Altitude Hobbies

AustinFurey

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As some of you may know Altitude Hobbies has put together some electronics packages for FliteTest designs. This was a fairly long process to test each of the packages and make sure that they are the perfect fit for our planes, but I think it was worth it!

This thread is for any feedback on the combo packages, good or bad. We know it can be a little bit annoying to buy electronics components from various different places for one plane so we are really trying to work with other companies to get you comprehensive electronics packages.

You can check out the kits here: Altitude Hobbies FliteTest Packages

Again feel free to leave any feedback here on the kits or for Altitude.

-Austin
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
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I live and fly at 6,030 ft above sea level. I have an Anycopter, a Knuckle H Quad and a Bat Bone kit from Flite Test. I am running the Altitude kit on the Knuckle H Quad and the Bat Bone and ran the Altitude kit on my Anycopter (my first copter) for months. I bumped up the motors on the Anycopter to 1000 kv (also from Altitude) and am using the Altitude kit ESCs still.

I have been flying these motor/esc combos since before they were a package.

I hover at <> 50% throttle using a 2200mah lipo and 8045 rotors and get <> 10 minutes of flight with light acro. At 6,000 ft, it takes more to get me in the air. The Suppo 1450s do a fine job.

Pros:
I live in Colorado so shipping is free. :)

The kits are very plug and play. Everything fits, everything works out of the box (I do like to replace the motor mount screws) and the kits flew on a default FT kit build with the default settings for a KK2 or MultiWii Pro for all three of my copters.

The Ipeaka ESCs are pre-flashed Simon K.

The Suppo motors take a beating. When learning to fly my Anycopter with the 1450 Suppos I filled them full of sand, mud, ice and snow. Clean them out and fly. Altitude sells spare berings for Suppo motors.

The Suppo 1450s are light. Very light. When you are learning and you crash, these motors have a much less tendency to break the G-10 motor mounts than heavy 750kv and 1000kv motors.

I haven't had to balance a Suppo motor to get good video when I use the FT vibration mitigating camera mount.

The servo that comes in the tri-copter kit fits the FT Delrin tail strut and pivot mount perfectly and I have not been able to destroy it with 60 days of flying the copter.

My first Anycopter was built using the 1450KV motors. Three of which (I bent a can on a brutal crash) are now running on my Bat Bone. I have had these motors and been flying almost daily with them since June of 2012. I have flown in snow and 90+ degree heat to -20 degree temps with no issues. I have yet to destroy an iPeaka 20 A ESC.

Altitude sells wire, connectors, male to male servo leads, KK2.1 boards, Velcro, glue, heat shrink and the hat is premium (and goes well with my FT shirt). To build a Bat Bone, I buy zip ties and screws from Ace and the Bat Bone kit from FT. Everything else can come from Altitude.

Cons:
Suppo motors require colletes which Altitude does not sell spares of. I would like to see options for motors (preferably light motors) with bolt on prop adapters in higher Kvs than 1000, and the option to buy spare colletes for the Suppos.

The screws provided by Suppo are too short (IMO) and have a tapered head which I don't like. I replace them with M3 5mm screws from Ace Hardware.


Final thoughts:
If you are a beginner and building a new FT multirotor kit, this is a simple, proven way to go. You have plenty of power for a camera (even at 6,000 ft) or sweet acro (I am not good enough a pilot to try acro with a GoPro yet so no comment on both together). The ESCs give you upgrade room and have 2A BECs.

The selection at Altitude does not compare to the selection at Hobby King. However, in the past 8 months I have seen Altitude expand the selection to cater to what we at FT fly.

HK has more stuff and is cheap. Altitude has what I want/need and has gone out of thier way to provide superior service. My first order from HK was a horrible experience. Garrett answers his phone and his email and ships without delay.

The service from Garrett at Altitude helped me get started despite HK and is another reason why I continue to shop at Altitude.
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
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Altitude has great service and I absolutely love Suppo motors, but it's a a bit of overkill to formulate multiple packages custom fit to each swappable. The key word is swappable. A good motor combo for the 3 pack, Fogey, and Speedster and another more powerful one for the rest with a caveat as to the need for a y-cable, extra servos etc. for each plane which can be added separate.
 

Flynn

Member
Thumbs up for Altitude Hobbies! I use the Suppo motors. Love them. Fast shipping. Good prices. I've placed about a half dozen orders last year, no problems what so ever.
 

AustinFurey

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Altitude has great service and I absolutely love Suppo motors, but it's a a bit of overkill to formulate multiple packages custom fit to each swappable. The key word is swappable. A good motor combo for the 3 pack, Fogey, and Speedster and another more powerful one for the rest with a caveat as to the need for a y-cable, extra servos etc. for each plane which can be added separate.

