tooth_whisperer
New Member
Hi all!
A familiar story here I'm sure, recently got my first quadcopter and am having a blast with it. I won a cheap quad in a raffle at work, Quadrone Pro Cam (aka Syma X5c rebranded), have shot some fun video with it and learned a decent amount about flying in the first week. I've taken some video over a river, a lake, and some local parks. But I can already tell I want more. So I'm looking for recommendations for my next quad.
The range on the X5 is lackluster, I'm getting about 40-50 yards before signal will briefly drop out and I lose altitude, which has created some nervous moments capturing footage over the river near my house! I tried a simple mod I saw on youtube, adding wire to the stock antenna to get it to 4.92 inches for a full wavelength. The fellow in the video seemed to really boost his range, but as far as I can tell, mine is the same as before. I've considered adding a wifi antenna, but not sure if I should bother since I will probably want other upgrades to the X5 soon as well.
Aerial video and photography are the thing I've enjoyed the most so far. I understand the appeal of acrobatics and racing, but there's something peaceful and relaxing about taking video, so for now I would like to focus on that. I think I would like a gimbal to stabilize video and be able to rotate the camera on my next unit. On the X5, I'm quite pleased with the camera resolution (for a cheap cam), but any amount of wind forces me to counter-maneuver, and makes for very erratic footage. I have a GoPro Hero 4 I could mount to my next quad, but I would reckon anything lugging that would need to be fairly robust. I also wouldn't mind having FPV capability via my iphone, but I wonder if those units are a compromise compared to a full FPV setup?
Also, on the X5, if I drop altitude quickly, something is causing me to not be able to power back up and stop my descent without frequently giving the ground a little love tap. I think it's a combination of the auto level cutting power to certain props to try and stay level, and maybe this quad just doesn't have enough thrust. I also still have the landing gear and prop guards on, so it's a full load. Maybe that's normal?
Those are my main concerns with the X5, which I would like to remedy with my next quad. I'm not really ready for a build yet, though I've enjoyed my new hobby so far I'm just not ready to get that deep into it, so an RTF quad would be preferable. Something with auto level would be nice as well. Budget isn't a huge concern, I probably won't spend thousands but if a good quad goes for more than a few hundred, I can live with that. Thanks in advance, looking forward to chatting with you all!
A familiar story here I'm sure, recently got my first quadcopter and am having a blast with it. I won a cheap quad in a raffle at work, Quadrone Pro Cam (aka Syma X5c rebranded), have shot some fun video with it and learned a decent amount about flying in the first week. I've taken some video over a river, a lake, and some local parks. But I can already tell I want more. So I'm looking for recommendations for my next quad.
The range on the X5 is lackluster, I'm getting about 40-50 yards before signal will briefly drop out and I lose altitude, which has created some nervous moments capturing footage over the river near my house! I tried a simple mod I saw on youtube, adding wire to the stock antenna to get it to 4.92 inches for a full wavelength. The fellow in the video seemed to really boost his range, but as far as I can tell, mine is the same as before. I've considered adding a wifi antenna, but not sure if I should bother since I will probably want other upgrades to the X5 soon as well.
Aerial video and photography are the thing I've enjoyed the most so far. I understand the appeal of acrobatics and racing, but there's something peaceful and relaxing about taking video, so for now I would like to focus on that. I think I would like a gimbal to stabilize video and be able to rotate the camera on my next unit. On the X5, I'm quite pleased with the camera resolution (for a cheap cam), but any amount of wind forces me to counter-maneuver, and makes for very erratic footage. I have a GoPro Hero 4 I could mount to my next quad, but I would reckon anything lugging that would need to be fairly robust. I also wouldn't mind having FPV capability via my iphone, but I wonder if those units are a compromise compared to a full FPV setup?
Also, on the X5, if I drop altitude quickly, something is causing me to not be able to power back up and stop my descent without frequently giving the ground a little love tap. I think it's a combination of the auto level cutting power to certain props to try and stay level, and maybe this quad just doesn't have enough thrust. I also still have the landing gear and prop guards on, so it's a full load. Maybe that's normal?
Those are my main concerns with the X5, which I would like to remedy with my next quad. I'm not really ready for a build yet, though I've enjoyed my new hobby so far I'm just not ready to get that deep into it, so an RTF quad would be preferable. Something with auto level would be nice as well. Budget isn't a huge concern, I probably won't spend thousands but if a good quad goes for more than a few hundred, I can live with that. Thanks in advance, looking forward to chatting with you all!
