Hi again to all of our readers. Today we have something very special — brand new radio from FrSKY company — Horus X10.

This radio has been announced some time ago and several units were released prior to start of the mass production. We have one of those units on hands and want to share our first impression about this product.

Our personal opinion about the aim of releasing this radio — is to target pilots who have Taranis X9D Plus but were not willing to upgrade to Horus X12S due to more expensive cost or numerous functions. With X10 and X10S release — situation might change! If to take my example — I like Taranis QX7 very much but was using it only as a backup radio because X9D Plus had additional switches and sliders that I am constantly using on my models. X12S was to heavy and large for me… So, the best option would be to have the radio that would incorporate all X9D Plus functionality, would have modern design, bigger screen and that would introduce something new. This day has come — Horus X10|X10S fulfills all of my expectations.

Let’s start with the video:

Technical Specifications and Features:

• Full Weight: 980g
• Operating Voltage: DC 7.2V
• Operating Temperature: -10 ~ 60 ℃
• Operating Current: 350mA@7.2V
• Number of channels: 16 channels (up to 32 channels)
• Model Memories: 60 (extendable by microSD card)
• Transmitter Panel : Silver/Amber/Carbon (for X10S only)
• Built-in iXJT+ module(the enhanced RF performance and the less latency) with 3 antennas (2 are inner V-shaped and 1 external (removable))
• Wireless trainer system (bluetooth module)
• Support FrSky Free Link App for iOS (Download link: https://www.frsky-rc.com/app/), Andoid app in the development
• FrSky FrTX (Support OpenTX System)
• Antenna detection and SWR warning
• Industrial LCD: 480*272 readable outdoor color screen, TN type
• Built-in Li-ion battery, 2,600mAh, 18650 type, 2S, JST balanc plug, with protection
• M10 hall sensor gimbals and extendable stick ends (with ratchet, spring tension andjustment, easy mode change, holow shafts to add stick tips switches)
• External module JR-type compartment
• Dedicated Smart Port
• Dedicated reset button
• 3.5mm headphones jack
• 3.5mm trainer jack
• miniUSB port to connect to PC
• microSD card slot (not supplied)
• micro USB-type C port for dedicated FCX10 charger
• dedicated FCX10 LiON charger (included)
• full Smart Port telemetry
• X, LR, V8II, D receivers
• nonEU and FCC FW choice
• Haptic and voice feedback
• Speaker
• color LED under Power ON|OFF button to infrom different radio states
• 6 x 3POS switches, 1 x 2POS switch, 1 x momentary switch, 2 x side sliders with center detents, 2 x round pots (left with no center detent and right with center detent), 1 x 6POS switch, 6 x trims
• Rotary dial with ENTER at center on the right, MDL|SYS|TELE|RTN decicated button on the left with combined PgUP|PgDW button at center

Seems like every important function and control is present in X10 amd X10S radios.

The only difference between X10 and X10S would be the sticks. M10 for X10 and M12 doe X10S (10 bearing design, PWM signal (no ADC), full-aluminum construction). And color scheme — X10S would be available only in carbon-fiber scheme. In future — we would be able to upgrade X10 radio with M12 Hall sensor gimbals from X10S radio (at least FrTX OS has this option) but we have to be careful — if we would change M10 to M12 and viseversa without changing its type in FW — the main board might be damaged.  

In order to make this text more convenient to read, we would like to focus on pros and cons of X10 when compared to all other FrSKY radios available.

Let’s start with Taranis X9D Plus:

X10 Pros:

• modern design
• better materials
• feels more expensive
• big color screen
• FrTX and OpentTX FW choice
• newer iXJT+ module with 3 antennas
• detachable external antenna
• additional 6POS switch
• 2 x additional trims
• new and more convenient style of control
• dedicated Smart Port to flash receivers and to tune and flash sensors and modules
• LiON 18650 regular batteries that charge much faster
• wireless trainer and telemetry downlink app for iOS (and Android)
• M10 stock Hall sensor gimbals
• possibility to upgrade stock sticks with additional switches
• comes with stick protectors
• power button with LED indicators

Cons:

• a bit wider — you would have to get used to it
• price
• screen suffering more from direct sunlight

In comparison to QX7:

Pros:

• modern design
• better materials
• feels more expensive
• big color screen
• FrTX and OpentTX FW choice
• newer iXJT+ module with 3 antennas
• detachable external antenna
• additional 6POS switch
• 2 x additional trims
• 2 x additional 3POS switches
• new and more convenient style of control
• LiON 18650 regular batteries that charge much faster
• wireless trainer and telemetry downlink app for iOS (and Android) (available with QX7S)
• M10 stock Hall sensor gimbals (M7 sitcks available with QX7S)

