Trying out the Racer/Freestyle Thing

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I know its a tad more expensive but you still can not beat the Alien. there are other frames that are tried and true and rock solid as well. Any of the Armattan line for instance. I also fly on Taz an MRM stretch reaper frame that is solid too. I learned to NOT go with budget frames as the carbon really sucks when you know what good carbon feels and flys like. It really does make that much difference. Specially when it comes to vibration transmission.

As far as electronics there are tons of viable options now with all the tech. It goes back to you get what you pay for now. If you go the bang good route you are likely to have reliability issues or even getting bad parts out of the box. That whole buy 10 use two theory.. I prefer to know when I plug a battery in exactly what I will experience the same way every time.

I would suggest since there is a bit of time before full on flying season with this crazy wet weather to save up and get decent gear you know you can rely one. I fly both Kiss gear and Betaflight gear and each has its own strong points. I do prefer the feel of the KISS gear as wellas the far less complcated set up process to get it to fly perfect.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Yeah GetFPV is one of my go to places for gear too. Great group of guys over there if you have any problems they are right on top of it.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Haha.. oops.. I looked earlier and did not realize there was a second page. all I saw was the goggles page.

I am not up to speed on a lot of that gear but there are several things I do question. First and foremost.. Blunt nose props. Unless you are trying to break speed records or burn up motors and esc's blunt nose props are bad. They suck MAJOR amps to turn. You want to look for props that are more shaped like the DAL Cyclones. The brand you choose is a preference so I wont be too picky but I love Dal Props. First they give a smooth response thru the entire throttle range. Second the do not flatten out at high KV. Linear props tend to like being tuned to a band and really such for fine tuning specially for high res video. You can tune a range for them where they are happy but get out of that range or turn them fast and they become problematic.

Next is that frame. Not sure of the brand but with carbon you do get what you pay for. I tried going cheaper on my TAZ build and the frame I got had such bad harmonics I could not even find a tune to fly out of hover with it before the gyros freaked out and it would desync. I can hold the frame and flick it with my finger and it rings like a darn tuning fork. Just be aware fo this and check you tube reviews. Ignore the review and read the comments. drop the fan boi comments and see what percentage of comments are bad. You will learn of flaws quickly that way. I do this on everything I think I want to buy now since I had that issue with that frame. It has saved me from mistakes a few times now.


The VTX I have been using now on both my Freestyle Alien and Taz my racer is the Pando RC VT 5804 Pro. This this is built like the proverbial brick SH. Here is a link for banggood.. Only one listed on Amazon for crackhead prices. Normal pricing on Amazon has been in the 25 dollar range.

https://www.banggood.com/VT5804-Pro...V-Transmitter-p-1149558.html?cur_warehouse=CN

Another budget VTX that has been kickin butt on my Gremlin is the Eachine VTX03. The 50 mw setting is perfect for a micro and is not a power hog.
 

Liam B

Well-known member
To patch in on the VTX side: I had trouble finding a decent VTX for EVER! My first VTX was a ImmersionRC 600mw and it lasted well but was huge! Then I went to the Lumenier line and all three died on their first flight. Then I tried the TBS Unify and had two duds in a row. Finally, I found the RaceDayQuads Mach1. I haven’t run a different VTX for sixth months and love the things to death. $20 is a steal of a deal as well.

As for the VTX03, I have some friends who run it and it works, but not for very long according to them. They often keep a few spares on them.

I 100% agree with PsyBorg that carbon quality is a key thing in a frame. Recently I have been trying to buy frames that are not necessarily mass produced or popular. I like this one, and I’ve met Colby, the designer and he’s a really well educated guy in the hobby: https://www.racedayquads.com/products/raggio-veloce

I like GemFan props. They’re almost exactly the same as the DALs that PsyBorg mentioned.

For electronics, I run this stack with no problems. It’s pricy as all get out, but is a cockroach and won’t die on you any time soon: http://pirofliprc.com/Pyrodrone-F4-OSD-Stack-Combo_p_5614.html

And for a camera I like Foxeer and RunCam. I tried knock off cameras and they were ok but didn’t last too long.

Finally, for motors, I like literally anything. My favorite cheaper motors are the Gartt 2205s off of amazon and my favorite higher end motors are the HyperLite series from PiroFlip RC.

Hope I helped!
 

DharanFlyer

Active member
Thanks @ELEV8 RC ! It does help a lot.

