DKY

My Feedback: (1)

Well I picked up my 14mz yesterday and I can say it is one fine radio. Great extensive feature set with excellent useability. The windows interface is just fine for this purpose. I have had no issues yet with any programming I have tried to accomplish. Very intuitive design.

I have owned a Profi MC 4000, Stylus and an older JR computer radio (388) and this one is by far the best for all around useability and features. The MC 4000 in absolute terms had more flexibility from a programing perspective but you certainly had to put some brain cells to use to figure it out which I eventually did. Unless you fly with a tray the MC 4000 was not a great radio to hold.
The 14mz is very easy to program considering the flexibility that is available to the user. The JR 10x was not even considered as it did not meet my most basic requirement of frequency syth.

Its core advantage to me was the frequency syth and programming ease which almost no other radio can match at this point. I am also lookig forward to recording the IMAC sequence into the radio for play back.

With its open ended design it should be easy for Futaba to keep the radio current for years to come and I hope they do as I would like to see a few more features implemented.

I was going to get a 9Z last fall but I am so glad I waited.

Derrek

747drvr

My Feedback: (5)

Hi Guys,

I just purchased a new Sony NP-F570 battery on Ebay for $36 . I'm starting to have second thoughts . I know somebody spec'd this battery and said it works fine but this picture shows the case being slightly different . Please help put my mind at ease !

Thanks,
Marc

tekati

I have this friend cough cough that has been flying with that exact model battery for over a month and it works just as good if not a little better then the original. With just one additional battery like that one you will never be without a charge. My friend cough cough can be charging one battery and flying with the other one and the one charging is done faster then my friend cough cough can use the one in the transmitter.

Have no fear other then Futaba saying it will void your warranty.

My friend cough cough also has a 512MB Sandisk flash card that works perfectly and allows for literally thousands of possible model entries.

Again have no fear other then Futaba saying it will void your warranty.

747drvr

My Feedback: (5)

Great news !! You should really have that cough looked at

Marc

hoverlover9797

My Feedback: (3)

Radio South does have stiffer springs, I had them installed on mine and love it. Also for those of you that cant wait for the car cord, I just use a simple 12vdc to 120vac inverter that you can get from Office Depot for less than $40.00.

locoworks

for those waiting for a field charger, it may be worth seeing if sony do one as its allegedly an off the peg battery from sony that is used in the 14mz

colinjet

Undoubtedly a standard battery, but the plug on the back of the tx goes onto a daughter board containg the 3 pin charge socket. Top and bottom pins of the three pin socket go direct to the Li-Ion pack connections, so just need a suitable plug with three pins on 1.75mm pitch. I've found a connector from an internal connection lead for the audio side of a cd/dvdrom pc unit to a sound card that is close but but not quite right.

Bottom pin on the three pin connector goes to +ve on battery, Top pin goes to -ve, and centre pin has a 20k resistance to the +ve pin probably for a diode or direct connect to -ve to inhibit switch on whilst charging ( though this isn't necessary given the Li-Ion charging regime which Never exceeds 4.2v pere cell)

Colin

huey-pilot

My Feedback: (17)

For those of you interested in the weight of the 14MZ I weighed my 14MZ yesterday along with my 9Z and 8 UHPS, the 14MZ weighed 44.9 ounces, the 9Z was 47.6 oz, the 8UHPS was 33.6 oz. The 9Z has NIMH batterys which may make it a little heavier that normal.

bluestratos

I called the long distance help line of Futaba becuase I was having trouble setting up Dual Rates with my ailerons being split on channel 1 and channel 5. I was on hold for a total of 20 minutes. The call was of no help.

The manufacture help line did let me in on a secrete. The photo copied stack of papers I got as a manual is not the real manual. They are still trying to find a company to write it! Japan would not let them use their version of the manual so they wrote this stop gap manual on the interm. I asked when we will get the real manual and they said they did not know if it would even be this year! They also said they could not promise if there would not be a charge to get it! lol...

I passed this along to Tower Hobbies, suggesting they put some pressure on to get a toll free # for the interm and that the FAQ on www.14mz.com be updated daily. The reponse was "we forwarded your concerns to Futaba "and, if I have not used the radio I can return it. Hmmmm, now how could I have come up with these concerns if I had not used the radio. Besides, I want to keep the radio, I just want to understand it so I don't set up something wrong and cause damage or injury to someone. I believe they are setting themselves up (Tower and Futaba) for a serious law suite if proper information is not forthcoming soon. Meanwhile I will keep playing with the radio and learn by trial and error. I may be able to work out about 20% of the Radio's capabilities this way.

