The new Flytec 1/18 RTR RC Rock Crawler is another great looking toy grade truck, in the latest round of releases that seem to be putting more emphasis on realistic, scale appearance. This little truck is equipped with a 2.4ghz radio, 4WD with dual motors, a 4.8v NiMH battery, and the best part, a full alloy body. Every panel of the body is made from aluminum, and in my opinion, it looks great! Being a toy grade truck, you don't get proportional steering, or proportional throttle. However, and to my surprise, it actually still drives quite well. For younger children this should be a good, inexpensive truck, that will make it easy to learn the basics of control, without being too fast. The fact that it isn't very fast, means that it will also be difficult to break. For the scale hobbyist, this truck might be good for modifying, and will certainly be a great body donor. Check out the pics, and running video. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have.
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The new HobbyMate Elite 6A/80W Multi Chemistry AC/DC Balance Charger is now available, and is an excellent, full featured, computerized charger, that won't break the bank.
This little unit has a nice bright blue backlit screen making it easy to move through the menu. It will charge and discharge 1-6s Lilon/LiPo/LiFe/LiHV,1-15cell Nicd/NiMh, as well as 2-20V PB battery, Smart Battery Phantom I,II,III. You also get all the functions sometimes only offered on more expensive, high end chargers. You get Charge, Balance, Discharge,Terminal Voltage Control,Lithium Battery capacity & voltage checking,Battery Internal Resistance checking,Lipo Storage mode, Data storage and loading, and Lipo Meter. I have been putting this little charger through its paces for about a month now. I have used it to charge every battery type, and capacity in my collection. I've used it to charge 5000mah car/truck packs, as well as 300mah micro drone packs, and everything in between. This charger has performed flawlessly, and accurately. When used to balance charge, or storage charge/discharge my quad batteries, individual cell voltages are always within .01v of each other. That's great for a charger costing only $39 Anyone looking to upgrade from a RTR/RTF included charger, or looking to put another charger on the bench to decrease downtime, this HobbyMate Elite is well worth the price, and is an excellent option for anyone on a budget. I like it so much that it has become my desktop charger, and my older Hitec charger has been moved to my bench. Check out the pics, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. The new SJRC S70W is a RTF quadcopter with dual GPS, WiFi FPV, 720P HD camera, and follow me mode. EDIT-1/3/2020 The black version is now back in stock at Banggood and available starting at $97.99 with free priority shipping. Click me to order. I managed to spend some time with this drone, and test out its features. I am happy to say that everything works as it is supposed to. The radio transmitter controls for the camera, and flight rates work perfectly. The quad sends warnings back to the transmitter when the battery is getting low, and if it is approaching the limits of its range. The quad will also land itself on low battery if you ignore the warning beeps, and continue to fly. I did eight flights where I took off, flew a couple hundred yards out and hit the return to home button. The quad came back, and landed within a few feet of where I had taken off from every single time. This is quite impressive for a $100 drone. To my surprise the GPS hold even works quite well in some pretty windy conditions. I flew it in winds in excess of 15 mph, with gusts over 20 mph, and it always maintained a respectable position, without being blown too far off course. The included camera does a decent job of capturing images, and video. This is by no means a DJI Phantom, nor does it have GoPro quality recording, but for the price of this model, again I am quite impressed. When using the SJRC GPS APP (available in Google Play, and the APP Store) there are controls for virtually everything the quadcopter is capable of. One of the coolest features of the APP is the ability to adjust the Geofence. This is an excellent feature, especially for beginners, as the quad will not fly past whatever you have the max distance, and max altitude set at. It will simply run into the virtual fence, and then move backwards, or down, to come back within the limits that are preset in the APP. I haven't had a chance to test the follow me mode yet, but I hope to as soon as weather permits. I will update this post with more info, and details, as I get to spend more time with the drone. Check out the pictures, and video, and please don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have. The new MJX Technic Bugs 3 175mm Mini RTF brushless quad is now in stock and ready for shipping! During the Lunar New Year sales use coupon code BUGS3MINI and get this awesome little ready to fly package for only $79.99 Ok, my initial thoughts upon opening the box were, wow! It's smaller than I was expecting. It is actually pretty close to 175mm diagonally, motor to motor, but for some reason it just looks smaller. It feels very well built, which I expected. I have always liked the original Bugs 3, so I expected good things out of this new mini version, and that same sense of quality, and durability is present with this smaller version. The radio feels good in my hands, and all of the buttons are easy enough to get to, without feeling cramped, or like you have to stretch fingers to reach them. Binding was a cinch, and took all of about 2 seconds. Hold the arm button down on the radio when powering it on, and it beeps twice, plug the battery into the quad, and bam, your in action. Much like the original Bugs 3 the lights are nice and bright, and that's something I love about these MJX quads. They make for great night flyers. The proprietary battery is sure to bother some folks, and rightfully so, but I think once spare batteries are available, it won't be too big a deal, as long as they are reasonably priced. I am charging the battery now, and have a timer running so I can see just how long it takes with the supplied USB charger. On the first flight the battery lasted longer than I thought it would, considering it is only 14F here at the moment. I didn't test the weak signal warning, because if I did get out of range, I wasn't up for a walk through 14 inches of snow to try and retrieve the quad. The transmitter, and quad both started beeping though as soon as the battery started getting low, and the