Anyone here into them as much as your gaming? Im trying to find the better forums out there. dont trust gooogle.
Flitetest on youtube is unbelievably good at demonstrating some of the fpv options. Their resident expert has been absent for a bit as far as i know, but they have a forum and they are some of the nicest individuals i have seen on the internet.
I am interested in the racing fpv quads myself, but i plan on getting a bit of carbon fiber and the electronics and building it myself ( not recommended), I have a lot of experience in flying RC heli's so flying a quad is completely different for me, I currenty have a protoX from Estes and its hillarious to fly it around my sub 2000 square foot house, it did need a new battery though. I haven't looked into the RTF style fpv things because I would much rather be wearing Fat sharks ( FPV goggles) or something similar, unfortunately i have to say tested on youtube has done a good piece on fpv racer types for quads/tricopters I just don't like their premium paywall experience. As far as getting one, I imagine if you can find an RC hobby shop they can get you setup and get you flying in 1000 dollars flat lol. But seriously start cheap, you will crash, start slow, get used to flying towards yourself (safely) and things like that before you jump into FPV, because when the fpv system fails you will have to fly by sight.
WHAT EVER YOU DO DON"T BUY FROM HOBBYKING they are based in china and you will never get your money back lol. Not to mention my experience was terrible, and the product i received didn't even function.
I used to be really into the R/C stuff. I left right as Miniquads were taking off(no pun intended). I was more of a single rotor heli guy - the 6 channel stuff that does tricks.
On youtube there's this guy called Bruce. I still watch his videos quite regularly. He's done a lot of miniquad stuff amidst his current political situation.
Racing is definately the goal and theres a meet this Sunday :) I have discovered Daniel and Quinn of RCTESTFLIGHT. He's talented for sure apart from the name repeating every minute. His GF makes the show entertaining.
Still lots to learn and with this being the next hula hoop craze, as with my
1st PC build a year ago, there's a ton of shit to learn. KV BEC ESC and more but my PC
doesn't do 200k in a dive but has crashed twice. (it looks like Oculus missed the boat here)
Thanks for the heads up with HK as I was looking at their site just now.
Any advice on which are OK.?
Living down under, the US shipping charges are in the $40, $60 region and accounts for half the total cost. :(
This is the channel i was talking about.
As far as good hobby companies, I have no idea, I am lucky and live in a part of the U.S. where there are stores all over my state, Hobbytown USA, and couple little local shops. I imagine there has got to be a shop somewhere in Australia, I know The mighty car mods guys have recently got there hands on at least one medium large sized quad for filming, they may have a bit of info in there forum as well.
Thanks for the that (Im actually on the little Island where Spanks comes from.) I know, the flags look similar lol. trouble all the shops that sold model stuff have sold up and are now $2 shops!, The guys on Flight Test channel looks pretty cool and I love the experimental stuff.Those guys really have their own air strip?
Thunder storms & 7 power cuts today is making replies difficult sorry. If a quad did get off the ground today, it's probaby in Antartica by midnight. Tomorrow they say sun and no wind ???. Suppose to be Summer.
Q. curious to know which brands you rank the top to point me off in the right direction to look at? I generally avoid the brands with Lucky Horse or Golden 8 in them, lol T-Motor
Thanks again Im off as another thunder storms coming and Im on copper lightning rod called dial up
Believe it or not Blade isn't terrible, they have a new FPV mini quad runs about 430 U.S. I was very nearly going to buy it today, I think with some research one of us might find a decent frame, they are running between 20 and 500 bucks on amazon for carbon fiber ones. I think if you start doing some research on good RC forums you might find out what to look for in motors IE what kv to weight ratio you will need, what kind of resolution and range the fat sharks and other goggle systems are limited to ( about 100 yards for the 400 u.s. dollar set from horizon hobby) and what kind of gyro system and frame to tie to your battery. I think building one would be the most rewarding undertaking. It's like delving into programming or building your first PC, completely overwhelming amounts of information to sort out, then coordinate.
Pardon my ramblings.
Uhh I think a prebuilt model is going to be a safe bet to get used to fpv. When/if you learn the meanings of motor kv's and Lipo battery ratings, and charge rates, and how to set gyroscopes for acrobatic flying, and what blades go well with certain speeds, loads and rpm's, THEN you might want to build your own.
Also i think Estes is half decent and they make and FPV as well, ill be looking into that model soon as well. But from what i gather the smaller they are, the harder to get FPV going on them for any more time than a few minutes in the air. Even the Blade fpv min qx quad thing is only capable of about 4 minutes, and that is for nearly 500 bucks U.S. when you factor in maybe two more batteries.
Sorry for the delay in responses and general wordiness of the replies, I don't fully understand all of these things myself. I have been flying heli's for about a year and a half and they came pretty naturally (luckily) for me, and if they weren't so damn unstable they would be my FPV set up go to.
TL DR Blade, and estes ( the rocket company) make FPV RTF models probably around....650 AUS dollars.
Blade stuff is alright - you just pay more for the brand & support.
