Drones / Quadcopters / RC Flying Things / $25 toys

   #1  

Andy

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Partly inspired by Eric's Tragic Loss, I just got a pair of these for my kids to play with:

Viu6ymE.jpg


http://www.amazon.com/Boldclash-Original-Cheerson-CX-10C-6-Axis/dp/B015XBQ2SY

I ordered them last Thursday and they arrived via free shipping yesterday on Tuesday. Anyway, I'm pretty amazed what they can do, especially for the price. I've never flown anything R/C before so I didn't really know what to expect but they hover pretty decently with subtle inputs of the right stick required to keep them in place. There's certainly enough power to go way up, way fast. Here's a couple videos I made:

https://vid.me/TC5Q

https://vid.me/hcNn

For some reason, Youtube videos come out all choppy with nasty sounds even though I don't think any sound is recorded, Maybe there's secret Chinese spying technology getting in the way. Anyway, the promise of drone practice got my 4 year old to undress his jammies and completely dress himself this morning including boots and jacket so I'd say this was money well spent. :)
 
   #2  

Jef

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meh.com had these up a few times, I've purchased the ones without cameras. They crash a lot and break a lot. Good thing I got them for $10 a pop. They are a fun play toy.
 
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Andy

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Like Icarus, I flew too close to the (cloud shielded) sun and now Drone #1 ain't quite right. At least it captured video (turn down/off speakers):

https://vid.me/443M
 
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   #6  

DrPeter

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Well, its not under $25, but they do call it an RC flying thing, a Hexacopter ;)

- This one is a racer, FPV style..

Parts just came in, now all I need is the radio, FPV set-up, GPS unit and some time : :p

6KeABoI.jpg



2300kv motors, 6x3 carbon fiber
e49ER9n.jpg



The brains, flight controller...
N3TiefV.jpg





soL5nj8.jpg





drpeter
 
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vreihen

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Like Icarus, I flew too close to the (cloud shielded) sun and now Drone #1 ain't quite right. At least it captured video (turn down/off speakers):

https://vid.me/443M

It looks to me like it flew all the way to Australia, because everything was upside-down when it landed!!!!! ;)
 
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Flaps10

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Dr Peter,
A racer, eh?

So you can do pylon racing with other pukes that have racing drones? That might be a scream.
 
   #10  

DrPeter

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So you can do pylon racing with other pukes that have racing drones? That might be a scream.

- Need to start off in an open field I think...

But then, just the pylons that hold up the ceiling ;)


drpeter
 
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Andy

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After a crash, one of my motors wasn't working so I opened it up and found a broken wire (blurry red one of the right). A bit of solder later and it's back in business:

HyEIIop.jpg


Bonus: I didn't reinstall the four screws so it's totally faster now. :thanks:
 
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Flaps10

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- Need to start off in an open field I think...

But then, just the pylons that hold up the ceiling ;)

drpeter

I suddenly feel a huge gravitational pull on my wallet.
 
   #14  

DrPeter

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I suddenly feel a huge gravitational pull on my wallet.

- Actually it is not bad... parts are rather cheep.. and you can choose from a wide range of them.. plastic vs. carbon fiber, etc..

- It starts with the Argonaut 370mm frame, wife got it for me for Christmas :)

- Did not tell her about the other expenses it would take to get it in the air, lol.

She knows now ;)



Hey, it's cheaper than buying a real pylon racing plane.

Big time! Would love to do both... but if I crash in the drone, it hurts less...


Andy, want to race? :p




drpeter
 
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Flaps10

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FF to about 8:00 before it starts getting balls out. So you can't really tell by watching but a 60 degree bank is 2 Gs and an 80 degree bank is 5.76 G. He's dancing around in between for long stretches.

As for expense, huff a Merlin down low at 440 knots and it could cost you everything. "what balls he has"
 
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Flaps10

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Seriously, how much all up for a "good basic" FPV drone?

I was flying .35 powered control line combat when I was 8 and have years of r/c experience including placing well in fun fly competitions. I've watched electric r/c go from unworkable to preferable and know you can spend STUPID money on r/c. I've got a ton of gear but most of it will be too dated to use on this.

I'm down.

- Actually it is not bad... parts are rather cheep.. and you can choose from a wide range of them.. plastic vs. carbon fiber, etc..

- It starts with the Argonaut 370mm frame, wife got it for me for Christmas :)

- Did not tell her about the other expenses it would take to get it in the air, lol.

She knows now ;)





Big time! Would love to do both... but if I crash in the drone, it hurts less...


Andy, want to race? :p




drpeter
 
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Flaps10

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Yep. Shut up and take my money.
 
   #19  

DrPeter

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Seriously, how much all up for a "good basic" FPV drone?

I was flying .35 powered control line combat when I was 8 and have years of r/c experience including placing well in fun fly competitions. I've watched electric r/c go from unworkable to preferable and know you can spend STUPID money on r/c. I've got a ton of gear but most of it will be too dated to use on this.


Nice, I had a few line control .049s and RC planes too.

- Well to answer your question, you can go real cheep like Andy did... lol

But from there I would say if you 'buy' an FPV multi-rotor - around $145, it would be a better way to get into the hobby.

Hubsan X4 FPV


- I bought that for my son and that is where it all started... lol Yep, he lost interest and I started to play with it.
At first I was playing it when no one was looking, you know, it looks like a kids toy, but the more I fly it the more I was like, 'Hey this is cool' and the better I got.
- It is a nice little flyer, small so wind does affect it, it has limited range too.

So now I have decided to build my own.

I have found this link to help fill in the gaps I may have left out, not an expert on this .. yet :p...
https://fpvracing.tv/guides/beginners



But this is from my experiences, see below...

The frame costs vary, there are different 'classifications' based on the width of the frame. You can go Tri-copter, Quad-Copter, Hex-copter, and so on...
- They are all considered multi-rotors

Cheap racer frame is around $30 200mm size uses 4-5" props 250mm (popular) $10 bucks more. Some are stupid money $200-300+ Blackout Mini Spider Hex Do not get me wrong, nice frame, but $200+

- So add motors 3 or 4 or 6 X $15 to $40+
- Props $1 to $10 each
- Flight controller Basic = $25
- An Advanced Flight controller that allows you to adds all the bells and whistles, like GPS, compass, altimeter, compass, sonar, in flight telemetry, etc = $53
- Radio transmitter and receiver 2.4ghz = $225
- FPV (First Person View) Goggles, camera and transmitter = Starts at $200

oh yea, and the $5 to the FAA now for the registration fee for Aircraft Registration: Unmanned Aircraft (UA)

So add all this up and you could be starting at around $500 up to $700+ (less for used radios and equipment)
- I have seen deals on Craigslist from folks who thought they wanted to get into the sport ;)

- Now you do not need the FPV setup at first and you can customize the aircraft to fit your needs and budget. So if you were to be into photography, spend the money on a camera gimbal.

To date I am at around $300, so when it is all said and done I will have $500 to 600 into it.




hope this helps

drpeter
 
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   #20  

Andy

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Close encounters of the ceiling cat kind:

https://vid.me/DSXo

Also some snow this morning:

https://vid.me/4oVM

Two nice features of these cheap-ass drones:

1) When it runs out of range of the controller it loses power so hopefully no fly away situations.
2) When the battery gets low the lights on each corner blink and the video recording gracefully turns itself off, resulting in usable videos.
 
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