Uhh, look at the price, they practically gave you all the extra stuff for free. I'm betting the price will only go up over time plus it's just too cool not to have. Just clicked your link, take my money. I'm going analogue and save a bit of weight.
Great review as ususal! Main advantage of the hex IMO is lower disc load with a heavy 4S LiIon (Besides just looking super cool). The 4" quad is really starting to struggle with a 209g battery. It gets a bit loud and you start loosing efficiency. So you can go for 5" or think out of the box like Flywoo did and just add two more 4" props. The disc area is the exact same +/- a few percent. Anyways, hope mine arrives soon so I can finally test it ! 😁
Theoretically the flywoo hex is less efficient as it has to carry around two more escs, more wiring, more mounting hardware, arms etc. Also the associated drag with more arms and prop areas, a more efficient quad that can carry a heavier weight seems more sensible - the hex may be superior in terms of flight stability however.
Hey, I know this video is super old but I fly the hexacopter long range a fair bit with a lith-ion and a naked gopro and it does pretty well. I'm also a racer so I tend to fly pretty quick. But the props in view really ruin the footage. I've been thinking about swapping to the quad version. Do you think I'd get the same flight performance on a lithium ion battery long range? Or should I stick with the hexa? TLDR: Lithium-ion+naked gopro for long-range. Better on hexa or quad?
"Is this a better aircraft?" In my humble opinion... yes. I have both, and the quad really struggles once you strap on the li-ion pack (to the point where the motors overheat badly without rpm filtering). The hex can carry the big li-ion pack and the SMO 4k effortlessly, and does great even in breezy conditions. The quad's only real advantage is that you can keep it under 250g, at least when running an 850mah lipo.
Alice Cooper on the rcgroups forums says to improve gps, you should plug in your quad and leave it outside for an hour or so in order to give the GPS unit enough time to update its satellite almanac. Apparently the GPS units almanac is blank when it ships. So if you give it an hour or so to fill its address book, it will acquire a lot faster from then on.
You should power your GPS alone via the balance port on your battery pack and then when it has a lock which should be fairly quickly, then you can power up the FC and other electronics.
I can think of one more reason for the hex: more stable in rougher longrange conditions, in gusty wind? Because that's the one downside of cruising those new tiny drones, if it's not really calm, it doesn't feel like the magic carpet ride that I aim for to get my daily out of body experience ;) Greets, Mario
i know im randomly asking but does someone know a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I stupidly lost my account password. I love any tips you can offer me
@Kobe Brayden Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
Idk why but your vid style is so addicting to watch. Even stuff I have zero interest in (this product) I have to at least play in the background while I multitask. Props to you and your editor
Analog Flywoo converted to DJI Vista, when I did the conversion, I put the GPS on the softserial and the DJI on the uart. No drop outs, and I get a lock in around 45 seconds now.
Fantastic flying, Joshua!!! Great review! 😃 FINALLY we have a 6 in 1 esc! There's a beautiful 5" hexacopter frame on Banggood for a long time (or at least there was!) and I always wanted to build it! 😂 Well... We'll see! But, definitely... This is the way! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
I saw someone mention a really good point about having an AIO that can control 6 motors - if you run it on a quad it means you have 2 spare motor outputs you can switch to if you happen to break one or two.
I just got mine in the mail today, (The Frame) Thank GOD it comes with instructions for assembling the frame. It has a bunch of pieces, but comes nicely pack in a plastic reusable box; with extra pieces. I got the idea for the motors that I'm going to use on this from Scott Tomlinson, and this thing will have a ton of power while using a Li-ion battery.
You can't flash INav in Speedybee App, but you can change INav settings The App can Connect via cable If supported by Phone There is a WiFi Adaptor (for Speedybee)
I slid some copper solder wick braided "sleeve" over the GPS wires on my 4" LR...In effort to reduce the sat fix time on the GPS, minimal improvement. Then I discovered the analog transmitter was powered to the 5v out. Fixed that too. Glad to see they are trying to make improvements. Maybe perfection by the time the 4"octocopter comes out??
13:06 Interesting mounting solution. I was kinda running out of space on the top plate with a 20˚ naked GoPro mount. Should probably start to mount em horizontally as well.
I think it is perfect for when you got a limited budget and want to do long-range cruising with a Gopro and Freestyle without a GoPro just for fun. Great Video as always.
Back in the days before racequads were a thing, heck even before DJI was a thing, hex and octo configurations were quite popular due to the rather bad power to weight ratio of normal quads. Back then, just by adding two more motors and keeping everything else the same, flight times improved for the reasons mentioned in the video. Funny to see how this rule has turned around over the decade.
