Rc Reviewer
Member
Hey guys, this is my review of the brand new, hot on the market GTeng T906W mini RC Quadcopter. I received this item from Gearbest, and I recommend everyone to check it out. Here is the product page, where a lot more technical information and pricing is available:
https://goo.gl/0u3cIb
To start off, this item came in simple but good quality packaging. It was not damaged at all. There are a few components included, and I will be discussing all of them.
First of all, there are four spare propellers included, two for each pitch type. Since the drone does not come with any sort of propeller guards, these extra propellers are quite useful and do come in handy. They are identical to the propellers preinstalled on the quadcopter, as they are black and made of flexible plastic. This helps absorb impact from crashes and prevents damage to the body of the drone. The flexibility also comes in handy for another reason: when you crash, instead of snapping, the propellers simply bend a little and can easily be bent back into place. To install the extra propellers, you simply match up the pitch types, then twist and tug the preinstalled ones off and firmly push the extras into place.
Also included is the charging cable and battery. The battery is non removable, and is housed in the underbelly of the quadcopter. It is a one cell, 3.7 volt, 200 mAh lithium polymer (Lipo) battery. One negative aspect present in almost every nano quadcopter is that most batteries are not removable, meaning you cannot buy extras to keep flying for longer. Keeping that in mind, this quad does fly for almost five minutes, which actually puts it at the upper end for micro quadcopters. The charger is a simple USB cable that plugs into the quadcopter on one end and your USB wall adapter, power bank, or input port on your computer from the other end. When the battery is finished charging, the head of the USB charging cable will light up red, letting you know that the drone is ready for use. A full charge takes just under half an hour to transpire.
Moving on, the User’s manual is also included. It is a simple, black and white, single sheet of paper, but I found it to be very useful, as this quadcopter has so many features that in the beginning, it is hard to remember what does exactly what. The manual covers most of it, including how to use the application that is needed. Speaking of the application, it is jammed pack full of new and surprisingly innovative features, at least at this price point. The app is obviously free, and is available on the apple and android app stores. You can download it on any tablet or smartphone, and even the iPod touch. To get it, you simply scan the QR code on the manual, and it takes you right to the application. Alternatively, you can do a simple search for Gteng, and the app should show up. Downloading is quick and easy, and only takes a minute.
To use the app, which you have to do, for FPV, you simply turn on the drone, set it down, and then connect to its Wi-Fi in your mobile settings. Once you have done this, you select VGA from the two options presented on the homepage of the application. A live stream of Wi-Fi fpv from the quadcopter will immediately show up on screen. Also, a multitude of buttons at the top of the screen, two control sticks in the middle, and two trim options at the bottom will present themselves. Mode two and mode one are both available, depending on the flyer’s preference. To take a picture, you click the camera icon in the top left corner. Tapping the button next to it will start and stop the video recorder. Both the camera and the videos are stored to your camera roll automatically, where you can go back to view them. Before taking off and after a crash, I recommend hitting the recalibration button so the mini drone can reset itself. There is also an option to rotate the screen to portrait mode. To initiate altitude hold, and to start the motors, you simply tap on the dedicated button. There is also an automatic takeoff and landing button, as well as an emergency stop button to shut off the motors in case you crash. If you click the top right button, a few different options will pop up from under it. One is a button to rotate the camera, which I could not find use for, but it is there. Also, there is a 3 modes switch button, which rotates between 30, 60, and 100% after each click. When you are flying indoor from the fpv stream, I would recommend leaving the quadcopter at 30%, so that the controls are more dampened and it doesn’t take you by surprise and go zooming into the wall with a slight adjustment. Outdoors, 100% is neccesarry, as it gives the quadcopter the needed power and pitch angle to fight the wind. There is also another option for splitting the screen. Normally, by default the controls are laid over the video stream. With the split screen option, you can isolate all the controls to one side and have a clear view of the fpv on the side of the screen, which I preferred doing, especially when using a tablet. There is also a gravity sensor controlling option. To activate this, first set the smartphone or tablet on a level surface so it can calibrate the gyros correctly. Then, click the third button from the right, and the drone will enter into G-sensor mode. In this mode, throttle and yaw are still controlled via touch interface, but the pitch and roll movement of the drone is now entirely dependent upon how you move your controller. Tilting forward will give the quad forward pitch, tilting to the left will give it roll to the left, and likewise. This takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you will find it very entertaining. The controls in this mode are definitely not as precise, though, so I would recommend this more for line of sight flying instead of fpv.
Just like a lot of other quadcopters, headless mode is also included. To activate it, simply tap the button dedicated to it. I found that headless mode was quite useful, as this small quadcopter can get touchy, especially with yaw movement. You can also use the transmitter that is included to control the drone and use your screen exclusively for video streaming, which I would prefer. The controller is advertised as taking 2 AA batteries, and it is 2.4 Ghz.
