So just came back from another 3-pack session with it. Anyone wanna buy a 350QX? :lol:
Ok, Good points:
SMART mode (IOC to us) - works perfectly as does the 30ft safety circle round the operator.
RTH mode - works great, better than Phantom really. When you engage it, the QX stops what it's doing and comes straight back. No ugly delays like when the Phantom lazily figures out whether it wants to come back or not and even when it's back, waits 60sec before it descends.
Battery life - Seems great although right now I'm basically trying to keep it off the ground more than having fun.
NOT Good points:
Smart Mode - Works ok as I said above but did you actually try to fly a quad for any length of time under IOC ? It's tough ! You have to switch off all the orientation processes in your head which is tough after years of flying/driving, especially as we all turn to look at the aircraft in the air, which is a fatal flaw in operating in IOC mode. So why not just fly in Stability?? Read below
Stability Mode - Holy-Pogo-Sticks Batman, this thing is bloody awful at maintaining any semblance of height. I realize that height control in this mode is off, but come on, it really is like I said before, like a 1980's R/C Helicopter where you have to throttle up and down constantly. I did a test with the QX holding a steady hover, I then put a lazy yaw into it and down comes the QX, and I mean, DOWN. So I gave it a little gas and up it shoots, too quickly so now I'm going through the bounce routine trying to get it back where it was.
The other thing I did was to leave it in a 30ft high hover without doing anything. It was doing really well, (It is stable) then for some reason she started to descend at an increasing rate ! Like, WTF really.
You can't fly circuits with this thing, you are constantly concentrating on your height and waiting for it to dump.
RTH Mode - It works great, like I say above, but the book says you can switch it off at any time, and in fact the RTF model uses the sprung [trainer] switch on the DX5 so all you have to do is depress it to get the QX back close to you and release it to get control back. Sounds good....... In reality when you press it, the QX comes straight back (No height ascent first so be sure you gas it up over tree height first), but now you want to take back control, well look out because, you guessed it, as soon as you release RTH the thing just about has a momentary epileptic seizure. Big body shake and because the motors are fighting the shake down she comes again so you have to put gas into it.
Landing - For the love of Pete, why did they make us slide the trim down to stop the motors?? That's insanity ! You drop the QX down nice and smooth which is already a chore because the throttle is so twitchy and you're bouncing up/down 3ft as you try to get the thing to the touchdown point, but when you do get it on the ground and the throttle is at 0%, you have to crank a spare finger to the trim button to switch the motors off. If you dare touch any stick as you reach for the trim button the thing reacts like it's in flight and tries to execute a maneuver. :roll:
No, I don't like it. It's not fun to fly. Fly the Phantom and you wish you had more batteries, it's relaxing, it does what it says on the box. This thing is a backward step in stable, easy to fly, quads.
I initially thought there could be an issue with the barometer but in SMART mode the thing has a very firm hold on height
