Futaba 16IZ

[Rocker]

Thought I would treat myself to a decent radio .The fact that all my receivers are the Futaba  R30008SB.I found I was limited to either the Futaba 10J or the Futaba 16 IZ .My mate has the Futaba 16IZ  so I spent an afternoon drinking coffee round at his place and tried to bind some of my models to his 16IZ .Wow is the 16 IZ complicated or what !!!!!.Why did Futaba make it that complicated. Never work out how to set up the  Eagle 3 gyro on the 16 IZ .(you have to set it through the end point to get the switch to operate the gyro ) Could not get the  gyros to work off the switch.Then try the same task on his Futaba 10J..Now that was a lot easier and had no problems setting up my models on the 10J.Looks like I am about to save over £200 by buying the 10 J over the 16IZ

Edited August 13, 2023 by Rocker

[MattyB]

4 hours ago, Rocker said:

Wow is the 16 IZ complicated or what !!!!!.Why did Futaba make it that complicated. Never work out how to set up the  Eagle 3 gyro on the 16 IZ .(you have to set it through the end point to get the switch to operate the gyro ) Could not get the  gyros to work off the switch.Then try the same task on his Futaba 10J..Now that was a lot easier and had no problems setting up my models on the 10J.Looks like I am about to save over £200 by buying the 10 J over the 16IZ

 

This is unfortunately almost inevitable when you keep adding more and more to a canned mixer style logic. It's also why firmwares such as Jeti, ETHOS, OpenTX etc. all use the more flexible object oriented approach. Doing simple stuff like a flying wing mixer might be a tad simpler first time using Futaba's approach, but implementing more advanced setups tends to get much harder in my experience as you start layering the functionality up. Just one of the reasons Futaba has fallen behind in the 2.4 era.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

On the iz16, can't you just adjust the end points on a 3 position switch on channel 5 on the 'basic' gyro menu (page 189 )  if you don't want to go the 'full hog' on the other, more full menu ?.

https://futabausa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/16iZ_ENG_Full_Letter.pdf

 

[Outrunner]

I think Futaba shot themselves in the foot with the incredible array of receiver protocols and incompatibilities. There is that mind boggling spreadsheet that shows all the choices of receivers that won't work.

 

 

[Jesus Cardin]

1 minute ago, Outrunner said:

I think Futaba shot themselves in the foot with the incredible array of receiver protocols and incompatibilities. There is that mind boggling spreadsheet that shows all the choices of receivers that won't work.

 

 

 

Some of those protocols were brought for making the brand cheaper against competence brands, while other due to new -mainly European- regulation requirements. So, yes, they have an incredible array of protocols and receivers, but they were forced due to their initial marketing idea about 2.4GHz.....

 

And 16iZ simply IS NOT more complex than any other top end Futaba radio, and that need to use "End Point" regulation for making Eagle 3 gyro work is not needed when using original Futaba gyros...... why?

[MattyB]

4 hours ago, Jesus Cardin said:

Some of those protocols were brought for making the brand cheaper against competence brands, while other due to new -mainly European- regulation requirements. So, yes, they have an incredible array of protocols and receivers, but they were forced due to their initial marketing idea about 2.4GHz....

 

All true, but just because there ar elegitimate reasons for Futaba's "protocol soup", that doesn't make it any less offputting to potential new customers. Like it or not, competitors such as Jeti anbd Spektrum have navigated those regulatory changes better than Futaba, and even those who haven't (i.e. Frsky) have continued to be successful by offering more bang for buck and more rapid feature development, especially in the area of telemetry and third party integrations. This is why over the last 10-15 years lots of people have migrated from Futaba, but precious few go the other way. Even those who are loyal and devoted are often using ancient sets, some of which have been converted to 2.4GHz with competitor modules - these customers may be vociferous advocates for the brand, but they don't buy manyt new TXs or telemetry sensors...