Flight Controllers ???A flight controller that won't break the bank???

[Derek]

I see many many very cool looking quads that are out there...some store bought, some scratch built/DIY. I'm curious about control boards. I was hoping to find a board that I could put on my own quad that would give me Self Level, GPS/Position Hold, Return to Home, and possibly waypoint missions. Is there a board that will do all of these things that isn't insanely expensive or would I just be better off buying the Blade 350 QX2? I don't like the look of the 350, lol.

My "end goal" would be to have a quad that I could have bound to my newly acquired DX7 tx. Raise the quad to 50-75 feet high and turn on the Position Hold. GoPro, Mobius, or other on-board camera recording. Set the DX7 down and then fly another of my heli's or planes while the video is recording on the quad. FPV is also going to be needed for this.

Any thoughts on the control boards?

 

[Graham Lawrie]

I don't know much about it Derek, but I bought the Full Naze32 and have seen it work on Camerons quad and it is cheap and easy to program

 

[Lee]

The APM 2.6 would be a good board to go for. But if you just want it to hover above you and record your heli, I'd go for a phantom/350QX style machine.

 

[Stambo]

I see what you are trying to do Derek but is it really a good idea to have an unmonitored quad flying above you while you are flying another aircraft?
What happens if something goes wrong with the Heli that distracts you long enough for the quad batteries to get critical.
Or if the quad loses GPS lock while you are flying the Heli and starts to fly away?
You are likely to lose one of them, and if the worst happens and it hits something, your FAA will have a field day if they find out it was flying unsupervised.
I can see this ending in tears or worse.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Derek]

I understand what you are saying, Stambo....and you're right. I think i'm just gonna scrap this idea, but id still like to build my own quad with GPS hold and such. It may just come down to me buying the Blade 350qx2 (although I think it's rather ugly, lol) and I'll have another pilot on the sticks.

 

[pvolcko]

You gots a wife and a father that are into flying a bit, no? Perfect remote camera pilots. You don't need them to be able to fly it around you while you're flying, just on the sticks in case something goes screwy.

 

[Derek]

The idea that I had behind this thought was to be able to record my flights, from the air, on my own.

Unfortunately for me, lol, the "voice of reason" from my friends at RCH are quite right. "On my own" is just not a good idea, no matter how I try to bend the thought, lol.

It won't be anytime soon, but eventually I'll have a quad that can take aerial videos and I will surely have an informed and educated "someone" on the sticks of the quad....just in case.

I appreciate the "voice of reason" guys! I really do!