First MC flight today (Motion controller)

[A.O.]

It's not going to be for everyone. Two thing to note: you can ascend and descend straight up and down by holding the controllers pitched up or down 90deg. Also, you turn by tilting (rolling) the controller left/right -- you don't need to rotate in the yaw axes. While it will follow yaw rotation, the pitching movement is the intended control motion.

As such, there isn't any reason to contort yourself. You can fly comfortably just tilting and pitching the controller, and using the trigger for throttle.

Yep, I know how to turn it, pitch and yaw and/or a combination of both, with it sitting 3 feet above the intended landing spot and not flying along I really have to work it to get above that spot to land. Up in the air screaming along it does fine, but that is not where I fly most of the time.. YMMV

 

[rktman]

Yep, I know how to turn it, pitch and yaw and/or a combination of both, with it sitting 3 feet above the intended landing spot and not flying along I really have to work it to get above that spot to land. Up in the air screaming along it does fine, but that is not where I fly most of the time.. YMMV

I hear you. I guess I haven't noticed because I just use RTH to bring it home and land.

Don't get any fun out of landing -- it's work. I've done it so so many times. I don't need to practice that skill. I can totally see that if I was manually landing routinely and trying to hit a pad I'd be frustrated using the MC.

 

[A.O.]

I hear you. I guess I haven't noticed because I just use RTH to bring it home and land.

Don't get any fun out of landing -- it's work. I've done it so so many times. I don't need to practice that skill. I can totally see that if I was manually landing routinely and trying to hit a pad I'd be frustrated using the MC.

You have got to remember I started my drone flying adventure the end of November 2020.. I'm pretty new to ALL of this.

 

[JoostGT3]

And way up in the sky or in an area of no obstacles that's fine, it does that pretty well, but I like flying more through the woods here and not over them and for that application I'll stick with the sticks..
And it is not worth 200 bucks to me.

I haven't tried that yet tbh. Every time I go out to fly, I tell myself I'll try to fly more low to the ground and in between obstacles. But every time I chicken out and tend to do these nice sightseeing flights and a bit of aerobatics instead.
Yesterday it dawned to me; I probably should tilt the gimbal back a bit to 20deg or so, rather than fully up. This will enable me to try and practice at a lower speed.
Still, I thought the MC would be the ideal device to be flying in between obstacles and trees and whatnot, but you say for you it isn't?

 

[A.O.]

I haven't tried that yet tbh. Every time I go out to fly, I tell myself I'll try to fly more low to the ground and in between obstacles. But every time I chicken out and tend to do these nice sightseeing flights and a bit of aerobatics instead.
Yesterday it dawned to me; I probably should tilt the gimbal back a bit to 20deg or so, rather than fully up. This will enable me to try and practice at a lower speed.
Still, I thought the MC would be the ideal device to be flying in between obstacles and trees and whatnot, but you say for you it isn't?

No , for me it is not, it is not nearly as accurate as the sticks. Also with the sticks if you get in trouble you can back out, not so with the MC. It doesn't really control it like a drone, more like a fixed wing plane. I'm sure there are those that love it, I do not.
As far as the gimbal I mostly leave it set at 0 unless I am scanning the ground or something. But thats me, and I'm pretty new at all this drone stuff.

 

[JoostGT3]

No , for me it is not, it is not nearly as accurate as the sticks. Also with the sticks if you get in trouble you can back out, not so with the MC. It doesn't really control it like a drone, more like a fixed wing plane. I'm sure there are those that love it, I do not.
As far as the gimbal I mostly leave it set at 0 unless I am scanning the ground or something. But thats me, and I'm pretty new at all this drone stuff.

