The DM007 from Gearbest

[Epitaph]

Hello again everyone!!!

Today I am bringing to you the first part of my review of a quad I was actually quite excited to review, once again at the hand of Gearbest: The DM007 Explorers

http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_141747.html

I wanted to review this quad because there are a lot of reviews out there on internet all over the place about this model, but it all seems to be very contradictory information, as some people say that it is a very good quad, whilst others say that it’s very bad… so I decided I wanted to find out for myself to be able to give a first-hand opinion on it, showing all the good points as well as the bad points.

As usual, it arrived very promptly at my house, and when it arrived I had to resist the temptation to rip it all open and take time to find my camera. The box is a nice size, not too big and not too small, and pretty light in fact. The components tray slides out the side, rather than the usual opening the top up. Just from the photo you can see it looks like a really aggressive looking quadcopter. On the box also comes additional basic information, with the 7.4V battery standing out as something quite unusual in this class of quad, as well as a 2mp camera, which when we take the price into consideration, is actually quite extraordinary.

Inside we find all the components of the quad very well protected inside the molded plastic container. Another strange thing is that the quad comes completely assembled, so you just basically have to connect the battery, put 4 AA cells in the transmitter, and you can fly right out of the box!!

The transmitter itself is almost identical to the Syma model transmitter, although it does have it’s own small details, like no “false buttons” on the sides of the screen, but the screen itself shows all the information in the same way its Syma counterparts do. The throttle trim serves no actual trimming purpose, as its been reassigned to function as the camera mode election button, to choose between activation and deactivation of either photo (up) or video (down). It is also important to point out that if you are going to record a video, to remember to turn off the camera BEFORE you disconnect the battery, otherwise it will not save the recorded achieve. The right gimbal also has a push down button under it (in mode 2), similar to the ones you find on the Cheerson mini transmitters… this button is to activate and deactivate the Headless mode, a mode that surprisingly doesn't actually come advertised on the box anywhere, but is nonetheless a very nice feature to include for those that like it. It also has the typical 2 shoulder buttons, with the left one to change between low and high rates, and the right one to activate the flip feature, which you just press, and move the right stick in any direction and the quad will flip in that direction.

The contents of the box also includes, apart from the quad and the transmitter, a small box which contains a 7.4V battery charger to plug into the wall (extra careful not to use this on 1S batteries eventhough it has the same usual connector, as it could cause these to explode), a spare set of props, a 2S 400mAh battery, a 4gb microSD card for the camera as well as a USB microSD card reader, these last two items usually very rare in this type of class of model. The quad itself looks great, with a very “angry” look, of a diagonal size of 180mm, bringing this quad to an unusual “in between” size class, being larger than a micro, but smaller than a mini.

The quad itself, with the battery installed, is actually very light, although it seem very solid to the touch… we’ll see how it holds up in the air. The landing gear and the camera are held on with a clip system, making it very easy to remove them for when you just want to fly some LOS acro fun, saving this way the weight of these as well as the wind resistance they impose.

Seeing as I have the curiosity of cat, I couldn’t resist the temptation to take out a screwdriver and open the quad up to see how the internal workings were…

Inside you find a main board that serves as FCB as well as 4x ESC with 926 type MOSFET son the top half to control the motors, along with all the reception system. Indecently, this receiver is based on the architecture of the nRF24L01 system just like the Syma models, and as such can be “deviated”. The board also has 2 SMD type LEDs on the front, and another 2 dual colour LEDs on the back via wires, markings for a 5V circuit and also a 3.3v one (for things like the camera), and also marked on the board are reset, data and other points, so it might even be possible to reflash this board later on… The motors are rather large, not like the typical coreless motors you would usually find on this size of model, brushed, which seem quite tough, and are fed with a 24AWG wire which might be a little overkill. It might be possible to change this wireing for a 26 or 28AWG wire to save weight without it degrading performance. The cable used is a silicone sheath wire, the solder points are pretty good, and in general it looks like quite a sound design. The plastic seems rather fragile now it’s open, so it’s quite clear that the rigidness and strength came from the shape when put together. The camera connector is exactly the same as the one used on the Syma X5 range, with the wires in the same order even, meaning that the cameras are interchangeable… in fact the X5SW camera from Syma (WiFi transmission) comes with the same clip system on the front and the screw holes align with those of the DM007 camera, so you can even use that WiFi camera to turn this into a small FPV quad in no time.

