Maybe I'm missing something, but what's the point in buying a flight pack?

An Airtronics flight-pack with a 7-channel receiver, 4 servos, battery etc. costs $115. An airtronics VG-400 4-channel transmitter costs $130, and includes everything found in the flight-pack.

Seems like a no-brainer to skip the flight pack, and get a second transmitter (on a different channel, perhaps) for $15.

-Rick

Sure it makes sense. You could probably sell just the transmitter on eBay for $30.

It just depends on how many Tx's you want lying around I guess. Once you've bought equipment for 4 or 5 planes, all those tx's get in the way. You'll find it's easier to stay on one frequency too. (Nothing like bringing the wrong tx to the field.) I use one computer tx for up to 6 planes right now.
Dennis-

I agree with Dennis.....once you get a computer radio with multiple model memory, you'll have no need for more Tx's......until you run out of memory!

But he's got a point... Buy the whole works and sell the TX for more then $15 and have yourself a nice little profit

My question is, do you already have the 7 channel computer TX? If not then your're buying the wrong flight pack. If you do, then go ahead and buy the 4-channel package, but make absolutely sure you're getting the same servos and RX as shown in the flight pack. One digit off in the model no. of an RX and you could be looking at as much as a $50 drop in value. Same applies to the servos.

Be thorough in the examination of the components you're about to plop down your hard earned cash for.

If you're still in doubt after that, give us the specs on what you want and we'll check it out for you.


Good Luck!!

thats why you buy the 9cap or your equivilent... with the memory pack what is it?? like 16 models?? hahahhhh works well... i dont have that many models yet as i only use my 9c for my heli at the moment.

I am one of those old dinosaurs that happens to agree with you. I would rather spend the extra 15 bucks and get the whole package. I would rather bring the wrong Tx to the field and not fly, than to take off with the wrong model selected (I've seen it happen too many times - as a matter of fact, just last weekend it happened to an expert flyer - resulting in one rekitted Dazzler), and with my brain... let's just say I KNOW it will happen.

Besides, even if you have a computer radio (which I do) you will still have a wealth of extra parts (Tx battery packs, switches, knobs, etc) if anything should need replacing.

Minn, you make a good point. A flying buddy of mine that has a 6XAS has never used it for fear of selecting the wrong model! (even after I spent an hour setting up 4 of his planes in it one day!)
I put small numbers on my planes to signify what number in memory they are.....also, I have a list taped to the back of my TX with the model numbers and plane names.....and I look at it every time just to be sure!

For you 40-60 sized flyers that are just looking for flight packs, check out www.spectrumhobbies.com
I've bought a couple of flight packs off of this guy on Ebay before, and he also sells online. A Hitec flight pack w/ a shift selectable rx (works with JR & Airtronics too) with 4 HS 425BB servos, switch & battery goes for $105 shipped.....PLUS, he includes a 12" extension and the rx crystal.....pretty good price! He also has the same pack with 5 servos for $115.

Why would that be the wrong flight pack? Lets assume for the moment that I went the cheap route and got a 4-channel tx for my LT-25, and the flight pack is for my second plane, an Astro-Hog that I spent nine months laboring over while tearing up the sky with my LT-25 (alright, so I'll most likely be tearing up the LT-25 rather than the sky, and it will probably take me more than nine months to build that astro-hog, but this is hypothetical! )

I haven't bought my radio yet, so I'm still waffling between a 6-channel computer radio and a 4-channel basic one, but I thought one of the big advantages of the 6-channel radio was that I would only have to buy a flight-pack for my second plane rather than a whole new radio... I'm really starting to lean towards just getting a 4-channel for my trainer, and a separate 4-channel for my second plane, and then perhaps moving up to a 6-channel computer radio when I need more than 4 channels (flaps!).

Anyhow, I'm not saying this is the right way to do it, it's just what makes sense from my uneducated newbie point of view. If I'm way off base then please enlighten me!

-Rick

Nope, your observations are basically correct.

However, if you decide you don't want the very basic "come with" servos for your next plane, or you want a different battery pack or whatever, you can go for flexibility and not have a bunch of stuff you aren't going to use. For example, you might want smaller, lighter servos for a small plane, or higher speed and torque and higher percision. Or you might want a larger capacity battery pack. Who knows what you might want in the future.

For me, it's a no brainer. Flying combat, I frequently have a "huge" pile of airplanes ready to go for a contest. (I actually flew 10 different planes last weekend in 3 different classes). I have a Polk transmitter that has a 99 model memory. I also use 270mah batteries to save weight, and micro servos on throttle and differnet servos on other controls depending on the plane. So, for me, a computer radio and tons of flight packs is a no brainer. It's also nice that I only have to charge and keep track of 1 transmitter, and the stick feel is always the same.

But if you are just flying 4-channel sport planes in the .25-.60 size range, then you're right, there really isn't a compelling reason to go with flight packs. You save a little money, but not a ton. I, on the other hand, have save buckets full of cash by shopping around for components.