Ah ok. Didn't really test the accuracy yet, as I tend to fly high up.
Gimbal at 0? So you fly real slow, right? (Not judging, just verifying whether I understand you correctly)

 

[m3sgal]

No , for me it is not, it is not nearly as accurate as the sticks. Also with the sticks if you get in trouble you can back out, not so with the MC. It doesn't really control it like a drone, more like a fixed wing plane. I'm sure there are those that love it, I do not.
As far as the gimbal I mostly leave it set at 0 unless I am scanning the ground or something. But thats me, and I'm pretty new at all this drone stuff.

All the shortcomings you mentioned are true. I can't safely hand land using it as with the controller, which is a shame considering you allways have one hand free with it. You can't backup. They could've added that by a modifier trigger, but I guess they thought it will be unsafe. You can't move side to side.
But we have to admit that we are comparing all this to a regular mavic. You have to remember though, in FPV quad you don't have position hold. You need to fly your quad through obstacles without stopping. This is what the MC is trying to approximate, and I would say they did a good job making it this intuitive while keeping high enough accuracy. Try doing that using manual mode from the first few flights, and you will realize quickly how much easier they made it. Of course, if you know how to fly manual using the controllers, then you will have better maneuverability, but there is a steep learning curve. This MC is trying to bridge this gap

 

[A.O.]

Ah ok. Didn't really test the accuracy yet, as I tend to fly high up.
Gimbal at 0? So you fly real slow, right? (Not judging, just verifying whether I understand you correctly)

Well kinda slow through the woods (trees are not your friends!) and fast up high.

 

[rktman]

No , for me it is not, it is not nearly as accurate as the sticks. Also with the sticks if you get in trouble you can back out, not so with the MC. It doesn't really control it like a drone, more like a fixed wing plane. I'm sure there are those that love it, I do not.
As far as the gimbal I mostly leave it set at 0 unless I am scanning the ground or something. But thats me, and I'm pretty new at all this drone stuff.

I would have a lot more frustration with the MC if I hadn't flown fixed-wing planes (real and RC) for thousands of hours already.

As far as learning to fly with it, if you decide to keep it and give it some more practice, here are a few tips:

• Don't forget that the intended control movement to turn is rolling the controller, not trying to yaw it. Same when hovering as when moving. Simply forget rotating the controller around it's vertical axis (yaw) for any reason at all. There's no need, and it will confuse your brain.
• While you can't back out, you can accomplish the same thing if you get stuck by simply rotating 180 while hovering, and then going forward back out. You have the additional benefit that you can see. Can't do that with a plane!
• Make good use of the white target circle when in tight places, and go easy on the throttle. That target direction is pretty accurate. I've actually had quite a thrill flying gently through some pine trees 10ft above the ground.

 

[A.O.]

I would have a lot more frustration with the MC if I hadn't flown fixed-wing planes (real and RC) for thousands of hours already.

As far as learning to fly with it, if you decide to keep it and give it some more practice, here are a few tips:

• Don't forget that the intended control movement to turn is rolling the controller, not trying to yaw it. Same when hovering as when moving. Simply forget rotating the controller around it's vertical axis (yaw) for any reason at all. There's no need, and it will confuse your brain.
• While you can't back out, you can accomplish the same thing if you get stuck by simply rotating 180 while hovering, and then going forward back out. You have the additional benefit that you can see. Can't do that with a plane!
• Make good use of the white target circle when in tight places, and go easy on the throttle. That target direction is pretty accurate. I've actually had quite a thrill flying gently through some pine trees 10ft above the ground.

Already returned it

 

[Kilrah]

Flew with mine again after postponing it many times until I was again at a known place where I don't feel like it would make me waste flight time in an interesting place, and also definitely not liking it beyond curiosity. Just not precise, flexible or comfortable. Try flying 5 minutes in sport mode with the trigger half in because you don't want to go full speed, your finger and wrist quickly start feeling like garbage...

 

[A.O.]

Flew with mine again after postponing it many times until I was again at a known place where I don't feel like it would make me waste flight time in an interesting place, and also definitely not liking it beyond curiosity. Just not precise, flexible or comfortable. Try flying 5 minutes in sport mode with the trigger half in because you don't want to go full speed, your finger and wrist quickly start feeling like garbage...

