Syma X4? I 've given up trying to get the Hubsan X4 to fly, it 's just too unstable, and got a...

[G+_Steve C]

Syma X4?

I've given up trying to get the Hubsan X4 to fly, it's just too unstable, and got a Syma X4 at Frys but it's even worse.  I could generally keep the Hubsan inside an area about 6' square if I kept fighting the direction it wanted to go on it's own but I'm lucky if I can even keep the Syma in my yard.  It wants to zoom way up in the air about 20-30' if I give it any throttle at all but when I let up just the smallest amount it drops all the way to the ground and won't even come close to hovering. Most flights consist of it going way up and out about 30' then crashing to the ground when I let up on the throttle so it's very frustrating.  Anyone know how to keep it more steady vertically?  The Hubsan did the same thing but slower so it wasn't quite as bad.

[G+_Taylor Graham]

practice fine control. practice inside. practice. also, keep it on low rates.

[G+_Steve C]

You're kidding, right?  Inside it would just keep hitting the ceiling. There's no way either of these X4s could be flown indoors unless your indoors is 3 stories high and empty with nothing to crash into.  I can barely keep them in my yard!

[G+_Taylor Graham]

Yep, exactly. That will give you a goal to shoot for. Eventually you'll learn to not hit the ceiling. Plus, your quad won't fly away like that. ?I think you can do it. I've never flown an x4, but I think flying my x5 indoors first really helped me. Plus it's like impossible to break inside. Just focus on fine movements, start practicing hovers. Hover through battery packs until you don't hit the ceiling.

[G+_Steve C]

That's no help since I haven't got an empty basketball court to practice in.

[G+_Rob Yesta]

The Hubsan X4 power can be turned real low.  Start at lowest setting and you can control it.

[G+_Ben Reese]

I've still only flown my Hubsan inside. Hopefully I'll be able to take it outside soon and see what it can really do, but I haven't had that hard of a time. I agree that hovering takes a bit of work, but it's doable.

[G+_Steve C]

Rob there's Normal mode and Expert mode that's faster, haven't seen any slow modes.

[G+_Steve C]

Ben, if you go outside take it easy and don't let the thing get out of site since they can disappear in a flash.  I lost the first one when doing a flip and it took off straight up, went over the trees and the neighbor's house and disappeared out of sight before I could even chop the throttle.

[G+_Ben Reese]

Yeah, looking through the manual I saw a few options for adjusting the acceleration. I've mostly flown in Normal mode, but threw it into Expert mode today to try a couple flips. Not a lot of room for it inside, but still fun to try :-)

[G+_Steve C]

There is an adjustment that changes the sensitivity of the joy sticks but I don't know what that does for flying the craft.  What it needs is a setting to make it more stable or give it the ability to do something close to hovering instead of darting up and down while it's going all over the place.  The problem I'm having is that I can't fight it in all 3 dimensions at the same time. When it's darting up and down, soaring way up into the air then nearly crashing into the ground I can't deal with that and still try to steer it forward and back or left or right at the same time.  If there was a way to keep it at roughly the same altitude then I would probably be able to steer it horizontally but I don't think that is ever going to happen.

[G+_Taylor Graham]

That's your job, you're the pilot. Be optimistic mate! Keep trying and you'll get it.

Sometimes you kinda have to predict what the quad is going to do. There isn't going to be a "set it and forget it" throttle setting for hover. Like i said before, focus on small adjustments.

[G+_Ben Reese]

Start slow... Gradually bring it up to 6-12" off the ground/floor and try to keep it steady. It should mostly hover but may drift some. If it starts moving immediately, you might need to reset the gyroscope. Other than that.... Practice, practice, practice.

[G+_Wayne Black]

I know this is kind of a stupid question, but have you watched any of the reviews on YouTube?

If yours won't fly like this, maybe it has a  faulty esc.

[G+_Wayne Black]

Also, I've been watching a lot of the training videos on YouTube. Watch this fellow's thumb on the throttle. He barely moves it to adjust altitude.

Some of his other videos have a better view of the sticks and what he's doing.

[G+_Steve C]

Probably 90% of the videos on Youtube are fakes like the ones showing perpetual motion machines actually running or players shooting baskets from 1000 yds away or someone flying a quadcopter indoors.

[G+_Wayne Black]

Did you even watch the video before dismissing it? They are not fake. Perpetual Motion, yes. Quadcopter reviews no.

[G+_Steve C]

I've probably watched a hundred videos by now, most of which are rubbish showing them flying around being perfectly controlled like the copter is on a string which is impossible unless it really is on a string.  The Syma has the same delay in the remote the Hubsan has, it will take off and hit the wall before it can be steered away in another direction. None of the videos show that, they all make it look like the craft flies under perfect control which is impossible.  The video you mentioned shows him out in the desert with unlimited room where you can't tell if he can control it since there is nothing to hit. Anyone could do that!  However he started out saying most people don't transition beyond just hovering but since they won't hover (unless you get a fancy one with GPS, etc.) I don't think he knows what he's talking about at all!

