RTF vs ATF for a newbie...?

[Wayrex]

Greetings, this is my first post and there we go with my question:
I'm new with big drones (before I've just driven mini drones) and I want to get a decent multirotor for the purpose of taking aerial pictures and videos. Should I jump straight to a ATF drone like the Tarot of the f550? Or should I stick with the DJI phantom 2...?
PS: I have no problem with the soldering

 

[Joseph Cooper]

Well RTF means Ready To Fly, ATF means Almost Ready To Fly.

If you buy a ATF, you should look at what is required to fly, usually you will find you need a battery, charger, controller and reciever to get it flying.

Personally I went from a micro Hubsan X4 to a F450 with Naza V2. I have some previous experience with Heli's though.

I bought a kit online that had the frame, ESCs, Motors and the Naza V2 for £279. The plan was to save money and build it all myself. Although, after batteries, the TX and RX, chargers, FPV kit, OSD, I am easily over £500.

P.S, they aren't drones.

 

[Old Man]

Personally, I would avoid anything with "Phantom" in the name. There are more advanced, reliable, capable, and versatile products on the market in the RTF category. 3D Robotics Iris+ and X-8 being at the top. If you elect to "get involved" and go the ARTF route note that the Flight controller is the brain that links everything together and keeps everything "balanced". You want as good a FC as you can get that will fit your budget. If you have to cut a corner somewhere, don't do it at the flight controller. You want maximum reliability and the ability to expand you capabilities as your understanding of the system increases. A good FC can be transferred to larger copters as your comprehension increases. A really good FC helps you become more capable. The level of customer support available is also very important. It's not always the amount of flight time you can get per battery. It's about quality time.

Oh, almost forgot-Welcome!

 

[Carapau]

P.S, they aren't drones.

I was at a meeting on Fri with the Department for Transport and the CAA- even they now realise that the battle against the word Drone is lost. It is now official, they are drones!

 

[Y0urDaddy]

Hello...

When I started out I got a micro to learn to fly with. I my case it was a Heli-Max 1SQ-Vcam. Then after flying that around for several months I started to build an F450 that I have been flying since. You can get the DJI ARF kit for that and have one in the air for not 'too' much of an investment.

I do have an F550 frame right now, but that is all I have for it. I think I could use my F450 for video and pictures but a 550 will be a little more stable of a platform for that.

 

[Wayrex]

Thanks to everyone for the early replies, well let's take it point by point...

P.S, they aren't drones.

-> I guess the best word to use would be "Multirotor", sorry

You want as good a FC as you can get that will fit your budget.

-> I'm thinking about buying the ATF version of this Helipal kit with all the extra accessories that they offer there (camera positioning, 2 chargers, the FPV kit, gimba, the Futaba radio system and extra batteries) http://www.helipal.com/dji-flamewheel-f550-w-naza-v2-gps-drone-rtf.html
I don't know if it's too much (considering I want to focus in getting good aerial shots) and why, or if there's better options (for the esc, propellers, PFV, radio system.... etc)

When I started out I got a micro to learn to fly with

- > Yeah I did this too, I bought a Hubsan X4 and I guess it helped me learn a lot, talking about the F450, I guess i would prefer getting the hexa version (f550), getting better stability and redundancy.

 

[Old Man]

Things depend a lot on where you want to go. If you have plans to increase your scope my thoughts have a 550 about as small as you want to go. You'll end up wanting to carry some weight, fit a decent gimbal and camera, a video Tx or two, dual batteries, perhaps another for the video stuff. With that you ran out of room, and lift capability, on most 550's before you got there unless to can add to the frame for more real estate.

 

[CDinNM]

I started with the Hubsan 107L to learn to fly, have been having a blast flying it and have gotten very good at flying. I moved up to a 250 racing quad to begin learning about FPV, got a Lilliput system and also the Skyzone goggles. My skills I acquired flying the Hubsan micro quad paid off, I handled the 250 without any problems, just smooth flying. And the learning curve was then mostly getting used to using FPV and the new to me Futaba devo 7 radio that came with the 250. Like you, I took an interest in the F550 Flamewheel that HeliPal had to offer and bought it. I added a second FPV camera (the 700 like what was on my 250) so now I can fly FPV and also fly using my Go Pro, is a win-win with both.

I have plenty of experience building some small quads for my grandkids, plenty of experience repairing the Hubsans, so now I have decided to go ahead and build a few things from the ground up. I really like the 550 platform, but I wanted a little more power and slightly more size, so I am currently working on a 550 frame/board setup with the longer aluminum arms so I can add the larger motors/props without getting too large in the overall size. If you need more real estate to mount things, you can always add a 3rd board on top of the other two, or add below with things attached to lengthened camera arms for a gimbal and dual battery setup. That's the nice thing about the 550's, you have some room for growth without building another multirotor from the ground up, they are more expandable without going into all the total costs of a new setup.

Whatever you decide to do as far as RTF or ARF, it can/will be fun and you will grow with whatever direction you decide to take. I think the best part is that while you are doing things and learning you are having fun.

CD