FBL units: Stick with what you know vs. trying different ones

[akschu]

Sure, okay....

So I would look at what's available, and if I'm finding a lot of new features, support, price, etc... a compelling reason to try another system, then sure, I'll pick up something new for the new build, otherwise, I'll just buy another Spirit, as I've been pretty happy with them.


Given that Jeti Studio works on mac and lets me update firmware on RX's, and Spirit works on Mac and does the same, I rarely need to bust out a windows pc anymore, which is really really nice.

[Krager]

I'm thinking of converting everything to Brain2. I like the one I have a lot. It's a different tack than the BeastX which uses blinky-blinky lights to tune everything. I like the idea of a GUI setup interface and wireless link a lot better. I had to tune the one I have from the bench using a laptop PC and wired link, but it was pretty close right out of the gate and it's on a small heli I can fly in the yard. I might pick up a cheap Android tablet for field tuning. Don't really want to lug my laptop around with me.

The one down side of switching over is the BeastX works with the DX6 I've been using for some time now. The Brain2 can utilize 11 channels with all the available features. I want to use that stuff so it looks like it's time for a new radio. Seems a Taranis is the best, cheapest option. It has the dials required for in-flight tuning and plenty of channels. The DX6 is just so lacking with a Brain2, but it served me well for BeastX. Of course OpenTX has a steep learning curve. That was the main reason I went with the Spektrum radio, super easy to use. So now I may have to bite the bullet and learn it.

[Busher]

I like trying all different types and have a right collection of different makes.
I would have stuck with vbars as I consider them outstanding but they had different marketing ideas, if I had to stick to one now it would probably be a spirit.

[timay]

Time and funding are an issue. They are not unlimited.

I had 3 helis at one time once, and they were all BeastX, because it was inexpensive, it's what I tried first, it's what I was used to tuning, and I had zero issues with it. This was in 2010, when the technology was fairly new, there were few choices (3G, VBar), and lots of units with issues. BeastX flew solid with no gremlins and didn't break the bank.

I still have an extra BeastX in the event I want to grow the fleet. Selling & buying is a time sink and usually a money loss. Just like in business, it's expensive to transition technologies.

[cycled]

Originally Posted by seefest

I'm with you regarding the Skookum. I've tried an Ikon twice. A V1 version years ago, which I didn't like at all and a V2 BT version just recently.
The V2 I could never get to fly quite as nice as my Skookums. It took ALOT of tuning just to get it close.

I had one very minor crash(didn't even break main blades) which has seemed to screw something up with the Ikon. After I put the helicopter back together it had a horrible elevator bobble and the tail was all screwed up. It got worse and worse in flight and I almost didn't get it down without a crash. It wasn't anything mechanical, as I put my trusty Skookum back on it and it flew as beautifully as ever.

I'm good with my Skookums for now. The Ikon was to be my transition over to a new FBL system, but the issue after the crash has left a bad taste in my mouth. When I'm ready, I may try out a Spirit or Spartan. I don't need or use rescue so Spartan may be the ticket.

Shame about Skookum, but that's business. Go where the sales an money is.

I still have good memories about Skookum. Not the SK360, but the SK540 was easy to set up and worked well. But I tried Spirit and was hooked. I complained a bit about the set up (it's considerably better now), but rescue saved many crashes back when I was learning (and even one today: me trying low-altitude belly-in smack and getting the tail wrong). Good performance and native Linux UI sealed the deal for me; haven't seen a reason to try anything else since.

[mkovalcson]

Originally Posted by seefest

I'm with you regarding the Skookum. I've tried an Ikon twice. A V1 version years ago, which I didn't like at all and a V2 BT version just recently.
The V2 I could never get to fly quite as nice as my Skookums. It took ALOT of tuning just to get it close.

I had one very minor crash(didn't even break main blades) which has seemed to screw something up with the Ikon. After I put the helicopter back together it had a horrible elevator bobble and the tail was all screwed up. It got worse and worse in flight and I almost didn't get it down without a crash. It wasn't anything mechanical, as I put my trusty Skookum back on it and it flew as beautifully as ever.

I'm good with my Skookums for now. The Ikon was to be my transition over to a new FBL system, but the issue after the crash has left a bad taste in my mouth. When I'm ready, I may try out a Spirit or Spartan. I don't need or use rescue so Spartan may be the ticket.

Shame about Skookum, but that's business. Go where the sales an money is.

