Author: Top Gun

Eachine EV800 D FPV Goggle and Monitor

While testing several goggles for DM, Eachine EV800 caught my attention. Not only was the price great but something we have been doing, making a spare fpv headplay as a monitor. Eachine EV800 was designed with that in mind, a separable goggle 5 inch screen that can be used as small monitor with a tripod. The upgraded EV800D is even better.. brilliant!

First Impression, we love how it separates and serves as a monitor. In terms of the reception, clarity and usability, we have to report back after a few more tests. Standby.

Target User Segment
Keen FPV Beginner Pilots, First FPV Investment, Ready To Use, Budget USD$79 MAP (June 2016 )

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Walkera MR Drone Runner 250 Pro

We have been wondering what it would be like to bring couch Gamers and First Person View (FPV) Pilots into one room or rather in one field for an intense world of Mixed Reality (MR) competition? Walkera MR Drone Games are not only Virtual games, but a Reality concept that is applied to Drone Racing. Pilots actually fly their GPS racing drones into virtual Funnel Gates or shooting on virtual targets.

Mixed reality (MR), sometimes referred to as hybrid reality, is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.

Now what do you think of that?. The first MR Drone Game, more ideas and development to come.

Hubsan X4 H502E GPS Drone

Looking for the perfect size quadcopter for this summer free youth RC training camp has narrowed down to this quiet 16.5 cm Hubsan X4 H502EGPS quadcopter. What caught our initial attention is the mini quadcopter with GPS, allowing the quadcopter to find it ways back. Other features of interest is it’s 720p camera and altitude hold.

The Hubsan H502e arrived in a small box with no instruction manual, but the usual short instructions on the packaging that reference a manual. The H502e is not even listed at Hubsan.com as such there is nothing to download.

User Segment
Beginners, Park Flyers, Ready To Fly, Off the shelves, Hubsan Collectors,  Instructional Training Quadcopter, Budget USD$107 MAP (Jun 2016)

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XK X251 WhirlWind Drone

Keeping it simple may be the answer to XK Innovation’s success recently. XK X251 is a new mini quadcopter with powerful brushless motors, designed to be fast and swift. If you are looking for a swift little quadcopter, this may be it, the XK X251 WhirlWind.  Shortly after the initial release, a version 2 was introduced with some slight modifications to cater for beginners. See video about the updates.

First Impression,  this quadcopter is very fast and can take a nice punch (vertical take-off).  It is easy to fly if you have flown a quadcopter and have mastered your flight orientation.  The XK radios are well made as always, but the spinning dial that gets in the way of your palm is still there on the right.  The beeping spinning dial is not in the most practical position to reach while flying, but for this aircraft, it is only used to navigate the menu. The material of the aircraft is made of a mixed of carbon fiber structure with light-weight Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), a common thermoplastic polymer (also used by Lego), strong but will still destruct on direct impact on a high speed race.  It does not break easily out in the field, if it just falls out of the sky, as the total weight is only 205 grams.

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Walkera Rodeo 150 Review

Introducing Walkera Rodeo 150, a unique and slick looking 15 cm size quadcopter, with a mix of  racing drone aerobatic features from the F3 flight controller, and the classic Devo 7 radio transmitter programmability.  The quadcopter was designed to weigh less than 0.55 pounds for hobbyist who rather not register with the FAA in the USA.  It is not a full fletch racer but a speedy mini quadcopter with brushless motors, a category of mini quadcopters gaining popularity recently.

First Impression, we love the Rodeo 150 design and the color scheme, a mini-me of the Walkera F210.  Kudos to the Walkera drafting engineers.  You can use an external receiver, which means you can use any programmable radio transmitter you may already have, making this a popular BNF quadcopter.  The material used is light-weight Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), a common thermoplastic polymer (also used by Lego).  It is impact resistance, but not strong enough to take a direct impact against a tree or slamming onto concrete.