[G+_Wayne Black]

Wow, you are going to have a problem flying quads.

Good luck!

[G+_Steve C]

I sure have wasted a lot of money buying different copters over the years hoping one would be built that would be able to fly some day but so far no luck.  I figured that if I could fly a Cessna then I should be able to fly a little model, how hard could it be?  The first one was a big model called the Dragonfly 2005 about 1 1/2 ft. long that only had a 2 channel control so all it would do is go up and down, then over to one side and crash against the fence since there was no way to steer it. Then I got a smaller one called the Shark S006 that everyone said was great but still only had a 2 channel control so there's no way to steer it but there are lots of videos on Youtube showing people flying them around indoors under perfect control which is impossible since you can't steer it. After learning my lesson with the 2 ch. ones I got a much more expensive 4 channel Walkera 4#3B that was supposed to be really great but it has no gyro or any sort of stabilization and just follows the remote inputs the best it can so it just goes crazy and veers to the side and crashes. After that I got a Blade MCX2 with a gyro which is suppose to be "easy to fly, great for beginners, and able to hover on it's own hands free" which turned out to be total nonsense. It was terribly unstable and if I removed the outer housing and gave it some throttle the PC board that contains the controller, gyro, and other circuitry to stabilize it would shake and vibrate like crazy since the frame is plastic and the PC board is out on the end of a plastic stalk with no braces to help support it.  The MCX2 must have been designed by mechanical engineering morons!   After that I gave up for a while until quads came out then I got one of the micro ones less than 2" square that has a 6 channel gyro or something that again is supposed to stabilize it and again they said it was "easy to fly, great for beginners, and able to hover on it's own" but again that was nonsense since all the 6 ch. gyro does is keep it level, it doesn't have any sensors to tell it's altitude or if it's moving left, right or up or down so there's no way it can hover.  However it is really fast and can take off and hit a wall or go out of sight before the remote can operate to steer it back in the opposite direction.  The Syma X4 and Hubsan X4 work just the same way only they are bigger and take longer to go out of sight! 

 A lot of people claim to be able to fly them, mostly in fake Youtube videos but I don't know anyone who can fly one in person. Even the guy selling them at the mall who does that all day can't fly it. He was trying to but it kept getting away and hitting people walking past!  The fake videos are interesting, either they are out in a big open space like the desert, an empty basketball court or 3 story part of some big shopping mall where there is plenty of room and nothing to hit. They angle the camera up so it looks like the guy knows what he's doing and you can't really tell if it is under control or just going all around on it's own.  The other kind of video show the copter flying indoors where it seems to be under perfect control all the time flying around furniture, in and out of door ways, etc without hitting anything but I haven't figured out if they are using CGI or just dangling it from the string on the end of a pole and added the motor noise later.  I've tried asking some of the people who posted the seemingly impossible videos how they did it but they just got mad and wouldn't answer me! LOL

[G+_Ben Reese]

Wow, dude. I'd say you've either had terrible luck or you should just give up flying quads. I'm not great and I only fly a few times a week and got it for Christmas, but it's always been inside. Sure, I've hit the ceiling, walls, Christmas tree, myself... That's part of learning. Now I can set the thing on the floor and fly around the room landing it on the table and taking off again, around the ceiling fan, through the window between the kitchen and living room. It's not fake - it's practice and patience. I've even let my 6yo daughter fly some when the living room floor is clean. She can hover around 6" and fly around.

 

That said, my first flights aren't near as stable as those of my Father in law's since he just bought a DJI2. I'll take my chances with a $50 copter first though. ?

 

Oh, and I have a Hubsan X4.?

[G+_Taylor Graham]

Mate, tons of people have X4s and love them. They're definitely flyable. I'm sure no one faked a video of them flying their toy quad to show off lol.

Just to note, the solution here is definitely not going to be a craft with altitude/position hold. You'll crash that too, it'll just cost you a lot more.

[G+_Wayne Black]

Exactly, the reason the videos of people flying their quads looking like they're on a string and making it look easy is a little something called PRACTICE. You don't take a quad out of the box and magically fly it around like someone who has been flying RC for years.

Maybe I should have posted a video of my first attempts! You wouldn't have called that fake, for sure!

Now after flying the Syma X5 for a month, I've removed all the prop guards and landing skids, because I'm now confident that I won't crash it into something.

Practice, practice, practice and adopt the attitude of "I can do this".

Keep trying!

[G+_Taylor Graham]

I removed all my prop guards and stuff immediately, they're just extra weight. I haven't been able to break a prop yet, they're so flexible. That x5 is tough. If you're not crashing, you're not flying hard enough!

 

Last night i was flying it in a parking garage and had multiple full speed encounters with concrete walls. Nearly every time i fly it, it slams into something at full speed. I've even completely submerged it in water while it was powered on. The most ive managed to do so far is crack a little bit of plastic. At this point i think im trying to kill it.

[G+_Wayne Black]

Yep! If you're not crashing you're not flying!

Only problem I've had with the X5 is after a crash into a stone fence, one of the motor gears slipped almost off. Pushed it back on and all is right in the Universe!