Advice for new flyers

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I love flying and fly real planes, but.... I am not much of an RC guy so when I flew the Phantom 2 vision for the first time, I hit a few bushes and had some hard landings. Nothing bad but not ideal either.


About two weeks ago I found out about the Hubsan x4 for $50 USD and got one.
Not only is it super fun and impressive I have to say messing with a craft that I don't care that much about has made me a better Phantom pilot.
This little thing is durable, good for indoor out door and even worked after landing and sinking to the bottom of the swimming pool. (I put it in rice for few days)

I would recommend getting a cheap quad, like the x4. It is great practice flying it hard and not worrying about crashing a $1,200 quad.
I fly the Hubsan x4 into everything including bushes, trees, and walls and it just keeps on going.

Thanks to Pull_Up for recommending it to me :mrgreen:
 
ResevorDG said:
I love flying and fly real planes, but.... I am not much of an RC guy so when I flew the Phantom 2 vision for the first time, I hit a few bushes and had some hard landings. Nothing bad but not ideal either.


About two weeks ago I found out about the Hubsan x4 for $50 USD and got one.
Not only is it super fun and impressive I have to say messing with a craft that I don't care that much about has made me a better Phantom pilot.
This little thing is durable, good for indoor out door and even worked after landing and sinking to the bottom of the swimming pool. (I put it in rice for few days)

I would recommend getting a cheap quad, like the x4. It is great practice flying it hard and not worrying about crashing a $1,200 quad.
I fly the Hubsan x4 into everything including bushes, trees, and walls and it just keeps on going.

Thanks to Pull_Up for recommending it to me :mrgreen:

+1

And take it slow when you get your Phantom!!!!
 
While probably not a bad idea, I can't imagine anything being easier to fly than a phantom. I've not done really any RC flying, and my 11yo son and I have now flown the P2 now about a half dozen times and have not even come close to a crash. We've both practiced take offs and landings and maneuvers with no issues. We started in a very wide open area and have now done flights in tighter areas.

I guess my point is, if you do your research as we have done, and take things step by step, there's no reason anyone shouldn't be able to fly a phantom without having to practice on something else. I'm sure we will end up with our share of mishaps/crashes along the way. But I mean the thing is navigated by GPS and holds its position when you let off the sticks. How could it possibly get easier than that? Just my 2 cents.
 
CJ31 said:
While probably not a bad idea, I can't imagine anything being easier to fly than a phantom. I've not done really any RC flying, and my 11yo son and I have now flown the P2 now about a half dozen times and have not even come close to a crash. We've both practiced take offs and landings and maneuvers with no issues. We started in a very wide open area and have now done flights in tighter areas.

I guess my point is, if you do your research as we have done, and take things step by step, there's no reason anyone shouldn't be able to fly a phantom without having to practice on something else. I'm sure we will end up with our share of mishaps/crashes along the way. But I mean the thing is navigated by GPS and holds its position when you let off the sticks. How could it possibly get easier than that? Just my 2 cents.

For sure. The pantom is the easiest thing I have flown. I have done some collective pitch, some fixed witng etc. but the little cheap quads have a nice thing going for them. They are like the phantoms but a bit harder to fly, so it's good prep for ATTI, and if I lost the cheap toy drone for good it would not be a big deal.
 
Yes we haven't tried ATTI mode yet. It will be a while before we get to that and that may change our perfect flight record :lol:
 
CJ31 said:
Yes we haven't tried ATTI mode yet. It will be a while before we get to that and that may change our perfect flight record :lol:

It's not too bad. It still has auto pilot for auto leveling. It just has no GPS function. So if you let go of the controlls it drift with the wind. Although I think fail safe still works. Not sure about that.
ATTI is really nice for keeping the horizon level for photos.

Now for real fun you can do full auto. I have no plans to try that one but there are petty of people on this forum who like to fly that way.
 
Glad you enjoy it! If nothing else it gives you a little flying fix when the great outdoors isn't playing ball.

The point of the X4's or similar is that they are a lot harder than a Phantom - so if you get to the point where you can pilot an X4 round the house for a full battery without trimming the cat or bouncing off the walls then your flight inputs are getting to the point where they are becoming second nature. The Phantom will then seem like it's flying itself in comparison (which it often is) and it means you've got more "thinking" time for operating the app, thinking about framing shots, or switching around between flight modes/IOC, etc.

It's also a very good trainer for "nose-in" flying where the controls are reversed. Useful if you are filming coming towards yourself, for example, and not ruining a shot by pushing right when you meant left. Cheaper to make mistakes with a micro quad! :)
 
ResevorDG said:
I would recommend getting a cheap quad, like the x4. It is great practice flying it hard and not worrying about crashing a $1,200 quad.
I fly the Hubsan x4 into everything including bushes, trees, and walls and it just keeps on going.

