Saturday 2 February 2013

Hubsan X4


Well I've finally got my hands on one of these tiny little quadcopters and I have to say that my first impressions are really very good! It was a bit of an impulse buy as I needed something to kill the tedium of living in a hotel for a few weeks while I was away on a work trip. I purchased it in ModelZone at £45 ($70) and I thought that it was a bit expensive but I know that it's possible to purchase the same model on-line for about half of that amount, which would make it an absolute bargain.

In beginner mode it is a super stable and extremely docile quadcopter that even a complete novice would be able to fly with very little difficulty. Switch it to expert mode and you really unleash the inner beast and it becomes a very lively little model capable of doing some impressive aerobatics in a very small space, but still somehow managing to remain super stable.

As you can imagine, when doing aerobatics in a relatively small and cluttered space like a hotel room, the model has had more than a few crashes. So far it has proven to be very crash resistant and despite my best efforts I have yet to break even a prop.

The controller is very ergonomic and feels nice to hold and the sticks are nice and positive with good centering. Programming is very straightforward and the well written manual gives good, clear instructions for changing modes, calibration etc. The manual also explains how to perform aerobatic manoeuvres, which are very simple once you have switched to expert mode.

I'm now on the hunt for some very lightweight FPV equipment so that I can do some urban exploring with this little wonder, although I might just have to check the range of the transmitter before I commit to purchasing the FPV equipment.