Regards,
Randy

colinjet

Randy,

Don't know what you got for a manual in the US but we do at least get a proper bound manual in the UK.

You can also download it from http://www.futaba-rc.com/manuals/ and that version even has colour pics.

If this doesn't answer your question, can you be specific as to what problem you're having .

Colin

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

from bluestratos...

"The photo copied stack of papers I got as a manual is not the real manual. They are still trying to find a company to write it! Japan would not let them use their version of the manual so they wrote this stop gap manual on the interm. I asked when we will get the real manual and they said they did not know if it would even be this year! They also said they could not promise if there would not be a charge to get it!"

The manual he got was the same one that ALL 14 MZ system have. The very first run of systems had loose-leaf pages and were offset-run because the color manuals were not available when the first shipment arrived, and it was desired to ship the systems rather than wait for the color manual. The one online at the Futaba-rc website is identical the ones in all 14MZ transmitters shipped in North America, except for color on the screen shots.

As far as the business about "Japan would not let them use their version of the manual", it's completely false. We did not write our own "stopgap" manual. There was some editing done to the English version to prep it for printing, but that's all.

We'd not know where such information was gotten. It certainly did not come from Futaba sources...especially not in those words.

As far as the programming is concerned, the 14MZ is a complex transmitter with a myriad of options. The system is so flexible that all options and contingencies could not be written into the manual. Unfortunately, Futaba cannot insure that any one person can correctly-use them

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

Randy, I initially had a similar problem. I had assigned the twin aileron servos to channels that were not the default that is assigned by the 14MZ. I am at the office at the moment, and will check which screen caused this problem when I get home. Perhaps this is the same thing you are experiencing. I had dual rates working on one aileron, but the dual rate didn't work on the other one?

I vaguely recall the problem stemmed from me doing an extra (but incorrect) step by assigning aileron dual rates to channel 1 and also separately to channel 5. I had mistakenly assumed that this was required. It caused my problem. To remove the problem, I recall having to NULL out the dual rate and trim assignments for Channel 5. You assign Ch 1 and 5 as AILERON. And enable Flaperon mixing which allows them to work together as a pair of ailerons. The trim and dual rate for Ch 1 will also work on Ch 5 if done this way.

I'll check when I get home a re-post if needed.

bluestratos

Sorry If that struck a nerve Bax, but you are incorrect. I was given the futaba help line (The number of the help line I was give was 217-398-8970) from Tower and called yesterday. I waited 15min on hold then was passed over to the tech support for the 14mz and waited about 5 more. What I said was exactly what I was told by the support person. It may not make you happy but that is the truth. He seemed to be pretty sure about what he told me. Unless the number I quoted above is not your help line, it was a Futaba representative. He also told me that if there was a charge on the finished manual that I was to contact him and he would send one to me at no charge. Please contact me directly if you wish to discuss this further. I have no desire to make this an online issue.

And yes, my manual consisted of a stack of black and white photo copies not even stapled together. The manual does not even describe the functions of some the options on the screen. Sorry, but some explaination should be included as to what the buttons do. When can I expect to get a finished manual? ( If it is the same as the loose leaf then it is the same.. I just would expect a properly bound color manual for my Radio)

Best regards
Randy

Bob101

I can beleive it. The guy who wrote the orange book for the 8U (back in the day) had a foreward to the book where he was the person who did the translation for the Futaba manual - he said basically the manual sucked because it had to match the Japanese version for page count etc... Getting the job done and explaining it was I guess pretty low on the list but matching the page count is what mattered. No wonder most people went out and bought an aftermarket manual.

Silent-AV8R

I downloaded he manual from the Futaba site. I printed it in nice full color. It is EXACTLY the same as the unbound black and white version that came with my 14MZ.

