Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

We average about 80 members each year and almost everyone is 2.4 users. There is every kind of radio in use at the field but the only ones who seem to have issues are the Spectrum flyers. The Hanger Nine Alpha used to be the nitro trainer package of choice but due to several unexplained losses the guys have switched to recommending the Hobby Star Select with the Futaba 2.4 and the Avistar Elite which uses the Tactic 2.4 system. It seems given a choice more and more seem to be shying away from the Spectrum operating system. I travel to quite a few clubs and I seem to be seeing fewer high end Spectrum or in some cases JR radios. There are still a lot of the lower end Spectrum for the BNF group

Dennis

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

I travel to various model meets around the NE and I do not see any trend away from Spektrum. I have not seen any higher instances of failures with any particular manufacturer's radio. Modelers tend to buy and fly the radios that their friends and fellow club members fly. They can rely on their friends and club members when they need help with programming, accessories such as Telemetry, or how to properly install their equipment.

Spektrum equipment is competitive with any other brand. Service and warranty is just as good. The latest Spektrum radios such as the DX7S, DX8, DX10t, and DX18, are much easier to program than some other brands.

I have no problem recommending any of the other major brands to anyone who asks, so it is not that I think Spektrum is the only choice.

The fact that so many people like to berate Spektrum is sad. These forums are here to help answer questions that people may have as to how to setup and operate their chosen equipment, not just to bad mouth one brand or another. With the advent of 2.4, there are so many people who don't have a clue as to the differences between 72Mhz and 2.4Ghz radios. Poor setup is more often the cause of crashes than defective radios.

jmac591

I have all of the connections correct, I always perform the range test with a new bind. In addition, I switched out the receiver with a different receiver (AR600) and no issues. I than put the AR8000 back in and maybe around 30 feet away, I had no throttle, no control surfaces, the plane went down, I have a buddy that uses the same exact set-up on a different plane and he has no issues, defective receiver,perhaps. I like Spektrum, I am in no way "Bashing" the product name, all of my planes(7) run off of Spektrum equipment, with EFlight ESC, ranging from 30amp to 80amp. I have been flying for a pretty long time and am not trying to blame equipment failure for crashes. Trust me I know when I reacted the wrong way with a change in the wind or even flying over a Satelite dish. The only question I actually had was....has anyone else experienced these same issues with this receiver? I have already decided to not use the AR8000 on any of my planes because I am convinced that it is not reliable enough to fly a $750 plane.

fizzwater2

My Feedback: (61)

I use nine different ar8000 receivers in planes, no problems with any of them.

Rob2160

Totally agree..

My current TX line up below.. - all equally reliable in my experience - with a 100% perfect performance record in each case.

Appleby542

I purchased a Spektrum radio with this receiver yesterday. my first. i am still trying to figure out how to turn it on.

chuckk2

To me, the lesson is to know what you are buying on EBay, or don't buy there.
Splitting up R/C systems in various ways has been extremely common on EBay for years.
Most popular was to sell new TX's, RX's and servos as individual items, as well as the batteries.

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

There is absolutely no apparent difference in the pilot in the way a radio operates on
72 Mhz or 2.4 Ghz. other than a 72 Mhz pilot has to remember to get the pin and put up the antenna. The real difference is that Futaba, Airtronics, HiTec, ECT don't need all these Satellite receivers to work properly. They don't use just 1/40th of the available Radio Band as DZM2 does. If DSM2 were a viable form of radio transmission then why would SPECTRUM changed and gone to FULL hopping? Just Asking. Then there is still the issue of UNBINDING.

rmh

Unexplained losses - are just that -
Want numbers you won't like?
try this
the highest number of unexplained losses at our field-are with the most expensive Futaba gear -setup and used by fliers who have lots of experience .-that's a fact.
my personal suspicion is that the voltage regs being used simply don't hold voltage within usable parameters . These things are spooky.
heat buildup is still the top killer of this stuff.
I am convinced that the ability of many modelers to understand new technology decreases on the square with each advancement .
Last weekend -I watched a guy having problems flying his scale model - he was sure his radio kept coming unbinded (?) (It kept stalling and turning downwind)
I suggested adding more power - which solved the unbinding.
BTW- we fly and setup Bind n Fly and FAI pattern with the same Spektrum equipment
It ain't the equipment which is the problem-

jmac591

More power...? Are you talking about voltage or air speed? With certain equipment you have to watch how much voltage you run, for example; using the EFlight 30amp ESC with a low 4s battery will garuntee a lost plane. Even tho EFlight says a 4s will work, it will work, all battery's will work, but your ESC will heat up, shut down and there goes your plane. Throttle control is as important, if you lose air speed, gravity will take over.


