Marzipan

Well-known member
perhaps we can list the common brands for transmitters to help new newbs that come along...though I think we can probably bypass the need to mention Eachine and the others with their clones.

in no particular order...to start!

Spektrum
Futaba
RadioMaster
FrSky
FlySky
Jumper
Turnigy
OrangeRX
Hitec
BetaFPV
Tactic RC
Team BlackSheep
 
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boogieloo

Active member
yeah. Thanks. Flysky 4 channel with receiver. It's a great product. AFHDS 2.4 Ghz. That's the protocol used. Works awesome with any system you buy.
 

Mazin

New member
Been a Spektrum / JR guy most of my life but want to move away from Horizon so I'm actually looking at The Frsky X10s Horus or the X20s (If I can ever find one in stock. Anyone running either that wants to chime in on them? I fly quads and Fixed.
 

Bricks

Master member
Been a Spektrum / JR guy most of my life but want to move away from Horizon so I'm actually looking at The Frsky X10s Horus or the X20s (If I can ever find one in stock. Anyone running either that wants to chime in on them? I fly quads and Fixed.


I am a Spektrum guy that had to try OTx so I picked up a RadioMaster TX16s, biggest complaint is ergonomics of the RadioMaster, and learning OTx, which for me is still a struggle. I will never sell my DX9 it is such a solid transmitter and Horizon stands behind it`s products.

A couple of reason`s I went with the TX16s was the touch screen which is now called Edge ( have not updated to Edge yet ) . The large color screen that getting older so much easier to see. The other being a multiprotocol radio I did not have to go out and replace all my Spektrum receivers. When I looked at replacing upwards of 70 + receivers that was a huge cost.

Have a friend that has the Horus it is a great feeling radio in hand and has the large color screen but I did not like getting locked into a specific receivers ( as with Spektrum but I was so deep it mattered to me $ ) as FlySky has gone to there own protocol and is not backwards compatible. This has ticked off many Pro FlySky guys as there old receivers are not compatible with the new FlySky radios, FlySky has taken a hit because of this. They are not a OTx transmitter any more as they hired there own programmer's many were OTx DEV`s, so this too upset many as FrySky was using OTx and contributed $ to the development, so those $ were taken away from OTx DEVS that stayed with OTx.

Just a little background.
 

L Edge

Master member
I bought the Spektrum NX8, and currently have three planes and the Blade 230S V2 Heli on it. One of the planes I have on the NX8 is the BFG2600 I picked up from the club after it was donated by the widow of a club member that had passed away. It had a Spektrum compatible receiver installed, and I was able to bind it just fine to the NX8. So far, that's the only plane I've actually flown on the NX8. One of the others is the old HK Parkjet I grabbed at the AMA Expo West in 2019, and I just need to finish fine-tuning the build. The other is my Freewing Rebel, and before I try to fly it, I need to make sure I have everything set up correctly.

The time I tried to fly the heli so far, I didn't have the AS3X activated right, and as a very novice heli pilot, I was having lots of problems just getting it in the air and hovering. I've since rebound the Rx so that the stabilization is active and SAFE mode will work, but haven't been back out to the field to give it a try again.

Welcome to the world of heli's. If you can take videos of each flight and review it, it will help you evaluate what you are doing wrong. Basically, it is a game of very high concentration based on action, reaction. Have fun!!!!
 

Jesse Dupreez

Active member
Which transmitter should I buy?
That is a question often asked and understandably so. This hobby has historically been cost prohibitive for many and the transmitters alone are a large part of the investment.
Therefore, some forum members have assembled the most recommended transmitters available to aid in making that decision. By all means if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. This thread is meant to provide information but not to discourage questions. Please don't feel pressured by the mere title of this thread. These are only suggestions/recommendations. In the end it's your money/your call. Whatever you decide, you will find support here to make the best of your decision.
Below is the transmitter index. It shows transmitter systems that have been covered in this thread and the post in which post they're found. It is not meant to be an all inclusive list nor cover every aspect of the radios discussed but rather to outline the sub-$500 radios we recommend so often and why. Again, if there are concerns, questions, or suggestions please do post them.
A special thanks to RKAR, rfd, RCdiy, & Ray K who've gotten this thread started with some excellent and substantive content. Thank you.
Jim
Transmitter Index
Spektrum---Post #2
Jumper-----Post #3
FrSky------Post #4
Graupner---Post #5
Hobby King-Post #6
FlSky-------?
Futaba------?
???---------?
possibly RADIO MASTER
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I am a Spektrum guy that had to try OTx so I picked up a RadioMaster TX16s, biggest complaint is ergonomics of the RadioMaster, and learning OTx, which for me is still a struggle. I will never sell my DX9 it is such a solid transmitter and Horizon stands behind it`s products.

