X8W or X8G for Eventual Phantom Pilot

flyinghost · Sep 2, 2016

Yeah payed 119$ for mine got 4 extra battery 2200 for 75$ plus a little kit with 2 xtra motor 4 propeler 2 set of gear.At all around 200$ for my x8w pretty good.

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10X · Sep 2, 2016

My advice for what it's worth. Get a Syma S107 heli & fly it inside. Cheap & great practice.

Rothgarr · Sep 2, 2016

I went from no quad experience to buying a Phantom. It was awesome. No troubles learning.

My best friend then bought a Syma and had nothing but trouble with it (and eventually a flyaway). He bought a Phantom anyway, even after being spooked by the Syma experience. He said the Syma did absolutely nothing to help him prepare for the Phantom, but it actually wasn't needed since as mentioned above, the technology in the Phantom makes it much easier to fly.

flyinghost · Sep 2, 2016

Yeah i guess with the low price and low tech inside of the chance of getting a lemon is high.

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Moose · Sep 3, 2016

Rothgarr said:
I went from no quad experience to buying a Phantom. It was awesome. No troubles learning.

My best friend then bought a Syma and had nothing but trouble with it (and eventually a flyaway). He bought a Phantom anyway, even after being spooked by the Syma experience. He said the Syma did absolutely nothing to help him prepare for the Phantom, but it actually wasn't needed since as mentioned above, the technology in the Phantom makes it much easier to fly.

Getting a GPS ready quad and shaving a hundred bucks by not buying a lesser quad sounds great in theory, but if you look long term, there are several things wrong with that.

The Phantom is going to feel great to a brand new beginner right out of the box- no question. The discussion here is, where do you learn your non GPS skills... Things will go wrong. It's essential to know how to fly your craft without the helpers. If you can't gain orientation by VLOS when you lose heading you shouldn't be flying IMHO.

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Moose · Sep 3, 2016

Rothgarr said:
I went from no quad experience to buying a Phantom. It was awesome. No troubles learning.

My best friend then bought a Syma and had nothing but trouble with it (and eventually a flyaway). He bought a Phantom anyway, even after being spooked by the Syma experience. He said the Syma did absolutely nothing to help him prepare for the Phantom, but it actually wasn't needed since as mentioned above, the technology in the Phantom makes it much easier to fly.

These don't "fly away". If you fly too far or lose your heading, that's one thing, but these are LOS crafts(though headless mode will help a great deal).

These birds aren't flying miles away. They have great stability, carry a camera very well, but they aren't agile and certainly aren't going to get away from you unless it was extremely windy or a very inexperienced flyer.

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flyinghost · Sep 3, 2016

I agree with moose.In the 4 month i used my syma only once it kinda went wonky on me since the wind was way too strong to fly anyway.They are great way to learn atti which everyone should really have a grasp on it because you never know when that nice little red label that says compass lost going to atti will pop up.

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Moose · Sep 3, 2016

flyinghost said:
I agree with moose.In the 4 month i used my syma only once it kinda went wonky on me since the wind was way too strong to fly anyway.They are great way to learn atti which everyone should really have a grasp on it because you never know when that nice little red label that says compass lost going to atti will pop up.

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Maybe you can help me with something. I'm an iPhone user, so looking at the video on the x8 sd card isn't an option, but I tried to view it on my tv and my laptop and all that shows up are the stock folders and bs on that came on the card. No video or photo. My friend has an android and he can pull them up no problem, but on my devices it shows 'no new files found'. Not a corrupt file; nothing at all.

Any help?

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flyinghost · Sep 3, 2016

Honestly on my syma x8w there is no slot for an sd card on the drone itself.All the videos are stored directly inside the cellphone in a folder called syma

Matt sent from note 3.

Anthony Radford · Sep 4, 2016

I haven't flown an X8 series, but I actually started with an X5... I really liked it, and it really taught me how to control my bird, as it had NO assistive features, and wasn't the easiest to manually trim out either. After that, I got a couple Horizon Hobby "Blade" series quads - the Nano QX and the 180 QX. Those were a lot more fun, and handled a lot better. But, after getting used to flying those, and then flying a Phantom - the dang thing almost flies itself! Even in ATTI mode, you'll have no problem!

Moose · Sep 4, 2016

Anthony Radford said:
I haven't flown an X8 series, but I actually started with an X5... I really liked it, and it really taught me how to control my bird, as it had NO assistive features, and wasn't the easiest to manually trim out either. After that, I got a couple Horizon Hobby "Blade" series quads - the Nano QX and the 180 QX. Those were a lot more fun, and handled a lot better. But, after getting used to flying those, and then flying a Phantom - the dang thing almost flies itself! Even in ATTI mode, you'll have no problem!

Love it, and looking forward to loving it!

I just want to be 1000% sure my skills are honed. But I can't wait for that Phantom, I guess I'm just a little overly cautious.

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

Threw some orange props on the front to help with orientation when flying a bit further away. Think I'm going to attach two orange front landing skids and two orange front prop guards (for now- they won't be on for long), also to see how that looks when it's way out there. Found four of everything with extra washers and screws for $6 on Amazon. Shipping is super fast, too.

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

I'm going to take it out next chance I get with the other attachments, but I like the way the orange props look while spinning in contrast to the black.

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flyinghost · Sep 7, 2016

Love those orange propeler!how far do you go with it?never been more then 30-40m with mine.It doesnt work to good since ti go forward i have to press in between of forwrd and right for some reason.

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

flyinghost said:
Love those orange propeler!how far do you go with it?never been more then 30-40m with mine.It doesnt work to good since ti go forward i have to press in between of forwrd and right for some reason.

Matt sent from note 3.

I take it out 100-150 meters no problem but I haven't really pushed it. Haven't lost control yet, though. Hopefully these orange props will give me a little more confidence.

Do you calibrate it before flights? Hold both sticks down and to the right on a flat surface before taking off?

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flyinghost · Sep 7, 2016

You have to calibrate it every flight?

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

I do. Not sure if you have to, but it takes 2 seconds so I do.

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

New orange pieces on.

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flyinghost · Sep 7, 2016

Yes lool great love it!

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Moose · Sep 7, 2016

Gonna get some ground footage tomorrow if conditions are nice. Can't wait to see how it looks up there

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