Yup, got a Hubsan and a couple of Estes Proto Xs and they are great for getting used to learning the flying basics. I find the Phantom much easier to fly, but the consequences of a mistake would be much costlier with the P2. I've been knocking my mini/micro quads around needing only some replacement props to get them going again. It's great doing nose in/side in practice as well as trying to do coordinated left and right circles and figure 8s.

I also picked up the Heli-x sim which is pretty good and has a Phantom model in it (part of the free demo I believe), but I find it more challenging to fly than the real Phantom, which is probably a good thing.
 
I should also clerify, I don't really crash my phantom aside from an occasional hard landing or so, I crash the x4 because I fly it much harder and take risks that I would not with the pantom, that kind of flying makes for a better pilot all around.

A new great game with the x4 fly it at you, kill the power when it's several feet away, then catch it as it falls. Loads of fun.
 
Another good one, have it in the palm of your hand, rotors off, throw it up as far as you can, and just before it starts to descend fire up the props and get it to hover right where it stopped.

Absolutely no transferable skill to the Phantom whatsoever, but when you get it just right it looks very cool. ;)
 
jondrew said:
Yup, got a Hubsan and a couple of Estes Proto Xs.

I was about to buy a Proto X, if for no other reason than to support my one small antiquated local RC shop that sells nothing else I'm interested in. Or that was made in this century. Are the Proto X's significantly different than the Hubsan in any way (at least related to flight charataristics)?
 
I got the newer FPV Hubsan x4 today. It should be a really good FPV trainer. I'm finding it a fair amount harder to control than my Phantom with FPV. I guess it's like trying to FPV with a Phantom in manual mode.

If you already have a basic X4 controller and some Fatshark googles it all works together and is quite cheap without the controller (got mine from firstpersonview.co.uk for £59).
 
Pull_Up said:
Another good one, have it in the palm of your hand, rotors off, their it up as far as you can, and just before it starts to descend fire up the props and get it to hover right where it stopped.

Absolutely no transferable skill to the Phantom whatsoever, but when you get it just right it looks very cool. ;)

Yes I love doing that, but if it starts to tumble, watch out. That's how mine ended up in the pool. Luckily a bag of rice and a few days sitting was all it needed.
 
OI Photography said:
jondrew said:
Yup, got a Hubsan and a couple of Estes Proto Xs.

I was about to buy a Proto X, if for no other reason than to support my one small antiquated local RC shop that sells nothing else I'm interested in. Or that was made in this century. Are the Proto X's significantly different than the Hubsan in any way (at least related to flight charataristics)?

The Proto X is much smaller (see pic) and does not have an interchangeable battery (actually you can change it if you lift the body off but the Hubsan loads the battery in the back. Parts seem to be much more available for the Hubsan (parts as in extra propellers) and the controller for the Hubsan is much nicer (the controller also works with the Proto X which is pretty cool). I kind of like having a variety. If I were only going to buy one it would be the Hubsan.
IMG_1022_zpse774f267.jpg
 
jondrew said:
The Proto X is much smaller (see pic) and does not have an interchangeable battery (actually you can change it if you lift the body off but the Hubsan loads the battery in the back. Parts seem to be much more available for the Hubsan (parts as in extra propellers) and the controller for the Hubsan is much nicer (the controller also works with the Proto X which is pretty cool). I kind of like having a variety. If I were only going to buy one it would be the Hubsan.

Perfect, thank you. I knew they were smaller but not that much smaller. I'll probably end up getting both eventually, but I'll hold off on the Proto X for now.
 
For the record- I have 3 Proto X's... 1 is now parts (as they don't make 'em) and 2 are for alternating.... they get more airtime than any other toys I have.

They are the most stable, the most aerodynamic, and the most fun you can have in a tiny space with your clothes on. I have a very small house- old, and narrow doorways, but I can whip that Proto X around like it was in an auditorium. Bitchin little quad.

The treat? The Hubsan radio works with it and opens up the extreme settings on it... not even the little keychain stock controller has that option! Bonus!!!!! (also easier to use as the stock radio on the Proto X is tiny)

The props are supposed to be released as a part... but there are no batteries, and it is the smallest pico 2 wire connector you can imagine- proprietary at the moment from my guess... but I have a crapped battery, and I am going to mod one of those tiny 1s lipos at the hobby store I saw that is close in size and voltage.

I am a HUGE fan of the Proto X... can you tell?
An alternative is also available... same form factor but I forget the name- check a guy out on youtube called "Flyin Ryan" for video reviews and all pertinent info.
 
OI Photography said:
Perfect, thank you. I knew they were smaller but not that much smaller. I'll probably end up getting both eventually, but I'll hold off on the Proto X for now.

Note the helicopters. I've gotten quite addicted to things that fly up and down since I got my phantom. I have a larger heli not pictured I'm working on too.
 

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