Beast SG906 PRO advice

J

jminyard1

Member
I don't have a drone yet and have been researching what's available. I need to stay under $200 for a model with two batteries and carrying case. I really like the features of the Beast SG906 PRO but would like the opinions of experienced drone owners, especially anyone who has this model.

I definitely want one with GPS, 2-axis gimbal (or more), 20 minutes or more battery time, HD camera with in-flight angle adjustment, and brushless motors.

Thanks! :)

Joe
 
Full disclosure I don't have one of these and I typically go the DIY route of build up a quad from parts where the cost ends up higher but I get to choose what goes where and how it all connects. The type of flying I like to do is more in the style of "acrobatic" or "racing" rather than a stable camera in the sky which is more of what the GPS controlled quadcopters are typically geared for.

Regarding this model some good things:
1. Brushless motors, if you have brushed motors and or brushed motors+gearing the gears or brushed motors will die pretty quickly (lots of mechanical wear). Brushless motors will only die when the bearing that holds the shaft gets destroyed/worn down or the bell that holds the magnets around the stator gets smashed/bent and/or a magnet comes loose. Essentially thumbs_up for durability of motors here.
2. Everything ready to go (kit) simple to get setup especially when compared with DIY (learning betaflight configurator etc. etc.)

Some bad things:
1. Plastic frame is very likely to crack in a crash
2. Features are overblown for the price, the follow me feature likely doesn't work nor the gestures
3. Wouldn't expect the "4k camera" to produce a good 4k image but it is probably like a good 1080p camera which is still passable
4. Phone compatibility for getting the feed may be an issue if the phone doesn't have 5G/802.11AC wifi
5. Using an app means app support which doesn't usually last long for cheaper products, they didn't bake the price into paying developers to keep the app updated into the cost of the product and so support is likely to be limited.

All this said it looks like a pretty decent deal I just would temper hopes of capabilities and actual flight characteristics, there's going to be a bit of you get what you pay for in this budget for all the gear needed to fly.

For comparison my quad itself is around $300 (a comparable off the shelf one is available from iFlight for $200, the iFlight Cidora, I use their frame but emax motors and some other FC etc.). The transmitter is around $120 (Jumper T16, though would suggest checkout radiomaster or T18 today), and goggles were around $600-700 (HDOs plus diversity receiver, or DJI digital is discounted to around the same price now). The advantage is I can fly a bit further out in terms of radio range and if/when I break things replacing a component is generally $20-40 plus some of my time to fix vs replace the whole thing for most people who buy an "off the shelf" product.
 
wafflejock said:
Full disclosure I don't have one of these and I typically go the DIY route of build up a quad from parts where the cost ends up higher but I get to choose what goes where and how it all connects. The type of flying I like to do is more in the style of "acrobatic" or "racing" rather than a stable camera in the sky which is more of what the GPS controlled quadcopters are typically geared for.

Regarding this model some good things:
1. Brushless motors, if you have brushed motors and or brushed motors+gearing the gears or brushed motors will die pretty quickly (lots of mechanical wear). Brushless motors will only die when the bearing that holds the shaft gets destroyed/worn down or the bell that holds the magnets around the stator gets smashed/bent and/or a magnet comes loose. Essentially thumbs_up for durability of motors here.
2. Everything ready to go (kit) simple to get setup especially when compared with DIY (learning betaflight configurator etc. etc.)

Some bad things:
1. Plastic frame is very likely to crack in a crash
2. Features are overblown for the price, the follow me feature likely doesn't work nor the gestures
3. Wouldn't expect the "4k camera" to produce a good 4k image but it is probably like a good 1080p camera which is still passable
4. Phone compatibility for getting the feed may be an issue if the phone doesn't have 5G/802.11AC wifi
5. Using an app means app support which doesn't usually last long for cheaper products, they didn't bake the price into paying developers to keep the app updated into the cost of the product and so support is likely to be limited.

All this said it looks like a pretty decent deal I just would temper hopes of capabilities and actual flight characteristics, there's going to be a bit of you get what you pay for in this budget for all the gear needed to fly.

