Topic: Which manufacturer?

Hi all, I am finally making the move to 2.4 ghz, But i am confused on which type to go for,i have used mainly futaba in the past always been reliable but everybody seems to be using Spectrum.Also Hitec make convincing claims. I am a general sports/scale flyer so i am not looking for something that needs a university degree to operate,Any ideas ?.

Hi all, I am finally making the move to 2.4 ghz, But i am confused on which type to go for,i have used mainly futaba in the past always been reliable but everybody seems to be using Spectrum.Also Hitec make convincing claims. I am a general sports/scale flyer so i am not looking for something that needs a university degree to operate,Any ideas ?.

I use JR DSX9 / Spektrum and it has been fine but if going for a new set now I would take a long look at the Hitec Aurora 9

Alternatively if you have a JR or Futaba Tx with a RF module you could go for the FRSky conversion available from HobbyKing.

Go for whichever TX has the features you want and you like the "feel" of. The manufacturer is almost immaterial.

Hi all, I am finally making the move to 2.4 ghz, But i am confused on which type to go for

"Light the blue touchpaper and retire immediately"   
Andy is right. Go with what you find comfortable. On a very technical level some are better than others. Some are superb 'mind over matter' marketing achievements. Some are technically excellent but poorly assembled. Some manufacturers deliberately mislead.
There are those here and elsewhere who would not touch a Spektabaskyplextec with a bargepole. Others trust them implicitly.
But unless you have a genuine interest in radio as an end in itself, it really doesnt matter - buy a set that you like and enjoy your flying!
Cheers
Phil

"Light the blue touchpaper and retire immediately"   
Andy is right. Go with what you find comfortable. On a very technical level some are better than others. Some are superb 'mind over matter' marketing achievements. Some are technically excellent but poorly assembled. Some manufacturers deliberately mislead.
There are those here and elsewhere who would not touch a Spektabaskyplextec with a bargepole. Others trust them implicitly.
But unless you have a genuine interest in radio as an end in itself, it really doesnt matter - buy a set that you like and enjoy your flying!
Cheers
Phil

I think that expertly sums up where the thread would go!

The hitec is a good system, but people fly on all brands. Even spektrum

I've recently chucked spectrum. I was looking for a new tranny and a dx8 was on the list but there still seems to be a lot of rubbish floating about problems etc. Took a look at the hitec Aurora 9 and love it. The programming is easy and its sensibly priced also receivers don t cost a fortune 3 x 7 channel receivers being available for less than $100. Take a look at wiz s reveiw in the 2.4 section

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

I've recently chucked spectrum. I was looking for a new tranny and a dx8 was on the list but there still seems to be a lot of rubbish floating about problems etc. Took a look at the hitec Aurora 9 and love it. The programming is easy and its sensibly priced also receivers don t cost a fortune 3 x 7 channel receivers being available for less than $100. Take a look at wiz s reveiw in the 2.4 section

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

+2 for the Hi tec, but if you fly without a neck Strap you might find it a bit bulky.

I'm really not an expert here.  I used to have a FF7 and swapped to a DX7.   I miss the throttle kill switch that was on the futaba.   However I really like the model match on the Spektrum (so I'm sure to be flying the right plane with the right settings).    I have switched to 5 cell eneloops for flight batteries so I don't go anywhere near the low voltage cutout (brownout ?) .       I understand the Futaba system won't switch on if the Rx battery is low and that this isn't on the spektrum,  but as I said I've now avoided that by using 5 cells.
I was looking at DX8 recently but the web is full of stuff about planes crashing,  so I'm staying with the DX7 for now.
I understand that the trainer switches on the DX7 are very uncomfortable to use (small buttons) and also the DX7 has limited ability to "trim" pairs of channels when mixing - so if you have two aileron servos and two elevator servos,  you will have trouble getting the trim controls to trim the two pairs of servos "as a pair".   

Hoping this is of some help
Cheers
VB

Thanks for the advice lads,It seems to me. the more you pay you just end up with more gadgets to play with  I'm not really interested in the equipment for the sake of it, i just want it to work reliably.all my models are scratch built and i spend a lot of time on them so i don't want  to lose any to  unrealiable r/c gear

Good price and reassuring German quality and reliability.
Got to be Jeti.

Modules to fit majority of Tx's. means you can keep the box your use too

Just my 0.2 p's worth.
tin hat on

Good price and reassuring German quality and reliability.
Got to be Jeti.

Modules to fit majority of Tx's. means you can keep the box your use too

Just my 0.2 p's worth.
tin hat on

Jeti isn't German though.

the DX7 has limited ability to "trim" pairs of channels when mixing - so if you have two aileron servos and two elevator servos,  you will have trouble getting the trim controls to trim the two pairs of servos "as a pair".   