@@sgelagaev I'll have to run the whole battery out and let you know. I'm pretty new to drones so that's a tall order for me. I did discover that Betaflight is a poor choice for long range drones. Minimal GPS support, broken RTH, no support for lidar/sonar sensors. Flywoo has inavflght builds available for their quad f745 explorer so hopefully hey'll follow up with an inav build for the hex f745. Inav seems to have all the stuff from beta plus sensor/navigation support. I think that's the big mistake flywoo made with this product; shipping it with a firmware designed for acro/freestyle when the hardware is clearly setup for long range...
The best performance increase I got, is using 3,3V instead of 5V for GPS. Nearly any GPS support 3,3V. COmbin this with Ublox offline assist, you receive sats much much faster.
Hi, after your last roundup with those 4" long range quads I decided to do something with my own GPS setup and I have twisted tx/rx wires together and VCC/GND lines separately. Than I have put them into the shink tube where they were just beneath my VTX. Belive it or not but now GPS is locking very quickly and I have also noted the most satelites locked with this setup - over 20 during very foggy day. My GPS is BN-220 by the way.
Definitely interesting, different than the usual toys we fly. Seems built for cruising with a naked gopro and the heavier Li-ion pack. To freestyle it I think would lead to disaster the first real crash. The 4" Shocker was awesome for freestyle, looked like so much fun ripping around your yard. Happy flying. 👍💖🤓
I love it- I'm just working on getting my 2.5 inch Tomoquads EVO-H Hex set up so if she flies good, this may be my next purchase. 6in1 esc, man that makes things easier as I'm curently using two 4in1s stacked....
I am really excited to hear your solutions for the gps issues you mention. I love the Tarsier but it ruins the gps reception, and right now is a big problem in my Explorer LR (quad).
Looks like they listened to you for the quad .Preorder Explorer LR 4 V2 HD Micro Long Range FPV Ultralight Quad Bnf w/ Vista / Nebula Pro F745 BGA FC GPS V2.0
Seeing all the problems with gps not locking,....coming from fix wings and inav long range flying, I know that you want as much separation from a 900ghz system, problems are much lesser with 2.4ghz systems. So maybe worth testing, assure as much separation between the antenna and gps, or setup with express lrs or tracer on 2.4 Hope this helps.
Its an amazing drone but I hate the fact that you can see the motors and props in the googles. So I think I am gonna go with the Flywoo Explorer. The problem is it is not available...
if its the vista processor interfering with the gps, you could try testing various capacitors across the 5v/gnd, (tiny ones, not the fat power supply caps) You could try adding a grounded metal mesh between the gps & vista, if you think its RF interference.
I think it would give a lot more stability for cinematic flying, although most of that is done by the action-cameras these days. And with hex-copters you can "loose" up to two motors and still have enough control left to save the kwad, which might be cheaper in the long run.
I tried the wire shielding hack with actually a soldered ground wire to the shielding on my quad explorer and it didn't help at all. I'm working around that by plugging in the fc, and powering it, to my phone. This also powers the GPS unit. Then i wait until i have a fix, which i can see on my phone. Then i plug inthe flight pack and unplug the usb (don't forget to log out in software, otherwise it will not arm). It then holds the satelites and i can fly. Oh and becasue i do it this way i don't need the bluetooth. I use the cable anyway
Hexas are cool, no way around it. I wouldn't care about redundancy, there are 10k$ copters with just 4 props. The tech is reliable enough. And to carry a fullsize HD cam for 12+ minutes a light 5" with biblade props will do the trick. The area where 4" hexas could shine is actually freestyle due to their strong yaw authority and nimble cornering paired with a very stable image but for that you would have to have a good tune. P.S.: Don't forget to include the gps_ublox_use_galileo command in your GPS video.
Can you do a tuning video for a HEX I have the FLYWOO Firefly Nano HEX and would love some tuning tips. It is a lot of fun to fly just really want to get it dialed in for light freestyle/cinematic flights. Love all the videos!!!!
covering the gps wires with sheilding is HILARIOUS because its a digital signal going to the flight controller, only analog signals are really prone to noise interfering with the signal because it uses precice voltages as the data signal not pulses, and if it did happen to interfere it wouldnt make the gps unit not get sats it would make the gps actually drop signal to the flight controller
The wires act as antenna and pick up noise which enters the electrical circuitry of the GPS and raises the noise floor of the GPS receiver, making it harder for it to lock in satellites. Shielding the wires reduces this effect. So does twisting them.
@@JoshuaBardwell fair enough, i would have to do some testing to see the effect, i always twist my wires tho not just for noise but flexability and neatness, but i understand it helps with noise, i just dont know how much of an effect it will have on a digital signal line, there should be diodes and capacitors on the gps board that should stop signals from the wires from reaching the radio side of the gps reveiver, but as with anything more noise mitigation is always better, but i just dont understand electrical engeneering well enough to be able to say for certain anything so im just shooting shit lol
Hex is safer than quad. Theoretically it can keep flying if you blow a motor or if you blow 2 motors (provided the 2 motors are directly opposite each other).
