Low Price Pixhawk units out of China, anyone know anything about them

Posted by Paul Harris on February 26, 2016 at 10:53am
Hi all

Looking to replace my Pixhawk that died when an ESC went into meltdown and dumped batter voltage up the signal wire and just cannot afford the cost of the genuine items so was looking to the Chinese clones, I then stumbled across these 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331784307248 and at under £50 quite a bit cheaper than the usual Chinese clones, but was concerned by the reference in the description to German & Russian firmware.

Anyone know anything about these, are they fully compatible with Pixhawk and Mission Planer and the normal APM firmware normally used.

I know you get what you pay for and if you buy cheap you buy twice, but I need to get something to replace my smoked Pixhawk and just cannot justify the cost of the genuine item at the moment.

Thanks for any help with this

Paul
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Replies

  • dimitris arampatzis February 27, 2016 at 3:51pm

    I have just finished my hexa with a clone pixhawk from banggood

    I really dont know how better a "genuine" pixhawk could fly but i have to tell you that my copter with clone pixhawk its f***ing awesome

    https://youtu.be/NPcw3vlbBS8

    I have also a 450 with clone apm 2.8 for one year and its f***ing awesome also

    https://youtu.be/WO6tOQhFepk

    • DG > dimitris arampatzis February 28, 2016 at 11:06am

      If I were an Admin I'd delete your post and ban.

    • dimitris arampatzis > DG February 28, 2016 at 11:43am

      Sorry about the f*****ing word i said......

      Now that you mention   "ban" procedure i believe you are right.......

      The clones arent good flight controllers........can i stay??

  • Luc Maximilien February 26, 2016 at 7:11pm

    Right now 3DR still has Pixhawk but a lot of accessories are not anymore available , 433 telemetry, external Usb and led, cables etc , the 3DR gps is outdated so it is really time to look to some other manufacturer .

    They choosed to challenge DJ with their Solo .

    I understand the bet but as I would never buy a DJ , I will never buy either a Solo , both do not fit to my flight time needs and generally all Dj and 3DR RTF drones are very far to be efficients.

    I do not understand why 3DR is stopping selling DIY hardware, they certainly earn money selling the board with the Gps at over 250 USD.

    Anyway, thank you and goodbye  3DR .

  • Brandon Clifford February 26, 2016 at 6:33pm

    Here is what I do know regarding 3dr and HobbyKing (or china FC's) 3dr won't be the MFG selling the pixhawk 2, do you know who will be?... I can almost bet that  china + HK will. I rather put my money into a company that is going to stick with the platform. 3dr is focusing on solo and no longer the DIYist (which is fine) but I and I bet many others (maybe even you?) do not want a pre built solo so why support a company that is going to leave us. If Hobbyking got all the money 3dr did on there HK pilot sales I am sure they would be putting money back into the coding as 3dr has done before.  Philip will be announcing the new MFG and I have my fingers crossed its HobbyKing, but who ever it is I will support that company and until then I will choose a good quality unit and for me that is the HK one. The 

    I have NEVER had a problem trying to return something that is broken. WIth warehouses all over the world shipping it back to them is also a non-issue in most cases.

    Just my 2 cents. and I think the original question was regarding cheap alternatives,,, which 3Dr is not.

    • Richard Kennedy > Brandon Clifford March 1, 2016 at 5:21pm

      what's you average ship time? I only bought from HK once and it took 8 weeks!!!! I live in the states fyi.. 

    • Marc Dornan > Brandon Clifford February 26, 2016 at 7:28pm

      I trend to agree. With all their niggles and shortcomings, Hobbyking are a whole lot more connected to hobbyists than Banggood or an non-name Chinese Ebay store. And they will replace defective hardware pretty happily. They will never go as far as 3DR used to go, obviously. I doubt anyone will.

  • OG February 26, 2016 at 1:06pm
    There are so meany different versions of the pix hawk but here is the Original model $99.90

    http://brushlessgimbal.ca/Auto-Pilot-Controller/Pix-Hawk-V2.4.5-32B...
    Pix hawk V2.4.5 32Bits Open Source Flight Controller External LE [QA414] - $99.99 : www.brushlessgi…
    www.brushlessgimbal.ca Pix hawk V2.4.5 32Bits Open Source Flight Controller External LE [QA414] - Pix hawk V2.4.5 32Bits Open Source Flight Controlle…
  • Brandon Clifford February 26, 2016 at 11:59am

    For anyone looking for a good quality pixhawk clone (with 1 year warranty by an actual company) i 100% reccomend HobbyKing, you may think oh hobbyking is just cheap w.e but I can guarentee you they have put more time into the pixhawk then other no names. I have been running mine now for over a year with no complaints.

    Here is a forum that links to the product as well, you can see everyone is pretty happy.

    Link to product HERE $119  You can also get a "combo" pack HERE
    Link to RCgroups Forum HERE

    They are even selling GPS units, Air Sensors, Optical Flow Sensors, Current Module and even a 500mw Telemtry Radio! This whole line up has been a very good purchase for myself. and a couple fellow flyers.

    • DG > Brandon Clifford February 26, 2016 at 6:23pm

      I have the 500mw radio. I've yet to see it get any further range than a standard 100mw radio.

This reply was deleted.