Yuneec q500...anyone jumping ship

[Ash]

Hi Guys. It seems that Yuneec have built a if not perfect a very near perfect quadcopter with no flaws. In the air the Q500 is super smooth, great flight time, great transmitter with built in FPV. After speaking with their support team it appears the Q500 is built not too fly away...Wow!! There is now evidence online...youtube etc, the Q500 is stable and no reported errors. I think we have to give it to them, its a great product and tech support in my experience is fantastic.

Is anybody dumping the Phantom for the Q500?

Thanks guys

 

[landmannnn]

A few posts about this, it seems ok.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=35060
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=33858&start=10

 

[Meta4]

Lots of good features but it's very slow and the camera could be better.
Perhaps their new camera out soon will be better?

 

[Ash]

Hi, I thought it was slow, however I find my Phantom 2 slow. I have seen a vid on the tube showing a comparison between the q500 and the phantom, the q500 seemed so much more responsive. Have to agree on the camera, its good but there are better. I wonder if the Gopro could be coupled to it? I beleive they are working on a 4k cam for this.

Thanks

 

[ChristoHD]

I would not mind having one of these in addition to my P2v3, but not as a replacement. And I'll wait till the next rev of the Q500 before I consider it seriously.

 

[Vas Deferens]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=35433&hilit=q500#p327809

 

[Mick Emmett]

Don't talk to me about bloody Yuneec, I bought a Q500 a month ago, nothing but trouble from day 1. It arrived with a completely knackered flat TX battery and the USB charger was missing from the box. I've had 3 fly aways with it and no one at Yuneec or Horizon Hobby replies to my emails. Piece of crap that I no longer dare fly in case it decides to fly off in to the distance never to be seen again. To think I sold one of my Phantoms to buy this heap of junk. Grrrr!

 

[Hughie]

Don't talk to me about bloody Yuneec, I bought a Q500 a month ago, nothing but trouble from day 1. It arrived with a completely knackered flat TX battery and the USB charger was missing from the box. I've had 3 fly aways with it and no one at Yuneec or Horizon Hobby replies to my emails. Piece of crap that I no longer dare fly in case it decides to fly off in to the distance never to be seen again. To think I sold one of my Phantoms to buy this heap of junk. Grrrr!

That's bad. I thought one of their USPs was that it didnt fly away. This kind of lets DJI of the hook a bit too

 

[dirkclod]

Me staying with what I got !! Done spent to much time learning about it to have to worry about something else !!
I am sure there will be others come along that are better but I think I have the top of the line now
JIMO

 

[tcope]

It was built not to fly away? So were the Phantoms. I'm still not 100% convinced that it can't/won't be subject to fly aways. As I understand it appears that Yuneec put a lot of though and effort into prevent fly aways but I don't know that it's 100%. I've read a lot on what people say they think causes the Phantoms to fly away. I'm leaning toward it being that the Phantom thinks Home is some place else so it flies to that location. I've heard that the Q500 might be better as storing this information. I think the Q500 has only been around for 3 or 4 months now. If that is correct, I think it's problems might not have shown up yet.

I don't think the video from the Q500 is as good as the stock camera in the Vision Plus. The Q500's video is very good... but looks a little washed out. Again... I think it still looks very good.

The Q500 is _HUGE_. My friend has it in a case and it takes up the entire trunk! Forget trying to hike it into many flying spots.

The Q500 is not as nimble as the Vision. Now this is a pro for the Q500 vs the Phantom. It makes for very stable and smooth video... which is something I like about the Q500 over the Phantom. Rotating side to side is _very_ smooth. It's size makes it stable but it's hard to pack around and it's a little less nimble. It's a trade off.

Monitor is built into the controller. So forget about choosing something better/larger/different to view the camera from the ground. No choices allowed. Forget being able to use different software or a booster. With the Phantom you could hand the monitor to a friend to take photos while you fly.

IMHO, the Q500 is "different" than the Phantom. It certainly has its strong points and it looks like a _great_ machine. I personally have nothing bad to say about the Phantom nor the Q500.

 

[Ash]

Perhaps not as good as I thought

 

[PsychopathRC]

I think it's hard to really compare the Q500 to 'THE' Phantom. For a start, 'THE' Phantom has been around for a long time, whilst the Q500 has not. Being a leader in this hobby, DJI are bound to have had issues compared to Yuneec. I think you can compare the Q500 to the Vision Plus specifically. But again, the Vision Plus has been around for more then twice as long as the Q500. So it's bound to have SOME features that the Vision Plus doesn't. Ultimately, the Phantom range together is better then the Q500 alone in my opinion. Depending on the beholder, both the Q500 and Vision Plus can be seen as 'better' really.

As far as I know..

Q500 Pros:

- Built in monitor
- Can film in 1080P @ 60FPS
- Can link another device to the camera
- Up to two kilometres range
- Comes with two batteries
- Good customer service through Yuneec

Q500 Cons:

- Pricier transmitters
- Slower maximum accent, decent and speed
- No ability to customise
- Awkward calibration process
- Minimal photo and video settings

I wont state 'THE' Phantoms pros and cons as we all pretty much know them. As someone else on here would do, I'd buy a Q500 as well as a Phantom. But I'd not buy it instead of a Phantom. I'd possibly buy a Q500 instead of a Vision Plus, but then I'd buy a Phantom 1 or 2 and attach my own Gimbal, Camera, VTX and OSD.

 

[robinb]

It looks interesting.

Its a shame the display on the TX is not a little better.

This is one of my big problems with the phantom i cannot get a reliable high res connection to my table all the time.

Sometimes it works other times I am back to 320 & 15 fps which is poor.

I will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months.

 

[Hughie]

There is some apparent attraction in RTF with the monitor being built in and everything, but TBH, I prefer the modular way.
You buy your own bolt ons. And if you are on a budget you can cut your cloth to suit, and upgrade at a later date.

 

[Ridetools]

When I lose my Phantom I might think about it. Its been over a year flying and my computer is ready to crash with all the high res videos I have. Kenny

 

[ccase39]

I would go with the new Hubsan 20 times before jumping on this Yuneec.

 

[johnp44]

Yep, I am waiting with baited breath for the 4k camera version.

Inspire is out of the question. The cost of parts and accessories for them is absolutely insane. You could end up with double the $2889.00 easily.

Meanwhile I will sell one of my Phantoms and keep the other until I am positive that the Yuneec q500 is a better solution. But all indications are that it will be the Phantom killer.

Regards

 

[Ash]

Hi. I too am awaiting the new 4k camera or gimbal for the Gopro. The camera is very good but not yet quite up to scratch. The reviews on this model are incredibly good, ok one or two Phantom flyers here aren't convinced, but I think we have to agree it is super smooth. Thanks