No, i have a bigger Hexacopter(6") and if i remove only one prop it works just fine, But if a 2nd prop is removed it works But its on the Border of unflyable.
@@Enderkruemel Is the second prop directly opposite the first prop? Regardless it flies. A quadcopter would fall from the sky with the loss of one motor/prop. On a toy hexacopter (jjrc h21) I broke the middle left arm so I cut off that arm and the middle right arm and now it flies like a quadcopter. I think it might depend on which motor/arm.
@@gimpman1357 i didnt test it whith the middle Arms Becourse in a Crash its mostly one of the Front Arms/Motors that are damaged. But its the Same Problem for any opposite Motors. yaw shouldnt work if you brake more than one Arm/Motor. (e.g. Breake bouth middle Arms) becourse bouth Motors that spinns to the left are on one side so if you want to roll to the left bouth Motors on the right Spin up and the copter yaws to the right. It trys to counteract this and to Do this it spinns the other Motors up. > now longer roll. thats Not controlable. Thats also the reason why normal quads have the Motors opposite to each other spinn in the Same Direktion. Did you reverse the Motors to get it Fly like a quad?
I like this 6in one Esc, also i like Hex Setups, becourse my oldest quad was a zmr 250 frame But i upgradet it to a custom hex. Also it Runs very old and cheap emax mt2204 2300Kv Motors (6" 3-blade) and Simonk 12A Esc flashed to blheli. But i use this on 4s 3p li-ion pack and also a naze32 whith Barometer and GPS at 2k/1k And its a Good longrange copter now, it has 40min flighttime. I didnt think this was postible whith this old Parts, But i was surprised that it can Fly so long. 35 min flighttime whith the runcam 3s on board. Only 540g whithout the Batterie, for a 6" hex a very Good wight i think.
Curious take off the bi props and put on trip props or quad props and see if that changes the hexacopter's flight characteristics.... Sometimes bi props have a tendency to act weird or balancing issues
Pretty cool hex, but IMO it kinda defeats the point of the micro long range (and it's deadcat layout) by having the motors / props in view.... They should have used a layout similar to the old TBS Gemini. Pretty cool little 16x16 stack though! Might have to grab me one!
i wish there was a hexacopter that weighs under 240g with battery, would be perfect for practicing acro for beginners due to its stiffness though it can be very very light without drifting like crazy. really like this hex anyways! maybe if the insurance and so on will be easier and cheaper by 2021 here. nice review as always
RaceDay Quads did tell that it was an F4! I just did not pay attention because after watching four reviews, they all said that the hexcopters shipped with the F7.
I think you should've killed a motor midair somehow (a fuse..?) to see how the redundancy works, and how it flies handicapped... Aside for being good entertainment (no matter the result), i think the redundancy is a main selling point for something like this.
Joshy Bard Bard, I'm affraid I might have to watch this one a few times overs. It's like the ultra compilation of how to get your stuff straight with gps, dji, crossfire, etc.
I think this is actually a really cool thing, for some reason i love Hexacopters. Probably just the idea of them and the aesthetic. Albeit to bad i am poor, and only a total beginner, i spent alot this month on a new TX16S, a Tinyhawk 2, Velocidrone Simulator. And some more batteries. I still need to get a different set of goggles my at this point ancient Fatshark Predator ones arent cutting it, for some reason the OSD is pretty much unreadable, and it also has no diversity.
Modern F4 FC's already has 5 or more UARTs, so F7 is not necessary. Take 6in1 ESC for your quad and you will get two spare ESC channels in case of damage of one or two)
The problem with an F4 is that the UART doesn't support inversion. So typically the FC will dedicate one UART to SBUS, with a hardware inverter. At that point, the UART is not usable for anything else unless the manufacturer has a separate pad for un-inverted signal. Especially on smaller FC like 20mm and 16mm this is often not done. So it's very common on an F4 FC to have, let's say, five UARTs available, but one is for SBUS and one is for SmartPort telemetry and if you aren't using Frsky then you only have three UARTs. Or you will have TX broken out for SmartPort, but not the corresponding RX. So you cannot use a GPS or anything else that needs both TX and RX. With an F7, it's not just the number of UARTs that is nice, but there is no nonsense with inversion so you get a full UART for each one.
I've had props disintegrate many times causing totaling crashes so redundancy is appealing. That said I would prefer less motors with unbreakable metal props.
@@widgget I have had HQ, Emax, Gemfan, Dal and APC break at some point. Many new out the packet. Admittedly many break during aerobatic maneuvers but a good portion break up at low speed just cruising long range. It's nearly always at the same part right where the blade meets the central hub. I think it's grain boundaries in the material as I check my props holding them up to the light and you can sometimes see them. Metal props would give peace of mind. Maybe they could call them props for life.
