
Walkera Rodeo 150 Flight Footage
Anothert RTF/BNF quadcopter from china? Yawn. But wait, this little guy mixes up the game. Check out how this ready-to-fly FPV racing copter fared in our review.
FPV Racing is getting bigger and bigger, and in addition to 250-size RTF and ARF products, we are beginning to see highly integrated and lightweight 160-size ones as well, like this DYS X160 Micro FPV Racer from Banggood.
It features an integrated CC3D flight controller, 10A ESCs, a 200mW 5.8GHz video transmitter, CMOS Camera with 127 degree lens and a circular polarized antenna. You supply your own RC receiver as well as a 3S 1300mAh LiPo. Not too bad for $170, though a fully loaded 250-size racer can be had for $150.
Gearbest.com went to CES and came back with some nice closeups of the Hubsan X4 Pro and the fancy-looking new FPV remote, as well as several other products.
The remote is reportedly powered by Android, with a separate OLED screen on the top providing telemetry and the remote working independently from the Android tablet so as to not cause loss of control in the event of an application or Android OS crash.
More photos available on their thread on RCGroups.
The Hubsan H107D we reviewed some time ago turned out to be quite popular, and got many people into the FPV flying hobby. Now Hubsan is planning a “plus” version of this and two other toy-grade quadcopters.
The H107D+ above gets a 720P camera and a new stylish case. Apparently the stabilization has been improved as well, though that remains to be seen. Also, the remote receives and records in standard definition only, unless Hubsan abandons that and moves to an in-copter recording solution for the H107D+. Banggood lists a tentative price of USD $199.0
The H107C+ upgrades a few more things, adding a 720p camera and an all-new altitude hold mode. Not a bad deal for the alleged $99 price point thought of course it’s only recording video, not transmitting for FPV flight.
Finally the H107L, which has no camera, also gets a new look and an alleged stabilization upgrade for 50 bucks.
So, www.fpvstyle.com is selling a kit for USD 499.- containing a mini FPV quadcopter and video goggles. The specs on the quad sound pretty alright, even though we don’t know the flight controller it does have GPS and uses SimonK firmware on the ESCs and a claimed flight time of 15 minutes on 2200mAh 3S batteries.
So far so mildly interesting. Until you see that they’ve finally caught on to the day and age of the Oculus Rift, and done away with the now-obsolete FPV goggles we’re used to. It’s a giant pair of goggles with a wide field of view! Check out the closeups after the break!
Looking for a small, lightweight FPV transmitter that plugs right into your GoPro and has an integrated cloverleaf antenna? This $60 video transmitter for the 5.8GHz band may fit the bill – but is it any good? Find out in our review after the break.
The video is so very very french. But when a group of FPV enthusiasts gather to fly a friendly racing competition in the middle of the woods, you can’t help but smile. The footage is breathtaking and this could very well become a very popular and interesting regular event.
PS: No stab at the french implied. We’re all Fou le fafa 🙂
Team Blacksheep are pushing more and more into custom designed multirotors. Their latest project is the Gemini, a miniature FPV hexacopter with forward-tilted motors – specifically designed for racing.
Preorders will be fulfilled in two batches, with the first to arrive end of September. Price is around USD $600.- for the RTF version that includes everything except receiver and transmitter.
Check out the video and more details after the break.
We love our Oculus SDK1, so much that in addition to a DK2 preorder, we also backed the RiftUP! project. So it’s all the better to see more and more RC applications to pop up.
The Oculus FPV is a project by the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology, mounting two cameras on a 2-axis servo mechanism (no brushless gimbal there sadly) and using two separate video downlinks for left and right eye. Sadly they went the cheap route, simply using a tiny program running on a full Windows PC to calculate the image distortion required to make things look good on the oculus. We’d say this is the easiest way to achieve this effect without designing custom hardware like the Transporter3D.
Commendably, the full writeup of the project as well as all sourcecode can be found on Github.
Skylark is offering an FPV remote that integrates a high-brightness 7 inch screen, 430MHz long range remote, and 5.8GHZ 8-channel video receiver.
Before you reach for the buy button, current price on GLB is over $1000.- which is quite steep. In addition, we don’t know which long range HF system this is compatible to. Does it come with a receiver? How much do they cost? We don’t know yet.
More features and buy link in the overview after the break.
Robert Knowles is the first UK citizen to be charged under the new CAA rules which forbid flying remote aircraft beyond 500 meters of range and 121 meters altitude. In addition, he apparently lost control over his delta-wing plane after which it splashed into the waters near a BAE assembly facility for nuclear submarines. Prosecutors also fined him for flying within 50 meters of a building, which in this case was Walney Bridge near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, during that same flight.
The court ordered a fine of £800 for violating the Air Navigation Order, a £40 surcharge, as well as court costs to the tune of £3500. Knowles was convicted in absence and has stated to be considering an appeal, citing possible outside influence as being the cause for the loss of control, and the subsequent flight near the BAE plant.
Horizon just announced the Blade 350 QX AP, obviously meant to compete with the DJI Phantom Vision, but featuring an actual brushless gimbal with an included full HD camera. This RTF package even features an integrated 5.8GHz video downlink.
Features:
• 2-axis brushless gimbal with optional pitch control
• 1080/30 camera with 720/30 video downlink to mobile devices
• 3S 3000 mAh flight battery for extended shoots
• New DX4 Transmitter
The 350 QX AP Combo also takes on a host of upgrades to the existing system including:
• New RF chipset with external antenna
• Improved GPS performance and accuracy
• Visual compass error detection to alert the user for calibration
• Simplified radio solution for ease of use
• Included AC/DC charging solution
• White battery hatch for improved orientation
Availability is planned for late May 2014, at a retail price of $1,149.99 – which is quite a lot of money for the convenience of an RTF. If you don’t mind fiddling with the inner workings a bit, a similar-performing system can be had for a lot less.
Check out the product video after the break.
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