Hello everyone!!
I’m here again to bring you anoher review t the hands of Gearbest, this time of what is possibly the smallest quadcopter in the world: the Floureon FX-10
http://goo.gl/KqHqxg Green
http://goo.gl/W43wt5 Orange
http://goo.gl/yRM50c Blue
http://goo.gl/3tVhpi Purple
The Floureon company st about making the smallest quad in the world, smaller still tan the enormously famous Cheerson CX-10. It seems that something happened during the development between Floureon and Cheerson that they either merged or Floureon was brought out by Cheerson, depending on who you hear the news from. Whatever the method, the result was a picoquad with the same general architectural characteristics and external design as the CX-10, but under 2 distinct names: the Floureon FX-10 and the Cheerson CX Stars, which are both exactly the same.
The package arrived through the post quite quickly as with everything I’ve received from Gearbest so far, I don’t know if this is company policy or blind luck
but I had the picoquad in my hands to enjoy on Monday. The packaging is very nice looking, reminding me of the CX-10 packaging with all its transparent “windows” to see the contents, but in this case you can see everything, not just the quad itself.
Inside the packaging you can see the transmitter with the quad inside this, something quite unique to this model. Inside the packaging you will also find a USB charger, a spare set of props and an instruction manual. On the grounds of uniqueness, the charger of this model is pretty much so, comprising of a specially designed plug for this model, and which is no good for any other model, nor the charger of any other model being compatible with this one… so be careful not to lose it!!
Comparing this quad with the Cheerson CX-10 we can see that it’s significantly smaller, and I honestly don’t know how they managed to make a quad so tiny!! It has the same basic design features of its older brother, with 4 motors on arms around a colourful centre piece, the 4 props mounted directly on non-geared motors, and even has the same on-off button.
The transmitter on the other hand is much larger than the CX-10 one, being necessary to house the quad inside, which is a fantastic idea for those of us that wish to take our little quad out with us in out pocket or purse to enjoy on the go, without having to think about the props or electronics getting damaged. It’s a tad larger than a typical packet of cigarettes, making it still a comfortable size to carry. The transmitter has the same basic design features of the CX-10 one, utilizing the same type of gimbals and other features that make it of “the same house”, like the bubbled effect on the back, the battery cover, the on-off button and even the LED functions and the fact it uses 2xAAA batteries. The trims are somewhat different on this model, being more like a gamepad controller, with multidirectional controllers on both sides of the transmitter. The right hand one controls the pitch and roll axis, where as the left hand one doesn’t actually serve a function on this particular model, and may be there purely for aesthetical reasons. Those that are used to using the CX-0 with its original controller will get ued to this new controller in seconds, and they may even find it more comfortable than the original model thanks to the increased size, making it more comfortable in ones hands… I certainly like it more
Opening the quad up is quite a tedious task as everything has been saved on to achieve the lightest possible frame, making each individual part quite fragile… but with a Little patience and some skill it can be achieved. Inside we find the motherboard which can be either in green or blue, very much the same as the CX-10 control boards. The basic architecture is the ame as its elder brother, although the antenna on this model is understandably more twisted around due to its limited size and in turn this would limit the maximum range. You can make a hole in the top case and pull the antenna through this to gain more range, but really, you’ll be lucky ti see it at the range it already has!!
On the other side is the battery… an 80mAh Lipo.
The transmitter inside also has a basic architecture shared with the CX-10 transmitter, only this time with a lot more space to “spread out”. It houses buttons on the trim control, but not only on the right side but also on the left, leading me to believe this may be a base design for some upcoming model which would use them. The design is so much the same that they are even cross-compatible, meaning you can control a CX-10 with an FX-10 transmitter, or visa versa, as long as you get the same colours of circuit boards (green or blue). This can be especially good for those already owning a CX-10 as you can put that transmitter away and control both models with one single transmitter. They can both also be controlled with a Deviation equipped Devo transmitter if you have the nRF24L01 module installed and one of the latest “nightly builds” which includes the newly added CX-10 protocol, which you would only have to choose in a submenu the green or blue board.
The weight of this picoquad once put back together is only 7.5g, which is just under 0.27oz for you americans. This makes the quad so light it flies like a piece of unfolded paper almost!!