Now, on to the quadcopter itself. It has the standard 6 axis stabilization and 4 channel controls. Since it is a mini quadcopter, it is only 2 inches from propeller tip to tip. The whole canopy of the quadcopter is black, and it has a nice silver decal on the top with the branding of the manufacturer. As mentioned on the product page, it is only 11 grams, which is very lightweight. This gives the quadcopter better performance in terms of power and maneuverability. It does use brushed motors, but they perform well and do not get very hot, even after a full run.
The effective range of the controller is about 50 feet. In a crowded house, the FPV range maxes out at about 30 feet, while outdoors, the full 50 feet is when the video stream gets choppy. It does use Wi-Fi FPV, so you may experience random dropouts from time to time. The FPV antenna sticks out from the bottom but is laid close to the body, so it isn't to noticeable. The drone has nice, bright LEDs in the landing legs, blue in the front and red in the back. They are housed in a stylus type- style protective covering, which provide protection for the landing legs. The LED lights help with orientation quite a lot, and they give it an alien sort of look, what with the big camera lens on the front, which sort of looks like an eye. The camera records in 720p, but when it is sent to the FPV stream, it interpolates to a non-HD quality recording. The sole purpose of the camera is to fly FPV, and it is pretty good at that. However, you obviously won't be getting great quality video, especially since the onboard footage is recorded to your phone, as there is no SD card slot on the drone itself. The flying characteristics of the quad are typical of a small FPV quadcopter: as long as you don't go too heavy on the sticks, it will be quite stable and steady. It will take a while to recover if you are travelling full pitch forward for a while, and it will drift for 10 feet or so.
This was my full review of the Gteng T906W mini rc quadcopter. Check out the product page for more information, including pricing:
https://goo.gl/0u3cIb
Here is my short demonstration flight:
Now, this exact same drone is also available in another version: the Gteng T906W-1. It has a couple of more advanced feautures:
One neat capability this quadcopter has is its ability to follow a pre-set line drawn by you on your device. Once you have entered the required flight mode, you can draw a route that the quadcopter will then attempt to follow. This feature is unique to very few drones on the market, and I do not believe any other nano has this ability. Also advertised with this multirotor is the ability to follow basic voice commands. I vaguely remember an rc helicopter with the same capability, but products that can actually pull it off are not very commonplace. Yet another factor that sets this drone apart from other ones in the same price category is its ability to follow the controller. All you have to do is turn on the GPS on your smartphone or tablet, then switch on the app and go to the recommended flight mode. It will then follow the GPS signal emitted from the controller, meaning it will be following the pilot. This version is available on Gearbest here, and it is only a little more pricy:
http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_435860.html
I hope my review was informative and helped you make a purchasing decision. I am looking forward to producing more high quality reviews for Gearbest in the future.
https://goo.gl/0u3cIb
To start off, this item came in simple but good quality packaging. It was not damaged at all. There are a few components included, and I will be discussing all of them.
First of all, there are four spare propellers included, two for each pitch type. Since the drone does not come with any sort of propeller guards, these extra propellers are quite useful and do come in handy. They are identical to the propellers preinstalled on the quadcopter, as they are black and made of flexible plastic. This helps absorb impact from crashes and prevents damage to the body of the drone. The flexibility also comes in handy for another reason: when you crash, instead of snapping, the propellers simply bend a little and can easily be bent back into place. To install the extra propellers, you simply match up the pitch types, then twist and tug the preinstalled ones off and firmly push the extras into place.
Also included is the charging cable and battery. The battery is non removable, and is housed in the underbelly of the quadcopter. It is a one cell, 3.7 volt, 200 mAh lithium polymer (Lipo) battery. One negative aspect present in almost every nano quadcopter is that most batteries are not removable, meaning you cannot buy extras to keep flying for longer. Keeping that in mind, this quad does fly for almost five minutes, which actually puts it at the upper end for micro quadcopters. The charger is a simple USB cable that plugs into the quadcopter on one end and your USB wall adapter, power bank, or input port on your computer from the other end. When the battery is finished charging, the head of the USB charging cable will light up red, letting you know that the drone is ready for use. A full charge takes just under half an hour to transpire.
Moving on, the User’s manual is also included. It is a simple, black and white, single sheet of paper, but I found it to be very useful, as this quadcopter has so many features that in the beginning, it is hard to remember what does exactly what. The manual covers most of it, including how to use the application that is needed. Speaking of the application, it is jammed pack full of new and surprisingly innovative features, at least at this price point. The app is obviously free, and is available on the apple and android app stores. You can download it on any tablet or smartphone, and even the iPod touch. To get it, you simply scan the QR code on the manual, and it takes you right to the application. Alternatively, you can do a simple search for Gteng, and the app should show up. Downloading is quick and easy, and only takes a minute.
