Multicopter Megathread

[Hackentosher]

39 minutes ago, LittleCarrot said:

Yea he came off as a dick in some of his older videos, but I feel like he changed

I don't follow him much anymore, but I feel like the fact that he left rotor riot says a lot about him and his ego. That being said, I don't know what was going on behind the scenes, and you have to admire how successful he's been.

[Agent181]

So my FlySky FS-i6 resulted in bricking and I have an option to get it replaced by the newer version Flysky FS-I6S, upgrade to the FrSky Taranis QX7 for $50 or look through the more expensive spektrum transmitter. The FS i6 never worked out of the box when I received it.

Which one would be better? Also is Spektrum good? I have only heard about flysky and frsky.

I'm using this for a custom 3D printed drone that I made for an engineering class. All tested and just needing a transmitter and receiver.

 

Edit: they changed the upgrade price for the taranis from $20 to $50 >.> 

[Hackentosher]

46 minutes ago, Agent181 said:

So my FlySky FS-i6 resulted in bricking and I have an option to get it replaced by the newer version Flysky FS-I6S, upgrade to the FrSky Taranis QX7 for $50 or look through the more expensive spektrum transmitter. The FS i6 never worked out of the box when I received it.

Which one would be better? Also is Spektrum good? I have only heard about flysky and frsky.

I'm using this for a custom 3D printed drone that I made for an engineering class. All tested and just needing a transmitter and receiver.

 

 

I have an FS-i6 that needs a home  That being said, if your're serious about miniquads and or other RC things, go with a QX7. Especially if you can get it for $50, like that's an insane deal. I say don't bother with Spektrum. They're pretty good, but over priced when you compare to frsky. 

 

I highly recommend against 3d printed quads. Unless you print solid with PETG, it wont be very strong. Even solid plastic parts wont be very strong. The plastic also caries vibrations more to the flight controller and throws off the gyro. Carbon fiber is the way to go for frames.

Quote

Edit: they changed the upgrade price for the taranis from $20 to $50 >.> 

Where the hell are you finding QX7s for  so cheap?

[Not_Sean]

1 hour ago, Agent181 said:

Snip

 

I've Gone over to a Turnigy Evo from the FS-i6 and don't regret it at all, Its been flying all my drones and tons of Sim time as well. Always my top recommendation as long as you not a pincher  

[Agent181]

32 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

I have an FS-i6 that needs a home  That being said, if your're serious about miniquads and or other RC things, go with a QX7. Especially if you can get it for $50, like that's an insane deal. I say don't bother with Spektrum. They're pretty good, but over priced when you compare to frsky. 

 

I highly recommend against 3d printed quads. Unless you print solid with PETG, it wont be very strong. Even solid plastic parts wont be very strong. The plastic also caries vibrations more to the flight controller and throws off the gyro. Carbon fiber is the way to go for frames.

Where the hell are you finding QX7s for  so cheap?

I have the drone printed with solid petg and it was strength tested to absorb the vibrations already.  

 

So staying away from spektrum then, its coming down to the FS-I6S and the Taranis Q X7.  Are the receivers for the QX7 difficult to set up?  I have the drone set up and wired for the FS ia6 that came with the bricked i6.

[Agent181]

3 minutes ago, Not_Sean said:

I've Gone over to a Turnigy Evo from the FS-i6 and don't regret it at all, Its been flying all my drones and tons of Sim time as well. Always my top recommendation as long as you not a pincher  

I saw that, I'm not a pincher, how is it compared to the i6? I'm trying to play liftoff too so I want it to work for that too.  Also how is the receiver for it?

[Not_Sean]

3 minutes ago, Agent181 said:

I saw that, I'm not a pincher, how is it compared to the i6? I'm trying to play liftoff too so I want it to work for that too.  Also how is the receiver for it?

Its pretty much a i6 on the inside, they all do the same thing unless you want all the fancy crap of a Taranis, but to me, I only fly drones so its perfect. 

 

Its plug and play with Liftoff. The receivers are also really good, I'm running the twin antenna one with telemetry on my acro and a tiny little one on the racing drone. Also got a tiny one in the little 3" and its solid in there too.

[Agent181]

4 minutes ago, Not_Sean said:

Its pretty much a i6 on the inside, they all do the same thing unless you want all the fancy crap of a Taranis, but to me, I only fly drones so its perfect. 

 

Its plug and play with Liftoff. The receivers are also really good, I'm running the twin antenna one with telemetry on my acro and a tiny little one on the racing drone. Also got a tiny one in the little 3" and its solid in there too.

I want it for fpv racing and liftoff so I dont need the fancy things.  Just fly do some racing, maybe some tricks before crashing and sims.

[Not_Sean]

9 minutes ago, Agent181 said:

I want it for fpv racing and liftoff so I dont need the fancy things.  Just fly do some racing, maybe some tricks before crashing and sims.

exactly what I use it for, again I highly recommend it  

[Agent181]

7 hours ago, Not_Sean said:

exactly what I use it for, again I highly recommend it  

Have any receivers you recommend, I'm running an sp racing f3 board 

[Hackentosher]

15 hours ago, Agent181 said:

I have the drone printed with solid petg and it was strength tested to absorb the vibrations already.  

 

So staying away from spektrum then, its coming down to the FS-I6S and the Taranis Q X7.  Are the receivers for the QX7 difficult to set up?  I have the drone set up and wired for the FS ia6 that came with the bricked i6.

I've had really bad experiences with printed frames, but I wish you luck.

