NOOB in New Jersey

Papillion

Junior Member
Hi,

My name is Mike. I live in northern New Jersey. I am just getting into Quadcopters. I have been doing some research (watching You Tube videos, reading lots of posts, etc.....) and bought an Estes Proto Z to learn on. So far, it has been a lot of fun hovering around in my family room.

I attended the WRAM show at the Meadowlands Convention Center last weekend and got to see some racing quads in action. The guys from Safety Third Racing and FPV Addiction were there and answered many of my questions. I hope to make it to "Day of Drones" at the Liberty Science Center this Sunday.

I am looking to move up to a 180, 210 or 250 quad over the next month or so. Hopefully, you guys can give me some good advice on what to buy and where to fly.
 

Papillion

Junior Member
I made it to "A Day of Drones" on Sunday. They had Drone Battles, Drone Racing, and FPV Demo where everyone got to try on the goggles. On top of that they showed the program from the NYC Drone Film Festival. It was a pretty great day out with the family.

I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on a new quad.....
 

Papillion

Junior Member
I want to get a RTF FPV quad that I can take the next step with. I have basically narrowed it down to the Eachine Assassin 180 FPV or the Walkera Runner GPS FPV. I thought it might be better to step up to the 180 before getting the 250; baby steps..... The major deciding factor is price. The Assassin is around $350 and the Runner is around $850. Once I become more proficient at flying, I want to get into building my own.

Thoughts?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I started with a Runner 250 and I liked it well enough. I know it had bad reviews and good reviews. The problem with Walkera is it is ALL proprietary parts and very expensive if you have issues. I lucked out with mine not a problem in the world and it still fly's well. I would suggest if you go with the Walkera brand you get the new 210 they have out as its a MAJOR step up in quality from the runners.

As for the eachines I was eyeing one as my second craft and decided not to go with gear that has proprietary parts. I grew up a GM (generic motors) guy and like to swap things around and use aftermarket stuffs to upgrade as time goes on.

For my second ( I know you stated RTF) I got the FT Versa copter and I absolutely love it. Initial build set up (version 1) flew so much better then the Runner and was seriously simple to build when following the video. I have since gone thru and retuned it using the rev 6 NAZE 32 set up video FT put out and have been flying the heck out of it the last few days and just having a blast. I have gotten so much better on banked turns, stall turns as well as over all speed. I cant wait until a little better weather to get back into the FPV part of the hobby. I love it so much I was out at 5:30 AM this morning in the dark because I knew it was going to rain most of the day just to get more time in.

Anyway just a few things to think about. Look into that new 210 Walkera has if you are set on a Walkera model.
 

Papillion

Junior Member
I have been plugging away with my ProtoZ. I have had to replace two motors and a bunch of props. I have been doing a lot of flying and some crashing too.

Thanks for the input PsyBorg! I did some research and I have narrowed down my search.

I like the new Walkera F210. It looks really nice and got some great reviews. I am also looking at the Storm Racing QAV210 Charpu Edition. If all goes well, I will be making a purchase by the end of the week.

I will keep you posted!
 

hunterisbest18

Senior Member
If u want bigger drones go find Jesse! u must not know who he is. he is a vlogger that flyes drones like inspire 1 and phantom 4 and im pretty sure he was at one point in jersey
 

Papillion

Junior Member
Well, I finally pulled the trigger. I ordered the Storm Racing QAV210 Charpu Edition. I went with the FrSky Taranis remote and a pair of Skyzone dual antenna FPV goggles. I picked up extra props, nuts and a few batteries. I can't wait to get this package! I went all in!!
 

Papillion

Junior Member
It's finally here! Last night DHL dropped off two good sized boxes. I opened both and confirmed that everything I ordered was inside. Then, I packed it all up and put it away for the night.

I am a little overwhelmed. I am not sure where to begin. This is my first real Quadcopter.....

Thoughts?
 

shermanhartman

Balsa Splinter Generator
Make sure its all settup and working before you try to fly it. Take the props off while you're working on it. Get used to/good at flying it LOS before you move to FPV. You're going to love it.
 

Papillion

Junior Member
I had kind of a hard landing yesterday. One of my motors let out some smoke. I was at the end of my battery and I had to get ready for work, so I haven't tried it to see if it still works. If it does still work, should I continue to fly with this motor or should I replace it?
 

shermanhartman

Balsa Splinter Generator
I had kind of a hard landing yesterday. One of my motors let out some smoke. I was at the end of my battery and I had to get ready for work, so I haven't tried it to see if it still works. If it does still work, should I continue to fly with this motor or should I replace it?

If it burned up enough to short out winding, then you may let the smoke out of the ESC too. I would get a replacement ordered. In the meantime, you can check and see if it is shorted.

Disconnect the motor from the ESC, and spin the motor without the wires being connected to anything. Take note of how easily it spins. Now, touch two of the wires together and spin the motor again. Again, take note of how hard it is to spin. Do this again with the other wire. The motor should always get harder to turn when you touch the wires together. If it doesn't, some of the windings are probably shorted out.

There could be smaller shorts, but you would need an LC meter to find them.
 

Papillion

Junior Member
Either way, it sounds like I need to place an order. How many motors should I order? If I replace one, should I replace all? Or, is it okay to replace only one at a time? Do motors usually burn out this quickly? Should I keep several on hand in the future?
 

shermanhartman

Balsa Splinter Generator
Once you stop crashing a lot, you should burn up motors almost never, as long as you set your electronics up correctly. Make sure the motors are not binding up or anything, so they spin nice and freely.

As for how many motors to order, i like the keep one extra spare around for my multirotors, and if i need to use the spare, i immediately order a new one. This way i'm never delayed by waiting for a motor to come in when i want to fly. So i would order 2 replacement motors.
 

Papillion

Junior Member
I took your advice and ordered two motors. The install went flawlessly. The motor is plug and play. I have been flying every chance I get. I love it!
 

Tom BD Bad

Junior Member
I have been flying every chance I get. I love it!

Its great to hear all of your experiences, thanks for sharing. I am eagerly awaiting delivery of an FPV paper plane drone, Powerup FPV...
Have you managed to get any FPV flying done, any tips for the complete beginner from someone getting fresh experience, any footage worth speaking of?

Thanks