I am not sure if it was noticed or covered in your video and I just missed it when I watched it, but heads up to other analog buyers, it comes with an F411 instead of the F745 disappointingly.
Tried the GoPro8 with 4s 850 r-line Tattu. It cut my flight time to just over four minutes cruising. Hover at 50% throttle, about 14A current draw. Handling is... porky. Could lose ~20 grams weight IIRC by powering the GoPro from 5v BEC. This setup DOES work and the footage was pretty darn good; I'll keep parts in my bag for days I'm not carrying my 6 inch.
Not sure why you didn't mention it during the Speedybee Bluetooth part but you don't need bluetooth to use the app, you can also use a USB cable. I have an OTG adapter with USB-C and a micro USB cable always with me on the field to be able to quickly change settings from my Android phone. No need for bluetooth, just a $5 adapter. And it works with every Betaflight quad.
@@JoshuaBardwell Ah ok gotcha! It sounded in the video like bluetooth is the only option to use Speedybee and I was a little confused by this, that's all :D
While cool, I think I’ll stick with my 5” Shocker with 2204 motors from FPVCycle. Just an all around better flight experience and plenty of power to carry what you want. That being said I normally carry a naked GoPro, which makes the weight unnoticeable.
I don't have a Vista my explorer doesn't get sats easily. Sometimes the entire day. Lingest been 2days on for hours lol.. I take antenna off to the side. No cell phone or gopro near it. Then seems like I might get 5 to 7 in 5mins. But drops below 5 on flights
Why has everybody overlooked the Twig XL? Gets 7mins of semi hard flying on a kinda tired 650mah 4s and over 11mins of moderate cruising. Pretty amazing for a 3" running 1404 3600kv motors. And Holy hell is it fast with gemfan 3028s
My wife: "Why are they making hexacopters? Is that just to sell more motors and props?"
True. Love.
😆
Ha, probably! xD
Uhh, look at the price, they practically gave you all the extra stuff for free. I'm betting the price will only go up over time plus it's just too cool not to have. Just clicked your link, take my money. I'm going analogue and save a bit of weight.
If one motor/prop goes out, that kwad comes down. If that happens on a hex, it’ll still be able to fly back to you.
Great review as ususal! Main advantage of the hex IMO is lower disc load with a heavy 4S LiIon (Besides just looking super cool). The 4" quad is really starting to struggle with a 209g battery. It gets a bit loud and you start loosing efficiency. So you can go for 5" or think out of the box like Flywoo did and just add two more 4" props. The disc area is the exact same +/- a few percent. Anyways, hope mine arrives soon so I can finally test it ! 😁
Theoretically the flywoo hex is less efficient as it has to carry around two more escs, more wiring, more mounting hardware, arms etc. Also the associated drag with more arms and prop areas, a more efficient quad that can carry a heavier weight seems more sensible - the hex may be superior in terms of flight stability however.
Hey, I know this video is super old but I fly the hexacopter long range a fair bit with a lith-ion and a naked gopro and it does pretty well. I'm also a racer so I tend to fly pretty quick.
But the props in view really ruin the footage.
I've been thinking about swapping to the quad version. Do you think I'd get the same flight performance on a lithium ion battery long range? Or should I stick with the hexa?
TLDR: Lithium-ion+naked gopro for long-range. Better on hexa or quad?
@15:39 “Get a bucket and a mop?” 😂😂😂🤙🏾
"Is this a better aircraft?" In my humble opinion... yes. I have both, and the quad really struggles once you strap on the li-ion pack (to the point where the motors overheat badly without rpm filtering). The hex can carry the big li-ion pack and the SMO 4k effortlessly, and does great even in breezy conditions. The quad's only real advantage is that you can keep it under 250g, at least when running an 850mah lipo.
The inclusion of a table of contents in your recent videos are 👌
Alice Cooper on the rcgroups forums says to improve gps, you should plug in your quad and leave it outside for an hour or so in order to give the GPS unit enough time to update its satellite almanac. Apparently the GPS units almanac is blank when it ships. So if you give it an hour or so to fill its address book, it will acquire a lot faster from then on.
Interesting information, thanks for sharing
I'll put surprotector on my porch with cookies n milk and ill babysit it for the hour for.ya
You should power your GPS alone via the balance port on your battery pack and then when it has a lock which should be fairly quickly, then you can power up the FC and other electronics.
Wow great magic trick, dunno how you pulled that off
Basically the point is it's cool. Joshua sounds like a kid in a candy store when he looks at the 6in1 esc.
I can think of one more reason for the hex: more stable in rougher longrange conditions, in gusty wind? Because that's the one downside of cruising those new tiny drones, if it's not really calm, it doesn't feel like the magic carpet ride that I aim for to get my daily out of body experience ;)
Greets, Mario
i know im randomly asking but does someone know a tool to get back into an instagram account..?