Hoping this is of some help
Cheers
VB

My DX7 does not have a problem doing this.  Anyway the new DX7s' are now out with similar programming to the DX8.

If you are happy with Futaba stay with them you will be comfortable with the set and the programming they are totally reliable.

Oh & I'm a happy JR user so its not brand pushing.

Rob

If you are happy with Futaba stay with them you will be comfortable with the set and the programming they are totally reliable.

Oh & I'm a happy JR user so its not brand pushing.

Rob

I agree, stay with what you are used to, although, despite being very happy Futaba user for the last 25 years, I may be tempted for my next TX to go for the obvious advantages of Hitec.

Jeti isn't German though.

True!
However. I am led to believe that the magic bits inside are designed to meet the higher requirements of the German protocols and telecommunication laws.
I stand to be enlightened

Go for whichever TX has the features you want and you like the "feel" of. The manufacturer is almost immaterial.

For me that is the most important feeling... I really like the "older" radio's which are big and bulky.  I fly a JR 9xII now and previous to that it was a Futaba 9Zap.  I like to feel as though I have something in my hands.  Out of the two I think the gimbles on the JR are the better of the two.

Most Tx's will have decent functionality, and all of the 2.4 systems seem to work.  If I was going to make a choice it would be any other than spektrum because you do tend to hear of lots of problems, however at the recent barkston flyin I guess 80% of people were on spektrum and there wasnt any problems whatsoever

CM

I really really like my Aurora 9 BUT I WISH they could make it feel like a 9XII. Best radio ever for that, I agree. Maybe some genius could stick the A9 inside the JR. Now that would be the bomb.

Z

I have a JR DSX9 Mk.2.  It looks good, feels good and has never missed a beat --- and I hate the thing. 
Why..?  Because it is a nightmare to programme and the thing wants to dictate to you when selecting switches for various functions. 
It is so bad it should have a little moustache on the front and little swastikas on the sides.
It says, “Ach so… so you vont zat function, eh…. Vell ve haf decided you vill haf it on zat svitch unt it vill verk zat way round. . . . Seig JR.”
You can’t even assign the rate switches to where you want them.

Prior to this I used decent quality Futaba radios.  These are brilliant and so easy to live with.  So for my more “serious” aeroplanes, I use a Futaba FF9 with a Spektrum 2.4 module in the back. 

Futaba is designed by people who fly. 
The JR (DSX9) is made by people with no imagination but want to tell you what to do. 

Buy a JR --- and “feel the difference”….. lol.   

B.C.

Round our way that used to be the case.

Now the single biggest user is again Futaba with Hitec starting to make a showing - which can only be good news.

Spektrum are still popular though a few are moving off it to either Futaba or Hitec.

I came from Hitec and loved the Optic 6 - Fokker has the new Hitec and likes it, I've got the Futaba 7C and am looking at the 8FG in the next couple of weeks (after the wife's birthday )

Chris

Its worth remembering that the majority of your expense will be in flight packs, ie servos & receivers, so a little extra dosh for a decent tx soon fades into insignificance.
Even then you can make some economies, aftermarket receivers are available for both DSM2 and FASST at a fraction of the OEM prices, and seem to be just as good, or even better in the case of Frsky FASST.
Most seem to go with OEM receivers for big/expensive models, and aftermarkets for everything else.
No doubt they're beavering away analysing the Hitec protocols as we speak, and Hitec compatible aftermarket receivers will be on sale next tuesday!
Cheers
Phil

Why..?  Because it is a nightmare to programme and the thing wants to dictate to you when selecting switches for various functions. 
It is so bad it should have a little moustache on the front and little swastikas on the sides.
It says, “Ach so… so you vont zat function, eh…. Vell ve haf decided you vill haf it on zat svitch unt it vill verk zat way round. . . . Seig JR.”
You can’t even assign the rate switches to where you want them.

B.C.

Brian - you need to go Multiplex ...

Ooooh careful Robert, you'll be mercilessly pelted with faulty DSM receivers and declared an outcast........

He doesn't actually need to go Multiplex Robert, but he'd probably find some benefit in doing so taking into consideration the issues he seems to be having with his present Tx......... he certainly wouldn't have any of the problems he's mentioned.

Just to add my 2p worth, I don't think there's much wrong with any of the major brand sets, I have a Spektrum Dx6i and MPX Cockpit Sx (35mhz and Frsky "module") and have also programmed other fliers Tx's at the field.

The Spektrum is real easy to program but nowhere near as flexible as the Cockpit Sx, both are better than the Futaba 6EX to program and I've found some older JR sets almost unfathomable (but more modern sets might be much better).

Better to get one that has the functions you think you will need and feels right in your hands.

That's about it Frank. Get the one which will do what you'll need it to do.