Agreed, for 200 bucks It ought to light me up and it just does not

 

[Kilrah]

More worthy to use the money for an extra battery

 

[A.O.]

More worthy to use the money for an extra battery

Or a better case, if I can ever find one..

 

[CrocMonster]

Sorry to see that you don't enjoy the MC :-(
I felt like I had to buy it to try it out, but I got surpriced at how much I like it. Flying fast and low like pc flight sims and get much smother video than with the RC. Just wish it will be able to edit the parameters to get sport mode speed up to that of manual ie. 39m/s so it really moves

 

[A.O.]

Sorry to see that you don't enjoy the MC :-(
I felt like I had to buy it to try it out, but I got surpriced at how much I like it. Flying fast and low like pc flight sims and get much smother video than with the RC. Just wish it will be able to edit the parameters to get sport mode speed up to that of manual ie. 39m/s so it really moves

Same with me I had to buy it to see if I liked it, and I did not. No big deal..

 

[CrocMonster]

Same with me I had to buy it to see if I liked it, and I did not. No big deal..

Ok, good to know.

 

[thetechnobear]

Im still in two minds about the MC...

the one (bad) side, is that it feels less precise , and kind of 'I can fly with sticks, why am i bothering?'
BUT unfortunately, this means Ive not practised that much with it... which I think is part of the problem.

when I do fly it...
I do enjoy it, you can go low and fast, it does feel like a plane - you have to anticipate where your going...

the things i know i need to improve are:

a) throttle - sports mode is where its at, then treating the throttle with some subtlety - not just on and off
b) yaw - as @rktman says, I need to ensure I **only** roll the controller- generally i do, but sometimes i can feel my arm is shifting more than it should.
c) LOS , id like to practice flying it without goggles - this would help with landing.

the two areas i dont like:

landing - i dont really feel enough control... I think if i could fly LOS this would pretty much solve this.

vertical ascent/descent - i dont like the way you have to go to the top of the view for this....
however, I think if you approach it as a 'fixed wing' experience, then its fine.
in fact, I think thats kind of the point to have a non-drone experience?!

overall, I really do think i need to push thru and get some more practice with it, the more proficient I am, the more I'll enjoy it and so use it.


I think the two reasons I'll keep it are:
a) friends and family - its so easy for non-drone fliers to just be given this, and 'have a go'
b) its different - sometimes, its just nice to have a different experience.

I can see why others would not want it though...
in N/S on sticks, its not that difficult, and you have cruise control - so the flight can be pretty easy going and smooth too.


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btw: have you noticed the MC seems to smooth out your turns for you.
this might all be part of the co-ordinated turn system, which i dont really use with sticks... but i hadn't noticed it (though, I dont often use it with sticks)

 

[CrocMonster]

I think the two reasons I'll keep it are:
a) friends and family - its so easy for non-drone fliers to just be given this, and 'have a go'
b) its different - sometimes, its just nice to have a different experience.

2:d that, my dad (84 years old) can go a litte nuts with Pc flight sims and my brother's got a thing for WWII fighters and bombers, so I guess the MC will apeal more to them than the RC. Since 1 jan 2021 you are required to have a drone "drivers" licens but I think I can risk it.

 

[JoostGT3]

2:d that, my dad (84 years old) can go a litte nuts with Pc flight sims and my brother's got a thing for WWII fighters and bombers, so I guess the MC will apeal more to them than the RC. Since 1 jan 2021 you are required to have a drone "drivers" licens but I think I can risk it.

I concurr. The MC is an absolute gem if you want to let other people fly.

I like flying with it, it is just that I enjoy flying in full manual mode so much more. When flying low and in between obstacles, I think it is easier with the MC, however, if you want to fly fast in between obstacles, I have a feeling that you can not turn sharply enough, or it would at least require too much input. When flying manual, you can turn the drone on a dime if you need to get out of trouble.