Maxx VS Terminator. Long distance antenna shootout!

[Socal Rich]

You would think they would at least throw some plugs in there. Like the ones we used in the antenna hole of the controller when we did the Itelite mod and drilled the holes (before the clean install)....


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Yah mines the same just looked at it right now. Looks like mine was spray painted black can still smell it lol.

 

[shockwave199]

You noticed the holes where the Chinese version cables would go through and was possibly removed by horizon, if indeed they did just buy some Chinese panels and assemble this panel as their own. Notice how the holes look a little buggered up, like maybe they wasn't just brand-new covers, the plot thickens, only horizon can answer these questions[emoji41]View attachment 54114View attachment 54115

Nice pics. Did you ever have any more trouble with range or did everything work out? I remember you were questioning the cable as maybe being bad? At this point I'm glad I went with the smaller ite-DBS02 from maxx uav. I'll probably have it by early next week according to them. These big plates are not cheap and even if they work well, I'm not pleased to see a cheap build like that. If it's gonna be a cheap build, price more accordingly, imo. Plus it's a license plate on the tx, lol.

 

[Reed L]

The only way to know for sure is going to be by pulling the plate and taking pictures of both the $14.00 one and the Terminator's or Horizon's insides.

 

[Chris P Duck]

View attachment 54106View attachment 54107View attachment 54108View attachment 54109View attachment 54111

Thanks DB

Here's mine from the same angles. It would appear as you believed Hovison FPV UK and Midwest Horizon do sell exactally the same (but the new ones are now sprayed black)

 

[maxwell smart]

Here in Texas you would have to paint that white. It would get to hot to touch in the sun. Like a black car sitting in the sun. You would actually get burnt ,it would get that hot.

 

[maxwell smart]

What was your amp prob and his response!

Well not shore what went wrong. I was happy with the range increas. But after one week I could not get over 1000ft. I was careful to not power them up with out an antenna. And when ever I turn off the transmitter I turn off the boosters. I think only one of them is bad ,but I am sending the two in for exchange.
One of them will only give the white light.
I am now using my setup unboosted and going a lot further. Or I was before the battery took a dump.

 

[maxwell smart]

16dbi RP-SMA 2.4/5Ghz Booster Wireless WIFI WLAN Directiona High Gain Antenna

 

[Mark The Droner]

16dbi RP-SMA 2.4/5Ghz Booster Wireless WIFI WLAN Directiona High Gain Antenna

It's a guinea pig purchase. You don't know if it'll be great or if it'll be crap.

Both 2.4 and 5.8? I doubt it.

 

[dirtybum]

Well not shore what went wrong. I was happy with the range increas. But after one week I could not get over 1000ft. I was careful to not power them up with out an antenna. And when ever I turn off the transmitter I turn off the boosters. I think only one of them is bad ,but I am sending the two in for exchange.
One of them will only give the white light.
I am now using my setup unboosted and going a lot further. Or I was before the battery took a dump.

My last couple flights with the terminator boosted with two different aircraft was a little sketchy, yeah I got the distance, but I had to fight through a lot of signal stuff. I was starting to wonder if maybe my cables are bad or what could be going on with this. I know it's not the boosters though because I flew the max range with the same boosters last night(different cables) and had no problems boosted and unboosted. It all could've been related to the flight path that I was using with the Terminator.

 

[dirtybum]

Thanks DB

Here's mine from the same angles. It would appear as you believed Hovison FPV UK and Midwest Horizon do sell exactally the same (but the new ones are now sprayed black)

The conspiracy theorist in me, is wondering if there wasn't some worry about people finding out that this terminator looks so much like those cheap Chinese panels and that's where the Black coverup came to play. That's just me being a d**k though

 

[dirtybum]

I've contacted Will and Tom, asking them to chime in on some of these questions here on this thread. While I think that will happen, UK is on a holiday right now so it will be a couple weeks

 

[dirtybum]

I've contacted Will and Tom, asking them to chime in on some of these questions here on this thread. While I think that will happen, UK is on a holiday right now so it will be a couple weeks

OK maybe it won't take that long I received a response to the question I asked, "is the terminator just panels bought from China manufacture together with a bracket and sold as a Horizon antenna"?
Well I won't give a direct quote because it was a private email but here is what was stated.
"The terminator is much more than that the terminator is built and derived up to Wi-Fi panels that are reconstructed internally and fine-tuned to produce the signal strength that is achieved and put into a nice easy to use package. Although the price of this is more expensive than buying two cheap panels, as demand in sales for the terminator go up the price will come down. If you were to buy the cheap panels you would not be able to reproduce even close to the distance that the terminator will produce. And regarding the holes in the bottom of the panel both will not be in future models those will only be noticed in early Prototypes."
So I take from that, that the terminator is more than just cheap Chinese panels it's actually had to be rebuilt and fine-tuned

 

[dirtybum]

Quadcopter Flight Mission in Des Moines, United States
9.3 miles and back flying an average of 200 feet high directly over my city as well as straight through my downtown. Using the boosted maxxrange panel. This kind of distance would not be possible without an antenna that gives you 100% signal the whole way, you need every bit of focus, signal and juice to go out and back this far. That's my new personal best round-trip. Missing DJI log for this flight, with 100% signal I don't know why there is no DJI log, it log the flight right before this no problem, I'm going to see if I can dig it up through the DAT files and get HD report

 

[Socal Rich]

Thanks DB

Here's mine from the same angles. It would appear as you believed Hovison FPV UK and Midwest Horizon do sell exactally the same (but the new ones are now sprayed black)

Would look cleaner if they had them dipped in the carbon hydro print. I think the paint makes it looks a little cheesy but man it works great lol.