Not really, if you look up the prices, and the hardware, and the programming. It's actually pretty nice, the flight time is shit, for sure lol, but the fact that you could race them in a small concrete building fpv, thats pretty impressive.
Small-scale FPV has been around for quite some time...
Blade hasn't brought anything completely revolutionary to the market in a long time. Chinese stuff, as well as other countries(e.g. S. Korea's Hitec) will often provide an equal or better experience for less.
There have always been cheaper options that do the same thing. Someone who learned on a Blade MCX could have easily done so on any other 4-channel coaxial helicopter. Same thing with the Blade MSR - iirc WL Toys had their own version that costed ~$40 compared to the $130 or so when I bought my Blade MSR BNF. The programming on the well-reviewed chinese stuff is on par, if not extremely close, to the stability of Blade's products. My WL Toy's V929 flew just as well as my friend's Blade's MQX.
I've got a Walkera Super CP. I've flown a Blade MCPX many times as well. I went with the Walkera since it felt smoother than how the Blade MCPX flew. It was also much, much cheaper at the time. A BNF MCPX was still more expensive than a RTF Walkera Super CP. I even had a Spektrum DX6i, but I still went with the Super CP.
Blade & company were all on DSM2 for the longest time. The rest of the industry had already gone to full spectrum hopping, while DSM2 could only hop around on only 3-4 channels.
After being in the hobby for about 8 years, I came down to this. If you want something with decent long-term support and will also give you the ability to just drive 10 minutes and pick up replacement parts at your LHS, go with a brand name(e.g. Blade, Parkzone, Hobbyzone). Otherwise, there are many cheaper options out there that will do the job just as well and will save you a lot of money.
Well after some deep diving for a couple days now, getfpv.com has some nice stuff, I think i may actually try and build my own ( budget permitting) I guess im lucky in that i have a 6 channel transmitter and some understading about batteries and charging and flight times and some knowledge on how to get it all up in the air. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLutMoh4Ttg This helped me get Brushless motors in terms i can at least read. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3pGJi_ih8 Was great, seeing someone that good with one of the most popular quads out there is nice and reassuring.
Ill try and get a budget with itemized list going just in case someone wants to see what the prices would look like.
The Mini Quad race meet last weekend was far more exciting than Logan frying his SSDs. Carnage at warp speed. One speed freak crashed every race but to the credit of carbon fibre (and probably super glue) finished every race. Seeing 2lb of electronics cartwheeling thru dirt at 50 mph was a sight. Especially as only a prop or two would break. Then there was the TJI quad that got stuck 30 ft up a tree at full tit untill the LiPos died. Believe its now famous on facebk.
I thinks I got the bug.
I just found out my 6ch controller is dead, which breaks the hell out of my budget no matter how i slice it lol. If/when they come down in rtf form I'm jumping on one for sure though.
I feel I need to dispel some myths that have been carried in this thread before continuing.
HobbyKing is a very reputable company. I have never received a defective product and neither has my friend and he has been ordering from them for a good long time. In fact all his HobbyKing plane motors are still functioning and none of his hobby store bought name brand motors are. I have 8 Turnigy batteries that work flawless and have taken tons of abuse. I have a Tunigy battery charger than I shove 10amps through for hours on end charging batteries. I have zero problems ordering from HobbyKing. They even helped me get my 100 dollars back when I messed up my order. Just make sure you make an account before you buy and make sure you selected the correct warehouse on the left side of the site.
My friend recently purchased a Team Associated SC10 RS and the steering pot took a dump the 3rd time he used it. Defective products happen, its the luck of the draw, every company has an acceptable allowance of defective mass produced products.
Okay now to get to the meat and potatoes.
There are many great places to buy stuff in the US and I think they may ship international. Buddy RC is based out of Ohio (Like the flight test guys) and they put together great mini quad packages on deep discount. If you really want to build your own that is a great place to start.
Ready Made RC is also based out of Ohio and does carry FPV and quadcopter parts.
I have bought a few things off A-Main hobbies and always had pretty good luck. Prices aren't much better than the LHB these days and its always a good idea to build a rapport with the LHB when possible.
My suggestion is to start off with something cheap and simple if one has near zero flight experience. It seems easy but it takes quite a bit of getting used to to be fast AND smooth.
As far as FPV goes, Fat Shark is indeed nice. My friend has one. I would learn how to make your own antennas thought as they will vastly improve range and clarity.
Did a ton of research on basic started fpv stuff and this guy seems to be one of the higher flight time RTF bundles. I watched a video on youtube of a guy who had set some fat shark dominators to receive the video from this estes which was very cool. Currently i have a proto x micro I bought from a local hobbytown, it's decent and fly's for roughly 3 minutes ( even though when they sell it to you "it'll fly for 10-15 minutes") it ended up needing anew battery after only about one week, probably a one in one million kind of deal, but got a new one thanks to the guys that were working for free and now its very consistently above 2.5 minutes.
