Changing Radio Brands

[John Lee]

Can I remind you that:

 

On 11/08/2023 at 14:47, John Lee said:

This thread is not intended to be a 'X Brand' is better than 'Y Brand' discussion, there have been plenty of Topics covering that.

 

Rather it is sharing the experiences of those who have changed brands in the 2.4GHz era.

 

If you want to discuss Spektrum problems please post in an appropriate thread, or start a new one.

[Shaun Walsh]

14 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

The point is that the 'Spektrum is all rubbish and causes nothing but trouble' opinion was always unjustified, not supported by hard evidence and only fueled by the issue that some early transmitters did have with their RF boards that users had, literally,  no control over, and the so-called brown outs that were driven by what I agree was a far from ideal early design, but users did have a degree of responsibility for.

Models simply do not dive into the ground for no reason, although usually the best place to start an investigation is with the pilots inputs on the sticks. The radio is checked out subsequently and is found to be in perfect working order.

One of my own flying buddies suffered  an early RF board failure that was fixed by Spektrum free of charge but that's no real compensation for a lost model. So, I'm not saying there wasn't a problem in the early days, but to keep questioning a brands quality years after these early issues makes no sense to me. A lot of nonsense was put about by people who didn't know what they were talking about concerning Spektrum's use of satellite receivers, which as far as I recall in the early 2.4 days was a unique feature. Naysayers said they were needed because the Spektrum system was inherently poor so needed extra receivers to make up for that. Hysteria regarding DSM2 and how it can't cope with busy RF environments has not been my experience.

IIRC, even Futaba of America put out a mickey take Youtube video  of a Spekky user draped and tangled in wires compared to their 'superior' single RX system. The Naysayers didn't understand the reasoning behind satellites - Futaba obviously did, but chose to play a bit dirty IMHO. BTW, one of my flying buddies lost a very expensive model some time ago.......the cause verified by the manufacturer (Futaba) was...........a faulty transmitter RF board! Electronics do fail from time to time and brand or cost is no guarantee of being immune from that.

There are some people in this hobby who no matter what, will have a constant problem with anything - radios, engines, blown up electric systems and a steady trail of broken models that follows them around week after week. None of us are perfect, mistakes are made and can turn out expensive - the difference is that a few never seem to learn and find comfort in blaming everything else but themselves.

 

A fellow club member had numerous problems with a Spektrum Tx, the older silver model without diversity antennae. Eventually found that the aerial had broken where the aerial housing bent through 90 degrees and intermittent make/break would result in periodic loss of signal. A replacement aerial solved the problem.

Plenty of other club members, including myself, fly Spektrum and they don't seem to be any more or less reliable than any other brand.

[Cuban8]

57 minutes ago, John Lee said:

Can I remind you that:

 

 

If you want to discuss Spektrum problems please post in an appropriate thread, or start a new one.

Absolutely, but in any discussion about changing brands and then only about how it went will be pretty sterile and could simply could be............went badly........went OK........best thing I ever did in my whole life and I'm a changed person for the better because of it. Choose whichever is appropriate.

The reasons behind why a flyer might change brands does come into it and I'd have thought that others' previous experiences of reliabilty closely followed by ease of use, price and availability of accesories  etc will have a place and could help anyone making an extensive and possibly very expensive change in their radio equipment an opportunity to consider their actions.

 

[Sheepish]

I started with RC in the late 70’s with a Futaba Digimax and the old 5 wire servos.  No real problems with the radio I can remember other than the limited capacity of the DEAC’s at the time.  The TX even had its own built in mains charger, funny how this has now happened again.

 

Then moved on to a Skyleader Courier set and the SRC rotary / linear servo’s which were OK but had very small splines and the arms would move if you weren’t careful.  I had the Skyleader converted to 35mHz by them and it was still a good reliable set for the time.

Then tried Fleet Radio as I was living near them at the time.  I had a lot of problems with my set and eventually gave up on it and went to JR and 35mHz.

 

I had 2 of the JR Pulse sets which I had issues with the first of the ABC&W rx’s then 2 X-347’s that were well used and very reliable which I kept until I went to Spektrum when I bought one of the first DX7’s.

No real radio problems with this and then had a DX6i and a DX8.  
Moved away from Spektrum when I got more interested in F5j and DLG gliders for the more flexible programming.

 

Went to Frsky, a QX7 first then an X9D then an X9E because I wanted to try a tray radio.

 

I currently have a Radiomaster TX16s, a Horus X10S and the original QX7 updated with hall gimbals which is great for DLG.

The latest is I bought on here an BetaFPV ELRS module a while ago and now the technology has moved on and full 8 channel rx’s are available I have been playing with this.

 

Every move over the years has resulted in a learning curve, the X-347 was the first computerised TX with digital trims I had had which was a revaluation and a big learning curve and the steepest curve by far has been with the Frsky gear.

 I can see why many would be put off by this and other models of the latest gear if you are not comfortable with anything with a computer in it but the advantages it has brought me having now spent the time learning about it are incredible when I look back to how crude the original gear was.  

Perhaps the old barrier to entry of building your own aircraft has now changed to being able to understand the technology to control and power it?