First Quad copter recommendation

Any ideas which quad would be good for learning? bearing in mind ive no heli or quad experience.

Thanks
Peter

DJI F 450 with naza lite is the only way to go

I concur. Dji f450 will set you back about 135 quid, naza lite flight controller will be about 145 quid, then you want a 3s lupo anywhere from 3000mah to 6000mah. It will teach you the basics, and be able to loft a camera easily. And if you get bored of it, it will sell easily too.

The airframe is robust, and the arms break first in a crash, saving the motors etc. They are about 4 quid each to replace.

Andy

This is the only way to go Peter, I was bricking it, now reasonable confident with high level shots & general flying around.
 
The pic below is the DJI F450, Naza-Lite flight control module & GPS receiver, running 2650 3cell lipo's from HK uk approx. £12 each, 11mins flying, you need 6. to save charging all the time. A tad under £400 + a camera will see you in the air + RC receiver, £10 for lights & RC operated switch.
 
The camera is an addon which depends on what you want Mark's & mine are very similar performance but the GoPro hero 3 black is the top dog.
 

Peter, I've got a stack of leds left if you want some for kitting a quad out for night flight. You can wire them in permanently, or via a RC switch...

Andy

Thanks for the advise

Going to order DJI F450 tonight, will get camera when ive learnt to fly it!

Andy, could you put some LEDs aside for me

Peter

Good show Pete, another DJI Boy we get them from quadcopters.co.uk seems about the best place to get it from.

M

Aye, quadcopters is the best place to get them from, cracking service from the guys there! They do free shipping for orders over £100 too. Not quite next day, but the last order I did only took a couple of days!

Leds are set aside for you. I've got white and red, and about 3 metres of each left. Just let me know how much you want (Barnes has 0.5m of each on his). The switches me and Rich are using are little Turnigy ones from HK. Dead cheap.

Andy

DJI F450 out of stock at quad copters.co.uk
Naza lite with GPS instock.

Any other decent places?
Peter

Try First Person View.co.uk. I think they have pout their prices up recently though, so they may be a bit more pricey.

Buzzflyer also stock the DJI stuff, no idea on their prices though. There is also Build Your Own Drone, although I'm not sure if they carry all teh DJI stuff.

If you are stuck, and desperate, I've got a kit that is going to be used for my Discovery Pro build that you could have, I'm not going to get around to building it up for a week or so.

Andy

Just a quick question regarding receivers

I plan to use a futaba 617 but this only has failsafe on the throttle channel, is this going to be ok?

Peter

What does it do on teh remaining channels Peter? If it holds the last known good servo position, then this isn't ideal. If it cuts off the servo signal (i.e. no pulse on the servo output) then this will work.

Channel 5 (U in Naza Speak) is used to control the flight mode of the quad. A three position switch is used to go between GPS, Atti and Manual mode. A 2 position switch is then used to override this to an inbetween point, which kicks in failsafe (and return to home if you choose). Ideal for invoking the return to home, without turning your radio off.

However, you want it so that the channel 5 signal goes to a failsafe position, in the event of a problem with the RC link.

Cheers
Andy

Just tested the failsafe on a futaba 617, all other channels apart from the throttle hold the last known position.  

Need to do some research and find a futaba receiver with failsafe on all channels.

The quad and naza came yesterday, cracking service from quad copters.co.uk

Peter

I use a 6008 Pete

Use a FrSky FASST compatible. You can set them to use the standard Futaba failsafe or have failsafe on all channels. Plus, there a lot cheaper, especially if you can wait a few weeks and get them from HobbyKing.
They come in various flavours from 4ch to 8ch(two of which can be linked together for increased channel count and diversity). Plus, for multi rotor users you can get CPPM out, use TFR4-B.

FrSky FASST Compatible