And the 9XR wins.

Bolvon72

Senior Member
Mentor
I ordered the Turnigy 9X, 9XR, and FrSky Taranis now that it's time to give up the ghost on my old Spektrum DX6i. I tried them all, and while the Taranis was feature packed and has all the bells and whistles, I have decided on the 9XR as my new main transmitter.

I am running the orangeRx module in it and have the cable needed to make it work through the internal antenna on order. Hopefully the internal antenna will give the same range as the orangeRx. Money wasn't the issue for me on this one, I budgeted enough for either a DX8 or an Aurora 9 but, with my needs in mind, I decided to go with three popular budget Txs and really get a feel for them. I am not disparaging any of these radios, they all do the job I needed them to do.

The 9x? blah, may be nice with the er9X but I am not in the mood to do the mod when the 9XR is already there. I installed the backlight which was easy enough but once again, the 9XR was already there. It wasn't long before I was only judging the 9XR and the Taranis.

Either one will fulfill my Tx needs completely and, after trying them both out, I was leaning towards the Taranis just because telemetry may come in handy one day and it was neat having it talk to me. I felt no difference in the gimbals and really, could find little difference in my flight experience. Range was suitable either way, If I can barely see the plane, it's has good range for me.

I simply found myself reaching for the 9XR more often, simple as that. That and receiver cost for lemonRx or orangeRx makes me happier. I definitely didn't get scientific about it, I figured I would know which one just by using them. The Taranis is selling well on Ebay so I will probably be going that route with it, Keeping the 9X for buddy boxing if it ever comes up.

What I particularly like, and both radios have these functions, after using the dx6i for so long is
1. Instant trim... brilliant feature.
2. Throttle % timing which gives a more accurate method if you fly as erratic as I do.
3. Modular capabilities, for future changing of minds.
4. Putting the switches where I want them.
5. Maintaining my image as a cheapskate. (Not so much with the taranis)
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Glad you have found what makes you happy. As we all know, this is a very subjective thing. I fly my beaten up, old 9x updated to ER9x with FrSky. Love it! I have no need to buy anything else.

If you can afford JR, then you'll be happy. If you can't and you buy a "budget" tx, then you'll be happy. Me, I'll take the "budget" tx any day.
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
I held a Taranis in my hands today . . . it felt good . . . A shame I didn't have the $275 the guy was asking for it :p

. . . Couldn't help but feel a little weird going back to the DX7S, though :/
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
Mentor
Glad you have found what makes you happy. As we all know, this is a very subjective thing. I fly my beaten up, old 9x updated to ER9x with FrSky. Love it! I have no need to buy anything else.

If you can afford JR, then you'll be happy. If you can't and you buy a "budget"o tx, then you'll be happy. Me, I'll take the "budget" tx any day.

I am glad too, my dx6i has been slowly getting crippled and a struggle to want to fly with. I feel reinvigorated with the 9XR in my hand.

I can understand what you said about the 9X, if I had started with that pre-9XR and modded it to fit my needs I could see myself pretty dedicated to it as well, it does feel good in my hands. But it would need the firmware upgrade, hence a hardware upgrade, new buttons, I got rid of the AAs before I even started already. I never tried the range with the included rx, but if it met my "eyes only" range limits I probably would have been happy there as well. The buttons and firmware are a pretty bad point of a good tx.
 

DDSFlyer

Senior Member
I toyed with this idea as well since I broke off the trainer switch on my Dx6i and will have t send it in for repair and be out a Tx for 10 days, but the more involved I get into researching the 9XR (which I like due to the budget/cheap scale of it) and the compatibility of all the Orange Rx's I have, the more I think I might pay for the convenience of a Spektrum radio...dunno though, I may still end up going 9XR. Thanks for the subjective comparison and review. Sometimes I like that more than the other reviews
 

Airforce101

Member
The 9XR is my first and thusfar only radio, I picked it over the 9X because of exactly what you mention: backlight, er9x and easily upgradable with the builtin programming port. On top of that, no fiddling around with AA's but a LiPo/LiFe you can pop in and you're good for hours...
 

