My first drone: Syma X8SW

Paul H.

Paul H.

New Member
I'm new to drones and to joysticks (outside of a video game), but saw the Syma X8SW on Amazon as a daily deal for about half price, so indulged my midlife-crisis gene. *Then* I joined up & started reading all the newbie posts, where y'all are advising "Put the expensive one away! Buy a cheapie that you won't mind losing/shredding/drowning!"

Well. Hrm. Too late. Too excited. So, after struggling to put the props on -- is that a common issue w/ Syma? -- it flies. Big drone! Touchy controls! Excellent leaf shredder! Embarrassing (but not damaging) crashes! Finally: I can actually stay off the ground long enough to drain a battery!

Like (evidently) many other Syma owners, had an issue getting the WiFi to work w/ my Motorola cellphone. Modified the network, all that, but resetting the network to factory *finally* worked.

I wish mightily that it had auto-return. I dunno if or when I'll be brave enough to fly by FPV alone, since I hear that there's a 'lag' issue. Not too many wide-open spaces 'round these parts. (North NJ. Don't believe the propaganda: Lotsa woods up here.)

Exit question: How many drones do you all own? Some posters say "many". Why?
 
Paul H. said:
I'm new to drones and to joysticks (outside of a video game), but saw the Syma X8SW on Amazon as a daily deal for about half price, so indulged my midlife-crisis gene. *Then* I joined up & started reading all the newbie posts, where y'all are advising "Put the expensive one away! Buy a cheapie that you won't mind losing/shredding/drowning!"

Well. Hrm. Too late. Too excited. So, after struggling to put the props on -- is that a common issue w/ Syma? -- it flies. Big drone! Touchy controls! Excellent leaf shredder! Embarrassing (but not damaging) crashes! Finally: I can actually stay off the ground long enough to drain a battery!

Like (evidently) many other Syma owners, had an issue getting the WiFi to work w/ my Motorola cellphone. Modified the network, all that, but resetting the network to factory *finally* worked.

I wish mightily that it had auto-return. I dunno if or when I'll be brave enough to fly by FPV alone, since I hear that there's a 'lag' issue. Not too many wide-open spaces 'round these parts. (North NJ. Don't believe the propaganda: Lotsa woods up here.)

Exit question: How many drones do you all own? Some posters say "many". Why?
Click to expand...

The X8SW is a nice flyer and a good quad to learn on, but the WiFi FPV is basically useless. You also run some risk of the FPV signal interfering with the control signal, since they are in the same band. If you ditch the camera you have a wonderful little quad to learn to fly with.

As for how many...can I take the 5th? As for why, I like flying a camera quad sometimes for good quality photos and video, so I have a Phantom 4. I enjoy flying line of sight, so I have several quads with no (or optional) camera, from an MJX Bugs 3 to a couple of Syma's (including an X5SW that I never used the camera on). I like flying FPV inside the house, so I have a couple of "tiny whoop" brushed FPV quads. I like flying must faster FPV outside, so I have a couple of brushless 100mm-sized FPV racers. I also used to like flying RC heli's, so I recently picked up a basic "learner" heli to see if it's still fun and I might like to get back into it. *facepalm*

I'm still a bit of a rookie on the brushless FPV flyers, so I pay close attention when the more experienced guys in that area give advice. o_O
 
My first "real" quad was a syma x8c, IMO one of THE best to learn line of site flying.

Since then it's been many different FPV quads including my last purchase, the LDARC GT 200, yee haa!!!

Welcome to the forum, if you love quadcopters you're in the right place!!
 
I had expensive DJI stuff a few years back, I now have a dozen or so wifi fpv's and a few GPS lower end models. My Promark P70 is essentially the same as the Syma and I'm having loss of signal issues with that one, almost flew off a few times.
 
Is there any way to shield the quad from the wifi interference? back in the day when the QX350 was out they gave you a copper type shield for the go pro case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top