The flight of this quad is very lively, a Little more somewhat than the Cheerson CX-10, but this is to be expected from such a small quad with so little space from motor to motor. But, whilst lively, it also controls fantastically, being super stable all the time, just like its older brother. When you press the right gimble in you reach the flip mode, where you just press the stick and move the stick in any direction, and it’ll flip that way. Do this with a little headroom as it tends to accelerate a bit before flipping, I guess to have the recovery before the flip, so don’t do it too close to the ceiling. It is surprisingly resistant to crashes, and what I most feared for initially was the charging port as it is a section of circuit board that “sticks out” on this model, obviously not having enough room for a normal plug… but it seems to be protected on every angle with something or other that sticks out further. Indoor flight is very stable, although outside it suffers a little from the wind, but what do you expect from a quad of this size and weight? Pressing the left gimbal in we access the dual rates, with the quad starting in low rates when first turned on, one click makes the transmitter beep twice, indicating we are in high rates. If we press the gimbal again, the transmitter will beep 3 times, indicating it is now in headless mode, something inherited from the CX-10A. One more click gives us a single beep indicating we are back in low rates. Binding the quad is exactly the same as with the CX-10, where we turn the quad on, place it on a flat surface, then turn the transmitter on. This will beep twice, to which we give full throttle, where it will beep again, and then back to minimum throttle where it will beep yet again. The LEDs will stop flashing indicating it is ready to fly. The quad has 2 blue LEDs on the front, and 2 red ones on the back to help us to orientate such a tiny quad in the air. I have managed to achieve a 4:20 flight before it starts to flash low battery warning, and this was with flips and rolls, not just hovering… I find this quite a good time considering the limited sie for a battery on this quad and its power needs juts to lift it. I first thought it would be better to include a charging circuit in the transmitter to charge it whilst in the case, but then I realized that to do this it would either have to run off a minimum of 4 AAA batteries, or a 2 cell LiPo, both of which would have increased the transmitter’s overall size and weight. It is a shame however that a small compartment was not included on the back to house the USB charger and the spare props, but as is really the model is fine.
In conclusion, it is a very good quad, GREAT FUN to fly, just a much so as its older brother, the CX-10, and is very comfortable to carry with you anywhere. Its compatibility with other models and transmitters gives it a great bonus, and it has a very solid and resistant design, eventhough its parts are light and fragile. It comes at an unbeatable price, and even comes in a BNF version should you already have a Cheerson CX-10 of a compatible board colour, although I find it better to buy it RTF as the transmitter for this model I find more practical than the original Cheerson one, especially considering you can keep the picoquad inside. It comes down to being a great quad to add to any collection or to even buy as a gift for someone, and comes in a variety of vivid colours to choose from. I am hard put to find a negative point on this quadcopter, which leads me to say that I RECOMMEND IT to anyone that wishes to spend a fun time in their house or out in the middle of nowhere, just pulling it from their pocket!!
Thank you very much to Gearbest for this trial model.
I’m here again to bring you anoher review t the hands of Gearbest, this time of what is possibly the smallest quadcopter in the world: the Floureon FX-10
http://goo.gl/KqHqxg Green
http://goo.gl/W43wt5 Orange
http://goo.gl/yRM50c Blue
http://goo.gl/3tVhpi Purple
The Floureon company st about making the smallest quad in the world, smaller still tan the enormously famous Cheerson CX-10. It seems that something happened during the development between Floureon and Cheerson that they either merged or Floureon was brought out by Cheerson, depending on who you hear the news from. Whatever the method, the result was a picoquad with the same general architectural characteristics and external design as the CX-10, but under 2 distinct names: the Floureon FX-10 and the Cheerson CX Stars, which are both exactly the same.
The package arrived through the post quite quickly as with everything I’ve received from Gearbest so far, I don’t know if this is company policy or blind luck
but I had the picoquad in my hands to enjoy on Monday. The packaging is very nice looking, reminding me of the CX-10 packaging with all its transparent “windows” to see the contents, but in this case you can see everything, not just the quad itself.
Inside the packaging you can see the transmitter with the quad inside this, something quite unique to this model. Inside the packaging you will also find a USB charger, a spare set of props and an instruction manual. On the grounds of uniqueness, the charger of this model is pretty much so, comprising of a specially designed plug for this model, and which is no good for any other model, nor the charger of any other model being compatible with this one… so be careful not to lose it!!
Comparing this quad with the Cheerson CX-10 we can see that it’s significantly smaller, and I honestly don’t know how they managed to make a quad so tiny!! It has the same basic design features of its older brother, with 4 motors on arms around a colourful centre piece, the 4 props mounted directly on non-geared motors, and even has the same on-off button.
