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:
Comments
I haven't really range checked my 9x, but if there was a clear LOS, it might be possible with no interference. However in most urban or suburban environments, 2.4ghz is very noisy. Those who get 2km are probably way out in the plains of Africa or in the Australian outback.
You can check the manual for the Devo 7 yourself, here.
It's got everything that I'd need in a radio. It's apparently part of a line of radios, which among other things has telemetry. Looks like a serious radio to me. Uses an ARM processor.
Users of the 9x are reportedly getting up to 2km LOS from their standard radios, that's a bit better than 30 metres!
Is the Devo just an indoor, "toy" tx, or seriously worth considering? I'd love the ladybird, looks like great fun for the winter season, but I'm really after a TX to control my quad.
Not as astounding as tomorrow's adorable one.
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.
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.
What did I just buy? :-O
Hey Chris, do you reckon the TX might be configurable for the APM 2 flight modes?
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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