The battery compartment is VERY tight and it’s very hard to insert or remove the battery, especially considering you have to plug it in before fitting it into place. This makes its use more complicated, especially at the end of the flying session as it’s harder to unplug the quad (take no notice of the switch, it’s a small modification I made that I will detail later on).

As you can see, the battery doesn't have a balance port, which doesn't entirely convince me on the long run as far as life expectancy is concerned. Something I find strange also is the choice of props used, as they are the same size as those you would find on a Hubsan X4 or a Walkera Ladybird, both models considerably smaller… I guess the direct drive motors makes this necessary, which is an advantage as you no longer have gearing that can get dirty or fail in the way, but means you have to stick to less efficient props. I hole when it comes to flying they give good results over the geared choice.

At this point, it looks to be a VERY nice looking quad, with very smooth curved lines, but also an aggressive taste to it, with a face that reminds me of Gort, the robot from “The Day the Earth Stood Still (the 1951 version, no the newer Keanu Reeves one… I’ve always been a girl for the classics ). The battery is a but of a pain in the backside, we’ll have to see what results it gives. The transmitter is the typical toy class one that comes with this type of quad, nothing special, but enough to control it. The camera seems interesting as it has a better resolution (1280x720) than most, meaning we are no longer trapped with the usual 4:3 screen size typical of this type of quad. Off the bat, am liking this quad very much, and the bad points seem outweighed by the good ones so far… we’ll just have to see if this holds out for the flight, recording quality, and all that jazz…

 

[Epitaph]

Hello again!!

Today we’re going to look at how this quadcopter responds in the air… for this I think it’s better to divide it a Little in parts. Maybe the reasons for this don’t seem too apparent right now, but it will soon make sense.

Flying “straight out of the box”

Thi modality is, basically, fully equipped and just charging the battery to full capacity. The take off seemed a little sluggish, and I needed well over half throttle to achieve this, although once in the air it does respond pretty well. The movements are quite precise actually, considering this is a toy grade quad. On low rates the movements are pretty slow, indicating that the rates are set quite low indeed… although this might be an advantage for footage capturing with the camera, but when you switch to high rates it becomes a totally different machine, responding very well and aggressively, all except the yaw rate which is pretty low and doesn't change with the change of rates. The motors make a lot of noise actually, so the “spy” part on the label is a little redundant, but this has always been a touchy subject, so it’s almost better to be noisy having a camera hanging from it, then no one can claim it sneaked up on them! The biggest problem is that after just 2 minutes flying, the quad was without the energy to maintain it in the air, so that flying session came to a complete halt. To make matters worse, the battery was VERY hot, as well as the top cover just where the MOSFETs are located, and the motors were pretty hot too!!

At that moment I felt rather down about this quad indeed, thinking that those bad reviews about it really did have some basis for being so. Even so, I decided to try it out again charging the battery slowly on my Imax B6 charger, just in case it were to do with the charger not charging properly, and seeing if a Little TLC would improve the battery lasting. I also decided to change the original transmitter over to my Devo 7E, on which I had programmed triple rates, extended EPA on the yaw and adjusted throttle subtrim to reduce the “dead zone” on the bottom of the stick, as the original was pretty excessive. So I went out again to try another flight with it, and I did notice a tiny improvement in the yaw rate, but nothing to write home about. The other axis did improve though with the new triple rates, having the same slow movements in low, faster than before in high rates, and a mid rate that was very comfortable to fly as a standard setting. It also felt better with a little expo I added in the mix which it didn’t have on the original transmitter, making small movement adjustments better. But just as I was beginning to enjoy it, once again came the 2 minute mark, and the quad came down from lack of power, and again, with the battery and the body all hot... but I didn’t want to give in that easily. At least I know how it is with a full battery out of the factory.

Clean mode… Without camera or landing gear

Now I decided to try it out as a pure LOS model. So I removed the camera and the landing gear, and tried it out without these elements on, which come to a total of 11.4g (including the SD card). I didn’t know if performance would improve at all with such a small saving in weight, but I decided to try it out anyway.