And people need to understand that Hobbico only DISTRIBUTES and services Futaba in the US. They are NOT Futaba themselves. It is a small, but vitally important distinction. So Hobbico had nothing to do with the manual, or what the radio is or does. Also, their service people are trying to get up to speed as well since Futaba Japan basically sent Hobbico the radios at the same time they were being shipped to customers.

martin18152

One great feature of the 14mz is the ability to download plane setups. Of course setups from user to user are not necessarily plug and play, even with like planes, factor like linkage set up, CG, power, Rx channel assignment etc… vary from plane to plane. In my case, I already had certain channel assignments on my 9Z set up, so before transitioning to the 14 mz receiver, I tested the system on the 9Z receiver. Reassignment of the output servo channels from the default 14mz to the 9z was a breeze, and I was in the air in not time, then to save time I installed the Mz on the same channels, with minor micro trim adjustments, back in the air again in no time. I have a COMP ARF 3.3 meter; set up to the suggested throws, as indicated in the manual. The plane seems to fly fairly well with the factory setup, given my CG. The one thing that I don’t think I have right is the throttle curve for the ZDZ 210. If anyone is running a ZDZ 210, and they care to send me a MZ file, I would appreciate it. I could load the file in dummy plane on my receiver and look at the set up. This brings up the subject of a data to text translator. What would be great is if futaba provided a program to convert the model data file to a readable text output, so that you could print out your set up in a spread sheet fashion. I would be willing to bet that futaba all ready has this program. The converse could also be done; the setup parameters could be put in the spread sheet, and converted to an executable file. It’s my understanding that other systems have this capability. With the Windows CE operating system, the programming options are unlimited, and there is a ton of programmers out there. One question is why dose Apple Computer only have 4% of the PC market? The answer is simple, not a lot of software / freeware out there for the apple computer, apple decided that they would capitalize on the software by keeping the architecture to themselves back in the 80s. I think it was a good choice on Futaba’s part to use Windows as an operating system. By capitalizing on a popular existing operating system, they just made their radio the new PC for RC. In no time at all, all kind of programmer in the hobby will be writing software to make plane setups effortless. The Radio interface will only be used for field adjustments, most of the programming will be at home on the PC. Programs could quiz you on your hardware setup. I know other operating systems may be better, and that you can create any PC/windows base program to upload data to the other radios, reguardless of their operating system; however, programmers follow the market, and the fact is Futaba is a big market. Every one knows that software drives the hardware market, so Futaba should be making every effort to support any software development which relates to their radio, free of charge, including the ability to change the GUI. Futaba is using the window system, programmed with their GUI, and it works great; however, there are million programmers out there that can manipulate the GUI any way you want, I suspect the USB connection has to do with this type of change in programming or maybe it can be done with the proper command loaded through the CF card. This radio doesn’t need a how to program book, it just need a program that can program it, inputting data that the every person in this hobby knows. The first person that comes up with this program is going to make some money.

colinjet

The logical and state of the art format for transfer of model data would be via an XML file which would be absolutely trivial for Futaba to create given their knowledge of the MDL file data. Anyone else will have to work out what all the bytes mean (not impossible, but I don't think anyone even got around to doing this for the 9Z via a CamPac Reader).

All depends on Futabas willingness to open up a small part of their system which seems unlikely given past experience.

I think they'll be missing out on what could be a lot of hobby-market software programmers who can provide lots of useful transfer and model design tools if they don't do it themselves.

Colin

bluestratos

aresti2004, my point is getting lost somehow. The manual may be available on line, but It should come properly bound with the radio and it should be far more comprehensive. I love my 14mz.. I just can't program it with out fiddling for hours. The FAQ support page is not getting updated with any regularity (hasn't changed for over a week that I can see) and the help line is long distance and you are put on hold for extended periods of time. I have posted several questions to the FAQ and none have been aswered thus far.
I just want to enjoy my $2200 investment. When I buy a car, it is the dealer I take my questions to, not detroit. Tower has been great at helping me and passing along my questions and concerns. It appears that hobby services attended a different customer service school. Not that most have not been polite and tried to be helpful, but the process is very expensive to the consumer. I am willing to make the calls to get the answers. If they put a seperate 1800 # for support with this radio I think the bulk of the issues could be overcome.

I also take offense at the tone of their management when I simple retold my experience. I would prefer to work with them to resolve the support problem, not to be attacked for their own staffs comments.

I believe this a great Radio, and I have owned many many Futabas over the years and continue to be loyal to the brand. Enough said.. I believe Futaba will improve the process as they are a good complany. Radio is just a bit ahead of its time, lol...

bluestratos

That has to be the step I am missing, I did not assign flapperon mixing. Where do I find this mix.. is it pretty straight forward?

