Astounding new nanocopter: the Walkera QR Ladybird
I just got the Walkera QR Ladybird nanoquad and it's just frankly amazing. For $140, you get the quad, a 7 Channel 2.4 digital Devo 7 RC set with graphic backlit LCD display, a 240MaH LiPo and a LipPo charger. It can fly inside and out and has much better range than a Parrot AR.Drone (thanks to the proper RC gear). The RC gear alone is worth nearly that price (you can buy additional receivers for it here)!
Walkera says that it includes RC telemetry for battery and flight controller status:
1). Onboard telemetry system enables real-time monitoring of receiver, gyro, mix control and speed setting.
2). In-built telemetry function also enables and simplifies flight battery voltage monitoring.
We had a great time flying it around the living room. It's very stable, but as you would expect from a quad, very maneuverable. The transmitter starts up in regular mode (not dual rate or exponential, both of which are options), so it requires a very light touch on the sticks. A couple clicks of the trim and it will stay in one place. Because it moves fast and is so small, it's pretty easy to lose control in a small space, but the airframe seems quite robust. We crashed it lots of times, and just had to superglue on one of the motor holders after it cracked. Good as new!
Here are some shots of the incredible integration on the single flight controller board. It says it has a "six-axis gyro", but I think that must be a mis-translation from Chinese. It's probably a three-axis gyro and a three-axis accelerometer. Alternatively, it could just have a three-axis gyro, like the simple KK boards (in which case I don't know that the other three axes are supposed to be)
Top of the board, showing the flight computer and RC receiver
Bottom of the board, showing the motor controller microprocessors and four speed controller circuits.
Here's how the LiPo fits on the bottom:
A sense of the RC transmitter display
And a video in flight:
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Comment by Jason Wise on April 29, 2012 at 8:59pm -
Whats with the sad face?....it looks like its afraid!
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Comment by Ellison Chan on April 29, 2012 at 9:43pm -
Nice little toy. Maybe if the price drops to below $100, I'll get one. But, I'm happy with my Nine Eagles Solo heli right now.
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Comment by Dave Wicks on April 29, 2012 at 10:39pm -
Very cool! I want!
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Comment by Jason Lyons on April 30, 2012 at 2:04am
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Walkera have come a very long way. I remember my first Walkera RC Heli I bought on eBay.. $200 and pretty dodgy, but they've made massive strides improving their products since then.
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Comment by Owen Booth on April 30, 2012 at 2:14am -
Hey Chris, do you reckon the TX might be configurable for the APM 2 flight modes?
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Comment by Ellison Chan on April 30, 2012 at 6:28am
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Ok, I just looked at the specs. Maybe not just a toy. Seems if you buy the right transmitter, you can get telemetry displayed from it.
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Comment by Owen Booth on April 30, 2012 at 11:24am
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Lol, I almost bought one so I could use the tx for my arducopter. Seems though, the range is "<30m". Wish hobbyking weren't perpetually out of stock, anyone with a spare t9x?
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Comment by Ellison Chan on April 30, 2012 at 11:45am
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With out a signal boost, I doubt the 9x will be better in range than the Devo 7 transmitter. In North America, there are regulations that limit the signal strength of 2.4 ghz devices.
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Comment by Jack Crossfire on April 30, 2012 at 12:48pm -
Not as astounding as tomorrow's adorable one.
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