Cons:

• a bit wider and heavier — you would have to get used to it
• price
• screen suffering more from direct sunlight

In comparison to Horus X12S:

Pros:

• newer iXJT+ module with 3 antennas
• new and more convenient style of control
• LiON 18650 regular batteries that charge much faster
• smaller
• less weight
• price

Cons:

• a bit less aluminum in design
• no GPS
• no accelerometers
• no analog joystick
• no additional vertical sliders
• only 1 speaker
• a bit less advanced M10 sticks (but even more advanced M12 sticks in X10S)

So, to summarize — definitely a win over X9D Plus or QX7 radios but a just a fraction behind current flagship X12S. For me — X10 is the most balanced choice that has combined the best solutions from all FrSKY radios including all necessary functionality and excluding very rare things that I am not using. Despite its cheaper price — I still like it more than X12S in terms of design, shape and feel. It just handles better (for me) and more compact.

In the box:

Horus X10 | X10S comes in very good soft case together with neck strap, wall adapter, FCX10 LiON charger and stick protectors.

Controls:

Everything is good here. All controls of X9D Plus are present + additional 6POS switch and 2 trims. Pots are tight enough to have pleasing feel. M10 Hall sensor magnetic gimbals are very smooth and have all the adjustment possibilities to tune it to your liking. Sticks have hollow shafts and there are unused connectors inside the radio to upgrade your sticks with tip switches. Stick length is adjustible and almost similar to X9D Plus M9 construction.

UI control is done with the help of right rotary encoder with ENTER at center — solution that was introduced in X12S but finally settled down in QX7 radio, and left dedicated model, system, teleemtry and return buttons with combined page up and page down button at the center of this circle. Looks like a combination of X12S with QX7 menu controls… But I like this new way of button placement. Didn’t have any problems with control logics when I was setting my first model.

Long and short button press would also bring some additional functionality to each button. But this is the matter of which FW is currently used — therefore, I would not concentrate on that.

Screen:

Seems to be the same unit that was introduced with the release of X12S. Same size, resolution and panel type. It is not touch or IPS because such panels would suffer a lot from direct sunlight. This TN panel is perfectly usable outdoors with enough maximum brightness to see the infromation. If you watched my video — you already have a clue what it looks like when exposed to sun.

Ports:

In addition to regular miniUSB, 3.5mm trainer port, 3.5mm headphones jack and microSD card slot (the card itself is not supplied with the radio), we have Smart Port that is used for RX, modules and sensors flashing and tuning + microUSB type-C port for LiON charger. MiniUSB, S.PORT and trainer port are located at the back and covered with rubber protector. So, we would still have some hard times with keeping miniUSB cable attached while placing X10 on the table. On the other hand, FCX10 charger is attached to the bottom left side and doesn’t prevent radio to stand vertically or lay on the back.

*new versions of X10 and X10S are equipped with barrel charger connector instead of USB type-C and have internal charger. 

Insides:

Evеrything is good and neat here. This radio is very easy to disassemble — only 4 screw.

Here you can see 3 antennas attached to iXJT+ module. 2 inner antennas are located in case like that:

New more flexible and thinner stick cables, bluetooth antenna with the reset button at the bottom part and LiON 18650 elements as radio batteries. Keep in mind that if you would like to substitute stock 2S 2.600mAh 18650 elements (JST 2S balance plug) — you would have to buy dumb 18650 cells and take out protection board from stock cells to use it with the new ones. The charging in X10|X10S works like this:

• 18650 in FrSKY pack are any regular dumb cells
• They have added special protection circuit under pack heat sink that have thermister on board
• Middle contact on 2S JST plug on main board supplies temperature info to FCX10 charger
• FCX10 charger measures the incoming total voltage + temperature and has cells overvoltage, overcurrent, thermal protections, safety timer, input overvoltage protection….
• In case if you want to use larger capacity cells — you would have to use the same board from stock pack

X10|X10S by itself (mainboard) doesn’t have overcharge or overdischarge protection circuits, only reverse polarity protection. Therefore, all other protection should be incorporated in cells or in FCX10. In addition — you cannot use other USB type-C charges to charge LiON batteries inside this radio. Only the dedicated FCX10 charger.

*new versions of X10 and X10S are equipped with barrel charger connector instead of USB type-C and have internal charger. 

