Quadcopter

This is a clone of the Syma X5c quadcopter. It is cheap for the size of it and the fact that it has a 2mp camera supplied.

It comes supplied with a 2.4gHz controller, spare set of props, landing gear, prop guards, camera, 4gb micro SD card, card reader, USB charger, 3.7v 600mAh LiPo battery, screw driver and instruction book. You need to supply 4 x AA battery for the controller.

The only assembly required is fixing the landing gear to the body of the quadcopter. Optional is the set of prop guards. I don't normally use guards except occasionally if I'm flying indoors. They can affect flight time and characteristics.

Out of the box, the battery charged in around 40 mins for a flight time of just over 7 mins.

Feeling the weight of the quadcopter I was not expecting a lot of it. It is very light and probably susceptible to winds.

After my demonstration flight though I rapidly changed my mind.

The quadcopter has surprisingly good flight characteristics. It's speedy and particularly on high rates it has phenomenal turning ability. It has one of the fastest yaw rates I've seen on a quadcopter. The demonstration flight video that I've made shows this very well (at about 9:20) and this will give you some exciting flying with practise.

The camera that comes with this quadcopter is actually a very good one. The focus is sharp and the colours are bright with good saturation. You can detect a little UV occasionally but it's much better than a lot of cameras in it's class.

There is no jello (vibration induced distortion in the picture) so it's possible to get reasonable footage from it. As with all these camera quadcopters though, the camera does not have a gimbal. That means that every movement of the quadcopter is translated to the video. If you are having an active flight you are likely to end up with motion sickness watching the video of it.

To get reasonable footage you need to fly on a calm day using smooth movements and preferably using low rates to keep the roll movements to a minimum.

All in all I thoroughly recommend this quadcopter, at under thirty pounds it's a bargain! Do look at the video to get a better idea on what you will get for your money.