New to Drones

[waffle3113]

I am new to drones and the vocabulary is a little confusing to me so I was hoping you guys would be able to help me out here to get flying. I was looking at the iFlight Cidora SL5 Advanced 6S. I will need to buy a transmitter but I cant tell which frsky remote to get for which receiver R-XSR & XM+. I would also like some recommendations for video transition antennas to give the DVR the best signal.

 

[RENOV8R]

Any FRSky transmitter is compatible with any receiver so the choice is yours. I personally would go with the R-XSR which has full telemetry whereas the XM+ only outputs RSSI (radio signal strength). Of course the real question here is when you say "new to drones", do you have any experience? Just asking because the quad you linked to is extremely advanced and powerful, capable of over 100 mph in the blink of an eye. Without any experience, you will very quickly damage it

 

[waffle3113]

Any FRSky transmitter is compatible with any receiver so the choice is yours. I personally would go with the R-XSR which has full telemetry whereas the XM+ only outputs RSSI (radio signal strength). Of course the real question here is when you say "new to drones", do you have any experience? Just asking because the quad you linked to is extremely advanced and powerful, capable of over 100 mph in the blink of an eye. Without any experience, you will very quickly damage it

New to drones as a whole really , I have maybe 10 hours of fly time on Lift off from Steam with my flysky controller, and maybe 2 flights with a 40 dollar drone but havent flown anything FPV. I was looking to get something that I wouldnt really need to do many upgrades on or get a "better one" for a while but if you have other suggestions please I am all ears.

 

[RENOV8R]

OK, so you do have enough experience to probably get off the ground and not destroy that fancy new bird in the first couple minutes lol. But you have lots more research to do as you're going to also need batteries and FPV goggles.

 

[waffle3113]

OK, so you do have enough experience to probably get off the ground and not destroy that fancy new bird in the first couple minutes lol. But you have lots more research to do as you're going to also need batteries and FPV goggles.

that'd be true because I crash virtually often. I know a little about how different drones only being able to handle a certain amount of lipo cells. I was also looking at the eachine ev100 as an entry set of goggles? Should my goggles cost more than the drone or vice versa because i know goggles get really pricy.

 

[wafflejock]

In the end the goggles should be more because you will use them across different models (similar to the transmitter if you get a good one it will last and can be used across a lot of actual RC models/devices, transmitter may be like $150-200 so not quite more but okay to spend here since re-used IMO). Starting off I don't think you should break the bank on the FPV setup, some cheap box goggles aren't the most comfortable or nicest display but can give you a taste of what flying FPV in real life is like, if you are trying to get into racing or finer control acrobatic flight then having nicer gear becomes worth it, but think worth seeing if you can get through the initial hurdles of learning to fly FPV before dumping $300+ or whatever the price is for better goggles/receiver setup.

 

[wafflejock]

Regarding original question of which transmitter to get I'm a big fan and advocate of Jumper T16, it is not horrifically expensive (granted not cheap) but has a nice display and runs OpenTX, can get it pretty standard with a 4 in 1 module built in the back that has 4 different kinds of physical radios that support a huge list of protocols/receivers even custom nRF (nordic radio) based stuff so it's pretty flexible (supports FrSky receivers and Spektrum). Uses two 18650 lithium cells for power so just need to get a cheap ($10-15) charger for those and a couple cells and you're good to go. If for whatever reason the 4 in 1 module doesn't have what you need (TBS Unify for long range for example) you can swap it out which is nice for some amount of future proofing and wide compatibility.

 

[miketuite]

I'm not much further advanced than you are but, before you spend $300+ on a drone, I'd suggest that you fly the $40 one until you're proficient with it. If you crash the cheap one, you'll crash the expensive one too. It will be more difficult to fly.

 

[wafflejock]

I'd agree you'll crash in either case when learning to fly but there is a certain point where the toy grade quadcopters are the thing that is holding you back from getting to be better because they do things without your knowledge/control. I think more advanced "hobby grade" stuff is a much steeper learning curve for configuring things and depending on the hardware/modes being used can also be a steep incline to learn to fly, but there are lots of guides and SIMULATORS that can make you good at flying FPV without destroying thousands of dollars worth of gear usually.

 

[RENOV8R]

I'm not much further advanced than you are but, before you spend $300+ on a drone, I'd suggest that you fly the $40 one until you're proficient with it. If you crash the cheap one, you'll crash the expensive one too. It will be more difficult to fly.

However, that "$300+" quad will be made of a much more high quality CF frame and will be able to take much more of a crash and will be much easier to repair. That cheap $40 drone will break if you look at it wrong