 

FRsky receivers are so easy. Just put the radio in bind mode, hold the button on the receiver while plugging in the battery, and that's pretty much it. After that you just have to power cycle the receiver and you're done. The Taranis has a bit of a learning curve to the menus, but it's so incredibly powerful and convenient once you get it working and used to it. Also I didn't know having more channels would be a good thing until I got my X9D. Being able to toggle different profiles, DSHOT functions, airmode, and other things without compromising other features you've already setup is really nice. Plus the QX7 is much more ergonomic and solid when compared to the FSi6. I also didn't really realize how small the i6 is until I got my Taranis. You get kinda cramped on the i6, and the gimbals don't have as much travel, which reduces your resolution on each axis. 

 

TLDR, I say get the QX7.

[Hackentosher]

12 hours ago, Agent181 said:

Have any receivers you recommend, I'm running an sp racing f3 board 

FRSKY also has some tiny ass receivers, much smaller than what flysky has to offer and with greater range. I know Fly sky has the X6B, which is a 30.5x30.5 receiver that bolts right into your FC stack. On FRsky, there's the RXSR, which is about the size of a penny, but has full range and telemetry. It's pretty damn impressive.

 

Edit: FRsky protocol is much better and easier to setup. I never got ibus to work properly, but sbus worked first try.

[KaminKevCrew]

4 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

FRSKY also has some tiny ass receivers, much smaller than what flysky has to offer and with greater range. I know Fly sky has the X6B, which is a 30.5x30.5 receiver that bolts right into your FC stack. On FRsky, there's the RXSR, which is about the size of a penny, but has full range and telemetry. It's pretty damn impressive.

The R XSR is smaller than the nail on my thumb. It's TINY!!!

 

[Not_Sean]

On 11/05/2018 at 8:19 PM, Agent181 said:

Have any receivers you recommend, I'm running an sp racing f3 board 

I'm running a Turnigy IA6C on two of mine and its been great, I mean its a receiver so doesn't really do anything too epic. 

 

Now got a FS-A8S for the racer as they pretty small. I'm also not one of those guys whos into gram saving, I simply don't have the budget to be all picky and only go after the lightest and what not. 

even with motors, my Acro is running kingkongs and its been almost a year now and they still going super strong and I keep up with my mate and his T40's no problem. 

[Hackentosher]

5 hours ago, Not_Sean said:

 

even with motors, my Acro is running kingkongs and its been almost a year now and they still going super strong and I keep up with my mate and his T40's no problem. 

Perfect example that lap times is all about the pilot, not the quad.

[Not_Sean]

18 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

Perfect example that lap times is all about the pilot, not the quad.

Couldn't agree more! 

 

These days even the banggood stuff is at a level where they only have a small advantage even more if you have put the time in and tuned and what not. 

[Agent181]

Okay so I'm buying 2 controllers next month, the qx7 and the evolution, One for me and the other for my brother, he wants to get into racing too

[Hackentosher]

1 hour ago, Agent181 said:

Okay so I'm buying 2 controllers next month, the qx7 and the evolution, One for me and the other for my brother, he wants to get into racing too

I strongly suggest sticking with one eco system between the two of you. Pick one. 

[Agent181]

5 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

I strongly suggest sticking with one eco system between the two of you. Pick one. 

ugh, even for separate drones?  I have 2 right now but going to make a 3rd later on.  I wanted to keep the one I liked the most for fpv racing and test the waters

 

edit: I'm giving the other 2 to my 2 brothers since they want in as well

[Hackentosher]

9 hours ago, Agent181 said:

ugh, even for separate drones?  I have 2 right now but going to make a 3rd later on.  I wanted to keep the one I liked the most for fpv racing and test the waters

 

edit: I'm giving the other 2 to my 2 brothers since they want in as well

Personally, I think you should go with the Taranis x7 because it has a very solid RF link and serial protocol. It's very versatile and easy to switch models so you can share a radio between multiple quads with ease. I didn't think it was worth it for a while, then I got a nice radio and was pleasently surprised. 

[LittleCarrot]

Anybody got spare goggles they are willing to trade?

 

[Hackentosher]

1 hour ago, LittleCarrot said:

Anybody got spare goggles they are willing to trade?

 

Poke around local classifieds and eBay, Dominator v3s and hd3s are pretty cheap these days with the release of the HDO. 

[LittleCarrot]

54 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

Poke around local classifieds and eBay, Dominator v3s and hd3s are pretty cheap these days with the release of the HDO. 

yea i just found se for 200

[Hackentosher]

8 hours ago, LittleCarrot said:

yea i just found se for 200

Fuck yeah dude, the dominator SEs are awesome. Beware though, the HDMI port is fake. They reused the case from the HD2 for those goggles because it fit the screens and didn't bother making a new mold. So there's an HDMI hole, but no port. 

 

$200 is a great deal, buy those suckers.

[KaminKevCrew]

On 5/28/2018 at 9:24 AM, Hackentosher said:

Fuck yeah dude, the dominator SEs are awesome. Beware though, the HDMI port is fake. They reused the case from the HD2 for those goggles because it fit the screens and didn't bother making a new mold. So there's an HDMI hole, but no port. 

 

$200 is a great deal, buy those suckers.

Also, the HD2 has a MASSIVE screen which can definitely be a negative. I had a pair for a while and the screen was so big (combined with the fact that I have a really wide IPD distance) that I couldn't even use them comfortably. 

 

With the HD2, I couldn't even read the battery voltage if I left the BF OSD in the corner. I had to move it in, which was a bit weird.