The last one I bought was just $47.00 with the radio, charger, even the TX batteries. It's a 182 sorta scale, and it's small. BUT, I have it in the car, fly it anywhere, and it's semi aerobatic to boot.
Any R/C airplane flyers here?
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Rick, what drone are you using? I first got started using a cheapy ($120) with FPV, geared motors, which are worthless in the wind.
I lost the drone because I had the prop guards on it and the wind carried it out of range of the controller and FPV receiver. I bought
a bigger one which I don't think I have 30 minutes flying time on it and decided to goto the brushless motored drones. I ended up
getting a Detect XK-380 with FPV I put on it which is a good one and then settled on the Solo which is a workhorse for FPV and
video shooting. I found that motorized bicyling building was much more fun and haven't had the Solo out for 2 years.
I had the most fun modifying and adding hp 5.8 ghz transmitters, high gain antennas to the X-380 which will fly in excess of 3 miles
FPV. I can run hp transmitters for FPV on the bird since I'm a licensed Ham and the X-380 is a good one but the gimbals for video
are no where as good as the Solo's gimbal with a camera like a GoPro unit. The prices and quality with the newer drones have made
it easy to get into flying the drones! I am also licensed by the FAA for flying both drones but both of them can violate FAA rules
with distance and altitude so now a fella has to be real careful where you fly and what altitude you fly them by FAA Rules and Regs.
Dennis
One of my impulse buys, flew it a couple of times and put it back in the case...it's a cheap one so I didn't expect much out of it & wasn't disappointed. When I have time the wind relatively calm and I think about it I'll fly it to impress the squirrels & such. I've got a friend who is big time into RC planes, coppers, cars and drones no boats yet, but he's working on refurbing a sail boat and hasn't much time for other hobbies at the moment. Kinda' like my bikes.
Drones are pretty cool though and RC in general. I don't recall a brand except it had X- something in it and I'm not impressed with what I've seen about it.
Rick C.
Drones are pretty cool though and RC in general. I don't recall a brand except it had X- something in it and I'm not impressed with what I've seen about it.
Rick C.
I saw one on sale at Gearbest. The quadcopter I bought several years back that had brushless motors and GPS RTH worked
real good and the new quadcopters are selling a lot less with more features but the only problem is that you need to fly them
FPV using a cellphone. The transmitter on the X380 has a lot of range (miles) and was one of their highend machines.
There were several models with addons which got costly. I haven't flown the quadcopter for years since I've been messing
with the bikes. The RC hobby is fun but it can get pretty expensive if you start buying things to use in it. I sent a picture
of the basic one that is for sale on Gearbest.
Dennis
I sent a picture of one of the quadcopters I have but haven't flown it for a few years.
Well, the RTH comes in handy if you get out so far and can't see the quad, FPV screen with views of no familiar sites
and you then might panic.
LOLs I was out over a field around 2.5 miles and lost my sense of direction but I stillhad a FPV on the receiver since I was burning up the air with RF and was worried about battery level. I went ahead
and hit RTH and the quad orientated itself forward-pointing-home. I then hit the throttle to dash back not waiting for
the quad to goto altitude and waste battery time. I am sure the Solo won't go out that far and the farthest I have ever
had it out was 1.2 km. The Solo is a lot heavier especially with the stabilized gimbal and GoPro camera on it. I've
used both of the quads to survey the farm fields here and usually 1 km. is al that is needed.
Truthfully, if I had one with a camera and FPV I'd probably become a junkie and only land to change batteries....
I mean think about it- I could sit in my garden and fly around and view my whole town in ways never dreamed of.
Right now I do that on a bicycle.
Aw crap...I'm not going to get one 'til I'm wheelchair bound (won't be long).
I mean think about it- I could sit in my garden and fly around and view my whole town in ways never dreamed of.
Right now I do that on a bicycle.
Aw crap...I'm not going to get one 'til I'm wheelchair bound (won't be long).
Got a village about 1/4 mi. away from my place and when I first started messing around with the X380 I flew it
over the town then went inside the house and flew the quad about a 1/2 mi. away over a pond west of town
and never lost a signal on the controller or the FPV video receiver. Since then, we put a new metal roof on
the house and I doubt that I could do that on the Solo but might be able to using that X380 since it has that
high wattage 5.8 ghz transmitter on it. You don't want to mess around using a gimbal doing that since there
is a lot more current drain and the camera+gimbal costs more than some of the expensive DJIs. There are
some decent quads out there for a little over $250 are great for 1 km. of flight FPV. I don't like the idea of
using a smartphone for FPV flying and WiFi quads will not work for range. Most of the new ones send data
and video back to the controller then the controller sends WiFi information/FPV video to the SmartPhone.
The applications have a habit of crashing on the SmartPhone so that can cause a crash on the quadcopter.
I seldom lose FPV on the X380 but I have lost it on the Solo when it's out over 800 m. even with special
high-gain antennas on the controller. Apparently, the X380 controller is running high wattage plus it uses
two antennas on the quad's landing legs which is why it can get high range. This is the one I wish I would
have gotten over the Solo: Parrot Disco
There's a fella that tests a lot of quadcopters on YouTube from Hawaii that has one of them and he has flown
it FPV out to a island and the mileage is well over 15 miles. The first time he tried it he didn't setup his flight
waypoints up right and from what it looked like the plane took a waypoint that was too low and it crashed
on the return flight probably since there was a obstruction in the flight path he didn't account for.
I think Parrot sent him another one so he could test it again and the second time it made it back with no
problems. I think winged aircraft like the flying wing made by Parrot (Disco) has the most potential for
flying. I'd have to look up the YouTube videos the fella made on the Disco and they are really good!
The Parrot quadcopters will out fly most of the others as long as you setup a list of waypoints since
if the quad loses connection with the controller the quad will fly to it's wayoints.
This RC stuff is addictive and you can spend more time and $$$ on it than motobike building and riding!
I did the same thing and I recharged the batteries, 4 of them, camera, controller, quad battery and the Nexus7 and now the weather
stinks again with high wind and rain. I'm going to be real careful in flying it since I haven't flown it for over 2 years. Winged aircraft
is the way to go FPV for long flight times.
They can fly themselves these days and that's why a lot of fellas hone their flying skills with the fast
race quads with FPV and goggles. Those machine don't have the bells-and-whistle features the new ones
have and have to be piloted.