 

[phxbird57]

Here in Texas you would have to paint that white. It would get to hot to touch in the sun. Like a black car sitting in the sun. You would actually get burnt ,it would get that hot.

And I wonder if the plastic will warp from the heat too.

 

[SK Drone]

Quadcopter Flight Mission in Des Moines, United States
9.3 miles and back flying an average of 200 feet high directly over my city as well as straight through my downtown. Using the boosted maxxrange panel. This kind of distance would not be possible without an antenna that gives you 100% signal the whole way, you need every bit of focus, signal and juice to go out and back this far. That's my new personal best round-trip. Missing DJI log for this flight, with 100% signal I don't know why there is no DJI log, it log the flight right before this no problem, I'm going to see if I can dig it up through the DAT files and get HD report

Are you saying that the MaxxRange got you better signal on this run than the Terminator ?Or did you not try the Terminator yet to compare on this same run ?

 

[dirtybum]

Are you saying that the MaxxRange got you better signal on this run than the Terminator ?Or did you not try the Terminator yet to compare on this same run ?

I flew the same flight path w/ the terminator unboosted ,(post #166)I believe at your request SK to see how these antennas worked over urban areas, and with the terminator I took off from a lower home point. So they both excelled flying over homes and through downtown areas At low altittudes. Right before I flew this 9.3 mile run, I flew the same flight path with the max range unboosted also flying low, because I was fooling around just to check the wind my aim wasn't as true, so I had some dips in the bars every now and again once I was out 36,000 (but I was flying around taking pictures that far out unboosted) both are very capable antennas!
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

 

[BeauS]

OK maybe it won't take that long I received a response to the question I asked, "is the terminator just panels bought from China manufacture together with a bracket and sold as a Horizon antenna"?
Well I won't give a direct quote because it was a private email but here is what was stated.
"The terminator is much more than that the terminator is built and derived up to Wi-Fi panels that are reconstructed internally and fine-tuned to produce the signal strength that is achieved and put into a nice easy to use package. Although the price of this is more expensive than buying two cheap panels, as demand in sales for the terminator go up the price will come down. If you were to buy the cheap panels you would not be able to reproduce even close to the distance that the terminator will produce. And regarding the holes in the bottom of the panel both will not be in future models those will only be noticed in early Prototypes."
So I take from that, that the terminator is more than just cheap Chinese panels it's actually had to be rebuilt and fine-tuned

Hey dB thanks for asking this question for us!!!

I'm guessing what they mean is, they developed the internals themselves.

The covers were used to save money.Could be a cover from a Chinese panel, or one similar.

So the issue from the Terminator is simply a cosmetic thing as an earlier prototype. The performance is there as you know.

 

[dirtybum]

Hey dB thanks for asking this question for us!!!

I'm guessing what they mean is, they developed the internals themselves.

The covers were used to save money.Could be a cover from a Chinese panel, or one similar.

So the issue from the Terminator is simply a cosmetic thing as an earlier prototype. The performance is there as you know.

Whether they use those panels and then go inside and make some configurations/changes or start from scratch I don't know, either way horizon states that the Terminator antenna is fine-tuned and you will not receive this type of signal simply by placing (2)Chinese 14 dB panels side-by-side. So maybe there was a rework! Either way I didn't think Will would just package up a Chinese panel and send it out! The terminator is an amazing panel possibly better than the maxxrange, but that is still for you guys to decide

 

[phxbird57]

OK maybe it won't take that long I received a response to the question I asked, "is the terminator just panels bought from China manufacture together with a bracket and sold as a Horizon antenna"?
Well I won't give a direct quote because it was a private email but here is what was stated.
"The terminator is much more than that the terminator is built and derived up to Wi-Fi panels that are reconstructed internally and fine-tuned to produce the signal strength that is achieved and put into a nice easy to use package. Although the price of this is more expensive than buying two cheap panels, as demand in sales for the terminator go up the price will come down. If you were to buy the cheap panels you would not be able to reproduce even close to the distance that the terminator will produce. And regarding the holes in the bottom of the panel both will not be in future models those will only be noticed in early Prototypes."
So I take from that, that the terminator is more than just cheap Chinese panels it's actually had to be rebuilt and fine-tuned

I'm taking it that their buying the Chinese panel's and hand tuning them each for maximum performance. "are reconstructed internally and fine-tuned to produce the signal strength that is achieved and put into a nice easy to use package"