My unit came with no batteries — I’ve installed them myself. So, not very neat….

FrSKY claims 350mAh power consumption. But I’ve measured it to be ~400mA at full brightness. It means that stock battery should last for about 7-9 hours at full brightness (in fact — it is, tested). Supplied FCX10 charger outputs 1.5A which means that it would take about 1.5 hours to recharge. As stated on RCG — despite 17V provided by the stock wall charger you can feed 12V from car charger to FCX10 and the charger works fine. So, the problem of charging in the field is solved.

*new versions of X10 and X10S are equipped with barrel charger connector instead of USB type-C and have internal charger. 

Much better and faster than NiMH batteries in all other radios. FCX10 charger has LED inficator that is constantly lit while charging and goes OFF when charge is completed.

There are many mods already performaed by different pilots that use 4×18650 elements with 6Ah total capacity instead of stock battery.

Overall feel:

In overall, this radio feels very balanced and convenient to use. I am a thumb flyer with short fingers and small hands. But I would say that it wouldn’t take much time for me to completely move to X10 from X9D Plus despite its larger size and more distance between some controls. This radio is so attracting to me that I’d happily face all difficlulties of getting used to the handling in favor of using it in future.

Rubber grips do a great job and my middle fingers are right behind upper switches. Yes, the overall feeling is new after 4 years of using X9D Plus, but I’d get over it. The only element that was always questionable — is 6POS switch in the middle that cannot be easily reached. The only option to use it is to release one of the sticks and make a move 

For TBS Crossfire users:

There is a hardware mode that enables 400k baud between the radio and TBS module. You can find HW board here: LINK   How ro perform this mode HERE And how it loks inside X10 here:

FW:

OpenTX released their nightly builds that include both X10 radios. I already installed OpenTX to X10, transferred all my models from X9DPlus using OpenTX Companion and tried to fly. Seems to be working well.

Links to OpenTX FW:

1. OpenTX Companion nightly builds http://downloads-22.open-tx.org/nightlies/companion/windows/
2. SD card contents http://downloads.open-tx.org/2.2/nightlies/sdcard/
3. How to install OpenTX to X12S (applies to X10 | X10S as well) https://www.frsky-rc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/How%20to/How%20to-X12S/HOW%20TO-Horus%20X12S-170531.zip

Stock FrTX also works good. I could manage to set all my racing quad models with all necessary special functions, mixes and logical switches.

Overall impression:

Very good. Probably the best radio from FrSKY so far. X10 in Amber color scheme is the most beautiful unit I’ve ever seen. FrSKY definitely made a giant leap ahead in terms of design, details, crafting and making the first impression. They’ve learned a lot from the experience of releasing all previous products and tried hard to remove all possible issues — if QX7 and X12S releases were facing some minor flaws with final products — X10 radio seems to be 100% ready. This is first radio I want to use as my main unit right after I’ve taken it out from the box and switched it on. From exterior design and smallest details to declared functionality and feel — everything fulfills my expectations. And I’d definitely be moving… I can predict that this product would become one of the most selling radio on the market and a perfect upgrade for all X9D Plus owners as well as the best in class radio for all other users.

Only couple of weeks passed since we had reviewed the latest family of FrSKY flight controllers and we are ready again to impress you with the two new FrSKY receivers: R-XSR and G-RX8! Both seem to become the bestsellers in the nearest future!

Honestly, which other company in R|C field brought so much new products to the market for the last quarter? New radios and their revisions, new FCs, new receivers, new modules, new sticks…, together with the new company website…  Seems as FrSKY staff never sleeps  But we would never have enough, right?

So, two new and very interesting receivers today. Let’s start with the R-XSR:

Currently, one of the most popular FrSKY receiver on the market is XSR. It has reasonable size and weight, full telemetry, 16CH SBUS and SPORT. Many FPV racing copters and smaller class helicopter pilots would choose this receiver as their favorite because it fits perfectly in almost any setup and frame. It works flawlessly, very stable and reliable, gives very good flying range.

Some time ago, when some smaller FPV racing frame classes (like 190 and less) started to emerge, FrSKY introduced XSR-M receiver — very similar to XSR but with significantly smaller weight and dimensions of: 26×19.2 V/S 20x20mm, 4.3g V/S 1.8g.

XSR V/S XSR-M dimensions:

Additionally, it has slightly improved range and easier procedure of changing antennas which are detachable now…

And guess what!? It seems that FrSKY would always find a way for further improvements: R-XSR is the newest receiver in XSR family, packed in tiny dimensions of 16x11mm, having almost no weight (1.5g) and features highly demanded redundancy function!

