Flysky TH 9x-B with goods and bads

Tx, Rf module, 8ch receiver and the bind plug

Hello dear friends,

Today, I want to tell you about my experience with the TH 9x 8 channel transmitter.

It all started when I finally “compiled” my necessary “list of materials” to build my first proper 450 size heli, with carbon fiber frame, unlike my plastic Esky Belt CPX. On top of many components, it was the well priced TH9X transmitter and to go along I got a 6 and 8 channel receivers also. First impression when I opened the box was of cheap plastic.

The display was not bad, and the sticks and switches had normal feeling, so nothing special here…The good thing about this TX is that you can switch the RF module on the back, and unlike the Turnigy clone sold by HK, you don’t need to cut the antenna wire and re-solder it…When I connected everything to the receiver, I got the bad news: meaning this cheap TX had some serious channel bleeding

like you can see in this movie I made for myrcmart, hoping they will replace my transmitter…which they didn’t do L

This exercise was a lesson learnt for me, and imagine when I did the first tests, I removed the blades (which I strongly advise you also to do.) and I moved elevator right and my motor spooled up to maximum rpm…holy cow….that’s not something I would expect from a new out of the box product…Unfortunately more tests I did, just confirmed it was some factory issue, and changing the gimbal would cost alone about 25 USD…I was so disappointed, and set my build on hold…Even tough I did the movie explaining myrcmart(otherwise a good seller) that it’s busted, they kept saying I just like to complain…

At this point I considered installing the smartieparts upgrade board ~25 usd and the extra backlight lcd from HK~5 usd, hoping that by flashing the firmware to ER9x I could get rid of the problem; but adding 30 usd to the already payed 70 usd would make 100 USD for a product that I couldn’t really trust anymore, and what happens when you fly an more or less expensive heli and you crash it to something or somebory because of faulty TX?

I didn’t want to take the chance, so I decided I go Walkera way, and I bought a Devo 10 bundled with the Master Cp heli and an additional RX-1002 for my 450 project at a good price. The Devo 10 already has backlight LCD, and Usb connection for firmware upgrades, and on the TH9x I needed to buy extra components to have the same features..

As a bottom line: can I recommend the TH-9x?  my answer is no way…I know some of you have good experience with this TX, but I read way too many people having issues with these, and especially considering that no matter how many heli’s or planes you have, you use the same tx, I think that buying something a bit better is the normal thing to do….I am personally happy on my choice, and I fly my Genius cp v2, my master CP and my RCX 450 FBL with the same Devo 10 TX…

I hope TH-9x might have improved since, and hopefully nobody will just throw off the window 70 USD like I did(btw, the TX is still in it’s original box and never touched it since)

I wish you good flying and be safe,
Here is the unboxing and impressions video:

Bionic flying bird

Hello dear friends,
I just found this as a very interesting "toy" and Miracle-mart has it for sale now with 89 usd...
I think that if you got this on the flying field you would make quite an impression to your rc hobby friends, but to any flying birds nearby...
This bird comes equipped with 2.4 Ghz, with a theoretical range of 100 meters, and a flying weight of only ~ 9 grams !!! wow...that's a real light one. Also I think it's worth mentioning the patented systems that allow the simulation of real bird movements...
So, despite never flying it myself, I think it looks more than interesting to all of us flyers, to be able and actually fly something that really looks like a bird, and doesn't have blades or propellers.
Enjoy

Cheapest digital pitch gauge?

Hello again my friends
I was looking for a cheap digital pitch gauge to use on my 450 flybarless heli, and since the Align AP800 costs around 35 USD, I decided I would try the Tarot (clone) that I found on miracle-mart.com for 16 USD...
The gauge has backlight LCD, meaning you can use it in pitch black darkness(not really seeing the point of doing that, but you can :), It had already batteries inside, which these days is a rare commodity, it's detachable, so you can attach the lower part seen above to your blade, and then connect by pushing in place the electronic part which has autorotation function, meaning even if you hold it upside-down it will rotate the angle reading 180 degrees for the reading...
Important: you must tell it first the zero level...

Some specs available:
It can read up to approx 60 degrees pitch with 0.1 degree precision
It works with 20 to 72 mm width blades
It has 110x55x16 mm.

What I liked:

• price
• batteries included
• backlight LCD
• simple to use

What I disliked:

• the quality of the plastic used

The manual in the box

Working upside-down

Detached from the blade fixing device

Phoenix Sim - best bang for the buck?