I went out to fly directly with my Devo 7E transmitter, as it was giving me a couple of advantages over the original transmitter. The original transmitter isn’t bad, but you can’t compare it to a hobby grade obviously, as especially as the review is more on the quad than on the transmitter. Takeoff was a lot more lively than with the full ladened version, the difference those 11.4g made were actually quite surprising. The flight was a lot more agile, I guess the wind resistance also had a lot to do in this, as the quad itself has some very streamlined lines to it when in clean mode. The flips were faster and with less recovery height needed, the elevator and aileron channels were more lively, although the yaw was still as sluggish as usual. The battery finally ran out and, once again, the battery was red hot, the MOSFETs were burning and the motors hot too… but looking on the transmitter timer I found it had flown for just over 3 minutes!! Evidently, those 11.4g really did make a difference!! At that moment I started to develop some ideas in my head to improve the quad, as one thing I hate is giving up on a problem without studying it thoroughly.

As the prop guards are not needed for where and how I fly, I decided to remove them… but you can’t just take them off by removing a screw and that’s it, as the system it has uses the main hub of the guards to hold the motor in place. So this was the moment I decided it best to get my xacto knife out and just cut them off, saving this way a couple of grams. After this, I tried again in both modes and found I had gained about 20 seconds in each mode… it’s obvious that an insignificant gram on this quad means a lot! The photos I took were after the “surgery”, and the removal is permanent, although you can get replacement ones really cheap on Gearbest’s website should you ever decide to put them back on.

Headless mode

This mode on this model is quite interesting, I must admit, as it is quite a precise system. It’s not a system that works as “I am here, so if I fly 100ft forward, and 100ft to the left, when I pull back it comes back to me diagonally”, it just goes straight back on a parallel trajectory to the first line. But the precision of these angles and movements are very good, keeping its heading at all times no matter how much I try to “shake it up”. I even tried hitting it into some trees to the point of breaking a couple of props to see if this would shake up the internal orientation, but it stayed true. Doing this I also found just how tough this little quad is, as nothing else was damaged in any way.

Headless mode isn't a mode I particularly like in general flying, but it does have its advantages, like controlling orientation in relation to yourself whilst flying so you can concentrate more on getting the shot you want. But for those of us that didn't grow up with these modes, we have to constantly “unlearn” orientation in favour of direction.

You don’t even have to and in order to activate headless mode. You can just activate it whilst in the air, so you can change in and out of the mode no problem depending on if your shooting or just flying at that particular part of the flight.

After these tests I found that the flight control board on this quad is pretty good, with some very precise sensors, as well as a great resistance to excessive heat!! The MOSFETs are also pretty tough considering the stress they are under to get that hot. The motors, eventhough they are oldschool, and noisy, are pretty tough and lasting, giving good results. The product on a whole is very well made as seen in the first part of this review. The compatibility with other transmitters is a huge advantage, opening up a lot of possibilities in programming… everything was boosting my morale to try and find a solution to the quad’s limited flight times and heat issues, to try and find a solution to make it into a decent quad. .. so I started my in-depth investigation. What could possibly be the reason why this quad is lasting so little time in the air with a 400mAh battery
So I got out my old trusty analogue ampmeter, made a Deans to Molex adapter, and fed the entire quad with a 2S 2200mAh 20C Turnigy battery. I tied the quad to the table and put on full power… and I saw how the needle on the meter spiked to 6A, then “relaxed” down to just over 5A. I made some movements on the gimbals like in aggressive flight, but the needle never moved above the 5 amp mark. This seemed stranger and stranger to me, that a 400mAh battery only lastes a couple of minutes when the consumption is only 6A maximum as a startup spike.

So, I turnd my attention to the battery. I connected ti to my Imax again and discharged it to 6V Then I removed the heatshrink, opened up the connections and connected a modified Futaba connector as a balance plug (changing the order of the colours). I tested out the cells individually with the cell checker, and they both marked 3.21V each, so they were balanced, though empty, and then I gave them a slow balance charge and found that a total of 423mAh fed into the battery, with both cells creeping up together…
A we all know, there are 3 decisive factor son a LiPo battery to determine its size and weight: number of cells, capacity and discharge. The number of cells was fixed at 2, and the capacity was as indicated (in fact a little more so), but this battery is the same size and weight roughly as a 250mAh 2S Nanotech battery, the Nanotech even being slightly larger. This meant that the only thing left that could be the problem was the infamous C factor. This logically had to be so low that it couldn’t even comfortably supply the amps needed to hover, much less go on full power for a period of time, “burning up” more milliamps to maintain the demand. Part of the problem could also be in the main wires going from the battery to the motherboard, as well as the Molex plug which has a low rating itself, and chosen probably because of it’s low weight. Maybe the problem was a number of things all adding together…

I decided to leave it there for the moment so I could think about it properly, to try and find a solution to the inadequacies of this quad, which I felt such a shame because I really liked the other qualities of the model. SO I decided to turn my attention to the camera for the time being whilst I thought the issue over (advantage of being a multitasker )…

 

[Epitaph]

Well…

We have reached the part in this Gearbest DM007 review were we take a look at the camera… something I have mentioned a few times already, but not explained anything about as of yet.

