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Insoxicated
From the guy who brought you the "Ultimate last minute $30 Gift" thread with the Syma 107 Microcopter that has provided many FBGs endless hours of indoor fun...
Check out the "new" Syma x5c Quadcopter with HD Camera for $51 shipped w/ Amazon Prime
Just got it yesterday (testing a quadcopter with cam for a low-budget video production I've got coming up) and have been tinkering with it a bit. Flying control/experience is similar to the mini copters, but it's much more powerful. Standard two stick / 4 channel controls apply... left stick up/down is your throttle/altitude. left/right is your rudder/spin. Right stick up/down is your pitch (nose up/down) and left/right is your roll (tilt left/right). Very responsive for the money, IMO.
Outside performance is great, even in light to moderate winds. Range is considerable given it's a 2.4Ghz controller... you can expect 50-100 meters depending on outside interference. I've gotten mine far enough that it wasn't easy to determine orientation and it was still in my control.
The on-board HD video camera is pretty slick. Sample video here. You're not going to be shooting any hollywood productions, but for the price it's quite remarkable. This is NOT a FPV (first person video) enabled quad, meaning you can't view live video as it flies, though that feature is available on other slightly more expensive models if you would like it.
Controlling the camera to shoot video/photos is simple and done remotely via the controller on the fly... meaning you don't have to start recording on the ground, but you can grab short snippets of your flight as you see fit. File format is AVI and pretty universally/easily read by any computer. The camera shoots on a removable Micro SDcard. It comes with a 2GB card which will only hold a couple mins of footage. If you're looking to upgrade, get a class 4 (not above) micro-SD card of up to 32GB in size. Outside that and you're risking it not working.
Unlike the Syma 107 copter, the x5c uses removable batteries.
This means you're not quite as bound to the 7-10min flight times. Land the quad/drone when the underside LED lights flash to alert to low power, pop open the belly of the case, swap batteries, and take off again. Higher-capacity batteries can be found on amazon for $15-20 for a 4 pack with a charger that will charge all 4 at once. Only concern is the brushless motors need time to cool... so running more than 2-3 batteries consecutively without allowing them to cool may lead to burn out. Replacement motors are $2-4 each though.
Overall performance is great, though. A blast to fly during the day, or at night (via bright underside LED lights of two different colors to aid in orientation). Note: Video performance at night is non-existent in unlit areas. There is even a "flip" botton on top right corner of the controller that when pressed, will cause the quad to perform a flip in whichever direction the right stick is next pressed. When done at reasonable altitude, the gyro-enabled unit easily/automatically recovers from the flip. Last night on my 3rd flight with the copter I was easily heading in one direction, then using the flip to help change direction, then coming out of the flip heading in the other direction... a 3D U-turn of sorts.
DURABILITY: you're going to crash it a lot at first....and that's okay. This thing is feather light, and is designed to take a beating. I've bounced it off asphalt 10-15 times already without any damage. If you're concerned, your first few flights may want to be over grass to minimize damage. This thing is TOUGH though.
Learning to Fly a Quad/Drone : Quadcopter 101
Check out the "new" Syma x5c Quadcopter with HD Camera for $51 shipped w/ Amazon Prime
Just got it yesterday (testing a quadcopter with cam for a low-budget video production I've got coming up) and have been tinkering with it a bit. Flying control/experience is similar to the mini copters, but it's much more powerful. Standard two stick / 4 channel controls apply... left stick up/down is your throttle/altitude. left/right is your rudder/spin. Right stick up/down is your pitch (nose up/down) and left/right is your roll (tilt left/right). Very responsive for the money, IMO.
Outside performance is great, even in light to moderate winds. Range is considerable given it's a 2.4Ghz controller... you can expect 50-100 meters depending on outside interference. I've gotten mine far enough that it wasn't easy to determine orientation and it was still in my control.
The on-board HD video camera is pretty slick. Sample video here. You're not going to be shooting any hollywood productions, but for the price it's quite remarkable. This is NOT a FPV (first person video) enabled quad, meaning you can't view live video as it flies, though that feature is available on other slightly more expensive models if you would like it.
Controlling the camera to shoot video/photos is simple and done remotely via the controller on the fly... meaning you don't have to start recording on the ground, but you can grab short snippets of your flight as you see fit. File format is AVI and pretty universally/easily read by any computer. The camera shoots on a removable Micro SDcard. It comes with a 2GB card which will only hold a couple mins of footage. If you're looking to upgrade, get a class 4 (not above) micro-SD card of up to 32GB in size. Outside that and you're risking it not working.
Unlike the Syma 107 copter, the x5c uses removable batteries.
This means you're not quite as bound to the 7-10min flight times. Land the quad/drone when the underside LED lights flash to alert to low power, pop open the belly of the case, swap batteries, and take off again. Higher-capacity batteries can be found on amazon for $15-20 for a 4 pack with a charger that will charge all 4 at once. Only concern is the brushless motors need time to cool... so running more than 2-3 batteries consecutively without allowing them to cool may lead to burn out. Replacement motors are $2-4 each though. Overall performance is great, though. A blast to fly during the day, or at night (via bright underside LED lights of two different colors to aid in orientation). Note: Video performance at night is non-existent in unlit areas. There is even a "flip" botton on top right corner of the controller that when pressed, will cause the quad to perform a flip in whichever direction the right stick is next pressed. When done at reasonable altitude, the gyro-enabled unit easily/automatically recovers from the flip. Last night on my 3rd flight with the copter I was easily heading in one direction, then using the flip to help change direction, then coming out of the flip heading in the other direction... a 3D U-turn of sorts.
DURABILITY: you're going to crash it a lot at first....and that's okay.
This thing is feather light, and is designed to take a beating. I've bounced it off asphalt 10-15 times already without any damage. If you're concerned, your first few flights may want to be over grass to minimize damage. This thing is TOUGH though.Learning to Fly a Quad/Drone : Quadcopter 101
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:christo:
dork
on better units. On cheaper versions, Wifi is used to send a signal to a smart/phone or tablet. Wifi is known to be laggy with limited range/reliability and should probably be avoided.
next time on Cheaters...