I stupidly lost my account password. I love any tips you can offer me
@Joaquin Luka instablaster ;)
@Kobe Brayden Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Kobe Brayden it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy!
Thanks so much you really help me out!
@Joaquin Luka No problem :D
Point is to be awesome! Also, the analog version seems to get GPS super fast. The length of time is 100% linked to interference from Vista.
Yeah I get 11 before I pull my googles down, can't get the blue tooth working though
That grey overcast look is what I don't miss most about East Tennessee all winter long!
Idk why but your vid style is so addicting to watch. Even stuff I have zero interest in (this product) I have to at least play in the background while I multitask. Props to you and your editor
Analog Flywoo converted to DJI Vista, when I did the conversion, I put the GPS on the softserial and the DJI on the uart. No drop outs, and I get a lock in around 45 seconds now.
Just want to say you're the best Bardwell. Keep up the great content.
I love how excited you are about the 6-in-1 ESC. Keep doing what you do, Joshua! :)
Reminds me when the real old cams had "gps friendly" versions you could buy when you put them on your drone
What were those cams doing? I've never heard of such a feature
@@krzysiekk3823 Making noise Apparently
i did 4km on a 650 4s with it, i was pretty shocked
Bot!!!!!!!!!!!🍁🔥🍁🔥🍁
Fantastic flying, Joshua!!! Great review! 😃
FINALLY we have a 6 in 1 esc! There's a beautiful 5" hexacopter frame on Banggood for a long time (or at least there was!) and I always wanted to build it! 😂
Well... We'll see! But, definitely... This is the way!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Remember the RotorX Raiju. That little thing was a beast and ahead of its time.
I saw someone mention a really good point about having an AIO that can control 6 motors - if you run it on a quad it means you have 2 spare motor outputs you can switch to if you happen to break one or two.
When you said “Wanna see a magic trick” I got so excited I instantly ‘liked’ the video! 😂 🪄 👍
I just got mine in the mail today, (The Frame) Thank GOD it comes with instructions for assembling the frame. It has a bunch of pieces, but comes nicely pack in a plastic reusable box; with extra pieces. I got the idea for the motors that I'm going to use on this from Scott Tomlinson, and this thing will have a ton of power while using a Li-ion battery.
I love hexacopters especially Y configuration, I like the way that one looks as well.
I would like to see a quik 5 rotors test !
It's like training wheels for Astral Projection! love it.
This guy JB, is on another level. Wow.
I haven't flown a hex in years! This is awesome, but also Flywoo trolling everyone to copy them like the lr4! I'm totally getting one!
You can't flash INav in Speedybee App, but you can change INav settings
The App can Connect via cable If supported by Phone
There is a WiFi Adaptor (for Speedybee)
The star of the show was how tickled Joshua got when looking at that 6 in 1 ESC. 🤣😂 That's pure joy.
I slid some copper solder wick braided "sleeve" over the GPS wires on my 4" LR...In effort to reduce the sat fix time on the GPS, minimal improvement. Then I discovered the analog transmitter was powered to the 5v out. Fixed that too. Glad to see they are trying to make improvements. Maybe perfection by the time the 4"octocopter comes out??
13:06 Interesting mounting solution. I was kinda running out of space on the top plate with a 20˚ naked GoPro mount. Should probably start to mount em horizontally as well.
I think it is perfect for when you got a limited budget and want to do long-range cruising with a Gopro and Freestyle without a GoPro just for fun. Great Video as always.
Back in the days before racequads were a thing, heck even before DJI was a thing, hex and octo configurations were quite popular due to the rather bad power to weight ratio of normal quads. Back then, just by adding two more motors and keeping everything else the same, flight times improved for the reasons mentioned in the video.
Funny to see how this rule has turned around over the decade.
So what happens when we build a light ish weight hex with those torquier 2004 motors? Can't wait to see how this keeps progressing
I bought one of these, fun enough to fly. Short flight times are my biggest complaint on small quads. I'm running it with an 1800mah 4s.
What flight time you have with 1800?
@@sgelagaev I'll have to run the whole battery out and let you know. I'm pretty new to drones so that's a tall order for me. I did discover that Betaflight is a poor choice for long range drones. Minimal GPS support, broken RTH, no support for lidar/sonar sensors. Flywoo has inavflght builds available for their quad f745 explorer so hopefully hey'll follow up with an inav build for the hex f745. Inav seems to have all the stuff from beta plus sensor/navigation support. I think that's the big mistake flywoo made with this product; shipping it with a firmware designed for acro/freestyle when the hardware is clearly setup for long range...
