250mW vs 600mW

Deleted member 117761 · Jan 17, 2019

I bought a used Phantom2 with a 250mW TX attached. Would there be any benefit to swapping a 600mW for the 250mW? Thanks.

Steve7777 · Jan 18, 2019

Phantombandit said:
I bought a used Phantom2 with a 250mW TX attached. Would there be any benefit to swapping a 600mW for the 250mW? Thanks.

Sorry - I don't have a Phantom 2 and don't know much about them. But from my experience of building and flying racing drones, I can confirm that (of course) you will almost invariably get better range with a 600mW TX - but the downside is that it also uses slightly more battery power. I don't know where you are - but be careful because in some countries 600mW (or even lower power) TXs are illegal. In the UK for example, the maximum output permitted by law is a mere 25mW.

However, it's pretty unlikely that you, personally, will ever be tracked down as the focus of the authorities is more on the companies selling illegal transmitters, which is quite difficult to police when most of them are shipped from China.

Be aware too that higher wattage transmitters can get quite hot in use, particularly when the quad battery is plugged in, but the quad isn't flying. Some people add a heatsink to better dissipate the heat. See here:-
Happily, where I live there are currently no restrictions on output power and for flexibility I prefer to use FPV TXs where you can vary the power output. There is a wide range of choice of variable power transmitters. I use various ones - but here's just one example:- Eachine TX526 5.8G 40CH 25MW 200MW 600MW Switchable AV Wireless FPV Transmitter 8118277905316 | eBay

Deleted member 117761 · Jan 18, 2019

Steve7777 said:
Sorry - I don't have a Phantom 2 and don't know much about them. But from my experience of building and flying racing drones, I can confirm that (of course) you will almost invariably get better range with a 600mW TX - but the downside is that it also uses slightly more battery power. I don't know where you are - but be careful because in some countries 600mW (or even lower power) TXs are illegal. In the UK for example, the maximum output permitted by law is a mere 25mW.

However, it's pretty unlikely that you, personally, will ever be tracked down as the focus of the authorities is more on the companies selling illegal transmitters, which is quite difficult to police when most of them are shipped from China.

Be aware too that higher wattage transmitters can get quite hot in use, particularly when the quad battery is plugged in, but the quad isn't flying. Some people add a heatsink to better dissipate the heat. See here:-

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Happily, where I live there are currently no restrictions on output power and for flexibility I prefer to use FPV TXs where you can vary the power output. There is a wide range of choice of variable power transmitters. I use various ones - but here's just one example:- Eachine TX526 5.8G 40CH 25MW 200MW 600MW Switchable AV Wireless FPV Transmitter 8118277905316 | eBay