Also, it's worth mentioning that many of the useful features the computer radios have are not available on the less expensive 4 and 6 channel models. I use a lot of expo on my planes, for example, and that isn't (or wasn't?) available on the lower-line radios. Once you start using mixing and other advanced features, the cost advantages of a flightpack really start to show up.

As mentioned, be careful. An example is the 4 channel may come with 422 servos and the flight pack may come with 425BB's. Big difference.

Multi-memory or multi TX's. You still have to be careful. Check for the proper model memory slot and fly your model safely, but if you flip on the wrong TX brought to the field, you may shoot me down! We need to check all the little details all the time or we get into trouble! Isn't this fun?

I learned that one the hard way too. I still use the 9C with most of my planes, but now the first thing I do is turn on the trans and see what it says before I turn on the rec. I do it before every flight anymore. I didn't loose one, but almost started the heli with the G-202 programmed in and that would have been a real mess. You have to look at it before every flight to get into the habbit. I used to have 7 radios and just got sick of keeping track of what is charged, what is cycled and what is not. This works nice. I am down to just 3 radios.

ya i think that is a good idea i am getting a new tx and stuff for an extra 5$ so its a no brainer to.

This was my point. I'm down to one radio (for the moment), and it really IS just a matter of programming yourself to look at the plane you just finished fueling, then looking at your radio display to make sure that's the one your trying to fly!

I regularly take three planes to the field with me now, and I fly each one of them two or three times. It takes me (at most) pushing buttons seven times to change between planes. It's become so easy that I almost don't have to think about it. Charging one transmitter all the time, and knowing I have the right one, is really nice too.

Remembering to charge three planes is my only issue now, but I usually charge one on a wall wart, one on my old peak charger in the shop, and one on my Super Nova on the ride to the field.

Montague,
I've been looking at the Polk transmitters. Are you happy with yours? Price doesn't seem too bad, but is a bit misleading because it doesn't include Rx or servos.
Dennis-

Dennis.....a flying buddy of mine recently got one of the Polk's.....he likes it a lot. His was $275 and it DID come with an Rx.......

Mike

If you look closely at the Hitec flight packs compared with getting a complete outfit, (say, a Laser 4) you will notice the flight pack uses 4 series ball bearing servos and the low price outfits the 3 series, plain bearing ones.

That explains at least a bit of the odd pricing as there is at least $5 difference in each servo .

-David C.

Good info.
Thanks Mike.

Yeah, I really dig my Polk. It did come with an RX, battery, switch, and 1 servo. (no, I've no clue why 1 servo, but that's what it came with. I assume they are trying to get people to try their servos or something).

Anyway, I really like the radio. It's big, so it feels a bit differnet in the hands, but since I use a neckstrap it didn't take much getting used to. It is a 1024 system, and I seem to have good "feel" with it.

It doesn't have the reall slick mixes of the high line JR and Futaba radios, but it does have a handful of free mixes and all the switches are totally programable, which is nice. It has the features I acutally use, expo on 3 channels, EPA, etc.

the 99 model memory and the frequency and FM shift selection is the real kicker for me though. I'm actually using a mix of positive and negitive shift RXs and I actually forget which is which, since the TX remembers that for me. In fact, I have FMA, Hitech, Futaba, JR and GWS RXs in use on this one TX.

Oh, one annoying thing, the transmitter does not remember what channel a given model is on. So, I change model numbers and change frequencies togther. It does always power up on the last used frequency though, so if you have 3 models on the same channel, all you never need to change is the model number.

The RX is cool, it's also crystal-less and can be set to any channel with a push of a button that comes on a cord for mounting where it's reachable.

The transmitter has a built in scanner to keep you from shooting someone down. I sometimes get false-positives on it at contests, where we have a very dirty RF envrionment. (up to 12 TXs going at the same, fairly close together). But it's a nice feature to have. The scanner also has a mode that allows you to scan the whole spectrum and look for interference, etc, at your field.

I have 10 models in my JR 8103 transmitter. Imagine 10 transmitters in the shop all on chargers not to mention the cost.
For the amount of money your talking about you will only get the basic non computer, 4 channel radio.
If you want to buy complete radios rather then just flight packs because there is so little difference in cost you can always sell the transmitters at the field as buddy boxes for 30 bucks each.
We get new students all the time and I always recommend they get their own buddy box. It speeds up training and is easier on the instructor.

Montague,
I guess my biggest questions would be, how's the instruction manual?
Dennis-

If a person has already purchased a top of the line transmitter and paid say $500 for it then flight packs are a reasonable way to get another model in the air.

Using just one transmitter allows total familiarity with the controls and their location which permits operation without looking at the transmitter while in flight.

I personally do not buy flight packs preferring instead to buy the components separately. This allows me to select just the servo (metal gears) and battery (nimh) I want to use.

somebody at airtronics is pretty stupid. buy it for the $15 extra, and sell it for $30