XSR-M V/S R-XSR dimensions:

Technical specifications:  

• Dimension: 16*11*5.4mm (L*W*H)
• Weight: 1.5g
• Number of channels: 16CH (1-16CH from SBUS channel, 1~8CH from CPPM channel)
• Operating Voltage Range: 4~10V
• Firmware Upgradable
• Compatibility: FrSky X Series modules and radios in D16 mode

Features:

• Ultra mini size and light weight
• Support telemetry and Smart Port enabled
• Full range
• Switchable SBUS/ CPPM signal output
• Supports redundancy function
• IPEX connector, replaceable antennas

Manual can be found HERE

Get your FrSKY R-XSR HERE 

In real life it means that while having all features of XSR or XSR-M receivers, R-XSR would:

• be an appropriate choice for any model of any size and class
• would fit perfectly into something like 90mm FPV copter frames
• outperform any other tiny receivers by functions, features and range
• would bring more range and radio link stablity if used with second receiver as a slave

Quick note on redundancy feature: R-XSR (as well as other X-series FrSKY receivers that have extra «R» in the name) has the ability to accept signals from the second (slave) receiver over SBUS and to select and forward the strongest signal among them to flight controllers over SBUS (or to servos over PWM). Consequently, having two receivers — master and slave — on the same model would significantly improve signal quality and help to maintain good RSSI levels even in the most complex environmets. Any SBUS equipped receiver could act as a slave (telemetry should be turned off on slave). The best slave option would be to use XM+ or other receivers with the ability to turn on «telemetry off» mode.

As the result — if you were flying in some highly «contaminated» environments like forests, buildings or just with many other models and experiencing RSSI problems — R-XSR might help a lot to get rid of radio signal warnings and get the most reliable link with your model. Along with all other features it has and all other usage scenarios it provides concerning its tiny size and weight.

Example: KingKong GT90 (FrSKY Vantac 90GT) with AC800 receiver V/S FrSKY R-XSR:

Range test:

Tested it against XSR and XSR-M receivers. Our previous test of XSR V/S XSR-M showed a slight advantage of XSR-M due to the newer antenna design.

Newest R-XSR is slightly behind regular XSR in terms of RSSI range test figures — 1-2 RSSI points less at the same range and in the same places… As with any other full range small FrSKY receiver — you can expect ~1.5km in the open flield and some different results in highly «contaminated» enviromnemts depending of amount of obstacles or radio interference around. But it is absolutely win over FrSKY XM (not XM+) and any third-party tiny receivers that have very limited range of ~150m. But even if you feel that it is not enough for you — there is an ability to use redundancy function and a slave receiver to make radio signal almost bullet proof.

I would say that R-XSR is a must for any pilot with >80mm copter frames or other small models. There is no other so capable, so small and full range receiver on the market.

Note: keep in mind that total antenna length of R-XSR is only 9cm in comparison to 14.5cm in XSR-M. 

As always — this receiver has SPORT which means that we can unpgrade or change (EU LBT to FCC) FW version and daisy chain other SPORT telemetry sensors. 

Get your FrSKY R-XSR HERE 

Now, lets jump to G-RX8 receiver:

FrSKY claims that G-RX8 receiver is mainly addresses glider model pilots. Why? Because among all other tasty functions it has in built high precision vario sensor capable of registering flying altitude with 0.1m resolution along with the vertical speed.

In contrary to XSR-family, this receiver belongs to more universal type which is more common for planes, helis, gliders and larger copters. The absence of the hard case also tells us that it is mainly intended to be used with planes and gliders. 8 regular PWM ports togehter with 16CH over SBUS, analog telemtry input pin (A2) and SPORT create many possible usage scenarios. I would say that the closest relative in all FrSKY family would be RX8R receiver that has a hard case and more PWM output ports but the same features and no variometer inside.

Technical specifiations:

• Dimension: 55.26*17*8mm
• Weight: 5.8g
• Number of Channels: Up to 16 CH
• Operating Voltage Range: 4.0 -10V
• Operating Current: 100mA@5V
• Operating Range: Full range
• Firmware Upgradable
• Compatibility: D16 mode

Features:

• Intergrated high precision variometer sensor
• Support redundancy function
• Support telemetry data transmission
• Switchable SBUS/PWM mode (1~8CH from PWM outputs and 1~16CH from SBUS output)

Manual can be found HERE

Get your FrSKY G-RX8 HERE 

Similarly to other X-series receivers with extra «R» in the name — G-RX8 also features redundancy function which would greatly improve radio signal reception on the model.