Right now the HiTec Aurora series sets appear to offer excellent value for money, and feedback from users so far looks favourable. HiTec haven't really been able to take as big a slice of the UK market as they would have wanted previously, but there's no reason why that can't change. I might even venture to suggest the A9 is currently pinching sales from Futaba, given their current lacklustre lineup. Where is your telemetry Fut?

We covered some of this in this thread

http://www.rcmf.co.uk/4um/index.php/topic,87985.msg1020931.html#msg1020931

I don't know if its any use to you or relevant to your discussion

That's about it Frank. Get the one which will do what you'll need it to do.

Right now the HiTec Aurora series sets appear to offer excellent value for money, and feedback from users so far looks favourable. HiTec haven't really been able to take as big a slice of the UK market as they would have wanted previously, but there's no reason why that can't change. I might even venture to suggest the A9 is currently pinching sales from Futaba, given their current lacklustre lineup. Where is your telemetry Fut?

having just bought an a9 some of the features i really like are the basic telemetary with all optima receivers meaning onboard battery voltage is displayed on the tx screen. ease of programming and i mean easy the tx asks the questions and you answer them then asign any extra servos and switches to channels no turning on and off and holding buttons down while you do so scratching  your head and trying again. all stick tensions are ajustable without taking the back off as is the throttle ratchet and the mode is also  changed through removable bungs in the back. most importantly for me it feels right and looks like a proper tx and not a cylon.
my only moan so far is the low capacity tx battery but this will be changed at some point in the future

Glad you like it Fokker.

I would add though that most of the features you say you liked the most on the Aurora 9 were borrowed from HiTec's sister company........

It's odd you find the battery capacity a bit lacking. Given the obvious sharing of some technology between HiTec and Multiplex, I'm at a loss to understand why HiTec can't get longer battery endurance from the Aurora. The M-Link Cockpit Sx and Evo will run for about 15 hours and 24 hours respectively on a full charge.

it will probably improve after a few cycles plus i ve also set the backlight to off after 60 seconds instead of the default permanently on.

having just bought an a9 some of the features i really like are the basic telemetary with all optima receivers meaning onboard battery voltage is displayed on the tx screen. ease of programming and i mean easy the tx asks the questions and you answer them then asign any extra servos and switches to channels no turning on and off and holding buttons down while you do so scratching  your head and trying again. all stick tensions are ajustable without taking the back off as is the throttle ratchet and the mode is also  changed through removable bungs in the back. most importantly for me it feels right and looks like a proper tx and not a cylon.
my only moan so far is the low capacity tx battery but this will be changed at some point in the future

Sorry for the hijack but it may be of use to others we changed our a9 batts for a 2000 enalope pack from PMP for 19 quid if memory serves me right (had beer and sat it a rocking hanger ) turned off backlight and we get a full days slope bashing and some battery life to spare

interesting comments about the a9 battery.
I haven't found it that great. I think I will change - that does add to the cost in fairness.

The Eclipse 7 had something stupid like a 600 nicad, from memory.  once changed to a 2400 nimh it was a flying for a week TX.


I preferred my p4000 in that respect - you could easily charge the batteries direct and use pretty much whatever batteries you wanted (lipo, nicad, nimh AA/sub c etc). having 5 batteries that I could easily change helped too!

i need to set my a9 up to charge direct to the battery. Waiting for the slow charger is  not good when you want to fly.

Hi all, I am finally making the move to 2.4 ghz, But i am confused on which type to go for,i have used mainly futaba in the past always been reliable but everybody seems to be using Spectrum.Also Hitec make convincing claims. I am a general sports/scale flyer so i am not looking for something that needs a university degree to operate,Any ideas ?.

Just getting back to the original question, if you like your Futaba TX and it has a removable frequency module, a low cost way into 2.4GHz is with FrSky via GiantCod. They now have basic telemetry built in (range check and RX battery voltage) and the system can be expanded with an add-on LCD screen, sensors etc to include all the telemetry gubbins (RPM, fuel level etc etc) if that takes your fancy. The RXs are only £20 a pop so much more economical conversion from 35MHz. I have had a JR  computer TX for years 'n years and it was still working perfectly. There was no functional advantage with a new 2.4GHz system unless I paid a lot of money to upgrade. I have now converted everything to FrSky and it has been 100% reliable.

Wow,thanks for all that, It seems i'll be heading for Hitec, but i will compare it to the futaba equivalent.Thanks for the suggestion zigzag but i definitely need a new Tx, my present one is 12 years old & i also have a  Sanwa Tx that was converted from steam power.