The best performance increase I got, is using 3,3V instead of 5V for GPS. Nearly any GPS support 3,3V. COmbin this with Ublox offline assist, you receive sats much much faster.
The glee to see a 6 in 1 ESC! 🥰🤓 I love your videos! Happy holidays Joshua! 🎅🏻🎄🌟
Hi, after your last roundup with those 4" long range quads I decided to do something with my own GPS setup and I have twisted tx/rx wires together and VCC/GND lines separately. Than I have put them into the shink tube where they were just beneath my VTX. Belive it or not but now GPS is locking very quickly and I have also noted the most satelites locked with this setup - over 20 during very foggy day. My GPS is BN-220 by the way.
Definitely interesting, different than the usual toys we fly. Seems built for cruising with a naked gopro and the heavier Li-ion pack. To freestyle it I think would lead to disaster the first real crash. The 4" Shocker was awesome for freestyle, looked like so much fun ripping around your yard. Happy flying. 👍💖🤓
I love it- I'm just working on getting my 2.5 inch Tomoquads EVO-H Hex set up so if she flies good, this may be my next purchase. 6in1 esc, man that makes things easier as I'm curently using two 4in1s stacked....
I love your channel. New to flying drones. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Welcome to the hobby!
Thank you! I’ll check out your patreon tonight!
15:39 when you crash in the snow you get that WAQ (wet ass quad)
0:18 very well placed :D
It helps to have a grid on your work surface LOL
@@JoshuaBardwell yeah I noticed that xD
I am really excited to hear your solutions for the gps issues you mention. I love the Tarsier but it ruins the gps reception, and right now is a big problem in my Explorer LR (quad).
Looks like they listened to you for the quad .Preorder Explorer LR 4 V2 HD Micro Long Range FPV Ultralight Quad Bnf w/ Vista / Nebula Pro F745 BGA FC GPS V2.0
The quad is called dead cat. The hex can be called a spider, with 2 antennas for total of 8 legs.
Its an air taxi for elves.
Your flying has improved massively. Not that you were bad before.
Yeah I noticed the difference as well.
Seeing all the problems with gps not locking,....coming from fix wings and inav long range flying, I know that you want as much separation from a 900ghz system, problems are much lesser with 2.4ghz systems. So maybe worth testing, assure as much separation between the antenna and gps, or setup with express lrs or tracer on 2.4 Hope this helps.
Great to have a barometer, for iNav, but also need magnetometer, so probably a m8n, 880 gps.
☝️ This should be higher in the comment section; just a GPS & barometer (unfortunately) isn't enough for iNav multicopter 😕
Its an amazing drone but I hate the fact that you can see the motors and props in the googles. So I think I am gonna go with the Flywoo Explorer. The problem is it is not available...
Now that there's a 6in1 ESC, do yourself a favor and build a freestyle hex. Ripping a hex with the right motors and props for freestyle is a blast!
if its the vista processor interfering with the gps, you could try testing various capacitors across the 5v/gnd, (tiny ones, not the fat power supply caps)
You could try adding a grounded metal mesh between the gps & vista, if you think its RF interference.
I think it would give a lot more stability for cinematic flying, although most of that is done by the action-cameras these days. And with hex-copters you can "loose" up to two motors and still have enough control left to save the kwad, which might be cheaper in the long run.
I tried the wire shielding hack with actually a soldered ground wire to the shielding on my quad explorer and it didn't help at all.
I'm working around that by plugging in the fc, and powering it, to my phone. This also powers the GPS unit. Then i wait until i have a fix, which i can see on my phone. Then i plug inthe flight pack and unplug the usb (don't forget to log out in software, otherwise it will not arm). It then holds the satelites and i can fly.
Oh and becasue i do it this way i don't need the bluetooth. I use the cable anyway
Hex’s are so cool. Stable camera as long as its high enough. I love them lol.
Hey take it as a plus to have a *-1 esc, so you have two extra escs as spares for normal drones.
Hexas are cool, no way around it. I wouldn't care about redundancy, there are 10k$ copters with just 4 props. The tech is reliable enough. And to carry a fullsize HD cam for 12+ minutes a light 5" with biblade props will do the trick. The area where 4" hexas could shine is actually freestyle due to their strong yaw authority and nimble cornering paired with a very stable image but for that you would have to have a good tune.
P.S.: Don't forget to include the gps_ublox_use_galileo command in your GPS video.
Great looking shirt!!
Can you do a tuning video for a HEX I have the FLYWOO Firefly Nano HEX and would love some tuning tips. It is a lot of fun to fly just really want to get it dialed in for light freestyle/cinematic flights. Love all the videos!!!!
I'm waiting for the dodecacopter! It's either 12 motors or none at all, for me!
Nice detailed review!
Hi Josh very interested in the helicopter idea, but I just am not sure, I think it's definitely worth the look.
