Motion Controller FTW! Full-size aircraft pilots, you gotta get one!

[rktman]

It's been a long time... a really long time, but back in my youth I had a Private Pilot's license, and flew single-engine planes like the Cessna 152 an 172 mostly. Eventually let my license lapse, around the early nineties, and got into RC craft. So.....

Did my first flight yesterday with the Motion Controller. WOW!!!! What an amazing experience. If you've ever flown a stick before, this will feel so natural. Even a typical yoke, like in a 152 this still comes naturally. Maybe even for people that have never flown a plane before, but only RC too: I'd like to hear.

In any case, controlling pitch by pitching the controller, roll by rolling the controller, is so natural that the brain (at least mine!) just connects this up unconsciously, reflexively, with very little practice. Took me about 5 minutes to get confident enough to switch to Sport and do some steep dives with sharp bottoms and zoom up with confidence; fly between trees fast and sweep a climbing turn.

I could control it better than with the RC, and this really surprised me because I'm no slouch on the RC. The MC (if you will ?) was just so much more intuitive, instinctive. Hand movements that mirror the aircraft.

Anyway, that was my experience. Turns are fully auto coordinated, so there's no yaw control, making this completely useless for acro flying. Also, it's basically an "airplane mode" way of flying the drone -- there's no way to simple slide left/right like you can with the roll stick.

Regardless, I'll be FPV flying a lot with the MC. It's a total BLAST!!!!

 

[JoostGT3]

It's been a long time... a really long time, but back in my youth I had a Private Pilot's license, and flew single-engine planes like the Cessna 152 an 172 mostly. Eventually let my license lapse, around the early nineties, and got into RC craft. So.....

Did my first flight yesterday with the Motion Controller. WOW!!!! What an amazing experience. If you've ever flown a stick before, this will feel so natural. Even a typical yoke, like in a 152 this still comes naturally. Maybe even for people that have never flown a plane before, but only RC too: I'd like to hear.

In any case, controlling pitch by pitching the controller, roll by rolling the controller, is so natural that the brain (at least mine!) just connects this up unconsciously, reflexively, with very little practice. Took me about 5 minutes to get confident enough to switch to Sport and do some steep dives with sharp bottoms and zoom up with confidence; fly between trees fast and sweep a climbing turn.

I could control it better than with the RC, and this really surprised me because I'm no slouch on the RC. The MC (if you will ?) was just so much more intuitive, instinctive. Hand movements that mirror the aircraft.

Anyway, that was my experience. Turns are fully auto coordinated, so there's no yaw control, making this completely useless for acro flying. Also, it's basically an "airplane mode" way of flying the drone -- there's no way to simple slide left/right like you can with the roll stick.

Regardless, I'll be FPV flying a lot with the MC. It's a total BLAST!!!!

Hahaha nice to hear!
I must say, I ordered the FPV kit, which arrived and then ordered the fly more kit and the motion controller which arrived 1.5 weeks later, and then the weather turned for the worse. So, I have been flying pretty much one battery a day for the first week and a half, and got used to normal and sport mode, and in the end of that period transitioned to manual mode after spending every evening in the sim. Then the motion controller arrived and I was really excited about it, but now everything less than manual mode feels slow... So I have to admit I have only flown with the motion controller once and at that time there were big gusts coming in, so I was quite anxious and not really enjoying myself. I am at work now, charging the batteries after flying this morning, but your post makes me want to go out again and fly with the MC now! ?

 

[rktman]

I hear you about manual... However, if you've ever flown a real plane, you'll be thrilled, especially in sport mode.

 

[Starz]

Since I don’t have this little speed bomb yet, would anyone know if by using the mc, is there a range limit for this controller verses the regular controller? I’ve done the search and have looked at the manual and not found this information.
???
TIA.

 

[JoostGT3]

Sorry, I don’t know! I’ve been flying in a busy area of the Netherlands only anyway, so my range has not been very impressive with either controller (max 1 km).

 

[Kilrah]

Pretty much same range for both.

 

[rktman]

Since I don’t have this little speed bomb yet, would anyone know if by using the mc, is there a range limit for this controller verses the regular controller? I’ve done the search and have looked at the manual and not found this information.
???
TIA.

Specs say same as RC, 10km. However, given the small internal antenna, I can't believe it would have the range of the RC... that external antenna has some gain.

I do have one complaint: **** thing is right-handed. Totally usable left handed, but adjusting the gimbal tilt is a bit tough, and given how to thing works, it's not very practical to swap hands in flight.

I'm well-practiced flying either hand -- that's pretty much how it is in a plane with a stick between your legs, or a yoke ("steering wheel") in front of you. Still, it would be nice if engineers would remember that around 1 in 9 of us out here are left-handed, and looking at the few controls, this could have been designed ambidexterious.

Or , just duplicate the two side controls on both sides, and put the power button somewhere else.

 

[JoostGT3]

Do you use gimbal tilt with the MC? I find it ideal that, independent of the speed, it keeps the gimbal straight forward. That is actually a function that I miss with manual mode: if I fly to slow, I notice the drone starts to descend. Not due to stall, but because the gimbal is pointing too far up, and I try to keep the nose on the horizon! Perfectly understandable, but it got me almost into trouble a couple of times already ? (I know, I’m am FPV noob...)