I perform a range test on new binds, this receiver did not act the same as all the others, there are some receivers I walked a good 100 yards away and still had all control surfaces and throttle response, the AR8000 responded at 22 paces away on one test and 33 paces away on another, it was hit or miss. On another AR8000 the range test was great, 30 paces away and full response. When you say it's not equipment, what are your suspecisions? Maybe your right, but if its something I didn't do, I would like to know.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Sounds like you just got a bad one, it happens.

AndyKunz

We have about 60 members in our club and exactly one of them flies with Futaba. All the rest use Spektrum or JR/DSM. We don't have airplanes falling from the sky. The two crashes we have had in the past year were tracked down to a discharged LiPo in a no-telemetry jet (operator error on the charger, he selected "discharge" instead of "charge"), and a failed transmitter battery that died shortly after he took off. (He has since added telemetry to all his aircraft).

I have 4 H9 Alphas (3 40's, 1 60) that are used in our training program (I do most of the training). The biggest issue I have is keeping the batteries charged! I use TM1100's (short range telemetry) to make it easier for me to know when I need to get a plane back on charge.

Andy

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

The problems observed and the controversy surrounding the early JR/Spectrum equipment was enough to make me hold off on taking the 2.4 jump for a few years. When I did it was with a simple conversion module for a Hitec radio. I never looked back from that point on 2.4 Hitec, Futaba and Airtronics all bullet proof not so much as a glitch. Even when flying SAE Aerodesign models where there was no place to put the receiver but next to a 20/30 lb lead or steel weight. Rock solid. Last year I figured Spectrum surely must have the same rock solidness of the other systems so I bought a DX6 and a micro brushless heli BNF. AWWW POO same crap as before it binds fine then after several days of bonking around the thing ends up twitching and one or the other inputs don’t respond. Call Horizon and you know what they tell me? Try rebinding it again. This happens quite often over the next few months and the only advice from Horizon is to rebind. So I have to ask if you’re flying and the signal becomes interrupted how do you rebind it in the air. Any of my other systems you could shut off or interrupt the signal from either end and it would quickly rebind with no loss of anything. The hobby shop owner fly’s all kinds of helis and he said this is more common than we are lead to believe. When he fly’s his indoor he rebinds at the start of each day.

I have always said fly what you have confidence in and most certainly I personally don’t have enough confidence in the JR/Spectrum line to use it for anything but the few bind and fly things I own. If I could swap these out I would do it in a heartbeat.

rmh

More power add throttle in this case which was difficult for the flier because he used his left hand to grasp the box -like a hamburger-
voltage and power - 4cells work fine - IF you have enough amperage - -presuming you mean a rx batt pack- If you have not measured load with battery to be used - all bets are off.
My personal favorite - direct battery to rx -using A123 cells-for models where the ESC/BEC is not desirable- BUT servos MUST be capable of the 6.5 volt and correspondingly higher current !!!!!!!!!!!!!
IF you can afford it - best setup is HV servos and a GOOD 2 cell LiPo - plugged directly into the rx.
Understanding the power needed appears to be the weak link for many fliers.
Plug n play is the mantra -
( plug in anything and hope it plays) .

rmh

Frankly what you said makes no sense.
shutting off the tx in flight is a no no - binding - a totally different thing than what you are referring to
DX6- -Maybe a DX6i?
I find no problems with any of the various 2.4 radios I fly-or try - brands ? any of em-

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

I still use my JR XP9303 with the Spektrum DM9 DSM2 module. Others in my club have the same radio and have had no problems since it came out in 2007. Many others have the X9303, 9503, 11X, 12X, DX8, DX7, and DX18. DSM2 or DSMX. No issues.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Talk about scams on EBay your on a site were sellers of merchandize are scamming buyers all the time. I speak from experience but as the old saying goes "buyer be ware".

