ready for upgrade!

[dckiteboards]

alright since i have no experience I want to ask this. I am ready for a upgrade here in a two weeks, so my research starts. I am looking for a heli that can lift the 7d. the plan is to buy the heli in a week and then buy the correct gimble for it. now I am doing very well flying the x650 the only thing im lacking is flying the heli towards me but i am just avoiding that while filming when im out practicing i do it. I am able to fly this thing everyday for at least 2-3 hours a day to learn.

at first I was afraid of the trex 700e because it was hard to learn but now i feel like im ready. otherwise should i really be looking into a droidworx or something of that caliber. I also would like to set this up so that i have a pilot and another filmer... I feel like quads/ octo's are steadier ,probobly pricier maybe dont lift as much as the 700 e. ? I have a original budget of 3k and another 2k in a month.

thank you

 

[Bartman]

dckites
take a look at the thread I started for a Mikrokopter done ala carte. it may be just what you're looking for.
bart

 

[dckiteboards]

I dont know anything about building one of these but it does state "out of the box" possible. meaning almost ready to fly this seems like something that would be perfect


http://shop.quadrocopter.us/Quadrocopter-AD-8-Kit_p_233.html

 

[dckiteboards]

http://shop.quadrocopter.us/MK-HiSight-SLR1_p_262.html

 

[dckiteboards]

i would consider selling my x650 asap for 1000$
includes fully built x650
camera mount xaircraft
6 extra fiberglass arms
4 extra xaircraft rotors
five 3000 mah 3s batteries two flight powers and three blues

the landing gear is in need of replacement. but thats 11.99 times 2. if someones interested i can fill in more. its two weeks old!

 

[Bartman]

i wouldn't be so quick to sell anything DC. it can take a few months to get a higher order multi-rotor all dialed in. some of the guys here are still trying to get theirs tweaked after 6 to 8 months of experimentation. i'm three months into the flying and I'm still working on something every time I take it out.
just my 2 cents
bart

 

[dckiteboards]

I hear ya thank you for your.2 ive already paid for the x650 through one job and i can do it all over again especially with something bigger. better picture quality. im not gonna push the sale too much but if it goes it goes. OR i just keep it . I have never even touched a heli or done anything like this and in two weeks im already making money with it. so the faster I get the better one the quicker I learn.

 

[Bartman]

if you really want to spend some coin, buy the Mikrokopter flight control, navi, and GPS. you can either have them fully soldered and configured as part of the purchase or buy the basic stuff and finish the soldering and configuration yourself. once you pull the trigger on the flight control stuff you can start to sort out the details. if you decide on a big helicopter, call jeff from xaircraftusa before you commit to anything as he's got experience with all the stuff you might consider doing and will likely be very generous helping you figure out which way to go.
good luck,
bart

 

[dckiteboards]

yeah we talked already for a while. he was pushing me towards the trex700e which I would love but i really love the hands off flying of the quad. i just read a heli will not do that. i guess why not have a gyro in it like the quad? again I dont want to get into anything to complicated building etc and i dont have the money to pay someone 1000 bucks to build and calibrate it. but now that im serious about buying im going to call him again. we just talked a week ago!

 

[Droider]

Talk to Adam at Quadrocopter US. They are very helpful.. I was going to get them to build me a RTF ADX3 and was almost putting my order in. Then Sandor from Digitech offered me a exdemo with about 45 mins flight time for half the price...

I dont think the AD8 is not big enough for the 7D you will need the AD8 HL or AD6 HL for comfortable flight.

If you aint in to soldering and programming and you need to jump in now to fullfil orders you may need to dig a little deeper. If you have 3K now and 2K next month then you should be about there.

Usual lead times fro a RTF are about 5/6 weeks. I am three months in with my ADX3 and I am just about there as far as tuning and trimming everything. I am just going out today to check my new settings for my camera gimbal.

Dave

PS where abouts are you ?

 

[dckiteboards]

sounds good. I definitly suck at soldering, im sure i can find someone thats good. I live in colorado and leave for my summer home in wisconsin on monday

 

[Bartman]

the camera mount is the tricky part. an MK will fly as well as you need it to provided your fingers are up to the task but the camera mount is the wildcard. making that work just right is very challenging. have one in mind? RTRyder is working on getting his AVerticalView mount going and RedHotPearl and I are using MKTR's but they're all too small I believe for the 7D. There's a larger MKTR version but none of them are as good as the best professional mounts where weight isn't so much of an issue.
Look for some of DennyR's comments and you'll be on your way. Jeff at XAircraftUSA also knows his camera mounts.
Bart

 

[Droider]

sounds good. I definitly suck at soldering, im sure i can find someone thats good. I live in colorado and leave for my summer home in wisconsin on monday

Rob and Linda at Droidworx rank QC us as the best.. Not sure Sandor at DigiTech would agree but I doubt there is much between them.. I do not regret one single minute my decision for the DW platform or the Photohigher mount. I think I have got the mount dialled now.. I am off in a few mins to test it out now I have tweaked the settings in MKTools.