I fixed on the camera, charged the battery to full, inserted a class 10 microSD card (wanted to get some good results if possible), and took off… and this is what it recorded:

After landing, I just took the SD card out and sat at my computer to see what it recorded. The quality I liked quite a lot considering the camera’s value, especially the cost of the entire quad with the camera. It records in AVI format in 1280x720 resolution which is very good for a “free” camera with a low budget quad, and this is the 2mp version… I should have to try and get my hands on the 5mp version to compare them. Colour balance and contrast seem pretty good, again, considering it’s a camera that costs less than $15. There are some that can’t help but compare it to a GoPro or one of its clones, concluding that this camera is no good, but you can’t compare a $15 with a $300+ one!! For what it costs it gives a good image and a fluid framerate, and records in a very universal format that can later be used in any program, not like some cameras that make 20 second miniclips you later have to join or record in 640x480 format, which this is not only bigger, it’s also panoramic, making it more up-to-date in that aspect, something that some more expensive quads can’t claim to cave even!! If we keep all these things in mind, I’d say the camera is FANTASTIC!!

But when I sat to watch the video again, I started thinking “I don’t remember having to fight that much wind to have the quad constantly slanted to the left… in fact, the wind was coming from the right!!”… then I realized that at the beginning and the end, when the quad was on the ground, the image was slanted still. It turns out that the lens wasn't installed on level. Now is the moment when the haters will chart saying “I knew there had to be something bad about this camera, it’s no good for anything, not even a paperweight as it’s too light!!”, but, it turns out that it’s a fault that happens rarely, although I'm not the only one to have had it evidently, as there are more people on the Internet tht have had the same problem and unfortunately these people have said very negative things about it because of this. I think that on a production line it’s quite normal for there to be a small glitch along the line in the odd model here or there, especially considering the price which to bring it down the quality control was probably simplified or bypassed altogether…

So I opened the camera up, and inside found the typical circuit board with the SD card slot on the back, the lens on he front in a recess friction set in, and all the pieces fitted together perfectly, sealing up wit 4 screws which do more than work enough.

I realised that the microphone was looking upwards on this camera, so the excessive noise on the video is probably due to this, as it’s getting all the resonance through the plastic as well as the noise of the motors themselves. Personally, I hate the “natural” sound of motors on quadcopter videos when they are so loud and with no music or anything… there are those that like the constant buzzing to peak their adrenaline, whilst me, it just makes me rush off in search of my box of aspirin, reminding me of the origin of the word “drone”. In any case, the sound is easy to remove when you convert it to a more modern format like MP4 in Handbrake or any such program, and seeing as most people edit their flight videos with music and such before uploading them to the web, it’s not a problem… but it’s there for those that like it.

Anyway… back to the lens… it turns out that during the putting together of the camera, the lens was put into the recess on a slight angle, and this was the only thing giving the problem. Resolving the issue took less than a minute, and in my case, because I'm overkill, I added a dab of epoxy to keep it firm in that position (cyanoacrylate would probably be too corrosive for the ribbon cable, and could get into the lens itself if not careful), but it’s not necessary to do this. The grey plastic part has a notch in it which fits into a tooth on the black frame to stop it from turning, so it was just a case of putting the camera back together with the notch in place, and I was ready to go!!

With the repair made, which took all of 2 minutes to do, it was time to fit it back onto the quad and see the results. And as usual where I live, the wind had changed direction whilst I was doing the repair.