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Not so fast. U may not have had Issues but a member of a club I fly with in AZ. had either the 9303 or 9503 using ti with a 2.4 DSM2 modal and I believe the something 600 RX. Had a crash and brought the wreckage back and did a post morutom on it. Long story short Horizon Hobby (after a long and many conversations) admitted that the radio/module combo he had was on ocation incompatible with the receiver he was using. Take it for what it's worth. I of little faith in SPECTRUM do, on the other hand believe that DXMX is by far better than DSM2 or Spectrum would not have gone thru the expense of developing a Hopping system DSMX as apposed to the 2 channel DSM2 sceam. JMHO

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

You are correct DX6i

Try reading the post again I don’t advocate shutting anything off while in the air. I’ll explain it differently for you. I have on the bench turned either end off and on to see what the reconnection time would be. With every brand except JR/Spectrum it doesn’t matter which you might shut off first transmitter or receiver Futaba, Hitec and Airtronics never had to be rebound. The university students who don’t have a clue do this needlessly the whole time they are working on their models even to the point of leaving one or the other on for an hour or more before realizing their mistake.

Remember Horizons advice, when it appeared the binding was lost when all that is done is simple cycling of the power up and down sequence was to rebind the darn thing. If somehow contact is momentarily lost while in the air it would be similar to switching receiver or transmitter off and on possibly resulting in the need for rebinding according to their advice. How is this to be accomplished in the air?
Does that help any?

Dennis

jmac591

I understand what your saying as far as voltage( Batt Packs) 4 of my planes run the ESC for the motor only and a BEC for control surfaces. The ESC is a 60amp and the BEC is 12amps, plenty enough for what I'm using, the motor pulls 53amps full throttle at 1000 watts and the control surfaces pull only around 2 or 3 on a separate batt pack. The AR8000 set-up did not have a BEC, it did not have 2 separate battery's to run off of. It was a basic set-up with 1 battery, 1 receiver, and a 60amp ESC. It had the telemetry module with altimeter, RPM, and air speed, in which the antenna was 12" away from the external antenna. The bench test prior to installing it in the plane was a simple Range test, Amps, Watts, using a temperature reading on both the motor and ESC, the only thing that seemed to be questionable was the range test at 22 paces. I have already planned on sending the AR8000 back to Horizon to have them test it and make sure its working properly, I suspect for them to say that they will replace it due to a manufacture defect. I'm sure it will be determined as "Equipment" failure.

rmh

No-
binding is acquiring and linking the tx to the rx. It is a remembered code
loss of signal is NOT loss of bind
IF the tx is turned off- then the acquiring of the rx may take from a milli second to a few seconds -depending on the conditions-. AT THAT MOMENT and or the protocol of the tx/rx..
Perhaps you forgot or possibly interpreted the advice incorrectly.
Once bound - any of the 2.4 radio systems I know of- retain the BIND -unless the rx is rebound to another code (model) or tx.
Also all of the current tx/rx designs utilize a "fast relink" system
turning the tx off- is different than turning the rx off.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I hate having to explain things slowly so let me try again. You’re stating the obvious and what I would expect from a radio system but it’s not happening with the DX6i and I am not the only one.

Bind DX6i and heli follow me so far big guy?

Operate heli ok turning off and on as batteries are used up ok so far. Do you need me to go back over something?

Over a few days everything seems ok then for no apparent reason heli is erratic and not responding correctly. The only thing that I did was turn the system off and on as I used it. You still following this ok?

On my own through the advice of others on the net when I asked, the hobby shop owner who is a good friend and experience heli pilot as well as fellow modelers in the club it was recommended I rebind said heli. I did and it worked for another period of time then the same symptoms appeared. YOOHOO still there I hope don’t want to have to explain this again.

Contacted Horizon after this happened several times and was told just rebind the dang thing.

None of the other Radio systems need to be rebound when turned off and on even when the students who have no previous RC experience mistreat the systems they do not come unbound. Only the Spectrum has done this when the only thing that has been done is normal on/off cycling. OK big boy wait for it were almost done.

No radio system I have used before has come unbound by simply removing the signal once bound all these systems have retained the bind even in combat crashes where the battery has been ripped from the plane. The only thing I am doing with the Spectrum is turning it on and off and they tell me it just needs rebinding. Horse pucky I say!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get it yet????? Good grief I can’t explain it any slower.

rmh

You are a bit slow -

on_your_six

My Feedback: (11)

Sorry Andy... I consider this a DESIGN FLAW not a user error. That said... I don't find any need to periodically rebind or any other issues. I have DX8, JR9303 and JR11X transmitters. The model match is a seriously great feature, and Futaba would be better off licensing that piece of technology.

jefflangton

My Feedback: (23)

Spektrum is a complete joke. After all the forums on this junk people still act surprised when it goes to sh!!. Fasst all the way! !! Used it from day one and NOT ONE GLITCH! !! GET IT????