Intermediate Quad?

[jack10525]

Hello All,

I am looking for a decent inexpensive quad. I bought a Syma X5 to play with and killed and now want something more robust. Something a little bigger that can handle wind. My budget is $200. I've seen a few ARF kits on HobbyKing. I wonder how good these are.

This one looks interesting but I think it has brushed motors.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...thfinder_2_Hexcopter_Mode_2_US_Plug_RTF_.html

This one looks good too.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=73049

 

[Magcman_matt]

That's a hard one to answer. If you have your own radio and want to build I would look at buying a qav250 clone, with eflight motors and a cheep control board. you will get way more custom features with this and can program it to fly the way you want not the only way you can. and if you get to the point where you want to upgrade you dump the frame put the electric's in something better and go from there. The more plug and play you go the more you can grow. with the 2 from hobby king that's all they will ever be and when they die and everything dose you cant pull your stuff and rebuild it. The other way to go is the versacopter its infinitely adjustable and looks similar to the second of your choice and with the best motors they offer its 20 above your price. If your willing and able to build your own its the best way, I was always taught if you can build it you can fix it and trust me I have fixed mine a bunch of times. Hope that helps

 

[jack10525]

I thought the versacopter was more of a racing quad. I want it for fpv eventually when (if) I learn to fly. I also am not sure of my building skills for a quad. Is there a lot of soldering? I'll probably melt the board. Also an ARF seems like it would be an easier learning curve. Am I completely wrong here. I understand your points about cheaper quads and not being able to grow with them but I am inherently cheap!!!

 

[luketheduke]

An ARF quad seems easier from the start. Then you crash. I've crashed 10+ time within my first 5 hours of flight, so the main problem with an ARF quad is that spare parts may be hard to find, and it may be hard to repair. If you build your own, you know exactly where everything is and how it goes together. I bought a Versacopter and then moved up to a QAV250, the QAV250 is a much better frame, as the arms don't move in a crash, unlike the Versacopter...
Hope this helps...

 

[ElectriSean]

Eventually you are going to need to develop your soldering skills... Skip the garbage ARF's and RTF's, they are fragile and when you crash (you will crash ) you will be grounded. As Matt said, if you built it, you can fix it. The Versacopter is an excellent first build, lot's of room and a great build video to walk you through it. You can crash all day long and pretty much only break props unless you really stack it... And then you'll probably only break the plastic sides, which are $7 for 2.

 

[Magcman_matt]

I second what electrisean said developing soldering skill will be important later. But really it's not hard and there is not that much soldering in a quad. The versacopter is what it says versatile they use it on the show for a lot of the crashing video. It's a great spot to start, and a good skill builder.