The transmitter on the other hand is much larger than the CX-10 one, being necessary to house the quad inside, which is a fantastic idea for those of us that wish to take our little quad out with us in out pocket or purse to enjoy on the go, without having to think about the props or electronics getting damaged. It’s a tad larger than a typical packet of cigarettes, making it still a comfortable size to carry. The transmitter has the same basic design features of the CX-10 one, utilizing the same type of gimbals and other features that make it of “the same house”, like the bubbled effect on the back, the battery cover, the on-off button and even the LED functions and the fact it uses 2xAAA batteries. The trims are somewhat different on this model, being more like a gamepad controller, with multidirectional controllers on both sides of the transmitter. The right hand one controls the pitch and roll axis, where as the left hand one doesn’t actually serve a function on this particular model, and may be there purely for aesthetical reasons. Those that are used to using the CX-0 with its original controller will get ued to this new controller in seconds, and they may even find it more comfortable than the original model thanks to the increased size, making it more comfortable in ones hands… I certainly like it more
Opening the quad up is quite a tedious task as everything has been saved on to achieve the lightest possible frame, making each individual part quite fragile… but with a Little patience and some skill it can be achieved. Inside we find the motherboard which can be either in green or blue, very much the same as the CX-10 control boards. The basic architecture is the ame as its elder brother, although the antenna on this model is understandably more twisted around due to its limited size and in turn this would limit the maximum range. You can make a hole in the top case and pull the antenna through this to gain more range, but really, you’ll be lucky ti see it at the range it already has!!
On the other side is the battery… an 80mAh Lipo.
The transmitter inside also has a basic architecture shared with the CX-10 transmitter, only this time with a lot more space to “spread out”. It houses buttons on the trim control, but not only on the right side but also on the left, leading me to believe this may be a base design for some upcoming model which would use them. The design is so much the same that they are even cross-compatible, meaning you can control a CX-10 with an FX-10 transmitter, or visa versa, as long as you get the same colours of circuit boards (green or blue). This can be especially good for those already owning a CX-10 as you can put that transmitter away and control both models with one single transmitter. They can both also be controlled with a Deviation equipped Devo transmitter if you have the nRF24L01 module installed and one of the latest “nightly builds” which includes the newly added CX-10 protocol, which you would only have to choose in a submenu the green or blue board.
The weight of this picoquad once put back together is only 7.5g, which is just under 0.27oz for you americans. This makes the quad so light it flies like a piece of unfolded paper almost!!
The flight of this quad is very lively, a Little more somewhat than the Cheerson CX-10, but this is to be expected from such a small quad with so little space from motor to motor. But, whilst lively, it also controls fantastically, being super stable all the time, just like its older brother. When you press the right gimble in you reach the flip mode, where you just press the stick and move the stick in any direction, and it’ll flip that way. Do this with a little headroom as it tends to accelerate a bit before flipping, I guess to have the recovery before the flip, so don’t do it too close to the ceiling. It is surprisingly resistant to crashes, and what I most feared for initially was the charging port as it is a section of circuit board that “sticks out” on this model, obviously not having enough room for a normal plug… but it seems to be protected on every angle with something or other that sticks out further. Indoor flight is very stable, although outside it suffers a little from the wind, but what do you expect from a quad of this size and weight? Pressing the left gimbal in we access the dual rates, with the quad starting in low rates when first turned on, one click makes the transmitter beep twice, indicating we are in high rates. If we press the gimbal again, the transmitter will beep 3 times, indicating it is now in headless mode, something inherited from the CX-10A. One more click gives us a single beep indicating we are back in low rates. Binding the quad is exactly the same as with the CX-10, where we turn the quad on, place it on a flat surface, then turn the transmitter on. This will beep twice, to which we give full throttle, where it will beep again, and then back to minimum throttle where it will beep yet again. The LEDs will stop flashing indicating it is ready to fly. The quad has 2 blue LEDs on the front, and 2 red ones on the back to help us to orientate such a tiny quad in the air. I have managed to achieve a 4:20 flight before it starts to flash low battery warning, and this was with flips and rolls, not just hovering… I find this quite a good time considering the limited sie for a battery on this quad and its power needs juts to lift it. I first thought it would be better to include a charging circuit in the transmitter to charge it whilst in the case, but then I realized that to do this it would either have to run off a minimum of 4 AAA batteries, or a 2 cell LiPo, both of which would have increased the transmitter’s overall size and weight. It is a shame however that a small compartment was not included on the back to house the USB charger and the spare props, but as is really the model is fine.
In conclusion, it is a very good quad, GREAT FUN to fly, just a much so as its older brother, the CX-10, and is very comfortable to carry with you anywhere. Its compatibility with other models and transmitters gives it a great bonus, and it has a very solid and resistant design, eventhough its parts are light and fragile. It comes at an unbeatable price, and even comes in a BNF version should you already have a Cheerson CX-10 of a compatible board colour, although I find it better to buy it RTF as the transmitter for this model I find more practical than the original Cheerson one, especially considering you can keep the picoquad inside. It comes down to being a great quad to add to any collection or to even buy as a gift for someone, and comes in a variety of vivid colours to choose from. I am hard put to find a negative point on this quadcopter, which leads me to say that I RECOMMEND IT to anyone that wishes to spend a fun time in their house or out in the middle of nowhere, just pulling it from their pocket!!
Thank you very much to Gearbest for this trial model.