Target Users
Keen Beginners, Park Flyers, Ready To Fly, Off the shelves, Collectors, Budget USD$229 MAP (May 2016) Continue reading Walkera Rodeo 150 Review

FQ777-126c Spider Drone Hexacopter

Made by FQ777 (yes, that is the brand name), model Spider 126c is quite a unique radio control hexacopter.  Made to be portable, it is stored in a self-contained case / radio transmitter along with all the accessories in a compartment.  A nice showpiece if you are a collector and this hexcopter flies amazingly.

First impression, we like the radio transmitter travel case, it keeps the copter away from dust, stores a set of spare propellers, dual chargers and propeller guards.  At first glance you will also noticed there are too many buttons, the most buttons we have ever seen on a radio, unlabeled.

Target Users
Beginners, Park Flyers, Ready To Fly, Off the shelves, Collectors, Budget under USD $37 (2016)

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DeviationTX Walkera Devo Transmitter Hacking

One of the best kept secret of a Walkera transmitter is the ability to support multiple protocols using deviationtx firmware. So if you are flying a selection of models, such as e-Flite Carbon-Z, Walkera F210, Blade QX, Yuneec Typhoon, Parkzone Micro Warplane, Spektrum DSM2 plane, JJRC Tarantula x6 or Hubsan X4; you can turn your affordable Devo transmitter into a power house that supports multiple protocols, all you need is the provided Walkera USB transmitter cable.

Specification:
The Deviation hacking project supports multiple protocols without any modifications to the transmitter:
● Devo 6/7e/8/10/12/F12e WK2401/WK2601/WK2801
● DSM2/DSMX JR, Spektrum, Turnigy
● Nine Eagles J6 Pro (with telemetry module)

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FreeX MCFX-01 Drone

FreeX MCFX ! It seems like the FreeX is being revived, now the 4.0 edition, in a nut shell reading the specs, what caught my eyes are:

  • Lost signal: Automatic return or hover at last known position
  • Reduces speed as it approaches launch point during return home, when near 80m
  • Stock Range: 1 km
  • Onetouch4 configuration tool software
  • Channels: 7
  • 6 Axis Gyro
  • FREE quality 2-axis gimbal with pitch control
  • Estimated price: $200!

History
FreeX is not new in the market, the SkyView has been in the market since 2014, marketed and backed by several prominent labels such as OFM, Xaircraft, manufactured by Skyartec ; along the way, Firmware V4 was released. I am not sure what else is different, but read on for everyone’s updates in the coming weeks.

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Volantex Ranger 757-4 Review

TODAY I took a look at the Volantax Ranger 757-4 that we purchased online for just over a $100. The 757-4 is a scale down version of the popular 2m Ranger Ex 757-3 FPV Drone plane. It is resized to 1.4m 1380mm, just small enough to fit into a standard size car trunk/boot without taking it apart.

One of the more interesting feature of the plane is that it is designed for GoPro or FPV cameras.. it comes tail heavy, so you can install multiple fpv cameras and large batteries. A weight is even included in the event you are not ready to fly with a camera. We had to fly it with a 3S 5000 mAh LiPo battery without a GoPro weight on the front, to get the correct center of gravity (CG). It is quick, easy to assemble, no glue is required.

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Is This Antenna LHCP or RHCP Circular polarization?

The most common question asked when you are serious about flying FPV, “Is This Antenna LHCP or RHCP Circular Polarized?” There are a few ways folks do to tell if a circular polarization antenna is Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) or Right Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP), and a simple way is to just see which direction it points to, by following the copper wire from the bottom –> up.

Why is it important to know? The rule of thumb is to use the same matching direction of antenna for transmitting and receiving. If you don’t match the antennae, the range will be reduced up to 75% than a matched antennae. If one is right hand and the other is left hand, there is a 30 dB drop in gain right away (that’s about 1/1000 of the signal getting through)…

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