A couple of reason`s I went with the TX16s was the touch screen which is now called Edge ( have not updated to Edge yet ) . The large color screen that getting older so much easier to see. The other being a multiprotocol radio I did not have to go out and replace all my Spektrum receivers. When I looked at replacing upwards of 70 + receivers that was a huge cost.

Have a friend that has the Horus it is a great feeling radio in hand and has the large color screen but I did not like getting locked into a specific receivers ( as with Spektrum but I was so deep it mattered to me $ ) as FlySky has gone to there own protocol and is not backwards compatible. This has ticked off many Pro FlySky guys as there old receivers are not compatible with the new FlySky radios, FlySky has taken a hit because of this. They are not a OTx transmitter any more as they hired there own programmer's many were OTx DEV`s, so this too upset many as FrySky was using OTx and contributed $ to the development, so those $ were taken away from OTx DEVS that stayed with OTx.

Just a little background.

Here is my take on Spectrum. They have always been a respectable quality radio. They would not have the user base they do if they were not. The whole problem with Spectrum is they are the A.M.A. of radios. They are stuck in the 1950's. They do not listen to a potential customer base asking for useable features. Instead they have a top tier model and only take away features to split off their lower tier radios. That kind of thinking is what will kill off a company with a quickness these days if they do not adapt to the market.

A PERFECT example (@Mazin should take this into consideration wanting to fly multirotor) is the fact they have since day one and STILL for some unknown reason set their channel signal ranges to ~80% of the industry standard. Two VERY detrimental things come out of this when flying RC aircraft. First and foremost It cuts the resolution in the control the pilot has by 40%. Normal industry ranges are from 1000us signal to 2000us this is a total of 1000 points of resolution. They DEFAULT their gear to use only 60% (600 / 1000) total points. That makes flying even the best set up aircraft more challenging and twitchy. That's a TON of control removed from the start and is probably a good portion why so many first time pilots fail and give up.

The second issue is when it comes to flight controllers. 99% of the problems Spectrum users have when starting out using flight controllers is the fact that Spectrums base range can and usually does fall out of the minimum safe control range the flight controllers want to see. Thus flags get set and it wont arm it wont do anything but say Hi I am here to your computer UNTIL you realize safety flags have been set and investigate the cause and solution. Again FAILUE to adapt to a changing market WILL kill off the brand in short order.

That all said.. They dictate what you can and cant do with your radio by removing features that are necessary for actual operation let alone SAFE operation. We recently had a new Spectrum radio sold by Flite Test I immediately wrote to Lee about because it is totally useless for anyone in RC flight to use because you couldn't even change those end points to work EVEN after plugging it in to the computer to set the one and only model memory it allowed up.

Now add in the cost of Spectrum gear always being on the high side of the markets against comparably featured and channel radios and they look less and less like a real option in todays market. Removing necessary features to bring down costs is just plain wrong and is nothing more then corporate d#$%#bagery in my opinion.

Other companies are also failing to listen to the needs and wants of their consumers by changing over to proprietary protocols but that at least still has a viable work around. So its not just Spectrum jumping the shark these days.
 

Mazin

New member
Wow thanks for the feedback fellas! Like i said i wanted to get away from spektrum and figured I'd start looking at others and Frsky was on the radar but I guess now i have a few others lol. For the most part i have always liked spektrum stuff until they adapted the scroll wheel then it just got cheap imho. I had a DX7 that i loved and flew with for years but as we all do i got bored and wanted to try the new stuff on the block and figured i would try a dx8.....hated it. I also have a DX6i that my grandfather had just got before he passed and gave me that has it and i couldn't even set up a plane on that until i replaced the acutal sensor in it (3 times, got 2 that was crap out of the box). So between that and only having a few RX's o figure its now a good time to start looking at other makers. I also like the idea of being able to take advantage of the option to use different frequency ranges via plug in box. But i have been away from the hobby since about 20016 ish and figured i would see what you guys thought, thanks again for all the input!!!!!
 