I have SK-720 BE's across the board except the Neo on my TDR2 and once in a while if I'm unsure about my orientation I'll press a button to level the heli upright, get myself sorted and move on.

I didn't expect to like how a full rescue works, but with the settings I have now the NEO doesn't just yank my heli in the air in any way that is disturbing, so I like it's operation.

Still I've finally hit that point where I'm a couple months away from flying a full year without a crash and I'm coming up on 4 years since my last 700 crash so both my TDR2 and Protos Max are virgins.

It's a nice feeling to be on the other side of the hump. There will be plenty of new things to learn to fly and many that I'll never master, but crashing is something I don't worry about anymore. I guess at some point I'll start dealing with electronics failures which would be something new for me.

[ronm3313]

I started with Vbar mainly because all the guys at my field were using it.

I tried a Robird which I didn't think worked as well.

I had a Kbar while my vBar was being repaired. No difference in performance!

I've setup and flown a couple of AR7200bx for my buddy. Easy enough to setup and they fly fine.

Lastly I have a Brain in my Goblin 570.

My next heli will have a Brain2. I like the performance, price, and the fact that upgrades and updates are free.

[Krager]

That's one of the things I really like about the Brain, you buy it once and any features added in future updates come with the unit. I think that's a nickel-dime thing they do like the BeastX where you have to pay for added features, don't like that much. Never paid for that stuff with my BeastX controllers so no rescue on any of them.

[gmann]

Just last week I had an Ikon fail in the air with my Trex 700e - the heli went crazy and nothing I could do. It landed fairly hard, but minimal damage except the blades. When I got to the scene I could see right away the Ikon was dead, and now unable to power it up at all. An older Ikon with 100's of flights, but only 2 crashes overall before the failure. I'm still pretty shocked. I have another Ikon in a Goblin 500 w/ rescue which I really like.

I had a Microbeast Plus and standard receiver laying around (thankfully I didn't SELL it), so that's now in the Trex. I like it fine. I'm very used to the AR7200BX, so programming and getting flying is easy for me, and they fly fine. I have 2 or 3 helis with the AR7200BX - trouble free and flies great for me, especially for the prices. I bought 2 used I think. I ripped the antennas off of one, and replaced them, which now flies fine again.

Brain2 came in the Protos Max combo, and it's great too.

If I had to choose a favorite flyer, I guess the newer Brain2 would be it. But, I personally don't like hooking up to the computer to set up Ikon/Brains, and prefer the pushbutton blinky stuff on 7200BX and Microbeast.

[Boinker]

Well if it ain't broken don't fix it. But why relearn a Fbl unit to replace one that there is not an issue with.

You have to have something to gain from it at least. Like if you want to have bailout and yours does not have it or if you are using a crappy unit to one of the good ones. But if you are already in to it for a ikon, spartan, brain etc.... No real reason to switch.

[doubletap]

As most i've started with ar7200bx it was good easy setup having dx6 2nd gen that time it was smooth, but i got curious, i got a 450l came with align gpro, it was alittle different, you get to setup your controller from pc and or your iphone or android phone or tablet, but it was a little loose on the feeling, the characteristic, loose tail loose main rotor, but it can be tweaked, some pilot were succesful with it, then i tried different it was popular 2 years ago but i dont want to hear that my radio, my transmitter is faulty ,shitty ( i have dx9 black edition) it takes the blame, when something is not right, i think a good flybarless works with all transmitter maybe not all but at least most of them like other fbl available in the market, it just painful to hear that my 500 bucks transmitter is not suitable for a 179 fbl, at the time i rather change my fbl than my radio, then i tried neo, it was a bit expensive but it worth it for me then i switched transmitter to vbar control i still have dx6i. But all my flying heli are now neo and controlled by vbc, i liked it and i will stick with it. But its me.

[seefest]

Originally Posted by Boinker

Well if it ain't broken don't fix it. But why relearn a Fbl unit to replace one that there is not an issue with.

You have to have something to gain from it at least. Like if you want to have bailout and yours does not have it or if you are using a crappy unit to one of the good ones. But if you are already in to it for a ikon, spartan, brain etc.... No real reason to switch.

My "gain" from trying new FBL controllers is the learning experience. Part of why I'm in this hobby is to learn new things and to tax my brain(eye hand coordination, learning new systems, etc)

Granted other pilots have much different priorities for their hobby which is great.

[Solmanbandit]

As far as a unit going bad from a crash, it is electronics and crazy things can happen even in what could be considered as a minor crash. I had one go screwy on me after a crash, but all of my units have been awesome besides the one. I have even had aluminum parts break and was never in a crash.

