dw_crash

My Feedback: (6)

They have been my workhorse since I started flying in 1979. Over the years, I have had a dozen or so radios. The only one I don't have is the SG-10.

Airtronics has been great. I have an old Vanguard 6ch radio. It is my kick around in a sport plane radio. The RX and servos have been in probably a half dozen planes since I bought it in 1985 ish. It flies nearly ever weekend or two during our summers here. Those old radios and 94102 servos never die. Kinda why I hate to replace them with newer stuff......

Airtronics did inovate a lot. Their Module 7SP and Spectra radios were some of the first with mixing and end point adjustments. Sure.....it took 20 pots to adjust it.....but simple and worked well. The 9473X series of servos were awesome. They had the speed and accuracy of the new digitals in the analog days. Not cheap, but worked awesome compared to anything else available.

Just wish we had better local support,
DW_Crash

BlazerB52

My Feedback: (7)

I use to fly nothing but Airtronics. But got tired of higher prices for servos, and lacking in small receivers. So I went to spectrum. I loved how easy it was to program. Still have a bunch of airtronics stuff. Wish they would come out with more micro receivers at a decent price and i might swith back.

Blazer

Andy_S

I have the SD-10G, I never regretted buying it. The programming is awesome. Apparently, a couple of the guys at the field have a bad taste in their mouth from when Airtronics attempted to sell receivers setup with a proprietary servo wire polarity of some kind. I don't know much about it, as their current product lines are compatible with all JR/Futaba servo wires. Some Airtronics receivers even come with cutouts next to the servo ports to accommodate the tabs Futaba add to their servo plugs.
No more bind plugs, which is nice.
If I didn't have Airtronics, I would get a Hitec radio.
Forgot to mention, I flew my buddy's new Spektrum. The lady that talks to you on that thing is absolutely obnoxious.
I don't need telemetry, and I definitely don't want it in the form of added failure points on my airplane.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

I have been using Airtronics exclusively since the mid-80's. Currently use the SD-10 and have about 2 dozen of their receivers bound to it. I have NEVER had a receiver un-bind, unlike some other brands. Easy programming, and good service, although I have never needed to send it in for any type of work. I highly recommend the brand!

sensei

Airtronics is great stuff, I was flying with their stuff in California some 35 years ago. When I moved to San Antonio some 27 years ago nobody in this area carried their radios or servos and still don't, so everything had to be ordered, hence the switched to JR and now Futaba after a problem with a 10-X and also a 12-X. For those that don't know, Aitronics has been around a very long time...

Bob

miggo

I, as many others have already said, started on Airtronics radios back in the mid 80's. I used them exclusively until 2001 when my son was born and took a break from the hobby. Last year my son showed some interest so we started flying again. I had no radio and started shopping around only to find no one locally sold Airtronics. I talked to a bunch of guysat the local field who had nothing but bad things to say so I broke down and purchased a Futaba 6ex to get started. I regret it now. I wish I had stuck to my guns and picked up another Airtronics. My needs have already outgrown the capabilities of the 6ex. The SD10G would be perfect. Anyone want to buy a slightly used 6ex with 2 receivers?

Dustflyer

My Feedback: (13)

The word must be getting around. The classic SD-10G is sold out at Hobby People and the Airtronics website.

Dr Honda

My Feedback: (4)

Just something to check into...,


I think the newer Sanwa Rx's need digital servos. I'm not 100% sure on that, but it could be a factor when trying to set up a cheap, small model.

birddogs2

My Feedback: (2)

With the exception of an F&M 10 ch. reed I had as a kid (early sixties) I've flown Futaba's exclusively since the early 70's. Two years ago I bought an Airtronics SD10G because of some programming functions Futaba didn't have at an affordable price. I have had no problems at all with the SD10. I had flown Futaba for so long I felt like a traitor when I bought the Airtronics. Last month I bought a Futaba 14 SG and after two weeks of trying to figure out how to program it using Futaba's sorry manual I sent it back and got a refund. The Airtronics will do everything I need and is so much easier to program plus their manual is excellent. If you use their FHSS-1 receivers you can use analog servos, it is only with the FHSS-3 receivers that you should use digital servos.

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

Yup 10 channel FHS1 would be great. I just spent a bunch of time installing digital servos on the retracts, brakes and nose wheel on my Boomer. Went from an 8 channel to a 10 channel to drop the matchbox on my rudders/nosewheel.

FHSS-1 10 channel Mike.................... please :-)

Dustflyer

My Feedback: (13)

Here's what the Airtronics website says:

*When using the SD-10G with an FHSS-3 receiver, it simply may be too fast for some analog servos. They simply may not work. To truly see the advantages of this high-resolution, high frame-rate, low-latency radio, you'll need digital servos. If you are using analog servos and experience problems with the 10-ch receiver, and you don't have digital servos to replace them yet, that's OK, just use one of the Airtronics 2.4G FHSS-1 full-range receivers available. These receivers ALL work GREAT with the SD-10G and are 100% compatible with analog servos.