You can now see the same quality as before, but with the image straight. In conclusion, knowing that this camera is compatible with Syma’s X5 range of quads as well as the X8 with a cable modification, and knowing how easy it is to fix this one small problem the camera may have when you receive it (anyone can have a bad day, even a guy putting cameras together in a factory), I think it’s well worth getting for the camera alone as it gives a very cheap option with some pretty good quality considering. I am at the moment trying to find out how to activate the camera independently from the quad to use on other models as a light (the camera only weighs 7.7g), cheap alternative to begin with, even un UMX type planes a it also takes up no space at all. The camera came with its own 4gb SD card as well as the USB microSD card reader for the event tht you may not have one, although I used a Sandisk 8gb class 10 card for this review, so maybe the quality would reduce with the original card, especially in the fluidity of image, but when you think about how much a memory card costs nowadays, it’s still worth it!!

It is for what it is, and it does it fantastic!!

 

[Epitaph]

Right… I guess it’s time to get onto the final part… mods.

Mods (modifications) are normally not necessary, and only serve to improve something that was fine to begin with or to personalize to one’s own taste. Unfortunately, on this quad we have seen certain things that need improving… and in this sense, this quad is perfect for all those tinkerers and modders out there in the community, as I have found out that a few small modifications can make a great improvement… and I am someone that has just as much enjoyment on the workbench (my living room coffee table) as in the air. I enjoy solving problems, and I’m sure I’m not the only one!!

(The mods were not made in the chronological order I am presenting them in, as I added them as I found problems and dreamed up solutions… in fact the switch mod was the first one I made almost on taking the quad out of the box, and this is why it appears in most of the photos in the entire review. For this reason there are photos that will make no chronological sense, like this and the removal of the prop guards).

Removal of the Prop Guards

The first modification, and some have probably already noticed it in previous photos, is one of the easiest of all… best to start out with something easy I guess, and it’s removing the prop guards. All you have to do is cut the 3 stems that come out from the motor cover in order to remove them, this will remove a small amount of weight, but as we have seen before, a small amount of weight removed translates into quite a change in this quad. Some people would resist doing this as they think the prop guards are key to the survival of their props, and this isn’t necessarily the case, as they are made out of quite a light and “bendy” material that bends into the prop’s turn radius when they get hit, which can in itself cause them to break when they may not have done without them, even in cases like a hard landing and striking one of the guards on the ground, causing it to bend up into the props area of movement. Some people have even had the prop guards getting caught in the props themselves after a strike on a wall, and this caused damage to the props that meant they needed them to be changed, where as without them the model would have “bounced” off the wall with minimal damage. And as for the weight factor, it’s only 2g you save, but it does actually make a difference.

”Breathing” Holes

Another mod that is quite easily made is to make a few holes in the top of the casing right where the MOSFETs are to allow the heat from these to escape. The body itself comes with no refrigeration system thought of and this is a bit of an oversight considering the heat building up inside. The modification is easy to do with either a bradel or a small hobby drill, or even making slit rather than holes with a hobby knife if you feel you have a steady enough hand. You don’t even have to take the quad apart to do this if you’re careful as you can make the holes on the highest part, and there is plenty of clearance from the circuitry underneath, about a centimeter of space. The plastic casing is a “rubbery” plastic which is easy to cut cleanly without it snapping or breaking so there I no fear in having it go out of control in that aspect, and the holes themselves don’t affect the integrity of the structure. I started out myself by making just a couple of holes on the top, then adding another couple, and finally adding two more to end up with six holes in two columns of three. The result has been very promising as it helps to get most of the heat produced by the MOSFETs out of the casing.

At first I thought it looked like some kind of a mutant whale with blowholes on its head… but then I realized the truth: 6 marks on the forehead, no nose, a unibrow look to it… it’s Krillin from Dragon Ball, in an RC version!! Now I just have to paint the quad to match!!

On-Off Switch

Another mod that is very useful, although rather complicated, is is adding an on-off switch. I guess it wa not included in the original design because of the weight and space saved, which is a good thing, except that it makes it very hard to turn the quad on and off as the battery is so tightly crammed in, it’s just unfortunately not practical. Knowing that the quad consumes a maximum of 6A on a spike, I started to look for a suitable switch that would fit and also be able to handle the power demand. On Ebay I finally found the perfect switches, rocker switches designed to withstand 6A at 120V, and being as I’m only putting a maximum of 8.4V through it, it’s more than enough… in a bag of 20 for just $2.85 with shipping, and on top of that they only took 2 weeks to arrive when the minimum normally is a month. So I put one aside for fitting on the quad, and I still have 19 left for whatever I feel like modding!!