Hello again dear friends...
Since in this hobby every mistake costs money, pride and frustration, I am sure that like me, many of you consider using a simulator for practice and only later try flying on the real heli...
Since I am always trying to find the best value for money I can tell you what I found regarding heli sims:

• RCheli sim free sim, good for learning orientations, but in my opinion the physics and graphic detail is not so good...still not bad for a free sim if you want to start;

• HeliX version 0.9, is the free version of the well known german sim which you can download here, the official version is 4.2, and I can say I like this free sim a lot, the physics and graphics are much improved, but of course the full version 4.2 which is about 60 euro has many extra features...I can recommend the 0.9 if you want a good free heli simulator, and additionally you can find some extra heli models on some rc forums;
• Clearview SE, this time by releasing this version, they give you the free sim but you must pay for the models you purchase...In my case I bought a set of 1 terrain and 4 helis for 2 usd each, total of 10 usd, and saved the rest up to 49 usd if I remember correctly. The graphics is acceptable, but the physics is not close to real.. For example T-rex450 helis spin with maybe 5 or 6 full 360 degrees in one second and this is far from real...The only model that was closer to reality in terms of handling was the TREX700...Of course that you can fine tune the models but is in a more difficult manner by editing some parameters which you don't really understand what they do...anyway in my opinion if you buy something it should work right away...so as a bottom line I think the Heli-x v.0.9 is better here...

And finally I decided enough frustration caused by bad physics, small number of helis and airfields to try on...I decided to buy a real sim, and I choose the Phoenix v.4 sim which is known for good heli physics, good graphics and maybe most important free future up-grades...preety cool, huh? The main competitor is the Real Flight but on this one, just understanding which version you must buy and which add-on version it works with, caused me a headache :)
The content is simple and it has a short installation guide, the version 4 DVD and most important the bundle cable, which is mainly the "key" to protect their sim against copying it...
The installation is simple, after that make sure the usb bundle is connected and the TX is on and you will be prompted for setup and calibration..After this is done, you can edit dual rates and other adjustments you need.
Just a tip: since I have a Walkera devo10 and the Phoenix comes with stereo 3.5mm Jack, but the walkera needs a mono jack, I just plugged in my universal sim cable in the tx, turn on the TX which thinks now it's in trainer mode, and replace the universal stereo jack with the phoenix mono jack with the TX on, and it works...I still plan to buy a normal stereo to mono converter but just want to let you know it can work like this also...
After I am more used to it, I might come back with a review of the sim's menu, settings, and so on...

 Below is the movie I made showing you basically the unboxing of the sim...



Likes:
+good price and free lifetime up-grades;
+good heli physics
+good overall graphics
+infinity scope, allowing to fly FPV like in a 3 d generated landscape
 Dislikes:
-considering the usb bundle is the hardware key to using the sim, the exit points of the electronic box is not perfectly tight, so I suggest putting some heat sleeve to ensure a long life of the assembly;

you can see there's quite a gap between the main wire and the rubber attached to the box

I hope you found the info useful and I really recommend using a sim, since it's easy to re-start after a crash on a sim, instead of real life, when you carry all the bits in a bag :(

Walkera Master Cp Alu box

Box size compared to the future inhabitants

Hello again,
This time, I want to share with you a small review of the 9imod Alu box for the Walkera Master CP and other similar sized helis.
First of all, I can say the quality is good, no rattling or other unwanted noises, only the keys are more just to show that work. The inside padding is also ok, and as you can see from the below pictures I had nothing to complain so far. Actually there's nothing fancy to expect, it's just a box, right?:)
Actually the spec is that it can accomodate the Master CP and any Devo compatible Tx, but I can say that you need to cut off quite a few of the padding inside the upper layer. Even like this, I really don't like that the blade of the heli is touching and putting a bit of pressure against the transmitter's antenna !....that's not good at all...Unfortunately you can't do anything to fix this, just hope that you will not drop hard the case or get a strong shock that could damage your TX(in my case a Devo 10)...

Front box view with two keys

Side view

Bottom view

Lower layer where you put the TX, for Devo 7E you get lots of room

Upper layer of padding where the heli  sits

What I like:
-light
-well built
-cheap

What I don't like:
-need to cut off the padding to accomodate bigger tx like the Devo 10
-the heli's blade pushes against the TX's antenna