How to learning multirotor



sledge57

sledge57

Member
Here's my story so far. I built a DJI FW 550, flown it a couple times but not real comfortable trying to learn with this much money in it (not a lot compared to others but enough I don't want to destroy it learning).

So I bought a Helimax 1si Flys ok and is fun but limited to indoors and not what I consider a good trainer for a larger quad or hex.
http://www.helimaxrc.com/helicopters/hmxe0830-1si/

So Monday I bought a Blade 180 QX hd and 2 extra batteries. It's small enough to fly indoors but perfectly capable outdoors too. Just came in and the winds about 10 - 15 right now. No problem flying the 180. Now I wouldn't say it's stable in this much wind but it's a great learning tool and I can easily maintain a steady hover unless I get a big gust.

Flies about 10 min on a charge. So far I have about 90 minutes flying it (charging batts with USB is so slow...) and have crashed at least a dozen times with absolutely ZERO damage to it.

I have learned more and had more fun in 90 minutes of flying the 180 QX than in all the hours I've flown the 1si.

This little thing is great and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to learn.

I got the RTF version as I don't have a Spectrum radio. It came with the new version of Blades camera but I haven't tried the camera and really don't think I will. It's not why I bought it (I might mount the camera to my Rock Crawler however since it has it's own re-chargeable battery in side, a little velcro and good to go)

Any way I can't say enough about how much I enjoy the 180QX

http://www.bladehelis.com/180QX/
 

PeteDee

PeteDee

Mr take no prisoners!
And it depends how serious you plan on getting, if you are prepared to spend up to learn to really fly well then grab a 450 or 250 size quad and go for it, if you just want to have fun and keep it minimal till you get some experience then one of the smaller ready to fly units is a nice choice.

Pete
 

Y0urDaddy

Y0urDaddy

Member
For me I had been interested for a while but never jumped in until recently. I got a Heli-Max 1SQ-Vcam to learn to fly with. The RTF was about $120 or so and is small enough to fly in a house. I flew that for around 4 to 5 months both indoor and outdoor to learn how to fly a quad hands on. At about 3 months I started to get the stuff to build a DJI Flamewheel 450 & that is what I am flying now. My personal view is that it's a good idea to learn with something that is not a GPS quad so you know how to fly manual should you have to with a more expensive quad later. There are a number of different micro's out there. I picked the heli-max as I wanted something I could get replacement parts for if it broke.

Also, if you get a micro then find out you don't really like flying quads you have only really spent ~$100. That is a lot better than spending 10x that to find out you don't like flying.
 

J

jdennings

Member
FlyGirl said:
Hi :) You will probably get different answers but here is what I did. I bought a cheap quadcopter to learn how to fly on like a Blade Nano QX. Yes it's little but when it hits the ground it doesn't break and it can teach you the fundamentals of flying a multirotor.

http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=BLH7600
Click to expand...

Y0urDaddy said:
For me I had been interested for a while but never jumped in until recently. I got a Heli-Max 1SQ-Vcam to learn to fly with. The RTF was about $120 or so and is small enough to fly in a house. I flew that for around 4 to 5 months both indoor and outdoor to learn how to fly a quad hands on. At about 3 months I started to get the stuff to build a DJI Flamewheel 450 & that is what I am flying now. My personal view is that it's a good idea to learn with something that is not a GPS quad so you know how to fly manual should you have to with a more expensive quad later. There are a number of different micro's out there. I picked the heli-max as I wanted something I could get replacement parts for if it broke.

Also, if you get a micro then find out you don't really like flying quads you have only really spent ~$100. That is a lot better than spending 10x that to find out you don't like flying.
Click to expand...

Great and crucial advice imho.

My 2c: Some of the small quads have dual flight modes, a self-leveling one and a pure acro one. Learn how to fly in manual /self leveling mode until you are confortable in all orientations, then go for an rtf 450 or equivalent quad.
If you want to get more into it and/or want to do good fpv or filming, keep at it on the smaller quad until you can comfortably zip through figure 8's in non self leveling mode (called agility on blade nano qx) in all orientations, at which point you can build or buy and fly just about any multi there is. Takes lots of patience and dedication, won't happen in a week or a month, may require more than one small training quad even though they can take some serious beatings, and has it's fair number of frustrations. But it's well worth it, and will ultimately save you a lot of time or money. It's not that you necessarily need to go through all these steps, nor need to be an ace acrobatic flyer, but the closer you get the safer and better you'll be for advanced multirotor use. And if you skip the beginning steps be prepared for some possible serious and costly, err, setbacks ... Flight simulator like Phoenix or RealFlight can also help.

Btw, these little quads are much harder to fly than you average larger gps multi as they respond very fast. But that's the point ... You can get a Phantom and easily fly it pretty much instantly without experience, giving you the false imperssion that you are in total control. Until ... Not if, but when ...
 
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M

moominjuice

New Member
Like Sledge I self built a 450(copy) with 850kv motors,1045 props cheapo 30A ESCs, 5500mA Lipo and a kk2.6. (no GPS) It flies a treat and shifts some!
Have planted it hard 3 or 4 times but patched back up and have had several really good long runs. Getting good control and beginning to use yaw a bit more confidently. I have managed a couple minutes without self level but find it tricky to orienate myself when underneth. However I'm finding I'm tending to fly forwards and backwards because a I lack reverse flying experience (I'm sure everyone suffers this at some point)
So my question is this... any tips on how to progress to figure 8s and such. Trying to steer using elevators doesn't feel like it's going to make a turn...maybe because I'm using self level. Probably doesn't help that I don't have any visual orientation markers either!!! Really I prefer controlled flight so am trying to work up to camera and possibly FPV, but want to master the tricky stuff too.
Any methods or tips anyone can suggest?
 
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