Hello All,
I'm returning to the hobby after a 7-year absence from RC soaring (I got into flying the full-scale stuff, and still spend a lot of my time and money on that). The 2.4Ghz revolution and the increase in Chinese hobby suppliers certainly have changed the game! I bought a Radian RTF to introduce the girlfriend to the sport (she's a former pilot) and am really being bitten by the bug again. I'm already hunting for a full-house ship to buy - but I don't have a ton of time so even though I'm itching to build up a big fleet, I'm trying to keep my purchases reasonable.
I hemmed and hawed about getting a FrSky module for my old 72Mhz (Spectra Module) Hitec Optic 6; but after thinking it and watching the RCMR YouTube channel for a few hours, I decided to order a Turnigy 9x V2 from HK, along with a backlight kit and a FrSky DIY kit. I like the greater spread of receivers in the FrSky line, as I may wind up flying models from 27" in wingspan (mini-slopers) up to 2.5 meter thermal birds.
My question to all of you is:
Now that I am getting a Turnigy 9X, how "necessary" is the ER9X firmware? From what I can tell I need to buy $60-$80 in components, in order to get the firmware loaded up. While spending a total of $200 on this thing is still a huge bargain, I'm not really sure how much I'm going to use it yet. Is the basic Turnigy 9X V2 firmware good enough for me to fly with for a little while? Or does one really need to load up the ER9X in order to have a useful radio controlling 6+ channels?
Thanks a bunch!
--Noel