So here is my question for you and @PsyBorg . Is it worth it for me to put in the money for a more expensive / higher quality frame for learning? Will it survive the crashes that will happen and something that I can then upgrade the electronics on down the road as those occur less?

I do like the Alien frame Psyborg mentioned and the one you put up also looks very promising, but I'd hate to get one just to have to replace it once I'm ready for a nicer all around set up due to damage from learning.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
To patch in on the VTX side: I had trouble finding a decent VTX for EVER! My first VTX was a ImmersionRC 600mw and it lasted well but was huge! Then I went to the Lumenier line and all three died on their first flight. Then I tried the TBS Unify and had two duds in a row. Finally, I found the RaceDayQuads Mach1. I haven’t run a different VTX for sixth months and love the things to death. $20 is a steal of a deal as well.

As for the VTX03, I have some friends who run it and it works, but not for very long according to them. They often keep a few spares on them.

I 100% agree with PsyBorg that carbon quality is a key thing in a frame. Recently I have been trying to buy frames that are not necessarily mass produced or popular. I like this one, and I’ve met Colby, the designer and he’s a really well educated guy in the hobby: https://www.racedayquads.com/products/raggio-veloce

I like GemFan props. They’re almost exactly the same as the DALs that PsyBorg mentioned.

For electronics, I run this stack with no problems. It’s pricy as all get out, but is a cockroach and won’t die on you any time soon: http://pirofliprc.com/Pyrodrone-F4-OSD-Stack-Combo_p_5614.html

And for a camera I like Foxeer and RunCam. I tried knock off cameras and they were ok but didn’t last too long.

Finally, for motors, I like literally anything. My favorite cheaper motors are the Gartt 2205s off of amazon and my favorite higher end motors are the HyperLite series from PiroFlip RC.

Hope I helped!

Interesting on the Lumenier VTX boards; those are what Horizon Hobby uses as direct replacements for the Blade Conspiracy, a 200mw Lumenier VTX, as opposed to the original Spektrum VTX (which I suspect is just a rebadged Lumenier).

As for carbon quality, YES. Buy high quality. I've seen a lot of Chameleons and Aliens out here in the San Diego area, quite popular frames, and they seem to take a pretty good beating. I'm still on my Blade Conspiracy, despite several good crashes (one of which that took out my GoPro knockoff action cam) and the frame is still pretty much pristine, except for a few scrapes on the corners here and there.

Props, I like GemFans, but someone at the field gave me a set of RaceKraft 5051 tri-blades, and WOW. There's a serious snap in my turns and punch outs that wasn't there before with those props; that said, I notice that my battery life is about 30 sec. less when using them.

Cameras - I just replaced my stock Spektrum FPV cam that came with my Blade Conspiracy, swapping it out to a Runcam Swift 2, which has been TREMENDOUS in its quality. Color is clearer, I don't have as much break up (although, I suspect my old camera may have become damaged from crashes a while back)...It's actually a huge improvement over stock from my out of box purchase. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the RunCam line, unless you pick the Night Eagle while flying mostly in a bright, low contrast environment (say, high desert/rocky area during the spring/summer). And that's more because theNight Eagle is specialized for low light/twilight/night flying. :)

I'd definitely have to recommend GetFPV for a store to make your purchases from - the customer service is top notch, shipping is fast (they're in Florida, I'm in San Diego - I've gotten all of my orders within 5-7 days of ordering, depending on when I placed the order), and they have a GREAT selection of parts. The guys there are also really knowledgeable on their equipment and can help you get something set up fairly easy. HIGHLY recommended for buying stuff mail order. :)
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I have been smashing and tumbling my Alien frame now for two years and have not (knock on wood) broken anything on it. I have hit trees, wooden fences, tumbled across wet grass dry grass, hard pack clay. The thing is I say get good carbon but not because I am worried over breakage. That is going to happen at some point for everyone. You catch an arm at the right angle, fly sideways into a steel pole yer gonna break something.

I say go for the good carbon because it makes a huge difference in how well you can get the tune to process and fly smoothly. If you notice in the industry everyone crys Im poor and buys the cheapest crap off bang good they can find. Then they go thru weeks or months trying to get their quad to fly right. They chase down electronics, they soft mount everything and STILL have to use every filter imaginable to get only a half arsed tune. Simply buying a frame made with better carbon would cure all of that but everyone seems to argue that point.

