I'm thinking about buying a quadcopter. My question is what's the smallest I can get but still be able to work on it and upgrade its parts....ie: motor, props, battery ect...... 3-4 choices would be nice, if there are 3-4 choices. -Thanks Frank
Tuff question there Frank... just about all small Quads are proprietary when it comes to parts making upgrades nearly impossible. If small is a must look at the 250 size drones. If you build it yourself from the ground up it's an amazing machine. I built a 250 racer for about $200... and you know I can swap motors, ESC's, receivers, props, and flight controllers till the cows come home. You will have to do some homework since there is some skill required in building and programing the flight controller. But... talk about a full function quad! GPS, FPV, telemetry, HD video the list goes on and on. One thing you'll be amazed by is the speed.... 90 to 130MPH!!! If you don't want to go through all the high-tech stuff a X8C for under $100 has decent potential.... however, it does use brush motors limiting your performance.
I don't want some throw away piece of junk that a big box store sells. I want a quadcopter that I can take care of and fix/tinker with.....without braking my wallet. I do understand RC is a money pit, right now I have land based RC's. I've built those but building a quadcopter has to be totally different......right?
What about this, or something similar.?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fiber-Glass-Mini-C250-Quadcopter-Motor-Esc-Flight-Control-Board-T6-transmitter-/311162040195?hash=item4872b3ef83:g:9FgAAOSwgQ9VljNF
Seems decent, except for the transmitter. That model Flysky has no 3 position, no failsafes, and has some range issues. This may be a better kit choice, Emax stuff is decent and it's CF with beefy 4mm arms. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emax-3K-Pro-Carbon-Fiber-250-Quadcopter-Frame-CC3D-Controller-MT2204-Simonk-ESC/331541868856?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Dbd415861954848c9aa10808544589bc0%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D331519534250 And for a budget transmitter this is very feature rich (there's a link at the bottom for the manual). Do note it is a smaller, compact form factor. This is the one with the PPM receiver. http://www.Banggood.com/FlySky-FS-i6-2_4G-6CH-AFHDS-RC-Transmitter-With-FS-iA6B-Receiver-p-983537.html You can add one of these to monitor your battery voltage right on the LCD. http://www.Banggood.com/Flysky-FS-CVT01-Voltage-Collection-Module-For-iA6B-iA10-Receiver-p-976303.html
Would this be something to use in the future..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emax-Simonk-4in1-Quattro-25A-x-4-UBEC-Brushless-ESC-For-Quadcopter-Multirotor-/271505071749?hash=item3f36f69e85:g:VCMAAOxyhS9Tgr2s
FWIW if you go with my link ask if these will work. http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-2xPure-Carbon-Fiber-Arms-for-FPV-Quadcopter-Frame-Mini-250-Pro-/331704271002?hash=item4d3b1d809a:g:tGwAAOSw3xJVZt3Z good to have spares. Props too, go with colors to aid in orientation. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=5030+prop&LH_PrefLoc=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xgemfan+5030+prop.TRS1&_nkw=gemfan+5030+prop&_sacat=0 These are 5040, maybe try some of them. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=hqprop%205040&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1&_trksid=p2045573.m1684 Good luck.
If I just wanted putz around inside and outside, no racing just generally having fun......is this a good buy?, The transmitter ok? And upgradeable? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Walkera-Runner-250-FPV-Racing-Quadcopter-RTF-Combo-2-/371451258851?hash=item567c3867e3:g:Md0AAOSw4HVWCQ10
You ain't gonna fly that inside. It's decent enough, but search YouTube for the 'flip of death'. The main frame plate is quite thin and tends to crack easily. This new entry looks interesting. http://www.Banggood.com/Eachine-EC250-Racer-Drone-With-RadioLink-2_4G-9CH-AT9-Transmitter-R6D-CC3D-RTF-p-1008943.html
So far I've only read bad things about Banggood......so not sure. I just want a step up (or two) from a child's toy. It looks like I'm not going to find it. Oh well, thanks for all the suggestions. -Frank
You'll read bad things about all the big China sellers. Banggood is where I do the majority of my shopping or eBay sellers with good ratings who ship with ePacket (I'm in the US). Gearbest is who I avoid. Their '3 to 5 days' is a joke, should say '7 to 20 days' to ship although they charge your PayPal account when you place the order. Many folks buy from the various vendors on Aliexpress, but they don't take PayPay. I personally will not not give all my personal CC information to some China vendor. Good luck on your journey.
We didn't have much luck with the Walkera Runner - but the Eachine 250 seems to be much better. You can buy it anywhere from bare to loaded - I think it's one of the better models of this type (value, construction, etc.). Banggood has done well by me for years. Sure - don't expect "Amazon/Apple" type of service, but otherwise it's OK.
