Hello From Salt Lake City & Transmitter help

jazz89trumpet

New member
Hey All,

I'm new to the flite test world. The most I have flown is air hogs helis and an Intuit beginner quad. I would like to get into DIY planes and Quads and would like to know a little more about the transmitters. I've watch some of the flite test beginner videos (specifically episode 8 - transmitters) and have learned about the different features at different levels, but I don't know anything about quadcopter transmitters. Are they even different?

For planes I would like a transmitter that has hi and low rates and elevon mixing. I have been looking at the spektrum DX5e which looks like a decent intro transmitter with decently priced receivers. I don't really know any other brands though. What brands do you guys like to use and is there a better beginner transmitter out there of should I start with the spectrum DX5e? What brands and features should I look for when looking choosing a quad transmitter?

Can't wait to start building and flying!

-Jazz
 
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pressalltheknobs

Posted a thousand or more times
There are some dedicated quad transmitters but quads to not require anything special so its better to get a more general transmitter imo. The main feature people want with quads is telemetry to tell them when the flight battery is low

Basic thing to decide is if you want to fly the popular Spektrum BNFs.

If so then consider the 6CH DX6e for around $150 (more with a receiver) which has telementy or maybe a 6CH DX6 for $200 (more with a receiver) since it adds voice alerts and diversity so should perform a bit better

If your budget does not extend to that then a used DX6i for <$100 gets you a fairly decent 6 channel radio but no telemetry. Make sure to get a DSMX one with the X on the front...avoid the older DSM2 only version

Personally I would avoid the DXe. It's a hybrid of non programmable and programmable without being cheap enough to justify its inconvenience and no telemetry.

The DX5e while ok is a bit basic. 6ch but no programming or telementry It has been discontinued but you can find them used for around $50 I think so it could be a good place to start if you are on a very tight budget or you are looking for something simple to start on. Again get the DSMX one with the X on the front...but avoid European ones that are limited to DSMX and don't support DSM2. Not sure how you tell the difference but you can ask.

If you don't care about Spektrum BNFs and you are on a tight budget then the 10CH FlySky i6X is a great value for around $50 . with a receiver. Basic telemetry and lots of cool little receivers and good quad support. You will have to order from Banggood.com though so order an extra iA6B receiver or two in addition to the one it comes with. Only the older 6CH i6 is available elsewhere it seems

If you don't care about Spektrum BNFs now but maybe will later and you have a bit more money then the just launched 16ch FrSky Tarnis Q-X7 for $105 is probably the best value around. You may have a hard time getting one right now but I recommend ordering from AloftHobbies so you will get a full year parts and labor warranty and excellent customer service. Has it all pretty much although the $200 Taranis X9D+ has a bit more and comes with a battery and sd card which you have to add to the Q-X7. There are modules you can get that will allow you to fly Spektrum stuff.

A word of warning though. The Q-X7 and X9D+ use OpenTX as the OS which is very flexible but very different from other TXs and it has a bit of a learning curve and it has all the advanced features. So if you are not prepared to spend some time learning then these may not be for you.

I should also note that the Q-X7 has been release a bit before the OpenTX 2.2 firmware is quite finished so you will have to flash to with the latest firmware. Not hard but don't get one if you are uncomfortable with that.
 
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jazz89trumpet

New member
Thanks!

Thanks for the info! That was more than helpfull. I'm still not sure what transmitter I will go with yet but they all sound good. If I go with spektrum, I would definitely choose the DX6e based on what you have told me. Is there a huge difference in quality between the DX6e and the FlySky i6X? Also, do most BNFs utilize the Spektrum receivers or just the more popular BNFs?

Thanks,

-Jazz