Hey Great website...
I really enjoy reading your informative reviews and have picked up plenty of new information...
I am just returning to the RC Hobby after a 15 year break...
My first Radio was a Futaba 4 Channel AM 29mhz, purchased in 1978.
It worked fine for 12 months until I lost a plane due to radio interference (later found out it was deliberate by a jealous school friend... some friend huh!
)
So at the age of 15 I washed dishes for 12 months to save up for a shiny new "KRAFT 7 channel - Series 80 on 40 Mhz FM" Purchased in Sept 1980.
This was state of the art at the time and cost me $780 AU
I was the first one to have FM and ball raced servos at my flying club in Sydney.
This radio worked FLAWLESSLY for over 15 years (10 years of weekly use followed by less and less frequent flying until around 1995)
I still have it and replaced the internal soldered nicads myself about 5 years ago.. It still works fine and I range tested it (by walking) 2 weeks ago and got well over 1400 metres.
In 1990 I bought a Hitec 7 Channel that was overkill in a few slope soarers, but I enjoyed experimenting with the mixing (Flaperons, Aileron/Rudder etc)
From about 1995 I never operated anything, from 2000 to Jan 2010 my passion was model trains and $10,000 later I have the best collection of DCC trains at our club..
2 Months ago a visit to the local hobby shop completely re ignited the RC passion...
I saw a Blade MSR helicopter hovering in the store and WOW.. what changes in technology...
So in the last 2 months..
I have bought 2 x Esky Dauphin helicopters, (Haven't crashed yet... I just like having a spare and they were on special)
and 1 x Twister Blackhawk..
Each of the three helicopters came with a suprisingly functional 2.4ghz radio that was of better quality than I expected for under $200..
Amazing value for money compared to my experiences in the 70's and 80's Here's a video of me flying the ESKY Dauphin after 3 days...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJmFZWmi5P4Last week I bought a STAR MAX F-18 Ducted Fan kit and built it.. (Still waiting to fly it.. I'm a corporate pilot and stuck in Darwin right now..)
The kit came with a 36 Mhz FM radio that looks cheap and nasty.. (The entire Kit, RTF, with Li Po and radio was $240 !!! I can't beleive you can buy an entire plane and radio for that price... In the 80's my $780 Kraft needed a $300 plane with a $150 OS Max engine to be useful...)
Anyway I digress... so after a few days of research, I bought a Spektrum DX6I....
Today in Darwin, I visited the local Toyworld and they had the Futabe 6EX 2.4ghz radio on special, so I could not resist...
I see there is much rivalry between Spektrum and Futaba FASST in forums and online so "What the heck... I'll get one of each and do my own testing"
After charging the Futabe radio today, I have just now walked outside the hotel and did a brief range check.. as per the instructions IE Power down mode...
I placed the receiver and servos (I bought servos and an RX Battery Pack just for testing) inside a plastic (Pelican) case and then inside a cardboard box (a rough approximation of being inside a fuselage...
I activated PWR Down mode and with my body between the TX and the RX (inside the pelican case) I managed to achieve over 200 meters!
Wow.. the manual suggests 30-50 paces, but I manged much greater than this.. in fact, due to the TX automatically coming out of PWR down mode after 60 seconds I had to end up running to get out of range before the TX returned to full power..
At 250 meters (measured by GPS) I was getting slight red flashes on the RX but it was primarily green.. at the 60 second point, when the TX resumed full power the light was rock solid green and i walked it out to 800 meters with solid green on the RX... ( I would have gone further but I was worried some back packer would notice my TX on the park bench and take it..)
WOW and WOW!.. I'm impressed and can't wait to try this thing in the air..
When i get home and have a few days free I will be doing a side by side comparison, primarily range testing of the FASST, Spektrum and Ancient KRAFT 40Mhz FM radios and will post results on these forums..
Sorry for the long ramble, but just wanted to give you a bit of background...
Keep up the great work!
PS... just saw you mention on a video that people have asked you speak more slowly... Ha ha.. I love the way you talk fast.. My brain absorbs your info at that rate....