I quite fancy building and learning to fly one of these. I’ve built RC models before and have the Tx/Rx left over from when I tried to learn to fly a helicopter.
Does anyone have any experience with the cheaper kits like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131319485858?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Or should I stop being a tightwad and get one from one of the more reputable online shops.

Any guidance gratefully received 🙂

ben cooper’s your man for this…

I’ve only built Mikrokopters, which cost around 50x what that costs 😉

Still got one here, must remember to do something with it.

Building sounds fun, what kind of lift capacity does it have?

If it’s only to learn how to fly one, these were recommended by someone on here and only 30gbp: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Version-Upgraded-Hubsan-H107L-Quadcopter/dp/B00DSZA3VU/ref=sr_1_1?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1415788177&sr=1-1&keywords=hubsan+x4

(I’ve got the HD version, great fun!)

It depends what you want it for really. Larger quads are good fun if you have the space or want to strap a gopro to it. But, and this is a big one, there are all sorts of laws governing when and where they can be used. In reality unless you’re really stupid with it and start flying it round a city centre you’re u likely to get grief but you never know. Personally I have a DJI F450 quad and a F550 hex bothe of which are brilliant. The f450 retails for £275 and assuming you have an 8channel radio and tx then you’ll also need a battery and charger.
They are a great compromise between building it yourself and a ready built because they are basically plug and play. They are basically a diy version of their phantom ready to fly.
I tried cheap frames and flight controllers but neither had the time nor the inclination to dick around with programming this that and the other.
Also worth a look are the blade 350qx or if you want smaller the 200qx. I have a 200qx and their tiny nano qx. Both are
brilliant because they can be flown indoors pretty safely. Not owned one but I’ve flown a few hubsan ones and they are good too.

On the back of toppers post, I’d be very suspicious about this part of the description – HJ 450 450F Nylon Fiber Flamewheel -topper mentions having a dji f450 flamewheel, one of the best step up/first build kits around, costing around £140 ex batteries (I can’t see batteries on this one either). The name on the ebay one is close enough to make me think deliberate knock off, which gets my spidey sense tingling.
this sitehas the proper f450 kit with the option of adding GPS modules (hover using GPS positioning not tx controls, return home if tx signal lost). Given the damage you can do if one of these things falls out of the sky, I’d be sticking with a brand name kit until you’re comfortable reading the specs.

Thanks for the advice chaps!
A lot of the fun/challenge will be building and setting it up so not worried about being time consuming and that is why I’d avoid a rtf model.

The Chinese model I linked to seemed viable as despite being a clone it is cheap enough to allow me to buy a good spec flight controller if the one that came with it was junk, presuming the rest of the bits would be pretty similar to the more expensive ones.

I had read about the restrictions on flying them but being in the Scottish Highlands space is abundant. I’d like something that could carry a small HD camera or maybe long term send it to the chippy with a wee hook on the bottom for fish supper attachment…

flamewheel f450 will carry a go pro or fish supper. however, with both the flight time might be limited unless you want to leave the copter at the chipper, phone them to load it and carry the copper outside then fly home.
i really need to get out a bit more

this.

After various clones and other crap that was ok but not great this was the first decent quality quad I brought. Still got it and it’s ace. In fact this in my second. Comes with the full Naza v2 which I have found really good as a controller for a camera platform or chip delivery system. Although for camera work the f550 is better.
Get yourself on the forums. Some are really useful. Some are shite.

Chippy must be less than 3/4 of a mile, in a straight line. Maybe I could leave a spare battery with them to fit when they load my dinner on.
What’s a good forum to start with, the quad equivalent of STW!

Got me thinking about how I’d create one from scratch.. hmm..

They look like a bit of fun but make sure you are insured and have a read of the legal position as a couple of people have been fallen foul of the law

http://www.bmfa.org/Multi-Rotors/tabid/1425/Default.aspx

I have been flying quads / Hexs for a few years, I started with bits from hobbyking then built a f550 hex, which I don’t use now as I have an 800 size hex.

I will probably sell the 550 in the next few weeks.

FPV and fold-up undercarriage? Very posh 😉

This is what I’ve got hanging from my ceiling at the moment:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/q3dhAZ]Untitled[/url] by Ben Cooper, on Flickr

I’ve had it for about 4 years I think, still waiting for the customer to collect it.

What flight controller have you got on the mikrocopter Ben ?, it looks like a Vector ?

It’s a Mikrokopter FlightCtrl ME in there – the central stack has the MK-GPS board, the NaviCtrl board and the FlightCtrl board. But you can’t see it in there, the box you can see on the rear spar is the receiver.

I did think it would have the Mickrocopter F/C but the receiver looked very vector-ish.
I wondered if you were using a vector for the OSD.

I am looking to move away from the DJI Naza as we have had a few issues, i tend to fly in Atti mode most of the time but have had issues with GPS flyaways
(These are not an issue as i also fly helis so flick into manual to get control back)

The Vector is the F/C i am interested in for the fun quad.