To use the app, which you have to do, for FPV, you simply turn on the drone, set it down, and then connect to its Wi-Fi in your mobile settings. Once you have done this, you select VGA from the two options presented on the homepage of the application. A live stream of Wi-Fi fpv from the quadcopter will immediately show up on screen. Also, a multitude of buttons at the top of the screen, two control sticks in the middle, and two trim options at the bottom will present themselves. Mode two and mode one are both available, depending on the flyer’s preference. To take a picture, you click the camera icon in the top left corner. Tapping the button next to it will start and stop the video recorder. Both the camera and the videos are stored to your camera roll automatically, where you can go back to view them. Before taking off and after a crash, I recommend hitting the recalibration button so the mini drone can reset itself. There is also an option to rotate the screen to portrait mode. To initiate altitude hold, and to start the motors, you simply tap on the dedicated button. There is also an automatic takeoff and landing button, as well as an emergency stop button to shut off the motors in case you crash. If you click the top right button, a few different options will pop up from under it. One is a button to rotate the camera, which I could not find use for, but it is there. Also, there is a 3 modes switch button, which rotates between 30, 60, and 100% after each click. When you are flying indoor from the fpv stream, I would recommend leaving the quadcopter at 30%, so that the controls are more dampened and it doesn’t take you by surprise and go zooming into the wall with a slight adjustment. Outdoors, 100% is neccesarry, as it gives the quadcopter the needed power and pitch angle to fight the wind. There is also another option for splitting the screen. Normally, by default the controls are laid over the video stream. With the split screen option, you can isolate all the controls to one side and have a clear view of the fpv on the side of the screen, which I preferred doing, especially when using a tablet. There is also a gravity sensor controlling option. To activate this, first set the smartphone or tablet on a level surface so it can calibrate the gyros correctly. Then, click the third button from the right, and the drone will enter into G-sensor mode. In this mode, throttle and yaw are still controlled via touch interface, but the pitch and roll movement of the drone is now entirely dependent upon how you move your controller. Tilting forward will give the quad forward pitch, tilting to the left will give it roll to the left, and likewise. This takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you will find it very entertaining. The controls in this mode are definitely not as precise, though, so I would recommend this more for line of sight flying instead of fpv.
Just like a lot of other quadcopters, headless mode is also included. To activate it, simply tap the button dedicated to it. I found that headless mode was quite useful, as this small quadcopter can get touchy, especially with yaw movement. You can also use the transmitter that is included to control the drone and use your screen exclusively for video streaming, which I would prefer. The controller is advertised as taking 2 AA batteries, and it is 2.4 Ghz.
Now, on to the quadcopter itself. It has the standard 6 axis stabilization and 4 channel controls. Since it is a mini quadcopter, it is only 2 inches from propeller tip to tip. The whole canopy of the quadcopter is black, and it has a nice silver decal on the top with the branding of the manufacturer. As mentioned on the product page, it is only 11 grams, which is very lightweight. This gives the quadcopter better performance in terms of power and maneuverability. It does use brushed motors, but they perform well and do not get very hot, even after a full run.
The effective range of the controller is about 50 feet. In a crowded house, the FPV range maxes out at about 30 feet, while outdoors, the full 50 feet is when the video stream gets choppy. It does use Wi-Fi FPV, so you may experience random dropouts from time to time. The FPV antenna sticks out from the bottom but is laid close to the body, so it isn't to noticeable. The drone has nice, bright LEDs in the landing legs, blue in the front and red in the back. They are housed in a stylus type- style protective covering, which provide protection for the landing legs. The LED lights help with orientation quite a lot, and they give it an alien sort of look, what with the big camera lens on the front, which sort of looks like an eye. The camera records in 720p, but when it is sent to the FPV stream, it interpolates to a non-HD quality recording. The sole purpose of the camera is to fly FPV, and it is pretty good at that. However, you obviously won't be getting great quality video, especially since the onboard footage is recorded to your phone, as there is no SD card slot on the drone itself. The flying characteristics of the quad are typical of a small FPV quadcopter: as long as you don't go too heavy on the sticks, it will be quite stable and steady. It will take a while to recover if you are travelling full pitch forward for a while, and it will drift for 10 feet or so.
This was my full review of the Gteng T906W mini rc quadcopter. Check out the product page for more information, including pricing:
https://goo.gl/0u3cIb
Here is my short demonstration flight:
Now, this exact same drone is also available in another version: the Gteng T906W-1. It has a couple of more advanced feautures:
One neat capability this quadcopter has is its ability to follow a pre-set line drawn by you on your device. Once you have entered the required flight mode, you can draw a route that the quadcopter will then attempt to follow. This feature is unique to very few drones on the market, and I do not believe any other nano has this ability. Also advertised with this multirotor is the ability to follow basic voice commands. I vaguely remember an rc helicopter with the same capability, but products that can actually pull it off are not very commonplace. Yet another factor that sets this drone apart from other ones in the same price category is its ability to follow the controller. All you have to do is turn on the GPS on your smartphone or tablet, then switch on the app and go to the recommended flight mode. It will then follow the GPS signal emitted from the controller, meaning it will be following the pilot. This version is available on Gearbest here, and it is only a little more pricy:
http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_435860.html
I hope my review was informative and helped you make a purchasing decision. I am looking forward to producing more high quality reviews for Gearbest in the future.