Drones are very popular - so also the bigger players in RC try to get a piece of the cake ;-)
Align cought my attention last year (with their ML480) - and shortly after them Thunder Tiger also showed a new product - the Ghost+
Thunder Tiger Europe was kind enough to send me a sample for this review. It's a full RTF system and I also got the "FPV Set".
!At this point I can not give you my recommendation to buy this system - because mine was faulty and I had to send it back. As soon as I get a replaced unit I'll see how this one differes from a smaller and lighter Phantom2!
Here are the specs:
Size: 450mm (motor2motor)
Weight: 2.25kg
Motors: 28x14mm 450kv
ESC: 30A - 6S
Props: 11x5
Flighttime (in hover with gimbal and cam):
~15mins (used 1462mah for 4:39 flight and calculated the estimate flighttime for save 80% battery usage)
Pricetag:
1100€ (RTF with Copter+Charger+Gimbal+Radio+Battery)
+ 250€ for FPV Set (TFT+RX and TX)
Battery-Bay (Plastic housing):
3,5cm height
8,4cm width
housing is around 16cm deep (but you need to get cables in there...)
orig. battery without housing:
13,5cm x 7,2cm x 3,2cm 6S 6000mah 8c dicharge (48amps) 1c charge
Morpheus Gimbal: for GP3 and GP3+ (not GP4?)
Weight: 280g, 2s-4s voltage
Tilt: 90° Roll: 45° Pan: 360°
Flight controller Gains:
without gimbal: (set per default)
Roll: 55
Pitch: 55
Sway: 95 (Yaw)
WITH gimbal (a bit heavier)
Roll: 45
Pitch: 45
Sway : 80 (Yaw)
FPV Set:
7" TFT monitor with sunshade and good brightness!
Internal battery, chargeable via USB plug.
8ch: 5733 5752 5771 5790 5809 5828 5847 5866
Official Infos
German instructions and tons of infos
German FPV SET description
Friday, February 27, 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Bebop commented FPV flights from my Car and Demo Reel
For my review (last video) I did some "Field testing" while sitting in the car (cold and breezy weather). Of course this reduces the max range you get but it keeps you warm ;-)
So the first 10mins here are live commented FPV flights from inside the car featuring Lamas (or Alpakas?).
Later you see some sunny footage - where the onboard cam really shows some good results (not so good in bad light conditions)...
My flighttimes now settled to 7-10mins with the original batteries (1200mah 3cell).
Max flown distance with skycontroller so far 350m (but I didn't wanna risk too much here).
Most sunny footage was recorded with firmware 1.98.8 installed (the first shots are with 1.33).
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Bebop with Skycontroller Review
I was patiently waiting for this little tech stuffed drone to come out. I bought the AR.Drone 1 back than and loved the new concept. Skipped AR Drone 2 because I didn't see much difference (and had enough other quads) but this one was on my wishlist!
It's a wifi controlled flying cam rather than a drone.
It looks like a camcorder with arms and props ;-)
Video quality:
At the time of this filming I didn't have a day with good sunlight (were the cam performs best) - so you see rather poor performance but a decent stabilisation (it was cold and gusty this day, didn't wanna leave my car). This session was fun - maybe I'll post the whole video from my first flights.
As soon as we have some nice weather I will show you that the cam here can work really nice.
___________________________________
minor Problems I found:
Apps: make sure you always use the most current (my iPad app was 1 week old and had an issue with GPS status which I didn't have on my android).
Map-Mode:
You should be able to see your drone on a google maps style view but you have to preload this data. Because if I'm connected to drone I have no internet (even if I turn mobile data on my android stays just wifi and has no internet).
HDMI / Video:
I wanted to try my Fatshark Dominator HD, got a HDMI to MICRO HDMI cable and connected it to the skycontroller. Only got a few seconds of image on the goggles - flicker than black.
If I connect HDMI monitor to the skycontroller it works - so it must be on Fatshark side - or it's an incompatibility...
Hope I find I way for this.
But anyhow - the iPad view works really well. It's sharp image - but with some lag and occasionally stuttering video (control data is prioritized over video).
___________________________________
Tech spces:
- weight: 393gr (without bumpers)
- flying time (11mins? I estimate 8-10mins with std. 1200mah 3cell battery)
- fully stabilized 1080pcam (records fisheye 14mp and computes software stabilized video)
- tilt-able video (with two fingers on phone for example)
- video and control over 2.4 or 5ghz wifi
- can be controlled with only phone or dedicated skycontroller
- range varies (with wifi noise, used controller, channel,...) from only 100m to 2km (with skycontroller) under optimal conditions
- ios and android app (with lots of cool features)
___________________________________
2 different sets:
Bebop alone (500€)
Drone
2 batteries
wall plug charger
4 spare props + propmount tool
bumpers (for indoor)
Bebop + Skycontroller (900€)
all of above +
1 more battery (used for skycontroller)
skycontroller ("real joysticks", strong wifi repeater, directional antenna, Smartphone/Tablet mounting)
sunshade (2 Parts)
7" Tablet adapter
___________________________________
It's a wifi controlled flying cam rather than a drone.