I stopped myself from buying a kit several times over the past few days as every time i did the math for the budget I was coming in over 1300 bucks for the kind of setups everyone is apparently buying right now which includes the 2300kv motors 170 for 4, 20amp esc's 160 for 4, ultra light gyro board 80 U.S.D., 6channel receiver and Radio transmitter 150-900 U.S.D., fat shark setup 320-800 U.S. dollars, spare blades 10, maybe 2 batteries 300U.S.D, a decent charger 90-150 U.S.D. Based on getfpv.com pricing.
That being said I am still very tempted to get a knockoff luminiere 250 CF model with motors, esc's and gyro board for 160 bucks off ebay. What is interesting (for me in the U.S.) is the HAM radio license hoop, and Colorado on the brink of banning remote control aircraft altogether.
Are you trying to build something bigger than a mini quad? The prices you listed seem a bit high for a little mini quad racer. I nearly bought the same kit my friend did and it was under 200 for an air frame, motors, esc, props, and flight controller. Keep and eye on BuddyRCs website. The run buy a motor get an esc free or half off pretty often but those deals vanish fast. You can always pick up a slightly slower motor and pair it with a bigger and faster prop to gain the speed back and still retain the torque needed to stay agile. His quad rips scary fast too. I wore his goggles while he flew around.
As far as the HAM radio license I would not worry unless you are in a super populated area and wanted to push more than half a watt which I think is the limit for personal use. Half a watt is some serious power, the 1/4 watt fat shark my friend has with custom antennas is good for well clear of a football field. An all black mini quad turns into a tiny spec pretty quick.
What i was looking at was a carbon fiber quad kit, plus high amp esc and motor setup, plus a radio tx and rx plus fpv kit plus batteries. I only have a charger and that by itself cost 100 bucks. I am not a first time flyer, i fly 3d' helicopers ( a blade mcpx, and mcpx BL when i have an operational tx which I don't at the moment.
I look at the hobby through a tight budget. I have been flying, racing on road and off road, nitro and electric for over 10 years and learned early on that spending big money on parts is great way to keep you on the workbench and not having fun. As you know from being in the hobby crashes are going to happen and having to eat a $100+ CF frame compared to a $20 frame is going to hurt. The frame is close to 1% of the overall weight of the quad, it won't matter if you have a fancy true CF frame or the other cheap carbon frames in the end.
A 20amp esc is a bit much for the size of quad. There is a reason Buddy RC pairs the sunny sky 2300kv motors with the 12amp esc. Its double the capacity of what the motors can realistically draw in peak amps with the prop size needed for these quads. I have tested the setup and the esc's at 12amps have more than enough overhead, they get warm but aren't blazing hot.
$300 bucks for 2 batteries? I'd go read some of the heli forums because I have seen a lot of people running 450 blades and bigger are throwing zippy batteries and turnigy batteries which are very cheap and reliable. A 3s 1300mah 45C battery is way way more power than you need and its 13.95 a battery. We ran a 2200 in my friends setup and it was physically a big battery compared to the quad frame and also heavy. From what I have seen people are running 1300mah up to 1800mah batteries for these mini quad frames.
Please don't take what I am saying as arguing with you. I have seen newcomers and those working through the ranks oggle the fancy suff and then sit sidelined for weeks or months when they can afford to fix things. I feel compelled to present a more cost effective solution that is half the cost you put together in an effort to get in the air faster and have less down time. Having more practice is going to make you better than having the best stuff money can buy. I run Pro2 SCT at my local track with a traxxas slash and place the middle of the pack (4th or 5th out of 10), with a freaking slash. My friend has an SC10 RS and we trade back and forth for fast lap times and position. Its so satisfying to be competitive on a budget and chasing the tail of people who have way more money in their setups.
I am new to quads and making my own flight setups, so the more info you have for all of those who read through this thread the better. I was more insinuating that high power long lasting high capacity batteries form manufacturers that i personally trust ( i have used on my helicopters) would be were i start for battery pricing. That being said i found several "cf" kits on ebay this evening and I'm very tempted to order them with the e max 2300kv motors on them, I had read somewhere about much more powerful motors for the high performance fpv stunt type quads needing something like 20 amps peak and reading somewhere that having more than your peak was always wise. I'm going to try out a 250 with some fpv, probably going to grab up a 2300kv emax setup with simmon k labeled esc's on a supposedly carbon fiber frame they are around 130-160 with those components on e-bay and a cc3d and power board. So my budget is mostly getting eaten by goggles and camera(320) and radio and receiver i haven't decided on one yet though.
I'd look at the goggles and radio as investment items since you will have them for life most likely and consider them part of a different kind of budget.
I run a HobbyKing Turnigy 9X radio. Its a 9 channel radio which will be way future proof if you get wild and it was $70. I would highly recommend reading up on how to flash the radio because it gives you amazing functionality. It works flawlessly and the best part is you can get different modules and fly any BNF plane or receiver on the market. Receivers are dirt cheap so you can buy multiples and not feel like you are wasting money, just bind, set the model and go. No need for swaping recievers because they cost 30+ dollars.