Can someone recommend a better outside flyer than the Hubsan X4 (it's too small)

[iam4208]

I';ve had a Hubsan X4 for a couple of  months now and it';s great for practicing indoors and messing about in the garden.
When I get to a bigger area, like my local park, I find it less satisfying for the following reasons:

It';s small, so you can';t fly too far away (or up for that matter).
I lose orientation quite easily because the LEDs are not easily seen - they are on top rather than on the side or bottom.

I';m comparing this to my brother';s Syma X5C-1, which is a bit bigger and has LEDs on the bottom.  It';s also a lot more docile than the Hubsan, although it doesn';t cope too well with the wind.

So, do other people just deal with these issues and happily fly the little critter outside or do you have something slightly bigger that you would recommend (but not a Syma X5C-1, which has issues with unreliable motors and gearing)?

[guest325]

These are OK and quite cheap:
http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1219

[annikk.exe]

I had (past tense, it';s lost now) a Blade Nano QX.
It';s a similar size, possibly slightly more espensive though.
It handles very well, including outside.  However, it has only a single dim LED inside the center canopy.  So orientation can be quite tricky.
On the plus side, it has yellow props at the front and black at the back, so you can sort of tell the orientation from that.

Putting it in manual mode, you easily have enough control authority and power to overcome light winds.  The wind does affect it a lot though, mainly because it';s only 18 grams but quite wide/large, so the wind catches it easily.

I crashed mine 1000+ times and the props didn';t break ever.  A leg broke eventually, and the canopy got smashed... but it comes with a spare canopy, and replacement parts are easy to obtain.  A new set of legs/base is £5 i think.

Your signature says you';re hungry for more.  You could consider a similar route that I went purrhaps, which is to get the BNF version of the Nano QX (or a different craft, if you prefer) and then buy a Taranis radio to go with it.
I did a bunch of research and the Taranis seems the way to go, unless you want to spend £500+ or are a total technophobe.  You will also need to buy an OrangeRX transmitter module so that the Taranis can speak to the BNF model.

If you think you';ll eventually want to progress to powerful miniquads or fixed wing aircrafts or other cool things like that, you';re going to need to pick up a radio at some point anyway.  By doing it this way, you can practice your flying skills on the actual radio you';ll eventually use for everything. :>

[iam4208]

Thanks guys.  The Twister';s canopy would probably help with orientation and it looks bigger than the Hubsan.
I dismissed the Nano QX as a first quad because it is expensive, so I may look at it again.

I have a local club where a couple of guys fly TBS Discovery quads and I';m certainly thinking that might be a good one to go for, especially as they can help me buy the right gear straight off (i.e., learn from their mistakes).

I';d also like a 250 for portability, but there are so many frames out there it';s difficult to choose.  Again, I may try and find someone nearby who has one and learn from them.

[kilby]

There is a bit of a gap in the market between the micro machines and the 250 racers.

I have most of a Nano-QX and they are great machines (very very stable) but still a bit small to see outside (or perhaps it';s just be being a blind old fool)

If you want to fly outside I would  say that going for something bigger is helpful, I started with a 450 and they';re a nice size particularly when it comes to being able to see the orientation of the thing when it';s more than 20 metres away

[powerlord]

I';ve got one of these which is great.

http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-CG022-Mini-2_4G-6-Axis-LED-Headless-Mode-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-935610.html

headless, so no worries about orientation.

and Ive flown it in 20mph wind no problems.

Since then I';ve got some of these too, which are just as good and even smaller:

http://www.banggood.com/Gin-H7-2_4G-6-Axis-LED-RC-Quadcopter-with-Protective-Cover-p-950651.html

stu

[Friskle]

just build yourself a 250 size ?  you can fly them as tame as you want, just because people use them for racing, does not mean thats all they are good for.

you can fly them quite sedately when you want to.

[philtrum]

theres always a 180 size like this

http://makeitbuildit.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=389

I';ve got all the stuff to make it ready for you to add your receiver and battery and fly

of course you will need some radio gear, which you wont have if you have a hubsan only at the moment

Cheers
Phil

[Friskle]

hmm quite like the look of that phil

[philtrum]

hmm quite like the look of that phil

they are soooo great to fly, my new favorite