 

[venomoussvt]

It's been a long time... a really long time, but back in my youth I had a Private Pilot's license, and flew single-engine planes like the Cessna 152 an 172 mostly. Eventually let my license lapse, around the early nineties, and got into RC craft. So.....

Did my first flight yesterday with the Motion Controller. WOW!!!! What an amazing experience. If you've ever flown a stick before, this will feel so natural. Even a typical yoke, like in a 152 this still comes naturally. Maybe even for people that have never flown a plane before, but only RC too: I'd like to hear.

In any case, controlling pitch by pitching the controller, roll by rolling the controller, is so natural that the brain (at least mine!) just connects this up unconsciously, reflexively, with very little practice. Took me about 5 minutes to get confident enough to switch to Sport and do some steep dives with sharp bottoms and zoom up with confidence; fly between trees fast and sweep a climbing turn.

I could control it better than with the RC, and this really surprised me because I'm no slouch on the RC. The MC (if you will ?) was just so much more intuitive, instinctive. Hand movements that mirror the aircraft.

Anyway, that was my experience. Turns are fully auto coordinated, so there's no yaw control, making this completely useless for acro flying. Also, it's basically an "airplane mode" way of flying the drone -- there's no way to simple slide left/right like you can with the roll stick.

Regardless, I'll be FPV flying a lot with the MC. It's a total BLAST!!!!

i couldnt agree more... Ive flown FPV race drones for a few years now so I took my DJI FPV up on its maiden in full acro without an issue, however, for some reason I was drawn to the idea of the motion controller. I picked one up with some reluctancy but more excitement mainly and i am so glad i did. I have only flown a couple times in acro after buying my motion controller it has been such a unique yet natural experience. I enjoy flying already, but i love flying with the motion controller.

 

[A.O.]

i couldnt agree more... Ive flown FPV race drones for a few years now so I took my DJI FPV up on its maiden in full acro without an issue, however, for some reason I was drawn to the idea of the motion controller. I picked one up with some reluctancy but more excitement mainly and i am so glad i did. I have only flown a couple times in acro after buying my motion controller it has been such a unique yet natural experience. I enjoy flying already, but i love flying with the motion controller.

Well I’ve never flown a real plane or flown in acro, but I just ordered this Motion controller, just sounds like fun!

 

[venomoussvt]

Well I’ve never flown a real plane or flown in acro, but I just ordered this Motion controller, just sounds like fun!

definitely chime in once you've tried it out... i cant imagine NOT loving this thing. I have flown mine in all modes so far and as much as full acro is cool, i still say 100% the motion controller is my favorite way to fly this quad.

where about are you in SC? Im in charlotte but work in Ft Mill

 

[A.O.]

definitely chime in once you've tried it out... i cant imagine NOT loving this thing. I have flown mine in all modes so far and as much as full acro is cool, i still say 100% the motion controller is my favorite way to fly this quad.

where about are you in SC? Im in charlotte but work in Ft Mill

I will do that, it’s supposed to be here tomorrow. I thought it only worked I N & S modes , not manual.
I’m near Kershaw maybe 45-60 minutes south east of you.

 

[rktman]

I will do that, it’s supposed to be here tomorrow. I thought it only worked I N & S modes , not manual.
I’m near Kershaw maybe 45-60 minutes south east of you.

Correct -- only N/S, no manual.

It flies the aircraft like a fixed-wing -- only forward motion. You don't have independent control of yaw and roll -- they are automatically coordinated.

The MC acts much like a stick in a fixed-wing craft, with the additional feature that the aircraft can hover, ascend and descend straight up.

In flight, it's very much like flying an airplane with a stick, and feels much more natural than the two-stick standard controller.

 

[venomoussvt]

I will do that, it’s supposed to be here tomorrow. I thought it only worked I N & S modes , not manual.
I’m near Kershaw maybe 45-60 minutes south east of you.

yeah, it works in both N & S only... but as long as your fluid on the trigger, you can fly in sport mode and it looks sooo much like Acro does.

ahh kershaw, used to spend time at the track there in my younger years.

 

[A.O.]

yeah, it works in both N & S only... but as long as your fluid on the trigger, you can fly in sport mode and it looks sooo much like Acro does.

ahh kershaw, used to spend time at the track there in my younger years.

Not to far away, I can hear them racing from my house

 

[Digitaldash]

Definitely the closest thing I’ve experienced to flying full size out of a drone. It’s a little buggy which dampens my confidence a little, but I agree it’s still a blast to use

 

[Anzacjack]

What sort of bugs are you experiencing

 

[Digitaldash]

What sort of bugs are you experiencing

The main issue that reduces my confidence in the motion controller is that mine seems to want to lurch forward at random times, especially when it’s surrounded with stuff around it. This, in combination with the fact that no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to pass calibration for the device, and it really makes me feel uneasy using it to fly. Almost crashed it the first day I used it due to the lurching issue (no I’m not pressing the accelerator), luckily I was able to somehow make it stop. I’m guessing I pressed the brake button.

 

[Anzacjack]

This is not normal behaviour. There is something wrong or you are doing something wrong. You prob need to look at getting this looked at with probable warranty issue. I’ve not read anywhere about this bird and uncommanded flight

 

[xavenged]

I returned mine. It was awesome but it just didn't fly like how I wanted it to. Used the refund for another battery