FrSKY Taranis QX7 current V/S early release comparison

Let’s call this document — FrSKY Taranis QX7 review. Part II.

Remember our first QX7 review? The one that was talking about the very first white color radio in the world? This was Part I. And there we claimed that this radio would become a bestseller on the matket… It was our prophecy and it really worked!!! QX7 had a rocket launch and fastly spread out in among hobby addicts. There was a constant shortage at first couple of months and than sales stabilized at some high level.

While working hard to satisfy the market demand, FrSKY company gathered all initial customer feedback and introduced some changes to fulfil further auditory expectations. And today we want to point out all changes that were done to QX7 since the early releases to show how this radio has matured and its final and current look.

First, watch our video about it if you are too lazy to read 

Now, I want to insist on reading PART I of QX7 review first if you haven’t done it yet. Part I has all necessary and important information about this rafio which we would not focus on during this time.

So, let’s look closer at the new (current or late) FrSKY Taranis QX7 and compare it to early version we have here as well:

Externals:

Color modes: initially this radio was available only in black and white color. But after I have created my famous color mode many people started to ask me where have I bought such radio, some Chineese suppliers started to post my mod photos on their shops… I’ve even got some requests not to promote this mod further because it is misleading many potential customers…. :). BTW — Part I has the description how I’ve done this mod.

A bit later, Banggood shop decided that they would exclusively provide their customers with some new shell colors and the ability to choose one. They currently have green, purple, orange and blue versions. And I have green one here to compare it with my personal paint mod.

What can I say here? Banggood has won this battle in terms of paint durability. Their paint is added to plastic during the injection moulding process (there were some rumors that it looks like hydro-dipped or somethink like that, but it is not true). So, paint becomes a part of the plastic itself. It would stay here forever. No fear of sctratches, high temperature or moisture. My mode, despite being more pleasing to an eye, is afraid of physical damages. It is just several pint layers sprayed on top of the shell and some additional layers of protective lacquer…. It is like a piece of art — beautiful but not very practical.

Anyway, banggood did a right thing — they gave people a new choice…

You can purchase QX7 with a choice of different colors HERE

• Screen: another very good change that I’ve noticed is about the screen. As it is clearly seen on the pictures — early version screens were more succeptible to contrast lines (vertical dark lines on evenly lit background) when contrast is set to >16 points. I’ve dialled contrast to 20 and screen brightness to 100% on both radios to show you the difference. Current radio version has hardly visible contrast lines. It was never a problem in early QX7 or even in X9D, X9DPlus radios because it could be controlled by the amount of contrast set in system menu but still is a good step ahead.

• Pots: left upper pot (S1) is now smooth and has not center detent whilst right (S2) has it. Early versions had both pots with center detents… There were people who proposed to FrSKY to introduce one smooth moving pot in order to control something like gimbals, etc which means constant movement. FrSKY listened!

• Sticks: early radios had to be opened upon arrival to remove spring load from throttle stick. Both sticks were completely spring-loaded from the factory. But who wants that now? DJI users? It is only a small portion of people… FrSKY listened again and removed spring tension from THR to eliminate some questions and troubles people can run to while opening the case and trying to locate what needs to be srewed in to accomplish the task. But the ratchet is still there…

• Battery holder: QX7 currently comes with 6 AA battery holder… Not a big deal especially when everyone chooses 18650 or other battery options but still much better than not having this in the box as if it was with early radio release.

Internals:

• S.PORT at the bottom is finally functional. It can be used now to update or remap all S.PORT devices (RXs, sensors, modules, etc) and to work with telemetry. It is now also supported by OpenTX. It would differentiate early and current boards and show some options about bottom S.PORT functions. Early versions didn’t have S.PORT pins soldered to the mainboard and there were some obstacles to solder it yourself. Only external module pins could be used to work with S.PORT devices. Now, it is much more convenient and straight forward. Good change!

• Antenna is now soldered to RF board. Early versions of QX7 had efl antenna connector which means easy antenna mod. But this also means that radios would not comply to some regulations standards and would violate certification rules. Moreover, antenna mods might lead to unexpected RF amplifier behavior and result into burning it. So, my personal opinion — soldered antenna is not a drawback — it might eliminate some additional problems….

Here is some side-by-side mainboard, RF part and other internals comparison pictures:

One additional interesting thing that I have spotted on the back side of the shell in the external bay — shell opening for extrenal module pins is now changed so that: it became much wider to minimize the chance of pins bending when assembling the radio and got some new back supports to properly align with the pins on the internal board…. This was hard to do for FrSKY, i think. And it should have been very expensive — changing plastic mould matrix after it has been already developed and physically created…

That’s it. I couldn’t find any other visible changes between 2 radio releases — old and new one. If you happen to have early release — there is no need to sell it and run for the newer versions. Not much of a change… On the other hand — this radio has matured from the best product to a perfect one. It was the bestseller since the realease and now it became the ideal product that stays at the very low price point. The only thing left to wait to make this radio 100% masterpiece are Hall sensor gimbals «M7» that would hit the market in some nearest future. Anyway, no other radio around that can even try to come close to QX7. And what is the most important — Taranis QX7 is a good illustration to show that FrSKY company is opened to market feedback, reacts to it very fast and stays very flexible in order to meet all expectations. Such attitude deserves much of respect!!!

Read our FrSKY Taranis QX7 full (in depth) review. PART I  

Our Taranis QX7 manual and setup guide: HERE

Buy this color versions of QX7 from banggood: HERE