I have now finished reading the Royal Evo manual. As stated before, the RE is not at the same level as the 4000 despite having the option of 12 channels. Its programmability is at 3030 level. But the programming architecture is so gorgeous I might just have to buy one, even though I have a 4000 and do not need a Royal Evo. Grrrrrr! Damn and blast you Multiplex. I want one but I don’t need it!

The main points of interest are set out below. The manual has lots of helicopter stuff but that is a lost world to me so I have no comment on what goodies it includes for heli fliers.

Transmission mode is selected automatically by the servos you assign, no more user selecting of PPM7 or PPM9 or PPM12. It chooses PPM7, 8, 9 or 12 itself. PCM is not an option now that the IPD receiver is established.

9 channel has 20 memories, 12 channel has 36 memories. Both have 4 flight modes per model, modes are subsets of models as per 4000 and Japanese Tx, not the 3030’s memory switching. Transition between modes is fixed at 1 second.

Extensive battery management software is built in. The battery includes a thermo fuse so no fuse is fitted to the Tx and therefore if being replaced it needs the Mpx battery, not one of your choosing. Sounds expensive and not necessarily a good move.

There appear to be just 2 switch wells with no switches fitted, the manual makes no mention of them or of fitting extra switches. It comes already fitted with switches, including 2 push buttons for things like buddy box, throttle cut. Push buttons can be latching or push to make, determined in software.

Sticks come like Profi mc, you decide which is throttle and if ratchet is required. At last spring tension is adjustable, as of course is the stick axis. Inside the Tx is the special screwdriver to adjust the various bits. If using the sticks with buttons, the top button is push to make, the 2 on the front face act as one control since one button latches on and the other latches off.

You can switch on without transmitting by holding down a specific menu button while switching on. No need to remove RF module. Nice.

User’s name and PIN number can be used. User’s name shows on main screen. PIN number does not seem to block transmission and use, but blocks changes to programming.

Throttle check is included at last. If active and you switch on with throttle open, RF starts but Tx sends idle signal, throttle won’t work until closed. Warning screen appears. Throttle cut function is included.

Text entry e.g. for model names is as per mobile phones, each button has typically 3 characters and entry is fast. First letter entered is capitalised, rest are lower case, all handled automatically, and cursor moves to next position automatically. Of course it can all be over-ridden to all caps etc if required.

Digi adjustors can be assigned to a different parameter each so that if needs be both can be used for trimming in flight. Wow, now I can adjust both the rud-ele and rud-ail mix in knife edge, in flight, at the same time.

Memory management is similar to 4000. You call up a template model, Tx assigns memory location. But moving on much further from the fixed Multiplex mode 1 assignments in 4000 templates, the RE has been designed to make it easy for Futaba/JR users to convert.

The RE still allows totally free assignment of controls, but instead of forcing you to start from scratch like the Profi mc, it includes stick modes 1 to 4 already for you to choose from. Next of course you want to choose Mpx or uni servo timing but it goes further than that, it has built in Futaba or JR or Mpx servo sequencing to choose from. So new users coming over from Futaba/JR just start a template which then asks them to choose stick mode, and choose the receiver plug sequencing Futaba or JR from the menu! This automatically enables the uni servo timing in place of Mpx timing You can of course over-ride the sequencing and choose whatever you want as channel assignments, but this just makes it so easy for non-Mpx users to get into the RE and use it. Excellent.

Digi trims can be reset to centre instantly by pressing both the opposite direction buttons together.

Mixers have been made even more user friendly. They are like the 4000’s multimixers but they output to the servos which multimixers can not do. So you input your controls, create the mix settings, and attach servos to the output of the mix curve. Therefore altering the one mix curve alters all servos attached to it, unlike 3030 mix or 4000 servomix where every servo has to be set independently. That means the digi adjustor now alters all your multi aileron or multi elevator or multi spoiler servos together. Much better. There are several mixer curve options, such as symmetrical, non symmetrical, single sided with or without curves, with dead bands, with offsets. You really need to see the graphs in the manual to make sense of it.

Software switching has been moved ahead as well, in fact it has gone and been replaced by something far easier. There are no longer software switches as separate items to be assigned to a control and then another thing such as timer to be assigned to that software switch. The Tx no longer differentiates between controls and secondary inputs. Profi mc sticks and switches are controls or secondaries depending upon which socket they are physically plugged into. In the RE a stick or switch is a control or a secondary or both at the same time, it depends upon what you assign to it, not what it is physically wired as. So take a stick and assign the name throttle to it, the stick is a control. Now assign timer directly to the throttle at a particular point and the stick is a secondary switch. There is no need to have separate discrete software switches bridging the gap between a control and a secondary parameter. No longer are the set top switches either a control G, H etc or a secondary S1 S2 etc. Because the distinction between controls and secondaries has been removed, any switch can be anything, a control or a secondary or both.

Servo parameters such as rates, travel and expo are presented on the screen all together, rather then having to scroll through each parameter in turn.

Must cut up the credit card, must cut up the credit card, I don't need an RE, it's not as powerful as my 4000, but........

Harry