I removed the red wire that goes from the battery to the main board, and soldered a new wire in its place, 24AWG silicone sleeve. After, I cut a small “window” on the underside of the quad just behind the battery cover, and inserted the switch. Because the body is full of curves, I stuck the switch in place with a little epoxy as the tabs didn’t catch on too well to leave it at that, but just a little epoxy, didn’t want to add more unnecessary weight. I also had to cut the connector spades back as they were too long, as as I was soldering the wires onto it, the were not needed.

After, it was just a case of cutting the new cable to a comfortable length, enough to have the 2 halves of the quad open next to each other, and solder it to one of the pins of the switch (doesn’t matter which). The red wire that is coming from the Molex connector I soldered to the other pin of the switch and then it was just closing the quad back up, tightening first the screws of the centre body, and then the arms after, making sure the wires remain behind the battery compartment and the LED screens are in place. The result is a switch in the rear underside which is easy to get to so you can turn the quad off as soon as you finished flying, without having to fiddle about trying to get the battery out, whilst juggling the transmitter!!

Change of Wiring

If you are afraid of the switch adding too much weight, then there is another mod you can do to reduce weight whilst you have the quad open and the soldering iron hot, which is to change the wiring from the main board to the motors for one with a slightly less gauge size. The wires used are 24AWG, but they are only handling about an amp and a half along that line, so such a thick wire is not needed. I like the fact that in the factory they thought this part over and fitted some decent wire rather than any old wire they had lying around, but I think they went a little over the top on the cautious side. You can remove the main board by removing the 2 screws that are londing it to the top cover, and this way reach the other side where the motor wires are. Then just remove the wire going to each motor and replace it with a smaller gauge wire, like a 26AWG. Once you have all 4 motor pairs soldered up, just screw the main board back into place, and sart on changing red for red and black for black on the motors in the correct order. Don’t take advantage of this moment to try and change the turn of the motors the opposite way (as the motors turn the opposite way to most quads) as this would reverse the yaw channel. If you are using a Devo radio, you can do of course, but if you are using the original transmitter, you can’t reverse the channel. You can also cut the wire shorter than the originals as there is a little bit rolled up in each arm which only adds more weight, and the extra wire isn’t needed. During this modification you can also add a 0.01µF, 50V disk capacitor to each motor to help reduce RF noise, which would help the transmitter communicate better without interference as well as help reduce any jello you might have on the gamera from interference (like using a hair dryer next to an old CRT TV set)... You can get a bag of these capacitors from Aliexpress at $0.50 for 50 units.

Once you have finished this modification, you can close the quad back up knowing you have saved a few grams of weight, but that it is still a “safe” system that won’t overheat from bad wiring.

Battery

This is the hardest of all the modifications… and to do this, the switch mod is almost a must. It seems there are batteries that fit in the battery bay in the 250mAh range with a higher C rating and that actually give more flight time than the originals, although not much more as it is only 250mAh. With this smaller size battery the the modification isn’t needed, and you can get about 4 minutes of flight time in clean mode, and you can just buy more batteries to keep flying. But I personally didn’t want to be changing batteries all the time, and I prefer to have a single longish flight and after change over to another model... why do I want so many models if I’m going to be stuck just flying one model in the end all day? Also, knowing that these motors tend to get hot, as do the MOSFETs, it’s best to not keep flying hours on end, and give it time to cool down after a decent flight and then move onto another model. After all, this is just a toy grade quad, and will always be so no matter how much it’s modified.

I had a battery sitting around the house for a while that wasn’t being used for anything, although I had it well looked after… a Haiyin 2S 500mAh 20-30C (which means it can give a constant rate of 10A and a burst of 15A), exactly the same size and specs as a Turnigy you can find on the internet… I got it for a project ages ago I was going to do, then I changed it and moved to 3S, and this battery was just lying around with no home to go to. The 500mAh battery is 17g heavier than the original battery that came with the quad, as well as a much larger format, although it is thinner… but with the extra weight I was planning to add this really was turning into a leap of faith!!

With the quad opened up on the table, I found I could just about fit the battery in between the 4 screw points of the centre section of the quad, but only if the wires were looking forward. The wire weight being on the front wasn’t much of an issue for me as it would help balance for the added switch on the back, but it did mean I would have to use more wire to reach the back. First of all I had to prep the area for the battery to fit in, and this involved moving all the internal wiring out of the way and tracing them along the sides, as well as cutting all of the battery bay off of the bottom cover, leaving a small lip to hold the battery hard in its place (seeing as the new battery was thinner), and this left a space between the battery and the battery bay door that would later prove very useful. I also had to cut the pylon that holds the camera connector in place, so I cut out below the connector itself so that there would be room for the battery to fit in underneath.