It looks like a camcorder with arms and props ;-)
Video quality:
At the time of this filming I didn't have a day with good sunlight (were the cam performs best) - so you see rather poor performance but a decent stabilisation (it was cold and gusty this day, didn't wanna leave my car). This session was fun - maybe I'll post the whole video from my first flights.
As soon as we have some nice weather I will show you that the cam here can work really nice.
___________________________________
minor Problems I found:
Apps: make sure you always use the most current (my iPad app was 1 week old and had an issue with GPS status which I didn't have on my android).
Map-Mode:
You should be able to see your drone on a google maps style view but you have to preload this data. Because if I'm connected to drone I have no internet (even if I turn mobile data on my android stays just wifi and has no internet).
HDMI / Video:
I wanted to try my Fatshark Dominator HD, got a HDMI to MICRO HDMI cable and connected it to the skycontroller. Only got a few seconds of image on the goggles - flicker than black.
If I connect HDMI monitor to the skycontroller it works - so it must be on Fatshark side - or it's an incompatibility...
Hope I find I way for this.
But anyhow - the iPad view works really well. It's sharp image - but with some lag and occasionally stuttering video (control data is prioritized over video).
___________________________________
Tech spces:
- weight: 393gr (without bumpers)
- flying time (11mins? I estimate 8-10mins with std. 1200mah 3cell battery)
- fully stabilized 1080pcam (records fisheye 14mp and computes software stabilized video)
- tilt-able video (with two fingers on phone for example)
- video and control over 2.4 or 5ghz wifi
- can be controlled with only phone or dedicated skycontroller
- range varies (with wifi noise, used controller, channel,...) from only 100m to 2km (with skycontroller) under optimal conditions
- ios and android app (with lots of cool features)
___________________________________
2 different sets:
Bebop alone (500€)
Drone
2 batteries
wall plug charger
4 spare props + propmount tool
bumpers (for indoor)
Bebop + Skycontroller (900€)
all of above +
1 more battery (used for skycontroller)
skycontroller ("real joysticks", strong wifi repeater, directional antenna, Smartphone/Tablet mounting)
sunshade (2 Parts)
7" Tablet adapter
___________________________________
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Tropic Paradise Maldives (FPV flights with XuGong 2pro)
After some last minute building and testing I could take the XuGong 2pro with me on our vacation on the maldivian island Madhiriguraidhoo - to the "Palm Beach Resort". It's 7300km away from Austria so it was certain that I would need to dance the "naza dance" :-)
The foldable Copter did fit nicely into one trolley (hand luggage). Also the batteries (in lipo protective bags), lipo loader, Taranis and Fatshark. Of course on a trip I just use the internal RX of the goggles (to get better range I use the flat patch).
I asked for flight permission before wo got there - no problem. Also the lipo in a airliner was no issue at security check in.
The scenery there was awesome, but we had constant 20-40km/h winds all the time. You see this in some external shots. The gimbal worked well - but I had to help myself in "post production" with Sony Vegas software stabilizer on some shots (especially the sped up ones).
Because many asked: Travelling with a Quadcopter
Left below you see the Trolley. I wrapped the Xugong and Taranis for protection. Also had Fatshark, spareparts and batteries in Lipo safe bag. Security checks did not even ask for batteries. But it sure helps to have them properly stored. There's also a flight regulation that you can refer to:
"APPROVED FOR CARRY-ON LUGGAGE
COMPLIES WITH SECTION 2.3.5.9 IATA DANGEROUS GOODS REGULATION
ALL BATTERIES LESS THAN 100WH CARRY NO QUANTITY RESTRICTION"
The other pics: assembled and checked after arriving and using the brilliant ezUHF feature to use it as a spectrum analyzer and check the island for other radio sources (which was not on my band thankfully!).
The foldable Copter did fit nicely into one trolley (hand luggage). Also the batteries (in lipo protective bags), lipo loader, Taranis and Fatshark. Of course on a trip I just use the internal RX of the goggles (to get better range I use the flat patch).
I asked for flight permission before wo got there - no problem. Also the lipo in a airliner was no issue at security check in.
The scenery there was awesome, but we had constant 20-40km/h winds all the time. You see this in some external shots. The gimbal worked well - but I had to help myself in "post production" with Sony Vegas software stabilizer on some shots (especially the sped up ones).
Because many asked: Travelling with a Quadcopter
Left below you see the Trolley. I wrapped the Xugong and Taranis for protection. Also had Fatshark, spareparts and batteries in Lipo safe bag. Security checks did not even ask for batteries. But it sure helps to have them properly stored. There's also a flight regulation that you can refer to:
"APPROVED FOR CARRY-ON LUGGAGE
COMPLIES WITH SECTION 2.3.5.9 IATA DANGEROUS GOODS REGULATION
ALL BATTERIES LESS THAN 100WH CARRY NO QUANTITY RESTRICTION"
The other pics: assembled and checked after arriving and using the brilliant ezUHF feature to use it as a spectrum analyzer and check the island for other radio sources (which was not on my band thankfully!).
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