Greetings everyone, another RC Noob here :nevreness:. I got into this stuff about 6 months ago when I saw an advertisement for the AR Drone. I bought one and have been having fun with it but lets face it, the AR Drone is like a gateway drug. Once you try it you just want more. I knew pretty quick after I started flying the drone that I was going to want to progress to a real RC quad, but since I knew absolutely nothing about RC I figured I'd best get reading & watching videos, So I've been practically living on youtube and RC Forums ever since.
Let me tell you, for those of you who came over from other type of RC aircraft and are commenting how daunting this stuff must be for a total noob, let me tell you.. IT IS! At first I had no idea what anybody was talking about. What the hell is a DJI Naza? ESC? Is that the escape key on my computer? Huh? Quadrino who? TX. RX. FPV. Spektrum. Futaba. Fatshark. Honest to Christ I thought I was reading Hebrew or something. Well, I know I've got a LONG way to go, but at least I'm starting to make sense of some of this stuff.
So anyway, my next step is to pick out a quad. I've already decided I'm going to get a RTF. I know that probably goes against the advice of some folks in here, but I think I really want to see how one is supposed to look and work before I try to build one myself. That being said I had to figure out a few important things, like how much money I want to spend and what quad I want to get. I looked at a lot of cheaper ones first. I started off with a Lotus T380 or the Rotor Concepts version HPQ1, but I heard their support is awful, and I read about too ESC problems with those quads, and all of the parts are proprietary so you need to replace everything to upgrade.
Then I looked at the I-Fly, but that one has ESC problems and support problems too, and I hear it's also a real pain to even get going for a supposed "RTF" package. I even considered an Arris M-450 from Hobbywing, but I was hardly able to find any information at all on that one, and I'm not ready to be a pioneer. Next I looked at the DJI Phantom, which I've heard a lot of really good things about. I'm a bit put off by the proprietary controller though, and that 300 meter range seems kind of limiting if you want to get into FPV.
As of now the Phantom is still in the running, but I've pretty much settled on a Witespy HT-450 with DJI Naza from Ready To Fly Quads. I've read lots of good things, both about the quad and about the merchant, and while it's the most expensive option of the ones I've looked at, I'm not rich enough to do this twice so I need to get it right. I won't be ready to purchase until early may, so in the meantime I'm going to continue researching and practicing with my AR Drone (flying with a PS3 controller set to Mode 2 so at least I can approximate somewhat flying with a real RC control) and RC Desk Pilot. I may even pick up a little Syma X1 for some practice with something that's not an AR Drone :nevreness:.
So that's my story so far. Hopefully before too long I'll own my first RC Quad, and I can begin the slow, painstaking process of learning to fly it!
Let me tell you, for those of you who came over from other type of RC aircraft and are commenting how daunting this stuff must be for a total noob, let me tell you.. IT IS! At first I had no idea what anybody was talking about. What the hell is a DJI Naza? ESC? Is that the escape key on my computer? Huh? Quadrino who? TX. RX. FPV. Spektrum. Futaba. Fatshark. Honest to Christ I thought I was reading Hebrew or something. Well, I know I've got a LONG way to go, but at least I'm starting to make sense of some of this stuff.
So anyway, my next step is to pick out a quad. I've already decided I'm going to get a RTF. I know that probably goes against the advice of some folks in here, but I think I really want to see how one is supposed to look and work before I try to build one myself. That being said I had to figure out a few important things, like how much money I want to spend and what quad I want to get. I looked at a lot of cheaper ones first. I started off with a Lotus T380 or the Rotor Concepts version HPQ1, but I heard their support is awful, and I read about too ESC problems with those quads, and all of the parts are proprietary so you need to replace everything to upgrade.
Then I looked at the I-Fly, but that one has ESC problems and support problems too, and I hear it's also a real pain to even get going for a supposed "RTF" package. I even considered an Arris M-450 from Hobbywing, but I was hardly able to find any information at all on that one, and I'm not ready to be a pioneer. Next I looked at the DJI Phantom, which I've heard a lot of really good things about. I'm a bit put off by the proprietary controller though, and that 300 meter range seems kind of limiting if you want to get into FPV.
As of now the Phantom is still in the running, but I've pretty much settled on a Witespy HT-450 with DJI Naza from Ready To Fly Quads. I've read lots of good things, both about the quad and about the merchant, and while it's the most expensive option of the ones I've looked at, I'm not rich enough to do this twice so I need to get it right. I won't be ready to purchase until early may, so in the meantime I'm going to continue researching and practicing with my AR Drone (flying with a PS3 controller set to Mode 2 so at least I can approximate somewhat flying with a real RC control) and RC Desk Pilot. I may even pick up a little Syma X1 for some practice with something that's not an AR Drone :nevreness:.
So that's my story so far. Hopefully before too long I'll own my first RC Quad, and I can begin the slow, painstaking process of learning to fly it!
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