Epitaph

Ebil Filleh Pega-Bat ^.^
Mentor
All I can say really is that until the chinese start making radios comfortable for pinchers like me, then I'm stuck saving up for eternity for the flatbed Graupners, Robbe-Futabas, Multiplexs and Jetis
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
Mentor
I toyed with this idea as well since I broke off the trainer switch on my Dx6i and will have t send it in for repair and be out a Tx for 10 days, but the more involved I get into researching the 9XR (which I like due to the budget/cheap scale of it) and the compatibility of all the Orange Rx's I have, the more I think I might pay for the convenience of a Spektrum radio...dunno though, I may still end up going 9XR. Thanks for the subjective comparison and review. Sometimes I like that more than the other reviews

I had two switches on the dx6i break off, picked up a couple from radio shack and soldered them in easy enough, and I am terrible at soldering. I'm sure they have momentary switches as well, you could save losing your radio for 10 days.
 

ofiesens2

Professional noob
So in the first post, Bolvon compared the tx's, so I just want to clarify: the 9x can be hacked/DIYed to get all the functions of the 9xr, but the 9xr has all of the added functions (backlit screen, er9x,etc).
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
Mentor
So in the first post, Bolvon compared the tx's, so I just want to clarify: the 9x can be hacked/DIYed to get all the functions of the 9xr, but the 9xr has all of the added functions (backlit screen, er9x,etc).

Correct. Except the 9XR has its own flavor of er9x, but close enough.
 

Freaky_1

old headcase
Just wish I could get my hands on a taranis to check it out myself.
I'm on the list to buy anyway, but wish someone around here had one to check out.

Thanks for the post, the 9xr is going to be part of my kit soon and good to read that you prefer it.

Frank
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Frank,

If you can make it over to SEFF in April, There's bound to be someone who has one they won't mind letting you get the feel . . . not to mention getting to attend a great fly-in.

Not sure what part of AL you hail from, and a decent drive no matter where, but worth it :)
 

adamd

skunkworx hobbies
i have a 9xr running the frsky jst module. and i love it. it looks good and works great!. i did have to replace the throttle gimbal but for 3 bucks on hobbyking, i stuck it in with another order and was out flying in a week.

a also have some friends with the dx6i who hated the budget radio idea but after getting their hands on it a few are contemplating buying them due to the replacement parts and open source
 

Bolvon72

Senior Member
Mentor
i have a 9xr running the frsky jst module. and i love it. it looks good and works great!. i did have to replace the throttle gimbal but for 3 bucks on hobbyking, i stuck it in with another order and was out flying in a week.

a also have some friends with the dx6i who hated the budget radio idea but after getting their hands on it a few are contemplating buying them due to the replacement parts and open source

I noticed that, I was ordering a different faceplate (Yeah, I'm that guy) and was dumbfounded at how cheap - er - inexpensive parts were for the 9XR.
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
All I can say really is that until the chinese start making radios comfortable for pinchers like me, then I'm stuck saving up for eternity for the flatbed Graupners, Robbe-Futabas, Multiplexs and Jetis

You already did that neat single stick custom job. I'd say it appears to be well within your skill set to tackle a custom case for the guts from a 9x or 9xr to build a radio more your style out of one. Then you'd have the benefits of the open source software on an easily hacked bit of firmware...but in a format more tuned to what you're used to. Maybe even if a broken or dead radio of the style you like for the case switches and gimbals but then wire it into the brains of a 9x/9xr instead.....
 

bitogre

Member
Just wish I could get my hands on a taranis to check it out myself.
I'm on the list to buy anyway, but wish someone around here had one to check out.

Thanks for the post, the 9xr is going to be part of my kit soon and good to read that you prefer it.

Frank

Frank,

If you can make it over to SEFF in April, There's bound to be someone who has one they won't mind letting you get the feel . . . not to mention getting to attend a great fly-in.

Not sure what part of AL you hail from, and a decent drive no matter where, but worth it :)

I just got my Taranis and I love it. I am planning on being at SEFF and would be happy to let people check it out.
 
I am running the orangeRx module in it and have the cable needed to make it work through the internal antenna on order. Hopefully the internal antenna will give the same range as the orangeRx. Money wasn't the issue for me on this one, I budgeted enough for either a DX8 or an Aurora 9 but, with my needs in mind, I decided to go with three popular budget Txs and really get a feel for them. I am not disparaging any of these radios, they all do the job I needed them to do.

This is my first port on this forum. I was close to ordering a 9xr, but dont like the idea of the antenna sticking out the back with the orange module. do you mind providing a link to the internal antenna that you mentioned in your first post?