An Argument for RTF

SMP

SMP

Member
Guess we've flown the 550 about 20-30 packs or so...

And we've chased guys on bikes, chased dumptrucks, chased cars, inspected huge piles of garbage, chased lizards at two feet above the ground, flown high enough to get scared, got some great panoramas up there, tested the range limits of our FPV gear, flew far enough away to outrun our radio once, flown LOS, FPV and tripped a bit with some goggle flights, ordered some FPV antennas to push the range out a bit, can do tight enough circles overhead around our truck to make the wife duck, am starting to play with manual mode to fly a bit harder, have no doubt that we'll bury that 550 sooner rather than later BUT.... what we haven't had to do is, search the forums for gains or settings or troubleshooting or parts lists etc...

Now, I'm tinkering like crazy on the AD6 and I like to solder as much as the next guy and we've been pestering the **** outta Kloner of long range FPV and yup we cant wait to build our own FPV long range pile o parts so I really do get the build it yourself bug AND the knowledge that comes from that. But at the same time, because we went pure RTF from Patrick at aerialmediapros everything works and we just plug the batteries in! Toss a ground station box, a battery box and the heli into the truck and we go flying. And we giggle like mad, and then we come home, download the crap footage, watch it over a Captain and Coke and giggle like mad again. That's not a bad gig.
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
SMP said:
...can do tight enough circles overhead around our truck to make the wife duck...
Click to expand...

+1 :highly_amused:

I guess you just do it the way it should be done....HAVE FUN WITH THAT DAMN THING...the knowledge will be picked up on the way as you need it....no need to fill your head with crap you might only need maybe in 6 month....

Chris
 

jforkner

jforkner

Member
Last edited by a moderator:

SMP

SMP

Member
Sorry mate, didn't mean to offend :) I concur, it's nice to be able to be in a position to be able to go RTF and I'm very grateful I'm in that position. Absolutely not trying to sound superior quite the contrary what I'm suggesting is that RTF is definitely a much faster path to flying and in some cases, particularly for the non mechanically inclined like myself, it MAY actually be a better value despite the higher price.

I also recognize the other side of the coin in that building something gives you a much more intimate understanding of how things work and building is tons of fun as a hobby! We're excited!! We bought the RTFs to go flying and we're gonna build a "Kloner" FPV to get into the tinkering side as well. Good times all around.

Not trying to be an A$$ mate ;)
 


SMP

SMP

Member
No worries Jack you didn't overreact at all ;) In actuality, your point hit the nail on the head!! Although I didn't articulate it well, the point really was, "Is RTF really expensive or is avoiding the learning curve, soldering mistakes, setup frustrations and leveraging experienced builder expertise etc actually worth the extra money?"

As MR's become ever popular most build threads are either 450/TBS builds (Hobby) or Red Lifters (Business), because we are in a market with zero penetration we chose RTF exclusively. We chose a very experienced builder who flies exactly what we need. Obviously we're pretty happy. The downside is 3-4 Coronas in while tinkering with the Gimbal on the hex I plugged a connector in backwards and let the smoke out of a little blue board. Pretty sure I just fried a rcvr, skyline, stratosnapper AND the little blue board with the burnt plastic smell and the cherynobl fused parts and pieces. So... I call my RTF guy, he talks me through wtf I did and then prepares another idiot client care package. Point being; in NO WAY am I qualified to build my own Heavy Lifter. If I'm not smart enough not to drink and drive a gimbal and I don't know that the little blue board is actually a BEC (I am now a Bec expert, ask me anything, google has armed me to the teeth) and if I burn up a 2.50 cent component out of ignorance and a fairly straight forward mistake then maybe I'm not ready to build/lift a 10,000 dollar rig and a 25,000 dollar camera. Point being... in my case RTF is a helluva value despite the price point ;) ;) We are fortunate in that we have several retail builders here who have tons of experience building quality machines, flying their same product in their businesses, have already done the Ecalcs, the gains, the prop analysis etc and are in reality selling their experience and expertise in a solution that already works. In other words RTF is never the cheapest price but may be the lowest total cost.

Love a healthy counterpoint and appreciate the response ;) All good mate!! :)
 

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