Original title:Bayangtoys X9 Review
Original author: Czajunia on RCGroups.com
Note: Blog editor modified the original review.
Url: www.gearbest.com/BayangToysX9Green
Price:$18.32
No surprises here. The box contains a controller, a USB charger, a battery, a small screwdriver, a spare set of props and a user manual. The controller takes 4 AAA batteries that are not included. It's a Playstation style/shape controller that is a bit smaller than other similar controllers and it's surprisingly comfortable to hold. This is a big improvement over those tiny radios included with the smaller quadcopters. The user manual is understandeable but very basic. Plus I think I might have been sent a manual for a diffrent (older) version of X9 as it's missing a few bits, but more about this later.
The canopy is easily removable and very light. The motors are soldered in which is not unusual.Most of the quadcopters of similar size are made this way. Just to mention that the original Nano QX has motors plugged in as well as the Skywalker. This is not an issue but requires a soldering iron in case a motor needs to be changed. The flight controller is held in place with 4 screws.
Flight controller
There is an XN297 2.4 GHz transceiver chip on the left, an STM32F031K4 main controller in the middle and an InvenSense MPU-6050 gyroscope/accelerometer below
Dimensions
Lights and night flight
White X9 looks really nice at night, the LEDs are very bright and it's quite easy to fly. So the white canopy really makes a difference here. However, I still don't understand why some manufacturers put red LEDs at the front. It's rather confusing and counter intuitive during a flight. Here are some more pictures with the X9 in the dark.
When I received the quadcopter I was convinced it didn't have any special modes as there is no mention of this on the box nor the manual. I knew that X9 has been updated to the headless mode at some point but I was convinced mine was an older model. Personally I don't use this mode but I have tested this and it works quite good. It needs to be re-calibrated every now and then as it looses the bearing but once it's calibrated it works fine.
For those who don't know the headless mode keeps a quadcopter orientation (or flight directions) the same regardless of which direction the "nose" is pointing. This means that after the calibration which tells the flight controller which way the front is, moving right stick up will always send a quadcopter away from the pilot, moving the stick down will bring a quadcopter back and moving it left and right will send a quad left or right accordingly (providing a quadcopter is at the front of the pilot).
To calibrate the headless mode place the quadcopter at the front of you with the nose pointing away/back of the quadcopter towards you and move both sticks to the bottom left. The LEDs will flash a few times and the calibration is done. To activate the headless mode press throttle trim button up. The transmitter will beep twice and the headless is active. To go back to the normal mode press throttle trim up again.
Pressing the throttle trim button down activates something as well. I think this is a home return function but unfortunately I didn't manage to figure out how this works and it looks like the quad always drifts in one direction towards the left. It doesn't fly back as some quadcopters after activating this function. Whatever this is I wouldn't use it anyway as even if that is home return there are reports that this mode is highly unreliable.
Please note that none of this is mentioned in the manual I received.
Summary and recommendations.
After flying X9 for a few days I must say I really like it. It is super stable, the stock controller works very well (surprisingly
), the flips are nice and super tight, headless mode works fine (even though I don't use it personally), the LEDs look great at night. There are a couple things I would like to change - the yaw rate could be a bit faster (and I am not comparing this to the Eachine H8) plus I wouldn't mind if the the high rate was a bit more aggressive. I mentioned that Eachine CG023 was my favourite indoor quad for some time. So how does X9 compare? The build quality is very good on both and quite similar. Maybe a touch better on X9. (Skywalker was much worse in this department by the way.) One thing I definitely like more on X9 are the motor mounts mentioned earlier. Speed wise they are similar but the CG023 is a bit faster. It's not much but something I noticed. The main advantage of X9 in opinion is that the controller is slightly better (even though it's smaller) and the X9 is much less jumpy than the CG023. Still, I got used to the CG023 controller and learned how to fly with it rather well (it did cost me quite a few crashes though). The throttle response on X9 is much smoother which makes it much easier to control pretty much straight out of the box.
So the final question is would I recommend X9 and would I recommend it over CG023? Let's brake the answer into three groups:
- For someone who already owes a CG023 - YES and NO. If you enjoy CG023 and are happy with the controller don't buy X9 as they are similar enough plus CG023 is touch faster. If you cannot get used to the controller and jumpy response of the CG023 - YES. You won't be disappointed as X9 is definitely easier to fly out of the box and makes nicer flips. If you like your CG023 I would say save some money here and put it towards Devo 7E
You may always want to have a collection of Nano QX clones but I probably shouldn't cover this option - For experienced pilots who don't have CG023. I would say YES here but I would have to mention to also consider the CG023 which, even though harder to control out of the box with the stock transmitter, offers a bit more speed and seems to be more aggressive. Again the difference is not huge and CG023 is normally a touch more expensive.
- For beginners - definitely YES. It would come highly recommended here and I would have to pick this one over CG023.
Main features:
- Headless mode
- 4 LEDs (2 red at the front, 2 blue at the back)
- Three rates
- 3 rates - changing between low / medium / high rates changes the yaw rate
- Weight 20g (including the battery)
- Battery 150mAh (5g)
- Charging time about 30-35 minutes
- Flight time about 5 minutes
- Very tight auto flips
- Available colors: green, black, white
[Thanks to Czajunia]
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