Which transmitter should I buy?
That is a question often asked and understandably so. This hobby has historically been cost prohibitive for many and the transmitters alone are a large part of the investment.
Therefore, some forum members have assembled the most recommended transmitters available to aid in making that decision. By all means if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. This thread is meant to provide information but not to discourage questions. Please don't feel pressured by the mere title of this thread. These are only suggestions/recommendations. In the end it's your money/your call. Whatever you decide, you will find support here to make the best of your decision.
Below is the transmitter index. It shows transmitter systems that have been covered in this thread and the post in which post they're found. It is not meant to be an all inclusive list nor cover every aspect of the radios discussed but rather to outline the sub-$500 radios we recommend so often and why. Again, if there are concerns, questions, or suggestions please do post them.
A special thanks to RKAR, rfd, RCdiy, & Ray K who've gotten this thread started with some excellent and substantive content. Thank you.
Jim
Transmitter Index
Spektrum---Post #2
Jumper-----Post #3
FrSky------Post #4
Graupner---Post #5
Hobby King-Post #6
FlSky-------?
Futaba------?
???---------?
Someone should do a flysky post
 
Which transmitter should I buy?
That is a question often asked and understandably so. This hobby has historically been cost prohibitive for many and the transmitters alone are a large part of the investment.
Therefore, some forum members have assembled the most recommended transmitters available to aid in making that decision. By all means if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. This thread is meant to provide information but not to discourage questions. Please don't feel pressured by the mere title of this thread. These are only suggestions/recommendations. In the end it's your money/your call. Whatever you decide, you will find support here to make the best of your decision.
Below is the transmitter index. It shows transmitter systems that have been covered in this thread and the post in which post they're found. It is not meant to be an all inclusive list nor cover every aspect of the radios discussed but rather to outline the sub-$500 radios we recommend so often and why. Again, if there are concerns, questions, or suggestions please do post them.
A special thanks to RKAR, rfd, RCdiy, & Ray K who've gotten this thread started with some excellent and substantive content. Thank you.
Jim
Transmitter Index
Spektrum---Post #2
Jumper-----Post #3
FrSky------Post #4
Graupner---Post #5
Hobby King-Post #6
FlSky-------?
Futaba------?
???---------?
Someone did a Flysky post can u update it? Also it's post twelve (to make it easy on you :))
 

basslord1124

Master member
My biggest beef with Spektrum was the price point for more channels. Used the DX6 for many many years, but recent planes have allowed me to grow to more channels. While the DX6 offers 6 channels, if I wanted to double my channel availability to be on the safe side, it's not double but 3 times the price! I felt like they really mainly capitalize too much on the channel options. Especially when there are radios on the market that offer more than 10 channels for the same price as a DX6. I can justify spending a little extra for features like touchscreen, color screens, or other technology improvements. Just not extra channels. And I'll be honest too, I want to enjoy this hobby without sacrificing money that I could be using for my family/child and their needs. Money is tight!

Aside from that, Spektrum had been a solid radio for me.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
i checked someone actually did a flysky post but the person who started the thread didn't update it... :(

He is currently over seas last I knew. If you send him a private message pointing that out I am sure he would be glad to update the post the next time he is here.
 

Off-topic jes

Elite member
this thread rules! tons of great info in here. thank you
Honestly this is just my opinion but my favorite radio brands are radiolink and Futaba, if you guys haven’t heard a radio link they make nice working radios for a good price I have the radio link 12 channel it works really well and fits in your hand great, also you can get leather grips for it I haven’t got those yet but maybe I will!
 

Off-topic jes

Elite member
In my opinion, the radio master is not a horrible transmitter. It's great for quads and parkflyers, but once you get up to the big birds, the newer futaba radios, and any spektrum radio aside from the DXE or the DX5 are the most reliable. There's a bit of risk when using a radio master for something this big, and its not worth it to me.
say I’ve never been a spectrum guy but I have a couple really nice radios but I’m looking for a new one for large scale and I’m also going with this one
 

OliverW

Legendary member
say I’ve never been a spectrum guy but I have a couple really nice radios but I’m looking for a new one for large scale and I’m also going with this one
I have bounced around transmitter brands, and have finally found “the one” for giant scale. The JR T14SE. Best gimbals I’ve felt, and the smoothest feel I’ve ever felt from a transmitter. Super high quality stuff
 

Off-topic jes

Elite member
I have bounced around transmitter brands, and have finally found “the one” for giant scale. The JR T14SE. Best gimbals I’ve felt, and the smoothest feel I’ve ever felt from a transmitter. Super high quality stuff
Well see that’s the one I wanted but just because I’m a kid I don’t have a lot of money I’m still having to spend a bunch of it on airplanes so I’m looking for a new radio that is reasonably priced and the radio master is looking pretty good what do you think about it?