If you need a new tx, as well as I did 2 years ago. may I suggest my route from 30 years of fooba.
Multiplex evo 9, good price and all the bells and whistle you may need and for the 2.4 stuff jeti.
Check it out. Cost ya nowt

I have a JR DSX9 Mk.2.  It looks good, feels good and has never missed a beat --- and I hate the thing. 
Why..?  Because it is a nightmare to programme and the thing wants to dictate to you when selecting switches for various functions. 
It is so bad it should have a little moustache on the front and little swastikas on the sides.
It says, “Ach so… so you vont zat function, eh…. Vell ve haf decided you vill haf it on zat svitch unt it vill verk zat way round. . . . Seig JR.”
You can’t even assign the rate switches to where you want them.

Its interesting you say that, I find the JR9xII really easy to program from everything from a shock flyer to a 6 servo wing glider.  The individual rate switches arent changable but they are sensible, ie aileron rate front right, ele rate front left, and rudder rate top left (if you wish to use it) which is exactly the same as my first three futaba sets.  Other than that everything is assignable.  You can put all the rates on one switch, you can have 6 flight modes assignable to any switch position, and also have mixes assigned to any switch position or slider or stick position.  The basic channels are set, ie throttle, rudder, aileron and elevator to 1,2,3,4 but you can assign a slave to any free channel.  Therefore I can fly a plane with throttle, 2 ailerons, two elevators and rudder on a six channel rx, with my taba you needed 7 channels.  Plus all 9 channels are fully proportional.  It has six user mixes per flight mode, two of which are simple linear mixes the other 4 are multi point.  There are functions built in for aileron differential, crow braking setup, flapo elevator trim setting and multi point throttle curves all assignable to any switch.

I find it a very versatile radio system, but each to their own.

CM

Yeah I agree with that - tbh I don't have a problem with the locations of the switches as they are all in a pretty usable place. One thing you can say in defence of pre-defined switch functions/ locations is that you don't have to waste time programming them every time you input a new model. Tbh with the A9, where you can change all of these around, I do exactly NOT that, as the last thing I want is to have to remember different switch locations for each model! So I end up putting them in all the same places as they were on my JR 

That aside, I would REALLY like an A9 in a JR 9XII case! The perfect tx I reckon.

Z

Up to now I've too always been a Futaba flyer and still love the feel of my old FF8. However, after going down the same research path you are I've elected to go across to the Graupner HoTT system as I like the feel, it does everything I need and the receiver's are cheaper than Futaba.

Might be worth a cursory glance.

The Futaba 8FG is worth serious considerartio, in my humble opinion.

£260, 14 channels (12 proportional), virtually unlimited model memories and software upgrades via SD card, everything assignable to everything else, 5 flight modes (I think- don't have any gliders), 14 channels is available via a pair of bound rxs and that's only £60 if you use FrSky (which also have the added advantage of failsafe on all channels) and not a false rivet in sight!

The Futaba 8FG is worth serious considerartio, in my humble opinion.

£260, 14 channels (12 proportional), virtually unlimited model memories and software upgrades via SD card, everything assignable to everything else, 5 flight modes (I think- don't have any gliders), 14 channels is available via a pair of bound rxs and that's only £60 if you use FrSky (which also have the added advantage of failsafe on all channels) and not a false rivet in sight!

whats it like to program, MH?

That's the one I'm getting.

Great tx at the price.

Chris

having just bought an a9 some of the features i really like are the basic telemetary with all optima receivers meaning onboard battery voltage is displayed on the tx screen. ease of programming and i mean easy the tx asks the questions and you answer them then asign any extra servos and switches to channels no turning on and off and holding buttons down while you do so scratching  your head and trying again. all stick tensions are ajustable without taking the back off as is the throttle ratchet and the mode is also  changed through removable bungs in the back. most importantly for me it feels right and looks like a proper tx and not a cylon.
my only moan so far is the low capacity tx battery but this will be changed at some point in the future

I to had a problem with the battery life I fitted a lipo battery I purchased from h.k was not very expensive problem sorted 

Hi,

I'm a Cockpit SX2.4 user so have a bias. It's the best!

But, more realistically though, we're all used to programming whatever manufacturer we currently own. You need a set that you can program with little difficulty and without having to learn somebody else's warped way of thinking. If you're currently on Futaba/JR/MPX/Spektrum/Hitec/Whatever then probably best to stick with them. The only rider on that is 'Does the transmitter actually do what you want?' Try the transmitter out; does it feel good in your hand? Can it be programmed to your preferred mode? Get the shop assistant to demonstrate the programming.

The manufacturers above all produce good kit with few reliability issues. Get advice from a club member; at least they should be on hand to answer your questions.

Dave W

+1 for Jeti

Good value for money.

Programmable rx's (this for me means I can use a 6 channel rx for a 6 servo model)

whats it like to program, MH?

sorry Bob, only just revisited this thrad.

When I first got it I hated it, having come from a DX7, but once I got used to it it was quite logical. It's just that there's a few quirks in there that are probably a translation issue, but that's all. It's a really versatile radio & I love it now.