mini vbar or align gpro

[1275mini]

just ordered a new dominator kit that comes with the gpro unit I have a spare mini vbar 5.3
what's best unit to fit ?

[NSFlyer12]

I tried gpro on my dominator but didn't care for it...spent some time tweaking but still not as good as my Spartans. You could try it out and see what you think.

[alistair watt]

I know at my club AAMFC a lot of guys bought 550 Aligns and 600 combos. All asked the hobby store to change /replace the Gpro to Spartans VN E .. I know that they are rock steady and they all love them.. My Dominator 550 kit was a Black Friday purchase and is a Christmas present so it's still in the hands of Mrs Santa . As it was an amazing deal the company would not exchange the Gpro even though I offered to pay the extra for a Spartan... Saying that, I have heard the Gpro is pretty good and as my flying is not 3D...I am sure it will be great.. I have batteries to buy, so the Spartan will have to wait, or perhaps the Gpro. will be good enough for my style of flying. .. I did read the new combo kits by Align don't have a Gpro in them? Some guys at my club said put the gpro unopened on eBay and buy a Spartan. So I really don't know, but batteries come first. Shame Spartan owould not do an exchange scheme on unopened gpro's, as Angelo from Spartan is very good I have read... At our clubs Heli. Nats in Summer I saw a Dominator 550 for the first time, the pilots from England gave us a demo with the Spartan vn1... All said it was the one to go for - as its so easy to set up, this seems to be correct from all our club pilots..
Best of luck..
Al

[oliver1071]

There's nothing wrong with the Gpro it flies just as good as the mini V and the software is an almost direct copy of Mikado's software.
I ran all Gpro's until switching to the Neo's and VControl. Honestly the Gpro's were less sensitive to vibration then the Mini Vbar.

[FiLazer88]

There's nothing really wrong with the Gpro, I got it flying fairly well on my 600 before switching to an Ikon, which I would say is a tad more stable and has more options. For the price, its not a bad fbl. I think Align is abandoning it though, they dug themselves into so much of a hole with it's predecessor 3gx that most people wouldn't even give the Gpro a chance.

[Abenn]

Interesting . . . there's a couple of posts here where they say there's nothing wrong with the GPro, but they switched to another brand anyway. So, why switch after having got the GPro running?

I switched from 3Gx to Microbeast a few years ago because I simply couldn't get the 3Gx flyable. Microbeast, without any physical changes to the model, flew straight out of the box after I'd programmed it.

[oliver1071]

Originally Posted by Abenn

Interesting . . . there's a couple of posts here where they say there's nothing wrong with the GPro, but they switched to another brand anyway. So, why switch after having got the GPro running?

I switched from 3Gx to Microbeast a few years ago because I simply couldn't get the 3Gx flyable. Microbeast, without any physical changes to the model, flew straight out of the box after I'd programmed it.

I just switched for rescue and the VControl. I liked all of the features when you pair the VControl and Neo. If you don't need rescue the Gpro flies nice and is one of the easiest interfaces I've used for the setup. The 3GX was awful compared to the Gpro.

[1275mini]

Most of the trex kits I have had over the past few years that came with the 3gx units
I could next get them to work so they were always dumped in favour of the spektrum unit which I found very easy too setup and fly
I have the beast pro with bale out on my goblin 770 that was not to hard to set up
But this new 550 with the Gpro was very easy to setup
Will just need to get a dry day to try it out

[SumOFparts]

I fly em all except for v-bar.....gpro flys as good as ikon or vortex....no problems... no worries

3gx and beastx is little vib sensitive - and less than stellar tail hold - so might have to monkey with mounting tape a little......not really good on rattle traps.....


-

[RC/DC_5000]

I fly the Gpro back to back against the Vbar. For about 6 months now.

The Gpro takes off better by popping the elevator forward for you and keeping things incredibly vertical and stable. It has a better feel off center IMO and it's easy to setup. The cyclic feels very crisp and connected.

The Vbar is more fluid and dynamic in the air though. It is superior for transitions and technical flying. Mobius flips show you how much better the Vbar really is. It's like the Vbar knows what you are doing and helps transition you more smoothly. It's magical. Go full speed backwards flight and then start elevator flips... The Vbar will magically maintain its forward flight while flipping. Whereas the Gpro will catch the wind like a parachute and immediately slow down.

The Gpro is not nearly as developed and complex as the Vbar and it takes more fine tuning upfront for extreme flight. Precomps and P/ I tail gains need more upfront tuning to be awesome. Whereas the Vbar is pretty much the bomb right from the start.

Its too bad.. because the Gpro was only on its first firmware version. It could've and would've easily been developed to be more dynamic and complex. I think Align is going to abandon it for the BX though.

GPro is awesome... Vbar is spectacular.

[Herky]

ha ha...one of my favorite topics!!!

I set up and flew the GPro on my 550, and it was by far the best Align FBL so far. Align smartly copied VBar's interface software as well as their satellite hardware array.

Flying it was pretty good. I cant say there was any horrible characteristics of the GPro, however, here is my list of squaks for the latest Align:

1. Interface software needs another revision. it seems like they rushed to get it out, and have never bothered to go back and clean up some annoying issues with the interface (I.E the giant "RESET" button on the bottom right where a "save" button might normally be located! talked with many others on this too!

2. Limitation on parameter and fine-tuning both during setup and for advanced tweaking. Align simply wont bother to add the fine tuning. You're stuck with what they have pre set in many cases.

3. Flight characteristics are good, but not AS good as V-Bar. If you're a beginner or intermediate, you WILL NOT notice this. Only for advanced and precision as well as aggressive flying you will see it.

4. Quality control. OK, decent, as is most of Align, but there is always a little "hmmmm" regarding quality. My unit died after about 100 flights...SUDDENLY! it simply would not initialize. F@**ing GPRO!!!

5. Firmware update. If it's not a legal problem for Align, they won't spare a programmer to update anything. Forget about upcoming features or fixes...

After putting a V Bar on it I was sooo happy! EVERYTHING is better, with the possible exception of basic setup, which is slightly simpler with GPRO.

Quality control is never an issue with VBAR. I have had 5 of them.

If you're on the fence on this one, do a VBar. Support is by far the best of all of them.

[RC/DC_5000]

Great post Herky. I agree with everything.

Unfortunately the GPro will likely be forever stuck as it is with no more updates or revisions. Looks like Align is going to ditch it for the BX in their kits.

Which brings me to final point that separates these FBL units. E-governor, E-governor, E-governor. VBar has it. BX has it, IKON has it.... pretty much everyone has it but GPro. I think Align realized how many people want this feature in the FBL. The BX governor seems to be pretty awesome and it has some stabilizing features and a lot more street cred for a 3 axis gyro.

Align even did the old rebrand and put their name on the BX controller. It looks like a done deal. The Gpro is dead.

The Vbar governor is fairly and widely accepted as the best governor on planet earth. Especially considering that it's built into the unit and costs no more than understanding how to turn it on. Versus buying a very, very expensive red ESC- you know which one I mean.

[Herky]

Didn't know that regarding BX and Align. It's frustrating because Align came soooo close...oh well...the market sorts itself out in the end.