Okay after battling myself about whether to go RTF, ARF, or Prefab frame only, I decided to go with the F450 starter kit. I followed the advise of the ardupilot website and really spent some money. I could have purchased a complete RTF system for the same price. Let me know if you have any ideas going ahead. I will want to be able to mount a go pro and maybe FPV gear, so there's room to extend in that direction. I haven't ordered the telemetry module for the Pixhawk 3DR module yet either. I will want to upgrade motors (possible, depending on results with the kit provided set up), and it's clear everyone upgrades to stronger props. I'll probably purchase a backup of the whole starter kit for spare parts, but what are some good upgrade options?
Okay, parts I have purchased so far and let me know if there is anything obviously missing or overlooked:
F450 Kit including Motors, Blades and ESCs
3DR Pixhawk 3DR uBlox GPS with Compass Kit and GPS antenna
Batteries 2x Turnigy 3300mAh 4S 30C and one voltage alarm (do I need a better solution here?)
Charger IMAX B6 50W 5A Charger/Discharger
Cabling and Connectors (some 12 and 16 guage wire, 4mm bullet connectors and a few other things which may end up not being required, including servo cable 10 pack 3-pin, and charging harness etc)
Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 1) (v2 Firmware) (not sure about battery requirements and whether PPM will be plug and play, I think so)
1 x XT60 Connectors 5 Pair - $18 (HK out of stock as usual so paid premium NZ price from a hobby store to ship to me, looks like I'll need these to hook up to the Pixhawk power module, probably could have got a better deal, but I'm tired and lazy after all this ordering of parts).
I'll try to put this together when I have everything and guage what I'm missing and after my first few flights what things break the most often learning to fly, as I'm not sure how much is included in the F450 kit.
I think I spent 1K, so not sure what happened with my expectation of spending around the $500 mark. I hope the learning experience of putting this together will be worth it! Can't wait to post some pictures as the build comes together.
Okay, parts I have purchased so far and let me know if there is anything obviously missing or overlooked:
F450 Kit including Motors, Blades and ESCs
3DR Pixhawk 3DR uBlox GPS with Compass Kit and GPS antenna
Batteries 2x Turnigy 3300mAh 4S 30C and one voltage alarm (do I need a better solution here?)
Charger IMAX B6 50W 5A Charger/Discharger
Cabling and Connectors (some 12 and 16 guage wire, 4mm bullet connectors and a few other things which may end up not being required, including servo cable 10 pack 3-pin, and charging harness etc)
Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 1) (v2 Firmware) (not sure about battery requirements and whether PPM will be plug and play, I think so)
1 x XT60 Connectors 5 Pair - $18 (HK out of stock as usual so paid premium NZ price from a hobby store to ship to me, looks like I'll need these to hook up to the Pixhawk power module, probably could have got a better deal, but I'm tired and lazy after all this ordering of parts).
I'll try to put this together when I have everything and guage what I'm missing and after my first few flights what things break the most often learning to fly, as I'm not sure how much is included in the F450 kit.
I think I spent 1K, so not sure what happened with my expectation of spending around the $500 mark. I hope the learning experience of putting this together will be worth it! Can't wait to post some pictures as the build comes together.