Thanks josh im a new fan of your and just getting into this and trying to find what to buy
6 in 1 ..... Way cool!! WELL DONE FLYWOO!!!!!
I don't care about having a go pro on quad. I just want to enjoy the immersion and I would be satisfied with DJI cam footage
This would be an awesome board for those scared of 4 in 1 boards if an esc fails you have 2 more.
true
covering the gps wires with sheilding is HILARIOUS because its a digital signal going to the flight controller, only analog signals are really prone to noise interfering with the signal because it uses precice voltages as the data signal not pulses, and if it did happen to interfere it wouldnt make the gps unit not get sats it would make the gps actually drop signal to the flight controller
The wires act as antenna and pick up noise which enters the electrical circuitry of the GPS and raises the noise floor of the GPS receiver, making it harder for it to lock in satellites. Shielding the wires reduces this effect. So does twisting them.
@@JoshuaBardwell fair enough, i would have to do some testing to see the effect, i always twist my wires tho not just for noise but flexability and neatness, but i understand it helps with noise, i just dont know how much of an effect it will have on a digital signal line, there should be diodes and capacitors on the gps board that should stop signals from the wires from reaching the radio side of the gps reveiver, but as with anything more noise mitigation is always better, but i just dont understand electrical engeneering well enough to be able to say for certain anything so im just shooting shit lol
For the squadrons peeps out there... lrhex = tie defender, lr4 = tie fighter
Hex is safer than quad. Theoretically it can keep flying if you blow a motor or if you blow 2 motors (provided the 2 motors are directly opposite each other).
No, i have a bigger Hexacopter(6") and if i remove only one prop it works just fine, But if a 2nd prop is removed it works But its on the Border of unflyable.
@@Enderkruemel Is the second prop directly opposite the first prop? Regardless it flies. A quadcopter would fall from the sky with the loss of one motor/prop.
On a toy hexacopter (jjrc h21) I broke the middle left arm so I cut off that arm and the middle right arm and now it flies like a quadcopter. I think it might depend on which motor/arm.
@@gimpman1357 i didnt test it whith the middle Arms Becourse in a Crash its mostly one of the Front Arms/Motors that are damaged. But its the Same Problem for any opposite Motors.
yaw shouldnt work if you brake more than one Arm/Motor.
(e.g. Breake bouth middle Arms)
becourse bouth Motors that spinns to the left are on one side so if you want to roll to the left bouth Motors on the right Spin up and the copter yaws to the right. It trys to counteract this and to Do this it spinns the other Motors up. > now longer roll. thats Not controlable.
Thats also the reason why normal quads have the Motors opposite to each other spinn in the Same Direktion.
Did you reverse the Motors to get it Fly like a quad?
@@gimpman1357 yes each Motor is the opposite
R-L
L-[]-R
R-L
I like this 6in one Esc, also i like Hex Setups, becourse my oldest quad was a zmr 250 frame But i upgradet it to a custom hex.
Also it Runs very old and cheap emax mt2204 2300Kv Motors
(6" 3-blade) and Simonk 12A Esc flashed to blheli. But i use this on 4s 3p li-ion pack and also a naze32 whith Barometer and GPS at 2k/1k
And its a Good longrange copter now, it has 40min flighttime.
I didnt think this was postible whith this old Parts, But i was surprised that it can Fly so long. 35 min flighttime whith the runcam 3s on board.
Only 540g whithout the Batterie, for a 6" hex a very Good wight i think.
Love the welcome sign lol
Curious take off the bi props and put on trip props or quad props and see if that changes the hexacopter's flight characteristics.... Sometimes bi props have a tendency to act weird or balancing issues
I've added some updates (in comments) to my video on how to fix the chimera 4 GPS issues if you are interested.
Pretty cool hex, but IMO it kinda defeats the point of the micro long range (and it's deadcat layout) by having the motors / props in view.... They should have used a layout similar to the old TBS Gemini. Pretty cool little 16x16 stack though! Might have to grab me one!
i wish there was a hexacopter that weighs under 240g with battery, would be perfect for practicing acro for beginners due to its stiffness though it can be very very light without drifting like crazy. really like this hex anyways! maybe if the insurance and so on will be easier and cheaper by 2021 here. nice review as always
RaceDay Quads did tell that it was an F4! I just did not pay attention because after watching four reviews, they all said that the hexcopters shipped with the F7.
I think you should've killed a motor midair somehow (a fuse..?) to see how the redundancy works, and how it flies handicapped...
Aside for being good entertainment (no matter the result), i think the redundancy is a main selling point for something like this.
Joshy Bard Bard, I'm affraid I might have to watch this one a few times overs. It's like the ultra compilation of how to get your stuff straight with gps, dji, crossfire, etc.
The ESC (not FC) takes 6S it seems... time for experiments with either throttle limit or lower kV motors...
