New guy on the block

Mortalis

Mortalis

Member
Howdy all!

Happy New Year!

I have been interested in RC copter devices for a long time. My first purchase was an eBlades MCX2 and while it was ok I wanted something I could fly outdoors.
Well, two years later I noticed the "drone" revolution beginning to take root. I know calling quadcopters a "drone" is kind of frowned upon so I wont call them that.

My wife was hinting that I might get one for Christmas, I told her not to get anything less than $200 if she was going to buy me one, no present with propellers this year. When she saw me watching videos of quadcopters I think she got the hint and said that she would spring for one for my birthday coming in Feb. I've been leaning toward either the Bebop 2 with controller or the Prodrone Byrd.

In preparation for the birthday arrival I purchased, at the advice of the local RC hobby shop attendant, a Dromida Ominus. While I have read differeing reviews on this quad I bought it and have been trying to fly it outside as my house is rather small to be flying anything inside. I live in New England near Cape Cod and if anyone else on these forums lives here you know the winds are almost never nil. Well, trying to fly in my stockade fenced back yard with surrounding wooded area flaying the Ominus is not been a pleasant experience as the wind continues to affect the ability of the quad to perform up the standards I have viewed online.

So, I guess, what I am looking for is a bit of advice one way or another. Whould I wait until the winds dies down to continue my 'practice session' with the Ominus? Should I stop the foolishness and just wait till I get a 'real' quad and begin to learn on that? Is either of two I mentioned going to be able to handle the windage here by the Cape?
 
Quadcopter102

Quadcopter102

Well-Known Member
Welcome to this great, friendly forum.... and Happy New Year.
I suspect that as the New Year rolls in around the world...most forum members are either waking up not the best for last nights celebrations - or live in various time zones waiting to greet the New Year and lower the world stock levels of booze!
I don't know the quads you mentioned - but generally RTF quads being light will always drift about in the wind. I have a Phantom 3 and yesterday to entertain my 30mth old grandson - I was buzzing it slowly around the garden at 10feet or so....it was getting blown around a bit and the GPS position hold stuff was working overtime.
I have a 450 and 500 size pair of "kit frames" in progress... they also get blown around a bit Aussie - once the sun heats the ground a bit - gets these breezy winds and these can cause some drifting.
Our DIY "real" quads - being mostly lattice type frames and open tiered to slot in the electronics, may make them slightly less susceptible to windy conditions - but don't exempt them.
The more experienced of our members will normally comment that as we gain more flying skills... we know how to deal with the conditions.
I spent hours on youTube watching the experts demo various models - quadcopter101 - has 100's of video's and a "how to fly" blog with vids to demonstrate. He like most - will tell you that flying in your back garden is too limited... you need a big open area. He/they will lift off to 30 feet or more and then sort out the orientation etc,. if it drifts in any direction - its more like auto pilot as he simply deals with it and corrects. Its akin to driving your auto down a windy freeway... you don't think about how to steer and deal with side wind!
I am sure you will get better advice and assistance when our guys wake up and join us in 2016.
 
Mortalis

Mortalis

Member
Quad,
Thanks for the reply.
I was a bit surprised as I walked into the hobby shop looking for a particular model but they were out of stock and when I described to the attendant he recommended the Ominus. Although the aOMinus is considered 'indestructible' it is a light quad and as such is affected by winds even though the videos I have watched show the ominus taking the wind rather well. Now, the wind, IMO, wasnt blowing all that hard and if that much wind is going to affect the higher level quads then I am skeptical I will enjoy having one here in New England as we always have what we would consider 'breezes' similar to what I encountered today.

I will await others of this community to chime in. I have time.
 
ringolong

ringolong

Well-Known Member
Cool looking quad, and welcome to the forum :D

I have much larger and heavier craft, and the wind affects their flights, so I think it is going to be difficult to learn/practice in the wind especially if you are just getting started. You could get a cx10 to practice indoors if you do not have much room indoors until you get a larger quad.
 
