
Pros.
Great Carbon fiber and metal parts.
rock solid design/ very rigid.
lots of room to put flight electronics
modular expandable design.
does not rely on threaded inserts that are epoxied onto carbon fiber like some other brands.
Cheaper then Cinestar and droidworx
Cons
Lots of parts, not all the same type of screw
potential weak point in removable arm (so far seems solid but need to run it through its paces)
All the mete parts, including the screws are aluminum, which make me nervous about eventual stripping. (plus screws are not magnetic which really messes with the way I do things)
more expensive then carbon core.