Hi all, I am new to quad-copters I'm in my mid 40s from the UK have a background in RC car racing back in the days of Ni-cads and I'm looking for a first quad. I would be confident to build from a kit and already have a Hightec optic 6 transmitter/receiver from my late father who flew fixed wing, but I'm not sure if this is compatible with cheaper "first quads" I see the Hubsan Quads X4 or Syma X11C recommended as beginner quads that would help me learn the basics but the controllers or should I say transmitters look a bit toy like and with eyesight getting worse with age theese models are maybe a little on the small size, the Syma X5C is a larger model and looks to have a better transmitter any thoughts on other models I should or could consider? I don't really need a camera on board as I know these are a bit gimmicky anyway and not much real use but it might be fun to see some of the video so I'm open to the camera models In the future I might head down the FPV racing route at a much later date if and only when I was confident with flight. Thanks in advance Dave.
The main thing is to "just do it" - and in that spirit I would say the X5 would be a great first quad. In truth it doesn't matter much because you will likely lose, crash or break it. But you can get parts and fix it and get at least an hour or two on the sticks. If you have a larger park to fly in you can consider the WL Toys v262 and it's relatives - just make sure you immediately remove most of the foam body (it's too heavy). You can easily like a Mobius or $808 cam with the v262 and take some decent still photos (video will be very shaky). I just fixed up a v262 which I used for a couple demos last summer - just replaced a gear and it's ready to go again.
Thank for the reply Webman. My birthday came last week and after prompts from me, my wife and kids got me the Syma X5 however it came from ebay listed as "new" it was clearly used and one of the motors just didn't work so rather than wait I bought a Hubsan Quads X4 to get some stick time in while it gets returned. I have to say I was a little worried about the controller but it is a high quality unit even if it does look like more a game controller than an RC transmitter its very well built and perfect for adult and children's hands alike. The X4 is really nice to fly easy to control out of the box and after hovering around for a bit expert mode adds more aerobatic ability. Its a bit noisy for indoor use when the wife is trying to sleep on the sofa so I might look for some 3 blade props to quieten it a bit for late night flights Anyway I'm hooked! SD.
The X4 is fun outside also. In the expert mode I've flown it in high winds and learned a lot about how to handle these things in wind.
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