Gramps

Gramps

Well-Known Member
You really want to get one of the cheap toy grad quads that you can buy parts for to learn to fly. Its winter here too and it's cold and windy. The Ominous should be fine outdoors when the wind isn't much of an issue. To gain some skills get something like a Syma X11 to fly inside. They are cheap and fun to fly. You want to start by learning to hover at 1st looking at the tail then start turning it left and right towards 9 & 3 then finally so it's facing you. It's all about training your thumbs to react to the quads movement without you having to really think about it.

BTW welcome to the forums.
 
Mortalis

Mortalis

Member
@ringolong, yeah, funny quad indeed. I didn't know the forum would grab my Facebook profile picture. I will upload a pic of my Ominus when get an opportunity.

I looked at a couple vids of the cx10, haven't watched any yet on the x11 yet. I do know that when I tried to fly my mcx2 in the house I want very successful because the rooms I have are very small, IMO.

I could learn how to hover with the Ominus in the house as well as learn to rotate. I watched a video from quadcopter101 and the first 3 lessons were to fly away and backwards back to yourself, fly away, rotate 180°, fly back then fly away, has turn and fly back. I was trying to do the first lesson to fly away and backwards back but the wind was making the quad fly beyond me on the return trip and the battery was laying only a few minutes fighting the wind.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. Please keep it coming.
 
holtneil

holtneil

Well-Known Member
Moderator
Hi mate and welcome to the forum, flying a small quad in doors will teach you control , if you have a table fan running this will teach you to react to gusts of wind , you need to teach your brain to correct the quad with out thinking about what your doing , it will come in time , I fly large CP Helis so my reaction time is quick , they say one of the best quads to fly in and out doors is the Nano qx , the Bebop I feel is pricey for what it is , take a step back and think what do you want from this hobby at the end , if you want to build one of your own then what you get now will help or be a shelf queen , small quad even larger quad will find it hard going in strong wind even my Phantom in GPS lock was hovering at a 40 deg angle in the wind .
If you say go for the nano qx RTF later on get a good transmitter like the Spektrum DX9 this will bind to the nano qx so you can still fly it and then you can start to build multi rotors
or tricopters , your not wasting money as the transmitter you got will fly what ever you build , there is nothing worse in a year or 2 having 6 quads and 6 transmitters to take out with you 1x good transmitter 100s of multirotors to fly .
The Nano qx now has safe tech so will easier to fly than the old one , but there are new FCB coming out for home made quads that have this built in so ,normally I would say stay clear learn to fly for real but you should be able to turn this off , and like I said the new FCB has this too so you be ok what ever way you want to learn
There is one quad that does not get affected by wind and its a 500 size collective pitch quad
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiNpd3ggYnKAhULvhQKHXV-Af8QFgg8MAA&url=http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=BLH7600&usg=AFQjCNEN6UofHjtFUf3btwZi1DBm2hfLJA&sig2=sqm2MBIrVDwNX7oliwiG-A
 
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Mortalis

Mortalis

Member
Ok, so I was trying to hover the Ominus in the front room this morning and I cant seem to get it to hover "hands free" like I've seen on many videos. It will start to sit and hover but then will gain or lose altitude and I have to intervene. Not that I mind having to intervene but with my experience with the quad so far (which is very limited I admit) I wonder if there might be something amiss with the electronics. I cant seem to get it to trim so it will not drift in the house.
@holtneil, I dont mind getting an all round transmitter. Not that money is no object but I dont have an issue with investing good money where I can.

I am allowed my budget of $700 ± $100 for my birthday gift. The new Bebop 2 has good flight time and they have improved the camera mounts. I've considered the DJI's but I hear their customer service is terrible.
I am looking to get into some aerial photos and vids for family and friends as well as just have some fun in my down time from work.
 
Mortalis

Mortalis

Member
Holtneil's recommendation for a transmitter gives me window shock. I can appreciate that this may be a cream of the crop type transmitter but at this point it is beyond my needs and a bit beyond my budget. Any other options? What is the determining factor that a transmitter will bind with other BNF quads?
I doubt I will ever get to point that I will be building a quad other than maybe changing a camera gimble and camera for something different.
 
holtneil

holtneil

Well-Known Member
Moderator
Hi mate the phantom is 99% better then the bebop its fail safes are 100% top notch , as for transmitter you dont need to look at one till your getting into building quads so No rush was just trying to make you think ahead so you dont waste money
 
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