Bartman
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Had an exciting day today. Flew my new XY8 for the first time while simultaneously testing the new HF PRO and GPS firmware beta versions. I'm happy to say the firmware loaded exactly as it was supposed to do, I was able to access the HoverCLIENT exactly as it was supposed to, and to top it off it flew really well.
Manual or attitude mode is unreal, it could only be better if the heli were mounted to a pole. THe helicopter literally goes to the position you command and just stays there. no rocking, no wobbling, it literally is point and go.
Auto-level is pretty much the same as it was when we all first raved about how good it had become. Issues that crept up as it was being tweaked appear to be resolved.
The big deep sigh of relief comes from the fact that the GPS position hold feature is finally on the right track. After going through the steps to get the basic modes tuned, I flew to about fifty feet and switched on Position Hold. THe helicopter held its position and when I bumped the sticks, spun through 360's, whatever, it gently and calmly regained its composure and went back to holding its position. The winds were light but it's clear that progress is being made.
Lastly, altitude hold was used and the heli stayed within a foot of its altitude. With Alt hold selected I again did 360's and slammed the sticks over to try to upset it but it stayed stable and did a good job of resuming alt hold.
More than anything I was blown away by the heli's attitude (or manual) flying qualities. If that's how you like to fly, this can't be any better.
Auto-level is also very good, easily on par or better than Mikrokopter.
Many of us have been waiting for our GPS investments to pay off and I think most everyone will be happy with the progress made by this update. I'd commit more to calling it a full blown success but, as I mentioned above, the winds were light so I'll try again when it's very windy and see what happens.
Thanks to the guys at Hoverfly for giving me the opportunity to try the firmware today. I think Al's done enough to be considered trustworthy which explains why I was comfortable (maybe comfortable isn't the best word, willing maybe?) putting a new heli in the air with relatively new firmware. He knew it was a new heli and that there were some new features that I hadn't tried yet so he could have recommended I fly a beater with the new firmware instead. He didn't though and everything went fine.
I believe the new firmware will be released this week or next.
Bart
Manual or attitude mode is unreal, it could only be better if the heli were mounted to a pole. THe helicopter literally goes to the position you command and just stays there. no rocking, no wobbling, it literally is point and go.
Auto-level is pretty much the same as it was when we all first raved about how good it had become. Issues that crept up as it was being tweaked appear to be resolved.
The big deep sigh of relief comes from the fact that the GPS position hold feature is finally on the right track. After going through the steps to get the basic modes tuned, I flew to about fifty feet and switched on Position Hold. THe helicopter held its position and when I bumped the sticks, spun through 360's, whatever, it gently and calmly regained its composure and went back to holding its position. The winds were light but it's clear that progress is being made.
Lastly, altitude hold was used and the heli stayed within a foot of its altitude. With Alt hold selected I again did 360's and slammed the sticks over to try to upset it but it stayed stable and did a good job of resuming alt hold.
More than anything I was blown away by the heli's attitude (or manual) flying qualities. If that's how you like to fly, this can't be any better.
Auto-level is also very good, easily on par or better than Mikrokopter.
Many of us have been waiting for our GPS investments to pay off and I think most everyone will be happy with the progress made by this update. I'd commit more to calling it a full blown success but, as I mentioned above, the winds were light so I'll try again when it's very windy and see what happens.
Thanks to the guys at Hoverfly for giving me the opportunity to try the firmware today. I think Al's done enough to be considered trustworthy which explains why I was comfortable (maybe comfortable isn't the best word, willing maybe?) putting a new heli in the air with relatively new firmware. He knew it was a new heli and that there were some new features that I hadn't tried yet so he could have recommended I fly a beater with the new firmware instead. He didn't though and everything went fine.
I believe the new firmware will be released this week or next.
Bart
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