transmitter does beep if you power off the quad, so the telemetry features seem to be working as advertised. It was very stable, even in Acro mode. It isn't a powerhouse, but with 2750kv motors on 2s I wasn't expecting it to be. It is a great backyard flyer. I know right away that it will be replacing a few of my brushed quads that I like to buzz around my backyard, just because if nothing else it has better punch, and Acro mode is a huge bonus. Here's some pics of what you get, and I took a few with the canopy off so those that want to see the board can get a peek at it. I will add more info once I spend some more time with the quad. If there's anything specific you want to know, or would like a picture of, just ask and I'll get it for you. The HappyModel Mantis 85 has been getting quite a bit of attention lately as a great brushless micro for indoor, and outdoor use. As you'd expect from its name, the Mantis 85 is 85mm diagonally from motor to motor. The little quad comes well protected, in a nicely decorated box, with a foam insert that securely holds the Mantis, the included 400mah 2s battery, a manual, and a spare set of 1935 props. The quad itself features a 2mm carbon fiber frame, with a reinforcing aluminum brace. You get an Omnibus F4 flight controller with built in OSD, SE1102 9000kv motors, and a 6A 4 in 1 BLheli-S DShot 600 ESC. FPV duties are handled by a 600TVL AIO camera with 25mw VTX. The F4 flight controller is pre-loaded with Betaflight 3.2 Available as an Flysky AFHDS-2A, Frsky D8, or DSMX/DSM2 BNF. It is also available as a Flysky AFHDS-2A RTF with Flysky FS-i6 radio system. The ready to fly version is truly an amazing value, costing only $132.99 The best part is, it comes bound to the included radio, with fail safe, and flight modes pre-programmed, so there is no need to do any setting up in Betaflight before flying. You can simply charge the battery and take to the air. This makes it a very good ready to fly package for beginners looking at getting their first brushless micro, or anyone that just wants a ready to fly model, without having to deal with the hassle of programming in Betaflight. My first impressions of this little racer are good. It is very well built, and has a nice open frame, making it easy to access the electronics should the need arise. Right out of the box it is super stable, and feels like it has an excellent tune. I was even able to zip it around my house a little bit with the included battery, and I don't do that with very many brushless quads. This one just has a locked in feel to it right out of the box, that made me feel confident about how it was going to handle. I usually have to play around with rates a bit in Betaflight to find that feel that I like. that wasn't the case with the Mantis. When I flew it outside, I did want faster rates, but it still feels very good in the air. I tend to fly with some bumped up rates anyway, so for some folks, the stock tune may very well be perfect. Check out the pics and flight video, and please don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have. (Flight video coming in just a few) A 3D printer in every average household is closer to becoming reality every day! The Aladdinbox SkyCube is truly a beginner friendly 3D printer that requires no special skills, or assembly to use. Best part is, it is also extremely affordable! If you've been thinking about getting a 3D printer for you, and your family to have some fun with, then this completely assembled, basically ready to print right out of the box printer might be just what you're looking for! This little printer is about as easy as it gets to set up, and start using. I literally pulled it out of the box, removed the safety clips from inside the print area, loaded the filament, selected an object from the included SD card and started printing. If you can operate a computer, or smartphone, then you can start 3D printing with this excellent little machine. In the box you get the printer, a magnetic print bed, which makes removing your printed objects very easy. a 1GB micro SD card pre loaded with some fun things to print, a card reader, a USB cable for connecting to your computer, should you choose to print that way. I personally do all of my printing offline using SD cards. You get a spool of PLA filament to get you started, a glue stick for aiding in bed adhesion for your prints, and a quick start user guide which explains basically everything you need to know to start printing. The printer itself is compatible with Cura, Repetier-Host software which is user friendly, and easy to navigate. I prefer Slic3r myself, and have been using it on this printer without any issues. These programs are available for free download online so you can try them and decide for yourself which one is best for you. The print area is a bit small which is expected for a printer with such a small footprint. If you have a 9 inch by 9 inch space available on your desk, or on a table, then you have room for this printer. The 110mm x 110mm bed is perfect for printing things like Tiny Whoop frames, household trinkets, giant LEGO, and thousands of other fun and useful items available on Thingiverse. Check out the pics of this incredibly cool little machine, and stay tuned for more prints, and video. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have. Happy Printing!! The new Emax Babyhawk R Racing edition micro FPV drone has been making quite a stir in the drone community since being released. As soon as I heard that this new micro from Emax was capable of handling 4s power, I couldn't wait to get my hands on one. Well, my wait is over! This great looking little racer is very well equipped, and comes in at a very nice price point for what you are getting. The quad is built on a carbon fiber frame, with replaceable 3mm arms. You get the option of running 2 inch, or 2.5 inch, or 3 inch props with optional arms sold separately, which makes this perhaps the most versatile micro platform currently available. This little racer comes with the Emax Magnum tower system with F3 FC + 4-in-1 12A BLHeli-S ESC capable of running 2-4S batteries. It is preloaded with Betaflight 3.2.2 and power comes from the very zippy Emax RS1106 6000kv motors. For FPV we're given the Foxeer Arrow Micro CCD camera, and a 25/200mw 40 channel 5.8ghz VTX. Also included are 2 full sets of Avan 2 inch 4 blade propellers. This set up on 4s should has insane amounts of power, and punch outs are absolutely awesome! Check out the pics, and flight video. Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have. Happy Flying!! |
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