Hello from California. New to Quads and hoping the ebook helps me get a better understanding of the available multirotors. Been shooting Video for years and playing with Ham ATV. Looking forward to move into the air and shoot cycling events. Question: I see lots of talk about different multirotors but not much on controllers, do i need to be picky on a controller too?
Yes. If, by "controller" you mean the onboard computer that translates the RC signal into action, there's a huge variation in sophistication. The low-end ones have fewer, and less-precise, sensors, and do less of the stabilization work for you. Those are mostly intended for people who enjoy flying for tis own sake, and like having very direct control of the copter's actions. As you move up the scale, you get more and better sensors, and more-sophisticated software, that does more work for you, so you can just push the stick to say "move in that direction" and have the copter do it smoothly more-or-less on its own. You also get camera mount control that will automatically pan and tilt the camera to compensate for the tilting of the copter. Eventually, you get to a level where you can tell it "Go fly this route", and let it fly on its own, except in emergencies. If you're referring to the radio control, you'll see a lot of "Ford vs Chevy"-type talk about different brands. But you need to be picky about range: most of the lower-cost "park flyer" radios are only intended to maintain the link out to a few hundred feet (at most: some of the ones intended for indoor models have even less range). You'll need a fairly-expensive copter to give you a stable platform for high-quality videos. You definitely won't want it getting out of radio range. Ran
This just popped up as a banner ad on another site: http://idea-fly.com/en/products.asp?ID=15 The ad says it's specifically designed for "sports video". I know nothing about the product or the company. Could be vaporware, could be wonderful, could be junk. But it looks like it well-designed for the purpose. Worth investigating, anyway. I took a quick look at the specs, and the range may not be good enough for cycling. But, as a ham, you have the expertise to improve that with better antennas, preamps, etc. Ran
I think, according to users, the ideafly is closer to junk than to pro.....most have sold through HobbyKing: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26944__ideafly_ifly_4_quadcopter_with_motor_esc_flight_controller_pnf_.html There are numerous threads on RCgroups about them. With a lot of work, some folks have gotten them to work.... My problem with most ALL of the larger quads being sold is an almost total lack of US and English (and normally expected) support. Even the top dog, DJI, is well known for not answering emails from folks who buy their stuff. The Chinese companies just do not seem to bless the hiring of support staff.... I think this is likely to change in the next couple of years and the first company that does it right will have a Gold Mine. But for now, I think the choices are somewhat limited unless you really really really want to constantly figure out a lot of stuff by yourself. There are a couple of small shops in the USA putting stuff together, but again I think - even if you get them on the phone- the level of support you need won't be there. I think that takes it down to: DJI - The upcoming Phantom Vision or the Hex S800 Arducopter - open source quad or hex with nice flight controller and/or some of the semi-custom stuff being put together... If you are going to do real pro video, you may need to step up from even those. Here is a vid with some quad footage near the end: These guys did that vid: http://www.gotaerial.com/vip/ They are flying some heavy iron!
That sounds good for a RTF beginner. I'll keep looking into it. I'm reading alot and watching tons of video's next is to go visit my local flying spot & the hobby store in town to see what they have.
This is a new model, that looks kinda like a scaled-up Hubsan Quads: monocoque frame, with most of the vulnerable bits enclosed. But, if they've produced low quality in the past, one would definitely want to wait until the early adopters have worked it hard for a while, and count the number of arrows in their backs before buying Note to brute: don't even think about buying something like that ideafly until you've gotten most of your newbie crashing out of the way with one of the "expendable" low-cost quads. I've watched others ignore that advice, and the only good thing about the experience was that I wasn't paying the repair costs. The temptation to try "the real thing" before they were ready was just too great. Instead of starting with one $50-or so toys like most of us have, you might want to go with one of the slightly-more-expensive ones that can work with a standard RC radio. I have a feeling that I'm going to need to do some re-learning when I eventually get my "real" bird built, with a Tx that doesn't look like an overfed gamepad... Ran
So to get my wings wet - how about building a t-copter or quad kit? i've seen a few like the Simple Tricopter 2.0 that mount componets inside the frame. or one of the homedepot aluminum Quad styles? I assume it's better to just get use to flying before adding the GPS and advanced stablization, FPV. I definatley think i want to get a standard RC system with enough features and power to grow with. Thanks for the information on watching the blogs on any drone i am looking at to make sure it fits my level and doesn't have to many issues. i do not want to be a newbie that drops a $1500 system in the ocean, glad i found this site to help guide me. i'm part way thru the ebook and i am learning what questions i need to answer before i jump into hardware. Thanks Brute
My experience is limited, but it tells me that it's better to get something "to crash and learn with" than "to grow with". I don't think you will find many people who are still flying the one they learned with. You have a jump on things because of your R/C experience, but maybe you should order up a Q-bot to get some hours in with? Check out the new review we just did on it - for 40 bucks you can hardly go wrong (order some extra props with it!). https://www.droneflyers.com/2013/05/hk-micro-q-bot-hisky-ff120-first-look-and-review/ Once you are confident that your skills transfered OK to the quads (most of them should), then you can think about exactly which way to go. Larger quads are subject to the laws of newton and galileo MUCH more than smaller ones. The difference in break-ability and cost for repair is vast! Note the comic below that we are working on.....long story short, an $8 repair on a mini can be $80+ on a full size! Also, the mini or micro will likely be OK falling or crashing from 50X it's height, while the full size one may sustain damage with almost any fall or crash. So, yeah, I'd rather throw away $200 worth of quads during a learning experience than replace $400 worth of parts on a $600 quad for less experience.