 

[dckiteboards]

think that will come last or with the recomendation from jeffrey. i am just worried about which heli to get thus far. havent really gotten that far! I guess something more outta the box than anything. and something thats got lots of resources. droidworkx look pretty bomber as well as offering all online pdf of building. I feel like the trex will be lots of fiddling to get the gimble on but i was thinking the photoshipone 2x gimble. I am down either way , I can have lots of good resources around me to help build understand if I get in a pinch. I dontthink the trex 700 is something for me quite yet being pretty dam unstable, unless i numb out the sticks to help me get it. I down for either If i wait 5to 6 weeks ill spend 10k on this dam thing. want to get something asap that will do what i need to do . haha im a little impatient I move fast! ill call jeffrey and take crazy notes then ill call quadrocopter.us and pick there brains.

 

[Bartman]

helicopters have been around and carrying cameras forever. as you've seen, multi-rotors are much less of a hurdle to get working and are opening the doors for all sorts of newbs (myself included) to do neat things. in my opinion, buying a big heli would be a big move backwards in technology although certain people do have the skills and other resources to make it work.
i'm planning a move to bigger and better and it's definitely going to be MK based. i just don't see a reason to overcomplicate the flying when their are little German electrons willing to do most of the flying for me.

 

[dckiteboards]

Alright step one taken care of.spoke to jeffrey at xaircraft for hour or two. We agreed the trex isnt for me quite yet. we narrowed it down to the hexa XL , I do have a budget so were trying to stay within that. He is a wealth of knowledge and completely dedicated to flying! I am very lucky to have someone so enthusiastic towards helping a complete newbie . I didnt even buy my x650 with him. I wish i had. I do buy all my replacement parts through him though. anyway next step is too talk to quadrocopter and see what they say. also I have decided to invest in a 350 dollar canon point and shoot camera that shoots hd video, instead of the gopro and see what i can get out of it. maybe ill be happier and less in a rush. or maybe i should do the sunnex mod to the gopro. this may sound a bit rediculous but im also going for the stun factor too when i show to a job to shoot aerial and i show up with a guai330. my client then researches online and notices other people are using huge amzingly sophisticated devices. now I know its what comes out of that lens that counts and thats why i need the 7d in the air. im open to everything right now. This is fun and challenging sometimes headaches researching online so much but maybe im onto something maybe ill be a expert with aerial in a year or ten. im on the fast track!
im very thankfull to everyone helping me and when i can contribute I absolutley will!

 

[dckiteboards]

Im not saying the guai isnt something extraoridinary or that the x650 isnt something amazing as well. the x650 is absolutley amazing. I would never be where im at without the technology from the x650. I am just looking for something not only to impress but to get a amazing camera to leave the ground!

 

[Droider]

Looks arnt always everything but i know what you mean.. I had an architect look at my Gaui and I could see his thoughts.. cheap why do I need to pay x for something taken with that 2 bob thing... Now I pull out the ADX3 with the Sony Nex5 and its a totally different story. I give them the induction to the craft and what its capabilities are and all of a sudden they see something that aint out of a christmas cracker. Now they will pay. With a couple of examples of their project and they are won over.. project commission won. Quality counts every time. DroidWorx frames portray just that. Total Quality and engineered perfection. Good engineers / professionals relate to that.Its a price worth paying up front for sure.

Dave

 

[Bartman]

dc,
is the 7D enough of a technology jump over the T2i that it's worth carrying the extra weight around? the T2i has a plastic body so it's lighter than the "pro" metal bodies yet it has the same internals as some of the pro models.
i bought the T2i for that reason and so far it's been great. more of my 2 cents.
bart

 

[Emowillcox]

Hey DCkite
Just wondering why your so fast to get rid of the 650. I almost got one a few months back from the factory in China, but didn’t like the conversation I saw on one of the other forums so stayed away from it.
You might think about what direction your wanting to go with your work because I’d say think about either trying to stay with all helicopters or all multicopters. This way if you have one more than one machine some of the stuff will be interchangeable plus your not trying to learn two platforms. I have been using choppers for aerial photos for about 4 years now and I am wanting to start doing more video work. The multicopters are smoother with less vibration and going to be a better bet for video and will work great for aerials from what I have read. To do video with a helicopter your gonna have to spend more money on a high end camera gimbal to take out the vibration which in turn means a bigger chopper that can handle the payload.
I agree with Bartman don’t jump off to fast to unload your stuff and be sure to have a back up machine.