The only way you are going to learn is to buy cheap crap and fly that, then fly something decent and you will instantly know the difference. Sadly that only comes from actually flying both to compare.

I started with a Walkera runner 250 and liked that to learn on. Then I built the Versacopter and was amazed at the jump in how well that flew. I went thru many electronics changes as well as prop changes and felt the differences. Then I built my Alien and that was a WHOLE NEW World compared to the other two. Catching up to date I have built Taz and tried a cheap frame and completely relearned this lessen again. Now Taz is on a solid frame with good carbon and flys like a dream. It feels and flys more stable then the flight sims I use that are done under perfect conditions.

When the time comes and you are ready to upgrade take the time and save up for good quality stuff. Buy it one piece at a time like me if you have to. You will be rewarding yourself for doing so.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Thanks @ELEV8 RC ! It does help a lot.

So here is my question for you and @PsyBorg . Is it worth it for me to put in the money for a more expensive / higher quality frame for learning? Will it survive the crashes that will happen and something that I can then upgrade the electronics on down the road as those occur less?

I do like the Alien frame Psyborg mentioned and the one you put up also looks very promising, but I'd hate to get one just to have to replace it once I'm ready for a nicer all around set up due to damage from learning.

I'll tell you that you can't go wrong with the Alien frame. LOTS of top FPV pilots fly that frame, so it's not something that you're going to get and regret buying later on down the road. I also have been looking at the Chameleon frame that Armattan makes, and it looks like a rock solid platform to build a nice freestyle quad out of if you want something different from the Alien.
 

donalson

Active member
for the trying out thing on a budget I went between the options of building the $99 UAV futures build and the eachine wizard 220... I went with the wizard, I could have build but decided to forgo that experience for now....... required updating firmware, changing the plug location of the receiver plug for sbus (it's setup for ppm)... took a bit of time but following joshua bardwells post and it was pretty easy...

I know banggood is somewhat of a bad word around here but for the price it's a good start IMHO... i'm a pretty bad pilot so far but having fun with it... I need to spend more time in the sim... so far i've had plenty of crashes and the only thing I've needed to replace has been the props... I did pick up a replacement arm so if I do manage to bust it it's not a month long wait from china...

I figure if I get the bug i'll build something nicer down the road, for now i'm having a lot more fun flying fixed wing (plus the batteries go a lot longer on fixed wing)... we'll see what happens down the road lol...
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Like any store, Banggood has it's haters and it's fan boys. I shop there quite often and any problems I've had have been quickly resolved. Their free shipping is painfully slow of course, but the expedited is often cheaper than Hobbykings 'standard' shipping, which is as slow as BG's free. And contrary to popular belief, BG carries a lot of name brand goodies - Fat Shark, RunCam, Emax etc. If I was in the States I would probably use GetFPV, but with the exchange rate, shipping costs, customs and duties it's just not feasible.
 

DharanFlyer

Active member
for the trying out thing on a budget I went between the options of building the $99 UAV futures build and the eachine wizard 220... I went with the wizard, I could have build but decided to forgo that experience for now....... required updating firmware, changing the plug location of the receiver plug for sbus (it's setup for ppm)... took a bit of time but following joshua bardwells post and it was pretty easy...

I know banggood is somewhat of a bad word around here but for the price it's a good start IMHO... i'm a pretty bad pilot so far but having fun with it... I need to spend more time in the sim... so far i've had plenty of crashes and the only thing I've needed to replace has been the props... I did pick up a replacement arm so if I do manage to bust it it's not a month long wait from china...

I figure if I get the bug i'll build something nicer down the road, for now i'm having a lot more fun flying fixed wing (plus the batteries go a lot longer on fixed wing)... we'll see what happens down the road lol...

Picking up VelociDrone soon to start destroying virtual quads.

I watched the RR guys on the Cheap Quads video and none of them got glowing reviews so I'd rather get the build experience on whatever my first one is.
 

Liam B

Well-known member
One thing I’ve learned is that if you want anything to last, don’t fly over concrete. Of course, lots of cool spots are in fact over concrete. I went through two Alien frames in the course of 4 months after flying over nothing but concrete. Now I fly over 75% grass and have been on the same frames for a good while now.
 

DharanFlyer

Active member
I'll be by parks so try to stay over the grass, but there will be trees, play sets, and some concrete for me to avoid.