After, came the moment of unsoldering the original wires for the Molex connector from the main board, and then cut the black discharge wire from the new battery to length to solder directly to the board.As the wire was cut to about half its original length, this helped lower the overall weight of the battery being added to the quad, which along with the plastic removed, and the original wire with its Molex connector, it was soon adding up the weight I was saving. Next I cut the red discharge wire right next to the JST connector that came on it (more weight being saved), and soldered the red wire direct to the switch on the back of the quad. This made the whole lot very fiddly as I now had all the top part, all the bottom part and the battery all connected together, so I couldn’t separate anything to make it easier. I managed to have just enough red wire from the battery to have it threaded around the side of the quad on the side where the camera connector is all the way to the back, although I did have to cut a little more of the pylon to get it behind properly. After, I placed a thin piece of sponged double sided tapè to the main board and placed the battery in its place in it. Then I traced the balance wire up from the front of the quad to lay resting on top of the battery, just under the original access hatch, and temporarily taped it there in place as to not move. Then came the hardest part, which was holding everything in place, and making minor adjustments in everythings position whilst I closed up the 2 halves of the quad. Everything fitted in but only just, and it took a while to get it all in place and the 4 central body screws in. After, I continued with screwing the arms together, then just opened the hatch and removed the tape I used to hold the balance cable.

The space under the hatch was just right to fit the balance plug in there and close it up, making it perfect for charging the quad, and after just accommodating the wire in place and closing the hatch for flight.

The total weight after the modification in clean mode came to 96.4g, which when you consider the quad weighed in at 96.9g out of the box with the camera albeit, I felt it was a huge triumph… it would weigh more in each of the configurations than before, but I had my fingers crossed that the increased C rate would help compensate by making it work with the energy it really needed...

The next obstacle that arose was how to charge the battery with only access to the balance port. So I made a new charging cable from an old 3S balance wire I had from when I reconditioned a 3S battery to 2S, along with a new 3S socket I had lying around and a mini T connector, and some 24AWG wire. I soldered the balance socket onto the wire as if it were a balance extension lead, and then soldered a red 24AWG to the positive extreme, and the black to the negative extreme, and the ends of these onto the T connector. This way, I can connect the T connector to the charge port of my Imax charger, and the balance plug to the balance 2S balance port, and then just plug the socket into the battery balance port and let it charge via this port, which wasn’t a problem as I would only be charging at 1C anyway, eventhough it could handle more.

The charger charged the battery perfectly via this method. I also changed the Molex on the original battery charger that came with the quad to a Mini T connector, so I could still use this as a small charger along with the balance wire to take with me in my bag should I want to charge it somewhere whilst I’m out, and found that this charging method also worked fine… I mean, you don’t need to balance EVERY time, and it’s easier than lugging a full Imax charger every time you go out for a hike!!

All that was left was to see if the modification gave the results I was hoping for… so with the battery charged up, I went outside with it in a clean configuration, and my Devo transmitter, turned on the quad with the switch and turned on the transmitter, let them bind, and pushed the trottle right up… and it launched off the ground like a bullet from a gun!! Before I needed 23% of throttle above centre (on a scale of -100% to 100%) to take off, yet this time I only needed 12% above centre!! So it seemed the extra discharge was already doing its job!! I continued with the flight, doing flips, all the time in high rates going about all over wildly, and it seemed to move very freely, more swift in general (well… all except that yaw…), and I just went on and on… until the lights started to flash telling me the battery was low (something it never really got a chance to do before as it would just drop to the ground), but still gave me time to get back to me for a smooth landing. I picked the quad up, flicking the switch to “off” as I did, and I noticed that the quad was warm, but nothing like it used to be. So I opened up the battery hatch to touch the battery direct, and it was no warmer than it should be after a normal flight. I looked down at the transmitter timer, and saw that I had gotten past 8 minutes of aggressive flying!! Just with that in LOS acro I called it a victory!! 8 minutes of fun is pretty good for a toy grade quad, and especially when you consider the original times I was getting, and on top of that, I was no longer landing with the quad begging me to put it out of its misery!!

