There is many great transmitters in the R.C. world today. The industry big hitters on the fore front are the Spectrum line from Horizon Hobby and the Futuba line of transmitters. Each brand offer several different receivers to go with their transmitters. With these two brands they bring a lot to the table but for a long time they have been the leaders and with that comes a steep price. Price aside they are great product but is there a brand out there that is comparable or that offers the same tech for less? One brand comes to mind that is a strong contender. This contender is Frsky. Recently I have been able to add one of their latest transmitters to my R.C. hangar.
For Christmas I was given the Frsky Taranis QX7. Out the door cost is 105.00$ U.S. dollars up to 160.00$ depending on where you go. It is a 16 channel transmitter and Frsky like the other brands offer their own exclusive receivers. What brought me to Frsky was the cost and they now offer a line of receivers that is very close to and in my opinion as good as the Spectrum line of receivers that have Safe Select. It is a system that allows you to step up from beginner to expert by setting parameters that limit what you can and cannot do. Frsky offers the S6R and S8R which offer the same functionality. There is one issue with all Frsky product that one must know before they pull the trigger and buy. This one issue is set up. Frsky has all kinds of videos but they have no real instruction manuals that explain how to do things. Expect some learning curve but if somebody considers themselves tech savvy they should not be scared away. I am only moderately tech savvy but through YouTube videos I have been able to figure things out.
So do not be afraid that there is a little bit of time involved but their transmitter systems are very intuitive. I needed to move up in channels because with my reliable Spectrum DX6i which is only six channels and only has two position switches had some limitations. If you want to be able to have the ability to switch off your gyro receivers and operate things like flaps or landing gear at the same time more channels are needed. Recently I put a Admiral 6 ch gyro receiver in my new 6 channel bird. It offers a flight stabilizing gyro to the table. The problem I have is that to operate the flaps I cannot change the gyro on or off from the radio because of the limitations of only six channels. More channels offer more mixing or overlapping of channels to allow commands to turn things off and on. The 8 channel Spectrum through Amazon is $329.99. That is a lot of money and the closer you get to 16 channels the price sky rockets. It is a similar story for Futuba products too.
For Christmas I was given the Frsky Taranis QX7. Out the door cost is 105.00$ U.S. dollars up to 160.00$ depending on where you go. It is a 16 channel transmitter and Frsky like the other brands offer their own exclusive receivers. What brought me to Frsky was the cost and they now offer a line of receivers that is very close to and in my opinion as good as the Spectrum line of receivers that have Safe Select. It is a system that allows you to step up from beginner to expert by setting parameters that limit what you can and cannot do. Frsky offers the S6R and S8R which offer the same functionality. There is one issue with all Frsky product that one must know before they pull the trigger and buy. This one issue is set up. Frsky has all kinds of videos but they have no real instruction manuals that explain how to do things. Expect some learning curve but if somebody considers themselves tech savvy they should not be scared away. I am only moderately tech savvy but through YouTube videos I have been able to figure things out.
So do not be afraid that there is a little bit of time involved but their transmitter systems are very intuitive. I needed to move up in channels because with my reliable Spectrum DX6i which is only six channels and only has two position switches had some limitations. If you want to be able to have the ability to switch off your gyro receivers and operate things like flaps or landing gear at the same time more channels are needed. Recently I put a Admiral 6 ch gyro receiver in my new 6 channel bird. It offers a flight stabilizing gyro to the table. The problem I have is that to operate the flaps I cannot change the gyro on or off from the radio because of the limitations of only six channels. More channels offer more mixing or overlapping of channels to allow commands to turn things off and on. The 8 channel Spectrum through Amazon is $329.99. That is a lot of money and the closer you get to 16 channels the price sky rockets. It is a similar story for Futuba products too.
Out the door with my Frsky Taranis QX7 it was 105.00 @motionrc.com and I also opted to get the recommended rechargable battery the Admiral 1300 mah 2S 7.4V 30C LiPo Battery with Jst connector. The battery was an additional $11.00 but the radio does not come with a battery from the factory. Also, I have since found the S6R receivers cheaper then on Amazon's website but a receiver was $38.00. So for $154.00 I was set to go flying or at least had the correct tools?. . . Or did I really have all I needed? Not quite it also requires one other thing and Frsky is not real clear about it either. If you are not comfortable with lua scripts or how to program using lua scripts like myself included you will need an extra tool to setup Frsky's receivers that are on par with Spectrum's Safe Select Receivers. The tool is the STK Tool. This allows you to do all the programming, calibration, and setup from your computer. Currently this tool on Amazon is $16.24 with $0.81 for shipping.
Did I mention that Frsky and it's directions or lack there of are abysmal? Well they are and I have spent the last few paragraphs telling you why discretely. You do have to down load the drivers for the STK tool off of Frsky's website and the config tool program that you do all the setup through. These pieces of software/drivers are free to download. If you are not comfortable with a few snags along the way with learning something new then Frsky is not for you. If I might add is if you are not affraid to learn something new then try Frsky out. I am only moderately tech savvy and have figured it out. To the right is a video of me briefly comparing my Frsky radio to my old Spectrum DX6i.
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