Wanting my first quad.

[Nuked]

To skip the back story read the next bold paragraph.

After busting a $50 crappy copter, and losing another $70 one in a tree, I started to do a lot of research on quadcopters last month, so I decided I want to get one, but I'm still clueless exactly what kind to get. I hear all sorts of people saying that that rtf is the best, some people saying building from scratch is the best, and others saying buying a kit to assemble is the best. So I am really at a loss here, and I need the community to help guide me into the right direction. I've have a $350 fund right now, and its slowly growing, so that's where my limit is at the moment to spend on my potential quadcopter. I don't have any real experience programming electronics or building them, so that necessitates a cheap and simple quadcopter.

The pre assembled rtf quads I have seen online are very expensive for what you get, which is a deterrent, I wanted and rtf quad the most when I first thought about getting a quad setup, because of the ease, and my lack of knowledge. I don't want to have to pay extra for proprietary parts. I have looked into having my quad built by witespy, and I emailed the owner, paul baxter 3 weeks ago, and have not heard back from him, so I really don't wanna buy anything from him knowing that, regardless of the fact that he is the only person online that I know that builds affordable custom quads.

The kits hardly ever include everything you need in them, and they expect you to have your own battery, transmitter, and receiver.

Building one from scratch seems like it would be fun, soldering is easy to do, but sourcing a list of the components that will fit my budget is the hardest part right now. The programming part seems like it will be the most frustrating part though, as I don't have very good patience, and I don't learn code quickly. Ideally I would go with this DIY option, because I hear it is the cheapest and most flexible way, and while this is the most time consuming option, I don't want to do with without first consulting the community directly.

I have seen a few posts on making a DIY quad, but none of them have the detail that I need to start the project. I'm looking for a build that is less than $350 in cost for all the parts including a remote transmitter/receiver and battery. I am interested in a quad build that has room for upgrades, can lift a little extra weight, and is easy to stabilize. I also want the easiest to use programming platform.

I thank the community in advance for being helpful.

 

[Jareth_Atian]

I think that your budget may be difficult to match, but I do wish you the best of luck.

To give you an idea as to what costs you may expect, here's a build I recommended to a friend that has room for upgrades, can lift a little extra weight, and is relatively easy to program and stabilize:

$32 DJI F450 frame
$104 SunnySky V2216 KV900 motors (4)
$52 Turnigy Plush 30A ESC's (4)
$30 KK2.0 Multirotor Flight Control Board
$12 APC 1045 propellers
$45 Turnigy Nanotech 4500mAh 3S 45-90C battery
$60 Hitec X1 AC Plus battery charger

So...$335 (plus shipping/handing costs, which will probably bring the cost beyond $350). This does NOT include transmitter and receiver

Personally, I would suggest that you get at least an 8-channel transmitter...if you later upgrade from KK2.0 to a GPS-enabled flight controller, you'll need the extra channels to control turn features on and off, and you may also later want to add a camera gimbal. I think that you should expect to pay at least an additional $300 just for the transmitter/receiver.

I hope that this is helpful. Maybe other folks will have better ideas as to how you can shave costs...

 

[FlyGirl]

To skip the back story read the next bold paragraph.

After busting a $50 crappy copter, and losing another $70 one in a tree, I started to do a lot of research on quadcopters last month, so I decided I want to get one, but I'm still clueless exactly what kind to get. I hear all sorts of people saying that that rtf is the best, some people saying building from scratch is the best, and others saying buying a kit to assemble is the best. So I am really at a loss here, and I need the community to help guide me into the right direction. I've have a $350 fund right now, and its slowly growing, so that's where my limit is at the moment to spend on my potential quadcopter. I don't have any real experience programming electronics or building them, so that necessitates a cheap and simple quadcopter.

The pre assembled rtf quads I have seen online are very expensive for what you get, which is a deterrent, I wanted and rtf quad the most when I first thought about getting a quad setup, because of the ease, and my lack of knowledge. I don't want to have to pay extra for proprietary parts. I have looked into having my quad built by witespy, and I emailed the owner, paul baxter 3 weeks ago, and have not heard back from him, so I really don't wanna buy anything from him knowing that, regardless of the fact that he is the only person online that I know that builds affordable custom quads.

The kits hardly ever include everything you need in them, and they expect you to have your own battery, transmitter, and receiver.

Building one from scratch seems like it would be fun, soldering is easy to do, but sourcing a list of the components that will fit my budget is the hardest part right now. The programming part seems like it will be the most frustrating part though, as I don't have very good patience, and I don't learn code quickly. Ideally I would go with this DIY option, because I hear it is the cheapest and most flexible way, and while this is the most time consuming option, I don't want to do with without first consulting the community directly.

I have seen a few posts on making a DIY quad, but none of them have the detail that I need to start the project. I'm looking for a build that is less than $350 in cost for all the parts including a remote transmitter/receiver and battery. I am interested in a quad build that has room for upgrades, can lift a little extra weight, and is easy to stabilize. I also want the easiest to use programming platform.

I thank the community in advance for being helpful.

I ran into the same problem when I decided I wanted a bigger more advanced quad but no where was there a kit that had everything I needed. I looked at the Phantom but that was almost $700 at the time so I bought a DJI 450 Flame Wheel ARF kit and a NAZA-M Lite flight controller with GPS. All told, that ran me about $400. I had the radio already but adding that in, if I had had to, would have been another $275. I think your best bet is to save for the Walkera QRX350, or the Blade 350QX, or the Phantom and those would be from $425 up to $475. The other route you could take is to jump into the deep end and build in which case I would look at a place like this http://www.diyquadcopters.com/Home_ep_1.html . Just part out a quad frame, 4 motors, 4 ESCs, 4 props (8 inch), a flight controller, and then a cheap radio (many people love this radio by the way and swear by it, not at it...) http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=19673 . I think these two paths are your best bet. JMHO... Good luck!

 

[Nuked]

Thank you Jareth_Atian, and FlyGirl for the wealth of information. It surely has been a reality check for me, so I'm going to save up a bit more to get jareth's build, and that Turnigy transmiter/reciever that flygirl suggested.