Hey guys, I am in need of your input. Can anyone recommend a good quad / octo rotor 8ch or 9ch radio receiver combo? I need to get one right away and figured I would reach out to the community for "what works".
Riley
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I have used almost nothing but Futaba since I started RC cars a .... well a few years ago (I would say my first car was a grasshopper II, but that would be showing my age)
currently I am using a Futaba 10C as my main radio with a 9C as my backup/buddybox/sim radio
the only problems I have had is when I first got my 9c it was the very first run, they had a problem with the rotator knob falling off... futaba sent me one for free. (on my second 9c having dropped the first and busted both gimbals :( )
Dave the US support seems to be on the ball, sorry to hear about the UK staff being jerks,
having said that, many people at my flying field run JR and seem to like it. although I have heard of a few crashes that have been attributed to spektrum "lockout" but that was with early versions of the firmware (dsm 1 I think?)
Speaking to them on the phone they didnt seem to care at all about it.
Apparantly the 8fg pots are more prone to wear than other radios(other futabas included).
Ive flown Futaba since 1986 and thought I was paying the extra (futaba receivers are wayyyy more expensive than others) for quality. This has mae me think again!
I'm very happy with the Futaba T8FG. I have two of the heli models, but the normal plane version, more abundant and a tiny bit less expensive, would maybe be better. They are virtually identical, but the plane has a ratcheted throttle, which may help reduce throttle input during yaw, and the default "new model" is set for helicopter... which, after you have made one profile for your quad (as a plane) you are likely to just copy it when making a new model, so this will not matter.
The SBUS technology allows this transmitter to effectively become a 12 channel radio, and I am planning to get some SBUS wiring to take advantage of this feature.
The radio is very solid, with a good implementation of 2.4Ghz spread spectrum. It is very adaptable and easy to program, once you spend a little time to get your head around all the bewildering ways you can configure it, the company has a good reputation, and there are several vendors producing "clones" of the receivers. My impression is that Futaba, Spektrum, and JR have the lion's share of the RC market, so you will certainly want to look over the offerings from those three.
But I would not leave out the less costly but interesting OpenLDS, or hitec, either.
I only have experience with Futaba, which is why I can only recommend Futaba. Futaba has SBUS, and the market will adopt multiplexing technologies like this, while Futaba will eventually be forced to adopt telemetry features to keep up.
If you are like me and enjoyng modding stuff, consider the turnigy 9x with the er9x firmware modification.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8991__Turnigy_9X_9Ch_Tra...
http://code.google.com/p/er9x/
One downside is lack of failsafe, although the range on that is pretty massive (uses frequency hopping) far greater range than visual range in any normal conditions.
There is a possible mod that adds FrSky module, and the receiver for that module has failsafe, probably somewhat improved range as well, although I haven't found any reports complaining about the stock range on that Rx/Tx combo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_rbUmGvcb8
But you will spend only a little more on a nice futaba or spectrum.