For comparison my quad itself is around $300 (a comparable off the shelf one is available from iFlight for $200, the iFlight Cidora, I use their frame but emax motors and some other FC etc.). The transmitter is around $120 (Jumper T16, though would suggest checkout radiomaster or T18 today), and goggles were around $600-700 (HDOs plus diversity receiver, or DJI digital is discounted to around the same price now). The advantage is I can fly a bit further out in terms of radio range and if/when I break things replacing a component is generally $20-40 plus some of my time to fix vs replace the whole thing for most people who buy an "off the shelf" product.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I appreciate your comments!

Joe
 
For more information regarding the model you are interested in, just google the model and there is a ton of info on it. I did and now I'n interested in it.
 
I got tired of researching and ordered the Beast SG906 PRO yesterday! I got an $18 discount coupon through Honey, so the total cost with portable carrying case and two batteries was $172. Of course it has to ship from China which will take from 10-20 business days. I'll try to remember to post my opinions after I play with it for a while!

Joe
 
The SG906 Pro has what is referred to as "headless" mode. I don't find an explanation of this in the specs. Can anyone tell me what this is?
 
As I understand it, headless mode is where the quadcopter will travel in the direction indicated by the joy stick points, even if the quad is turned around, push the stick away from you, the quad moves away from you, pull the stick toward you, the quad flies toward you. Yaw works the same way and rotation does not affect directional control.
 
LoneRCRanger said:
As I understand it, headless mode is where the quadcopter will travel in the direction indicated by the joy stick points, even if the quad is turned around, push the stick away from you, the quad moves away from you, pull the stick toward you, the quad flies toward you. Yaw works the same way and rotation does not affect directional control.
Click to expand...

That will be a great feature if it works that way! Of course if you're using the camera then you still have to keep it oriented correctly, but at least you can keep from flying it into a tree or other obstruction.
 
The beauty of Headless Mode is not having to YAW the quad to face you for returning to you. You could fix your camera on a scene and do a reverse pan while returning to you. Otherwise, the camera (if fixed in the quad fuselage) only points one way. You need a camera on a Gymbol mount to turn it while not in Headless Mode.
 
Exciting times I just got a couple kits from flite test to assemble and start learning the ropes with fixed wing too, so at the beginning of another journey too I'm sure, keep us posted!
 
Took the Beast SG906 Pro out for a test drive yesterday. I am impressed! It is incredibly stable. Just tried to learn some of the basics. Looks like my old I-Phone 5 isn't fully compatible with it so will now be shopping for a new phone!
 
That phone is great but yah getting dated at this point in terms of hardware to run the latest everything. Glad to hear the quad is working out well, when you get more comfortable with it can upload vid to YouTube and share here.
 
Beautiful the image quality is really much better than I would have expected and seems pretty stable, thanks for sharing a bit of your experience with it so far.
 
Another update! All of my flying has been in late afternoons with the winds calm. Yesterday we had a thunderstorm pass through a few miles away and we got some winds from it, gusting to probably 20 MPH. I decided to see how the SG906 Pro would handle in the wind.

I was very nervous so I lifted it off slowly to see what would happen. A few feet off the ground and it was still steady. I began to lift it higher, still steady. I took it up to about 100', above the surrounding trees which were whipping around pretty good in the gusty winds, and it was rock steady, hardly any movement! I was totally amazed. I forgot to take the cover off the camera so didn't get any video. I'm really happy with the results and further convinced that I made the right decision in the purchase!
 
That is amazing! Like you'd expect from a quad costing 2 - 3 times as much.
Was it steady because the GPS was locked on - or the "optical flow positioning" was working - or both? The 2 camera setup is interesting- About 1 min into your video, Did you switch cameras from bottom to front or was the view changed by aiming the front cam on remote?
 
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2Hover said:
That is amazing! Like you'd expect from a quad costing 2 - 3 times as much.
Was it steady because the GPS was locked on - or the "optical flow positioning" was working - or both? The 2 camera setup is interesting- About 1 min into your video, Did you switch cameras from bottom to front or was the view changed by aiming the front cam on remote?
Click to expand...
Yes, it was in GPS mode, that's the only way I fly it! I didn't switch cameras, just changed the angle of the front camera remotely.
 
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