Andy_S

I only use an FH3 receiver with my high voltage servos. The FH1 receivers aren't rated for 7.4V, which is another item to consider.
I believe Airtronics are selling off their stock of SD-10G radios before releasing the http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/airt...10g-super.html. Last I heard, apart from cosmetic differences, the Super only has a switch and knob where the original has user replaceable knock-outs.

rhklenke

My Feedback: (24)

I don't think that guys are too worried about $200 (or even $400) receivers for their jets, but I like to fly everything on one radio and I don't want to put a $200 receiver into a $150 foamie...

Bob

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Airtromics has been around for a long time however they have not learned how to market their property. Go to any flying field and see what the majority of modelers are using and it will either be JR or Futaba. This is not by accident but and end result of marketing and distribution of their product line. I fly JR but the majority of people fly Futaba and I believe it will remain this way and Airtronics will always be in the minority.

SECRET AGENT

My Feedback: (18)

True, Airtronics does not market their stuff heavily in my opinion. There are however lots of Airtronics users out there, you just never hear from them because there just aren't any issues with the Airtronics equipment. Now the JR/Futaba/Spectrum stuff, well, you tend to hear lot's about their problems. Kinda telling.

mkjohnston

My Feedback: (2)

I started with Cox/Sanwa in 1977 with my first Sig Kadet. I replaced it with an Airtronics SR4 Channel in the 80s and a Airtornics Vanguard 6 in the early 90's right now I dont have a current radio system for my airplanes but I am using and Airtronics Mt-4 in my Jammin X1 and X@ buggies with Airtronics servos and it is by far best radio I ever used. I wish that Airtronics would come out with a upgrade vanguard series with the 2.4ghz system. Ive had several other brands of radios and I keep going back to Airtronics.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

My first Radio was a Vanguard 6 , and then a Spectra 7 PCM 512

Mike

coachdavis10

Been an Airtronics user for several years and never had trouble with the system... I've only had the RDS 8000 but would love to have the SD 10G when the budget allows

carddfann

I personally don't have it, but one person in our club does and he likes it. No problems. For me, I have the Airtronics RDS8000 and some older Airtronics radios and they all work great for me. No problems. The RDS is very easy to program. Most in our club use Futaba, JR or Spectrum. Futaba seems to be on an aggressive mission to take over the market over the last few years. I've had Futaba before and of course they're good radios and never had problems with them either. But, at this point in my life I'm using Airtronics and will be for a while. I've been told that in some parts of the country you'll find more Airtronics users and they're bigger over-seas. If you want my opinion, I think you can't go wrong with the 10G for reliability and programming. However, I'm not a jet pilot so I don't know about that.

Dustflyer

My Feedback: (13)

My understanding is Airtronics is very popular with glider enthusiasts. I wonder why? Maybe like us with Futaba and Spektrum, "everybody else uses them."

Based on what I've read in these posts, it really is surprising that Airtronics hasn't got more of a following.

birddogs2

My Feedback: (2)

I only have one glider, but the SD10G has very in-depth and user friendly glider programming. Plus the "slider" switches on the side are ratcheted and have a center detent making it easy to use the camber and reflex functions. All the curve adjustments are 9 point (vs 5 point) so you can fine tune any curve programming you need. Like I said earlier, I was a dyed in the wool Futaba guy, but I think I'll stay with the Airtronics because of the programming features. They are all good radios or they wouldn't still be on the market

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

A lot of fliers at my field use Spectrum. I get the willeys when they say they have to re-bind the radio because it is no longer working. I bound the receivers to my SD-10G once, and if they ever became un-bound, I would send the entire system in for service. Not knocking Spectrum, it's just that I have heard of this many times. One other thing about Airtronics users, most of them are long term, and loyal to the brand.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

Not really surprising, after all you've posted this in the jet forum. Except for some nostalgia ie. I started with airtronics 20yrs ago, the brand has absolutely nothing for the jet flyer. No high end , pro class radio and no telemetry.

Several guys have jumped in and stated "they don't need telemetry", I doubt they're flying jets and it reminds me of when I used to hear the old guys claim " they don't need a computer radio"

What jet flyer wouldn't want to know the quality of the rf link, the on board battery condition, fuel remaining, speed, altitude, turbine running conditions etc. ? The high end radio's talk to you and tell you these conditions, you don't need to look at the transmitter.

Can you fly without it? Yep. Can you drive a car without gages or instruments? yep but, who would want to, why would you not want this information?



Mike

SECRET AGENT

My Feedback: (18)

Luv2flyrc, you sure do assume a lot.

Let me tell you what an experienced jet guy can tell without telemetry. 1. RF Link = Awesome because it's Airtronics, doesn't need different grades of quality (pro etc) 2. Battery condition = just charged (if it craps out in the air you are crashing no matter telemetry or not) 3. Fuel remaining = enough to fly for 6 minutes when my timer goes off. 4. Speed = fast 5. Altitude = high enough that I can still see it. 6. Turbine running condition = On or Off

Maybe you never flew back in the ducted fan days before all the new "crutches".

I personally don't like distractions while flying, I like to enjoy the flying experience and not constantly check my smart phone for updates on how I am doing.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

If you consider information a "crutch" , you're in the minority as is Airtronics lol

Mike