[Bladecpnitro]

I don't mind trying any FBL unit but there's no way I'm going to convert my entire fleet to something that absolutely has to have a PC or bluetooth connection. PC's and connectors fail. I'll always have some Microbeast's running in my fleet.

I had an issue with iKON a while back. Here's the deal.... when a firmware update comes up, you are locked out of your FBL unit until you get that update.

For me it turned into a nightmare because they dropped support for Windows XP in that particular update. So I couldn't get the update period until I got at least Windows 7 and was locked out of my FBL unit.

Then for those of us running Sbus, we were stuck with no bluetooth for 3 weeks.

I love the iKON but one should never be locked out of their FBL unit.
Updates should be a choice.

And now my bluetooth is setting all my settings back to default if I use it. That was the one that did it for me. I bought a Microbeast Plus. I'm keeping the iKON, it works great but will definitely have some Microbeast's running.

[Solmanbandit]

I have never been locked out of my ikon. Also never had one restore to default either. I did have one go funny on me once and got rid of it as a precaution.

[flint723]

Just FYI if you don't want to do updates on your Brain/Ikon, just disconnect your pc from the internet before you open the software and it will allow you to make changes without updating.

I tried a few FBL starting with Walkera 2702v. Then Beastx, then Robird (good unit at the time), then Brain, then Spartan. Now only own Brain/iKon2.

[OnTheSnap]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I don't mind trying any FBL unit but there's no way I'm going to convert my entire fleet to something that absolutely has to have a PC or bluetooth connection. PC's and connectors fail. I'll always have some Microbeast's running in my fleet.

I had an issue with iKON a while back. Here's the deal.... when a firmware update comes up, you are locked out of your FBL unit until you get that update.

For me it turned into a nightmare because they dropped support for Windows XP in that particular update. So I couldn't get the update period until I got at least Windows 7 and was locked out of my FBL unit.

Then for those of us running Sbus, we were stuck with no bluetooth for 3 weeks.

I love the iKON but one should never be locked out of their FBL unit.
Updates should be a choice.

And now my bluetooth is setting all my settings back to default if I use it. That was the one that did it for me. I bought a Microbeast Plus. I'm keeping the iKON, it works great but will definitely have some Microbeast's running.

There is no lock out. Microsoft stopped supporting the 15 year old operating system and caused a problems for our app. We did work around it and I believe it works ok on winXP again.

As mentioned if you want to stay on old software /firmware, you can enable airplane mode on the laptop when making changes.

The flip side of having brain and the app out of sync was a big problem years ago. This is why the app automatically checks for updates when it connects and has an internet connection.

[etherbatxx]

i'm surprised anyone can run windows xp and get away with it.

that OS is a huge hacker target. some get hacked within 10 minutes of being online.
look it up.

[Krager]

I probably hung in there is long as I could with winxp, I really hate OS upgrades, it's just a real pain and a major waste of time. Though you have to give in at some point. I'll be going through the same thing with win7 hanging back as long as I can. Though you don't have a choice in the end. They have to keep their revenue stream going. Their business model revolves around forced upgrades, though they seem to be taking a new approach with win10. Still forced upgrades, but their revenue stream is going to a new focus. I think they're a very disorganized company and their products reflect that.

In any case back to the topic, that is the one nice thing about BeastX is you don't need any additional equipment for set up and tuning. Though they still offer a USB adapter and software. I've used it and not found it to be much of a help, though mandatory for firmware updates. The software is not nearly as nice as the ones that rely on configuration software wholly.

BeastX is the only make that operates the way it does. If you lock yourself into their approach you also lock yourself into that make. I think their interface is rather clumsy and hard to use. At least it is for me. Plus they do that thing where you have to pay for features like rescue. I'd much rather pay once and get all the features. That's what I like a lot about MSH, you pay a competitive fee for the controller and features keep coming with updates.

In terms of the forced updates, it seems to be the way of the world with software these days. I find it rather frustrating, but it is what it is. I can understand their desire to keep all platforms they have to support up to date, but I would like a little more option there. Maybe I just want to connect real quick to check something and don't want to spend the time to update things. At the field I use it's no problem because there's no internet service out there anyway. But definitely have to shut off the network connection in that circumstance.

[etherbatxx]

we like it when companies survive and stay in business.

maintaining old software versions cost money. money that could be spent on new software, new features. or staying in business.

if you were a business owner, how would you prioritize maintaining old software versions?