Drone Down!

No, motors don't matter, the range info is usually on the box so you know before you buy, if it's not ask or try to look at the specs on line, many U-Tube un-boxing videos have it, or most of the retailers like GearBest, Banggood, even E-bay will include the info in the product description.

Welcome to the learning curve
 
pdmike said:
So I'm flying it great, back and forth out in front of me, up and down, forward and back, always keeping it headed into what was a pretty stiff wind at times. I was even yawing it around to keep the rear facing me. I was laughing and scratching. Then, I thought I would venture a little farther afield. I moved it to the left, pushed it out, moved it up a bit - and the wind got it. Now, it's moving faster than I want it to, away from me. I ran the controls as best I could but it didn't seem to have any effect. Boom! Right into a huge, eucalyptus tree about 40 feet up and about 150 yards away from me.

Due to fences and distance, I had to make a car retrieve, so I got into my car and drove to where I had seen it go into the tree. Nothing on the ground. I looked all over. Nothing. I figured it was stuck up the tree somewhere. The leaves were too thick to allow me to see where it was.

I was about to give up when I thought, wait a minute - the quad is still on, I'm sure. I got the controller out and activated the motors. Sure enough! I could hear it up there somewhere, props whirring. To be sure, I turned it off. The whirring stopped. So now, I figured maybe I can fly it out of there. At first, it didn't work but after four or five tries, Boom! Here it comes, out of the tree as nice as can be.

However, now it is flying away from me, with the wind once again, and it's headed for another grove of trees. I had to stop it. I tried to land it but ran into a bit of trouble there. It came down faster than I wanted it to (I was in a bit of panic mode at that point) and, sadly, it was over asphalt at the time. When I retrieved it, one of the prop legs was disconnected from the body and I'm afraid I won't be able to get it back on.

So that was my day. Lesson learned. Don't let 'em get away from you in the first place and if you lose 'em in a tree, fly 'em out! Oh, yes - one more lesson learned: don't spend the big bucks on your first drone. This one was only $91.00. Think I will keep in that price range for a while until I get the full hang of this thing.
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Other than the body damage resulting from the crash, was it otherwise operational with the mechanical and electrical components salvageable?
 
With toys most ranges say 300' pfff.
Half that at least. Unless the antenna ain't tucked away. Try it, plonk it down then walk 300 yards. But don't point the tip of the Tx straight at it though.
 
pdmike said:
Why? It seemed like a good idea at the time.
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Don't mind Jackson, he's just not on the Syma bandwagon. ;)

The X8SC should be fine to learn with. It will have more range than you can use any time soon. It's 'old technology' to be sure, but holds up fine against a lot of newer quads.
 
Chuck said:
Other than the body damage resulting from the crash, was it otherwise operational with the mechanical and electrical components salvageable?
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Absolutely. I have not thrown it away because I can't bring myself to do it. The only question would be, did I damage one or more of the motors by spinning the props while it was up in the tree. Have an idea?
 
pdmike said:
Absolutely. I have not thrown it away because I can't bring myself to do it. The only question would be, did I damage one or more of the motors by spinning the props while it was up in the tree. Have an idea?
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Even if you did, replacement motors, gears, props, etc for a Syma X8 are ridiculously inexpensive and easily available on eBay. So are replacement body parts. Hold onto the original, as what isn't destroyed can go into a rebuild.
 
pdmike said:
Absolutely. I have not thrown it away because I can't bring myself to do it. The only question would be, did I damage one or more of the motors by spinning the props while it was up in the tree. Have an idea?
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Hang on to it and watch for replacement parts to become more available. Once the parts are easier to find you can replace what's broken and it will be in the air again.
 
I was like that. In fact I still got all the parts for 2 jjrc but decided the toys just didn't have the umph I wanted,
so I moved onto self builds after only about literally an hour of flight time on toys. I got to say it was more of a buzz flying @ 60mph. More responsive & a lot more robust. Like driving a Robin reliant,
It goes but it ain't a car is it.
 
Chuck said:
Even if you did, replacement motors, gears, props, etc for a Syma X8 are ridiculously inexpensive and easily available on eBay. So are replacement body parts. Hold onto the original, as what isn't destroyed can go into a rebuild.
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It wasn't the Syma that went down. It was an XK X300W and replacement parts for that sucker are not so easy to find but I did find what I need. Sadly, it is both the top half and the bottom half of the quad body, which means that I have to disassemble the damaged quad (which I did - took me about an hour), remove the guts and replace them into the new quad body - something I would have no idea whatsoever how to do. I'm not ready for building yet. Hell, I'm just learning how to fly for Pete's sake! The XK only cost $98.00 - it's not like I knocked down a Phantom 4 or something even more expensive. But I am saving all the parts.
 
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