Essential FC40 upgrades for a beginner

[kyeikofi]

Hello All,
this is my 1st post here so please take it easy with me. I have searched through the various threads but I cannot find the answers I want.

I am getting an FC40 for Christmas and I have read various advice on essential upgrades.

Generally the advice centers around landing skids, prop guards and a higher capacity battery.

What upgrades are essential for a beginner and what specification?

Thanks for your help.
Kofi

 

[sherpa]

Don't worry about upgrades yet. Read the manual front to back 3 times, learn the software and get a couple extra batteries. Learn to fly well then worry about upgrades.

 

[zerodb]

Good call. The best upgrade you can do right now is to buy as many batteries as you can afford (and probably an extra charger). The Hobbyking Multistar batteries are great but to use the bigger ones you'll need to carve up your Phantom a little, so I'd say at least pick up a couple of "regular" batteries so you can rotate through a few and get some flight time under your belt. Spend some time practicing the IOC control modes and feeling out the difference between flying in GPS and ATTI modes also. I suggest steering clear of Manual flight mode for quite awhile.

 

[kyeikofi]

Thanks all for the reply. I cannot wait to get my hands on the unit.

 

[houldsworth1]

Mine was delivered with prop guards and I have never used them - want to buy them from me

In order I added the following:
- 2 extra batteries (day 2)
- Walkera gimbal (ordered week 2, took a month to arrive)
- SJ4000 camera is expect to be under the tree for Christmas

Out of the box you will notice a lot of wobble on the video (hence the upgrade to using a gimbal). But if you upload to YouTube and use their enhancements to take it out it will make a big difference.

But totally agree with the thoughts here. Spend time flying it and just getting used to it. I still find myself using the wrong stick or not remembering that I have switched into Home Lock mode and spend a confused few seconds figuring out what happened to the controls.