This was a tough build. The frame looks cool but has some deficiencies. The biggest is that the battery strap sits way back on the frame thus the battery has its weight to the rear. The COG is way off unless you can figure out a way to mount a GoPro which was a process in itself.
The top plate is also not very useful. I understand getting rid of material to keep the weight down but this thing has random holes everywhere, making it almost impossible to mount other devices. I'd almost prefer to get a full plate to make my own holes so I can mount devices above and below the plate.
I decided to purchase a $50 RMRC Cricket 0/25/200/600mw VTX because in the marketing material the top frame is already setup to mount it neatly. Not so with my Cricket! The holes weren't even close. Further investigation revealed that the holes match up for a different Cricket. I had to modify the top plate to accept my Cricket, again not an east task with all OS the random holes in the plate.
I don't care for the Cricket VTX. It looks great and seems to work okay but it has two small buttons on the top of it for changing band/channels and power settings. they are slightly raised so to have the display showing through the frame there has to be holes for the two buttons. I also didn't realize that the VTX defaults to 0 power on every battery connection which requires you to press the power button on each battery swap. This requires a small screwdriver or something to use to press the button. The display cannot be seen on a bright day so I had to find a shady spot to determine what power setting I wanted. Also, I use band C/E and channel 8 on all of my birds. This VTX has a DJI protocol for Band E which had a different frequency for channel 8. The VTX was a big bust for me, a real hassle.
The bottom portion of the frame has a big square hole under the FC/stack mounting holes. They are assuming you will be using one of their cheap PDB's that will cover the hole. I had no need for their PDB because it's part of my FC so the hole would be exposed which wouldn't work with my FC so I had to put a plate over the hole to mount my stack.
I finally got the bird ready to go and felt that I would need to mount my GP Session just to get a better COG. After screwing around with it for a few hours I figured out a decent way to do it. I got it installed, charged my batteries and I was ready to fly! Got outside and went to fire it up, guess what? I need to set the power on the VTX before I can take off. Guess where the button is??? You got it, under the GoPro! Had to find a new way to mount the GoPro!
I decided to just use the standard, stick on, go pro mount that comes with the camera just so I could get a flight or two off before I lost another great day of flying. I got the power set and took off. Seemed to be flying okay so I picked up the speed a bit and made a pass between the trees and smacked dead on into the fence railing. Went down to check the bird, didn't seem too bad, a few bent props, the FPV camera was dislodged, the nylon standoffs for the VTX were sheared, my XM+ Plus was a bit forward, no biggies. Hmmmm, where's my $200 GoPro? MIA! The impact of the railing had dislodges the adhesive GP mount and sent it off like a rocket. I spent the next hour scouring the pasture looking for my GoPro. I found it about 15 yards past the fence.
Not my best day, no, not my best day at all!
Jerry
The top plate is also not very useful. I understand getting rid of material to keep the weight down but this thing has random holes everywhere, making it almost impossible to mount other devices. I'd almost prefer to get a full plate to make my own holes so I can mount devices above and below the plate.
I decided to purchase a $50 RMRC Cricket 0/25/200/600mw VTX because in the marketing material the top frame is already setup to mount it neatly. Not so with my Cricket! The holes weren't even close. Further investigation revealed that the holes match up for a different Cricket. I had to modify the top plate to accept my Cricket, again not an east task with all OS the random holes in the plate.
I don't care for the Cricket VTX. It looks great and seems to work okay but it has two small buttons on the top of it for changing band/channels and power settings. they are slightly raised so to have the display showing through the frame there has to be holes for the two buttons. I also didn't realize that the VTX defaults to 0 power on every battery connection which requires you to press the power button on each battery swap. This requires a small screwdriver or something to use to press the button. The display cannot be seen on a bright day so I had to find a shady spot to determine what power setting I wanted. Also, I use band C/E and channel 8 on all of my birds. This VTX has a DJI protocol for Band E which had a different frequency for channel 8. The VTX was a big bust for me, a real hassle.
The bottom portion of the frame has a big square hole under the FC/stack mounting holes. They are assuming you will be using one of their cheap PDB's that will cover the hole. I had no need for their PDB because it's part of my FC so the hole would be exposed which wouldn't work with my FC so I had to put a plate over the hole to mount my stack.
I finally got the bird ready to go and felt that I would need to mount my GP Session just to get a better COG. After screwing around with it for a few hours I figured out a decent way to do it. I got it installed, charged my batteries and I was ready to fly! Got outside and went to fire it up, guess what? I need to set the power on the VTX before I can take off. Guess where the button is??? You got it, under the GoPro! Had to find a new way to mount the GoPro!
I decided to just use the standard, stick on, go pro mount that comes with the camera just so I could get a flight or two off before I lost another great day of flying. I got the power set and took off. Seemed to be flying okay so I picked up the speed a bit and made a pass between the trees and smacked dead on into the fence railing. Went down to check the bird, didn't seem too bad, a few bent props, the FPV camera was dislodged, the nylon standoffs for the VTX were sheared, my XM+ Plus was a bit forward, no biggies. Hmmmm, where's my $200 GoPro? MIA! The impact of the railing had dislodges the adhesive GP mount and sent it off like a rocket. I spent the next hour scouring the pasture looking for my GoPro. I found it about 15 yards past the fence.
Not my best day, no, not my best day at all!
Jerry