Interesting novelty for sure!
nice looks really cool for long range great video.
I bought one...
couldn't resist.
I'm hoping it still gets home on 5 props...
I think this is actually a really cool thing, for some reason i love Hexacopters.
Probably just the idea of them and the aesthetic. Albeit to bad i am poor, and only a total beginner, i spent alot this month on a new TX16S, a Tinyhawk 2, Velocidrone Simulator.
And some more batteries.
I still need to get a different set of goggles my at this point ancient Fatshark Predator ones arent cutting it, for some reason the OSD is pretty much unreadable, and it also has no diversity.
Modern F4 FC's already has 5 or more UARTs, so F7 is not necessary. Take 6in1 ESC for your quad and you will get two spare ESC channels in case of damage of one or two)
The problem with an F4 is that the UART doesn't support inversion. So typically the FC will dedicate one UART to SBUS, with a hardware inverter. At that point, the UART is not usable for anything else unless the manufacturer has a separate pad for un-inverted signal. Especially on smaller FC like 20mm and 16mm this is often not done. So it's very common on an F4 FC to have, let's say, five UARTs available, but one is for SBUS and one is for SmartPort telemetry and if you aren't using Frsky then you only have three UARTs. Or you will have TX broken out for SmartPort, but not the corresponding RX. So you cannot use a GPS or anything else that needs both TX and RX.
With an F7, it's not just the number of UARTs that is nice, but there is no nonsense with inversion so you get a full UART for each one.
I've had props disintegrate many times causing totaling crashes so redundancy is appealing. That said I would prefer less motors with unbreakable metal props.
stop playing eachine props and you wont have that issue lol
@@widgget I have had HQ, Emax, Gemfan, Dal and APC break at some point. Many new out the packet. Admittedly many break during aerobatic maneuvers but a good portion break up at low speed just cruising long range. It's nearly always at the same part right where the blade meets the central hub. I think it's grain boundaries in the material as I check my props holding them up to the light and you can sometimes see them. Metal props would give peace of mind. Maybe they could call them props for life.
I am not sure if it was noticed or covered in your video and I just missed it when I watched it, but heads up to other analog buyers, it comes with an F411 instead of the F745 disappointingly.
Put a beefier ESC and 3 blade props on the quad version and it's a lot more fun. Going to try hefting a whole GoPro8 with it and see...
Tried the GoPro8 with 4s 850 r-line Tattu. It cut my flight time to just over four minutes cruising. Hover at 50% throttle, about 14A current draw. Handling is... porky. Could lose ~20 grams weight IIRC by powering the GoPro from 5v BEC. This setup DOES work and the footage was pretty darn good; I'll keep parts in my bag for days I'm not carrying my 6 inch.
Not sure why you didn't mention it during the Speedybee Bluetooth part but you don't need bluetooth to use the app, you can also use a USB cable. I have an OTG adapter with USB-C and a micro USB cable always with me on the field to be able to quickly change settings from my Android phone. No need for bluetooth, just a $5 adapter. And it works with every Betaflight quad.
I didn't mention it because this is a video about the quad not about speedybee.
@@JoshuaBardwell Ah ok gotcha! It sounded in the video like bluetooth is the only option to use Speedybee and I was a little confused by this, that's all :D
You should try a 6s 850mah on this guy with throttle limit. That would be fun to watch!
No throttle limit haha
real curious flight time on li-ion vs quad
I just figured it out, you remind me of Moz from White Collar! Oh my gosh it’s been bothering me since I started watching your videos!
Verry nice keep it up love ur vids
I might actually buy the hex and somehow convert it into the quad version, that way I get all the upgrades, along with two extra motors if one breaks.
While cool, I think I’ll stick with my 5” Shocker with 2204 motors from FPVCycle. Just an all around better flight experience and plenty of power to carry what you want. That being said I normally carry a naked GoPro, which makes the weight unnoticeable.
Is the hexacopter any quieter than the quad at cruise speeds? Seems the main benefit is load carrying ability and prop loading similar to a 5".
What do you think about analog drone and install split-style camera? This way you also get footage you enjoy watching afterwards
I don't have a Vista my explorer doesn't get sats easily. Sometimes the entire day. Lingest been 2days on for hours lol..
I take antenna off to the side. No cell phone or gopro near it.
Then seems like I might get 5 to 7 in 5mins. But drops below 5 on flights
Why has everybody overlooked the Twig XL? Gets 7mins of semi hard flying on a kinda tired 650mah 4s and over 11mins of moderate cruising. Pretty amazing for a 3" running 1404 3600kv motors. And Holy hell is it fast with gemfan 3028s
Really nice content as always 😉🍻
I am guessing they didn't do a hex mmix setup on it. Massive difference in flight stability when fc knows where thd motors are