Next Transmitter to purchase

[Ocean]

Hi

I am looking to upgrade to a better transmitter from my current Hitec Optic 5, I want something that I can use for quite a few years and still will be good, I mainly fly multirotors but also fly planes and might start helis soon. Currently 3 transmitters have caught my attention.

• Aurora 9x
• Spektrum DX9
• Taranis

Aurora 9x looks great and seems like a good radio in general, I'm already partial to Hitec since I would be able to buddybox my current transmitter for a friend, but its also very expensive. The Taranis I've heard is great and is cheap, can anyone confirm this? The Spektrum doesn't appeal as much to me, mainly because of the supposed issues with DSM2/X (2.4GHz band is quite crowded where I live) and its also quite expensive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I can confirm that the Taranis is awesome.

 

[IFlyRCstuff]

TARANISTARANIS this is the best transmitter, however, the aurora 9x is of equal value, but more money. The spektrum DX9 is great, but I would go with something else due to receiver costs, I mean 55$ vs. 30$ with telemetry (taranis) and aurora talks SLT so somtimes no reciever is needed. Don't get me wrong a lot of BNFs coke with spektrum to, but the are usually the minimum channel receiver and without telemetry. Overall I might go with the 9x, but you cannot beat taranis for the price ~200$

 

[Ocean]

Thanks for the advice. Taranis it is then I think. Also just found out it talks with the Naze32 for telemetry so that's another buying point for me.

 

[makattack]

I think DSM gets a bad rap due to all the different options for RX and TX's out there... DSM2 is definitely more risky because it is two channel and doesn't switch on the fly. I've never actually had a problem with the protocol itself (DSM2 nor DSMX) but I have had bad transmittors (a Devo 8S running DeviationTX which supports DSM).

At any rate, I just recently upgraded from a DX6i to a Taranis +, and I'm loving it. My only gripe is that using the DSM module is a bit of a pain because I have to remember to pack it. Then again, I got it precisely because I want to be able to quickly and easily switch modules (DSM, LRS, etc)

Also, along with DeviationTX, OpenTX is probably the most complicated programming you'll encounter in TX configuration and programming. Again, I love it because I got it for that flexibility and power, but it took me over an hour to program my first plane (an elevon based FT Versa -- but I did have to program in 6 flight modes for APM). That was also with experience with DeviationTX which is also highly flexible.