As you probably noticed, each of the packages are extremely similar. Main differences being prop size, cable lengths, servo amounts, etc. We thought about making two options "bigger motor" and "smaller motor" with drop downs to select your specific plane, but it logistically made more sense to have separate cart items at the end of the day.
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
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Either way, you still get my business. I have 10 Suppo motors already, I'm sure I'll find a use for a couple more soon enough. I hope FT starts pushing your kits, I found the 2208 1450kv to be a great all around motor and far superior to any Hexatronic.

I see it looks like you are adding lipos to your selection. Will the kits be upgraded when you get the supply worked out?
 

rorak

Junior Member
+1 on the bad experience with HK, I will NEVER TRY to order from them again.
Altitude Hobbies has been great to order from, they ship fast.
 

AustinFurey

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Either way, you still get my business. I have 10 Suppo motors already, I'm sure I'll find a use for a couple more soon enough. I hope FT starts pushing your kits, I found the 2208 1450kv to be a great all around motor and far superior to any Hexatronic.

I see it looks like you are adding lipos to your selection. Will the kits be upgraded when you get the supply worked out?

I actually work at FliteTest, not for Altitude (sorry about the confusion!) but as far as I know Garret plans to make lipos an optional add to each FliteTest power pack.

-Austin
 

j920

Junior Member
So, if I buy the FT quad set, and the Altitude quad pack, ALL that I need to fly after that is a battery and transmitter, correct? I'm new to quads and haven't yet purchased anything from Altitude or FT. I want to make sure I get everything I need all at once and keep it as simple as possible.
 

Murocflyer

Member
I also want to give some kudos to Altitude Hobbies. It's a great place to buy your RC goodies and Garret knows what he is doing and provides outstanding customer service.

And I would like to mention that is a breath of fresh air to see someone post their true experiences about HK and not get publicly stoned for saying something negative about them. I have seen on other much larger forums that when anyone says anything bad about HK there are a number of folks that start bullying and personally attacking them.

I guess HK's paying people to say good things about HK really back fired on them. I doubt that was ever the intent of that program.

Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack and I hope Altitude Hobbies is in it for the long haul. We need companies like that here in the USA so I can still afford to participate in this hobby. I hate to have to take up golf. :D

Frank
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
I also want to give some kudos to Altitude Hobbies. It's a great place to buy your RC goodies and Garret knows what he is doing and provides outstanding customer service.

And I would like to mention that is a breath of fresh air to see someone post their true experiences about HK and not get publicly stoned for saying something negative about them. I have seen on other much larger forums that when anyone says anything bad about HK there are a number of folks that start bullying and personally attacking them.

I guess HK's paying people to say good things about HK really back fired on them. I doubt that was ever the intent of that program.

Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack and I hope Altitude Hobbies is in it for the long haul. We need companies like that here in the USA so I can still afford to participate in this hobby. I hate to have to take up golf. :D

Frank

welcome to the forums, if you haven't been welcomed already, and ill second all of that sir!

they were very fast shipping me my order, priced well and responded to my emails in a timely manor.

from the time I placed the order to receiving it was around 72 hours!
great service and once I get my duster built, ill be ordering a combo pack from them to get him in the air!
 

Foam Addict

Squirrel member
I'm going to order a couple of Suppo motors from altitude pretty soon. I like Turnigys, but the free next day shipping looks really appealing!
 

NewZee

Member
Altitude Hobby is great to deal with, I recently had a problem with a part I bought (All my fault) and Garret took care of me! The Suppo motors are great (good power and great value) , and the Suppo ESC's were a breeze to program and bind well! Altitudes shipping is also very fast and reasonable rates!

...Bill S (NewZee)
 

10-Ring

Junior Member
I have dealt with them once. Good service and prices. The quality of the parts seem to be good. Looking forward to dealing with them again.
 

JohnRambozo

Posted a thousand or more times
I have dealt with them once. Good service and prices. The quality of the parts seem to be good. Looking forward to dealing with them again.

Garret has always been great to deal with. Even when I've had problems, he makes sure I'm happy. I bought their Spitfire combo pack when I started with the hobby. Since then I've bought plenty of props and servos and other miscellaneous items. I'm now officially a loyal customer. I just placed another order this weekend.
 

Blackbeltrrf

New member
I have given Altitude Hobbies great kudos in another thread some time back ago for their great service, prices and shipping. Garett has always been fantastic to work with.