Ventures into the 4th dimension!

L

lazylathe

Member
Finally a forum dedicated to all types of quads!
Last forum i joined and asked what a good beginners quad would be, i was answered with a custom built FPV drone racer style beast! A bit out of a newbies league i would imagine...

Anyway, moving on!
I ordered a Syma X5C-1 today!
There are both good and bad reviews for this quad but i am quite happy with it being my first quad to learn on. Ultimately i would love to build my own quad for FPV but that is way in the future!

Good to be here and i will update when it arrives!
 
It's a fine first choice. Hopefully you ordered a few spare parts, motors and props at least. As far as batteries you can also get bigger ones, 600 -720mAh that will fit. A word to the wise, be very careful with the little screws on the props, don't lose them, spares are near impossible to get. Some good info info here.

http://quadcopter101.blogspot.com/2013/10/chapter-1-introduction-to-quadcopters.html

Welcome to the forum.
 
Thanks!
I did order some spare parts like extra rotors and a few 650mAh battery packs.
I was not sure about the motors but will look into that and also see if there are any upgraded motors available.

Great link!
I will be spending a lot of time there reading and learning.
 
Since my Syma is being shipped and it is the weekend after all...
I decided to visit a hobby store in town!
My plan was an Estes Proto X to fly inside but when i arrived they had a choice!!!

So i went with the KODO Dromida micro quad with camera.
Bought a spare battery as well.

Batteries are charging as i type...
Will be back later with an update!
 
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Videos... Well maybe not yet!

First few flights were very blah... All my fault i figured out later!
Second day i decided i needed more room to practise in so i moved into the garage. Double car, no ceiling so it was ideal!
Awesome flights! Very stable, able to do flips and rolls, turn left and rotate smoothly.
This is awesome!!
I can only imagine how much fun these are outdoors in calm weather!

Very excited for the Syma to arrive now!!
 
Update time!

So the X5C-1 finally arrived!! Spare batteries arrived before quad, so they got charged up and waited patiently.
The original battery is 500mAh and i bought 2 650mAh spares hoping for longer flight times.

First things first! Being a newbie i installed the prop guards and removed the camera, will be replaced once i can fly correctly.
Flight times were around 7 minutes as i was doing multiple flips, spins and anything else i could get it to do.
It was a lot of fun as i found a large open field that had just been nicely cut!

For starters i just flew forward and backwards, trying to maintain the same altitude with a small upward curve at either end when changing direction.
Then we went left to right. changing the quads orientation and also just hovered around fine tuning things.
Next fly day the prop protectors are also coming off!! This quad is so stable and easy to fly!!

I have now ordered a bunch of 750mAh batteries and a charger to keep me practising for longer!

The KODO also came along but it is just too small to fly in any sort of breeze effectively.
It just went straight up and then rolled and flipped it all the way down! Lots of fun as well but not much learnt...

Are there any recommendations for my next quad?
Would also like to go RTF this time but something that has more zip and speed to it and can handle light breezes better.
I was thinking of the LaTrax Alias or the Dromida Ominus but am open to any suggestions!
I am not ready or set up for a kit build just quite yet!

This is going to be a dangerous hobby!!!
I like it!!
 
Awesome flights tonight!!
Weather was perfect and the quad was amazing!!

I stripped the prop guards off, then the extra landing gear came off as well.
The camera is still off for now and when i get it reconnected i will make different struts to hold the camera off the ground.

With the stock battery i got 18 minutes of flight time, slight breeze that got stronger the higher i flew.
My wife came with and i was doing flips and speed runs and just having fun!
All of a sudden it dropped from the sky!
No flashing LED warning or anything, which was odd... Luckily i was only about 2 feet off soft grass.

Then i remembered that there was a LOW and HIGH setting on the Tx, so into high we went!
The tame shrew turned into a raging rat! WOW this thing is zippy when flown in High!!!
Take off was awesome and the angle of attack was pretty impressive!
Zip, zip all over the place and then i landed and my heart was pounding!!!
Back to beginner mode again.
I think i will keep HIGH for weekends and not after a stressful days work just quite yet!

Been looking the the Dromida Ominus plus Aliasupgraded shafts and props all day.... Not hit "Add to cart" just quite yet...
 
After a few flights i am starting to notice a few things and would love to know what i am doing wrong or if it is the flight characteristics of the X5C-1.

In LOW mode:
When i go in one direction and then want to change, there is always a large arc at the end.
How can i flatten this so as not to waste so much time turning around?
Seems unresponsive or sluggish, so i think it is the software restraints.

In HIGH mode:
Doing high speed passes one end of the quad is tilted in the direction of movement and when i release the stick, it continues in that direction and angle without correcting.
I presume this is because of the HIGH mode and it requires more user input to correct?
It also has an arc at the end but not as large as in LOW mode.

I have a Alias LaTrax arriving soon and want to test it on all its settings as i think the highest setting allows more user input and should alleviate these issues, i hope.
To me it feels like the X5C-1 quad is too "safe" and it does not allow the pilot to step out of the box, more so it provides an illusion by allowing us to change modes.
Not used to flying something that self corrects all the time as i find i am not learning too much.

Hope the questions make sense!
 
Alias has arrived and almost immediately trumped the Syma X5C-1!
It is twitchy and just itching to rip away into the sky like a demon!

I think the X5C-1 was a great quad to start with and i will continue to fly it and practise as i want to try out the camera and videos.
I will update with pics and video as it happens!
 
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