I went back indoors and let the quad rest for a while before putting it on charge again. During the rest, I connected the battery balance port to my cell checker, and it registered 3.50V and 3.51V for the 2 cells. So I charged it up again and this time added the camera and the landing skids to see what kind of times I was going to get fully loaded and to see if it heated up more this time. So I went outside again and had another perfect flight, buzzing around with the camera going (to use the maximum amount of energy), those extra C’s really made a difference. When the battery was low, I landed again, and checked the clock on the transmitter as I walked over to pick it up, and it was registering 6 and a half minutes of flight time, which from the original 2 minutes is a GREAT increase. On top of that, the quad was just normal warm all over. So now I can fly knowing that it’s not going to turn into a fireball in the sky!!

Camera Lens

I got hold of a camera lens to add to the camera to increase the angle of view, basically like the “B” lens on an 808 cam… although it does stand out quite a bit!!

It’s just a glue on job, as I didn’t want to use the magnet system that came with it because it could come off too easily in flight and get lost, and seeing as it was an improvement I wasn’t planning to not use ever, I just glued it on with a little epoxy. It didn’t give me any problems with the balancing of the quad at all, and the flight time was only reduced by a few seconds from the weight, but the angle did improve a little to make the camera just a touch better than it already was, also reducing that “zoomed in” effect the original lens has.

My Conclusions

I absolutely love this quad after all the modifications I have made!! In fact, with its new found agility, flight time and ease of use, together with how well the camera records for what it is, this has turned into one of my favourite quads in my small fleet, and I haven’t even tried it out yet with the Syma WiFi camera in a little FPV!!

The quad is pretty good to buy because it offers a lot of possibilities with the available modifications, all of which have easy alternatives (like the smaller 250mAh batteries instead of the big 500mAh one I used), and it’s perfect to just stick in a backpack and take on a hike as it is nice and small, leaving you room for your lunch and a drink!! If you enjoy modding, then this is DEFINITELY the quad for you, as you won’t get bored with all that you can do to it. It is also good for those first time “quadders” that know how to mod but come from another modality, or even from cars or boats, as it is easy to fly and is very stable. As a first time quad without any experience in RC, I would not recommend it as it can result very frustrating, and can easily dissuade people from continuing in the hobby. If they have someone that doesn’t mind modifying it for them and knows how to, then fair enough, it would be a good one to start with, but if you’re on your own with no knowledge in flight, modding and soldering, as well as how batteries work, then I cannot recommend it at all. In on the other hand, you are in the other categories I have mentioned, then YES, I RECOMMEND IT because it turns out to be a fun little quad to fly LOS acro after having fun on the workbench with it, as well as a nice small camera platform with a decent camera for when you want to go out “nice and light”, resistant to crashes, and a very nice pricetag on top of it all!!

I wish to thank GEARBEST for sending me this quad to review, and I hope you have all enjoyed it and gotten some useful information from it.

Until next time!!

 

[Epitaph]

OK, Part 2 of the review is added now, sorry about the wait!!

Hope you enjoy

 

[Andre]

Nice!

 

[jipp]

very nice wright up. looks like this would make a nice quad for someone on a budget.. or even to buy it for the camera.

chris.

 

[Epitaph]

The camera comes in 3 different versions: 0.3mp, 2mp and 5mp, and they can be brought seperately, so you don't have to buy the whole lot if you just want the camera. I'm trying to see if I can find the right connection to activate the camera as a stand alone one, as the red and black cables just need a 1S battery feed, but it's the blue cable that controls the taking a photo and recording video I'm not sure of... I think it just grounds (pulse for photo, on and hold for video) but I want to try and find out first.

 

[Epitaph]

Right everyone, that's part 3 finished... Part 4 unfortunately is going to take me a while as there is a lot to say.

 

[Epitaph]

Hi guys!!

Sorry I took so long with getting the last part of the review out with the mods for this quadcopter, I have just started a new job and have had very little time as I'm just starting and adjusting, and with it being a pretty long part to write up, I wanted to get it right.

Anyway, part 4 is up now for you to read through, and I think some of you might find it interesting as it turns this "uninteresting at first" quad into something very interesting indeed, especially for all those out there that are jonesing for more mods, and even more so considering that the quad and everything needed for all of the mods costs less than $60 shipped, and turns it into, as I said, a very nice quad to have indeed.

Anyway, sorry again, and soon I'll be back with a review of another quad which is quite a nice one indeed, again, thanks to Gearbest.