Regards,
Randy

backstab

My Feedback: (3)

Heres what i'd like to know. On my multiplex 12 ch I fly heli and fixed wing. This radio is very good. What i dont like about it is that when I assign switches or controls to the functions I want to control the radio locks these in for the entire setup...for planes and heli's In other words i would like to have the switches one way for heli and another for my jet. Can the 14 mzap have its contols assigned differently for each different aircraft or mode of aircraft (ie heli/glider/fixed wing)

Also can it be upgraded from my PC when upgrades become available?

Will it be able to transmit on both possitive and negetive shift and will this be selectable in the radio?

thanks

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

Backstab, I had an EVO 12 and I know exactly what you mean about global assignments. That's a primary reason I sold mine after 3 months.

1. Switch assignments are completle independent for each model!

2. PC upgrades - theoretically yes, and the earlier Futaba ads actually claimed this as a feature. However it's not happened yet so I don't know if/when. Maybe BAX can chime in here?

3. Positive/Negative shift - no. At least at this time. I don't see Futaba in the US thinking that they need to accomodate JR or Airtronics shift product in order to sell more radios. It would be very desirable, though and would encourage JR users to more easily jump to the 14MZ without having to sell their JR receivers.

Separate note - I find it easier to program than my EVO, however I occasionally still find that the groupings of functions are not on the same menu screens that I would expect. Example - ATV (end point) is on the Linkage Menu and D/R/Expo is on the model menu. Or maybe I have that backwards?

backstab

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for that... is there anything the evo can do that the 14mzap cannot? other than what weve already discussed? Can I at least use a futaba reciever that is not the $400 version that comes with the radio? How about controlling the speed of the servos....the evo was capable of 4 second transit...thats nice for flaps etc.

So if I understand you about the switches....I can have the top left switch on one heli control gyro and on another heli or jet the top right switch could be used if I want....is that right...

huey-pilot

My Feedback: (17)

My 14MZ will work on all of my Futaba PPM and PCM receivers, my Hitec Slim 8, Hitec RCD3500, FMA and GWS receivers. You can set up to a 4 second servo transit time, it can be set for the delay going in 1 direction and then normal speed the other way if you want or you can have the delay both ways if you want. When you assign switches they are for the model that is in use, the switch assignment will change when a new model is selected and you have different switch assignments.

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

Backstab, everything Huey said is correct.

The 14MZ transmits in PPM as well as in two versions of PCM. The PPM will allow you to use any Futaba/Hitec shift receiver on the market including the cheapest things you can find. Mine even works with the Polk Hobbies synthesized FM Micro 6. The PCM is compatible with the $100-$160 Futaba 1024 PCM receivers such as the 149DP. It also has what they call G3 PCM, which is the newest 2048 PCM available on their new $339 R5014 receiver.

There are a few things the EVO does that the 14MZ does not. There are many more things that the 14MZ does that the EVO does not do. People have discussed them so I won't try to list them. However, some things you will "lose" going from an EVO to the 14MZ:

Pos/Neg Shift select
Frequency Scanner module
Rotatable gimbal assemblies (14MZ tilt in and out a little bit, but do not rotate)
Joystick-mounted pushbutton switch
Aftermarket antenna's like the Becker (14MZ has a unique BNC style antenna connection)

Of these, the ones I miss most are the Frequency Scanner and availability to use aftermarket antennae. I hate the standard long whip antennae. Too bad they didn't use a screw in design like the 10X. My Becker antenna fits the 10X perfectly!

You trade up for a lot of programming flexibility and truly individual model-specific assignments of switches and functions. The 14MZ has more built-in programming mixes which I find convenient. The radio feels more solid. The switches and the gimbals are better quality. The top row of switches on the EVO were hard for me to reach while holding the radio...they are closer and more conventionally located on the 14MZ.

Net - the 14MZ is much better for me than the EVO was even though it's not perfect. I don't look back.

backstab

My Feedback: (3)

What a great bunch of comments...you guys are giving me exactly what I need!!! I love the evo...it takes an idiot like me a while to grapple with the new style programming but i did enjoy it. I really like the scanner module in the evo..especially with the $25,000 jet..cant be safe enough there. I hooked up the push button sticks and they were neato spaghetti o but in the end the sticks were too long, had they been on the shorter sticks then that would be missed. Gimble tilt was cool...hmmmm. I have a century predaror heli with futaba gv-1 and futaba gy502 gyro..I understand there are already settings for these. if you guys feel like pushing me over the edge of finacial ruin...keep it commin ...im almost there

mike