Quick note on redundancy feature: G-RX8 (as well as other X-series FrSKY receivers that have extra «R» in the name) has the ability to accept signals from the second (slave) receiver over SBUS and to select and forward the strongest signal among them to flight controllers over SBUS (or to servos over PWM). Consequently, having two receivers — master and slave — on the same model would significantly improve signal quality and help to maintain good RSSI levels even in the most complex environmets. Any SBUS equipped receiver could act as a slave (telemetry should be turned off on slave). The best slave option would be to use XM+ or other receivers with the ability to turn on «telemetry off» mode.

Some more peculiar abilities of G-RX8:

• Can be programmed to output 1-8CH or 9-16CH range over PWM
• Can be used in pair with other X-series PWM equipped receiver to output 1-16CH over PWM
• In SBUS mode: 1-6CH PWM would output high precision PWM signal (error <0.5us), SBUS IN would be used to connect slave receiver for redundancy system and SBUS OUT would output 1-16CH.
• PWM mode: 1-4CH PWM would output high precision PWM signal (error <0.5us), 4-8CH PWM would output regular PWM signal and SBUS IN|OUT would not be used.
• In built variometer sensor can be turned On|Off

As always — this receiver has SPORT which means that we can unpgrade or change (EU LBT to FCC) FW version and daisy chain other SPORT telemetry sensors. 

Glider function:

Along with:

• RSSI — signal strength
• RxBT — receiver voltage
• A2 — analog port for main battery voltage (with voltage divider like FLV02)

G-RX8 would provide:

• Alt (m) — altitude
• Vspd (m/s) — vertical speed.

There is a dedicated Variometer setup under Telemetry tab in model settings menu in which we can choose vario source (sensor) and setup all necessary model ascend, descend and Alt hold tones. While flying the model we would be able to hear whether our model gaining or loosing altitude and understand climb and descend vertical speed. Additionally, there are some telemetry LUA scripts that would also provide visualization of this data.

Note: it might be very handy to setup and use telemetry data reset function right before the flight to bring Alt readings to zero while on the ground.

Range test:

Range was checked in comparison to RX8R and X8R receivers. No problems here. This receiver is a full range model which can deliver >1.5km flight range in open field with ease. RSSI figures are the same as on X8R and RX8R receivers at the same places and on the same distance. In best circumstances such receivers can have ~ 3km radio link. But even if it would not be enough for you — you can always use redundancy feature and a slave receiver with G-RX8 to get the best possible flight distance.

Get your FrSKY G-RX8 HERE 

Thank you for reading!

Stay tuned, more reviews to come….

FrSKY continues to develop and give out new interesting products pleasing every single R|C hobby fan. This time, it is a new family of capable flight controllers for FPV racers based on recently introduced F4 boards + one additional F3-based board. To be honest, we always preferred FrSKY FCs over any others because they all have intergated FrSKY receivers (XSR is the most common) which saves final model flight weight, reduces the amount of cables and makes assembling process much easier. But not only that…

Today we would like to present 3 very new FrSKY FCs:

1. FrSKY XSRF4O — F4-based FC with integrated FrSKY XSR, BF OSD and SDcard cslot for blackbox
2. FrSKY XSRF4PO — F4-based FC with integrated FrSKY XSR, BF OSD, SDcard cslot for blackbox and PDB (with current and voltage sensors)
3. FrSKY XSRF3PO — F3-based FC with integrated FrSKY XSR, BF OSD, SDcard cslot for blackbox and PDB (with current and voltage sensors)

First of all — as it is seen from the model names «XSR» stands for FrSKY XSR receiver (S.PORT full telemetry), «O» stands for BF OSD and «P» stands for PDB. Where else would you find so capable all-in-one boards with all those features intergrated on the factory? And having such FC as XSRF4PO or F3PO  means that you would only end up with a single board in your model which would communicate with ESCs, VTX and camera. That’s it. Isn’t it an excellent idea? Having a single board inside the frame… No more huge amount of cables, no need to spend countless hours on soldering everything together… !

Buy XSRF3PO HERE

Buy XSRF4O HERE

Buy XSRF4PO HERE

Let’s start with more conservative XSRF4O:

Specifications:

• Based on F4 STM32F405 CPU
• Built-in 6-axis sensor MPU6000 (SPI) (Accelerometer/Gyro)
• Built-in BARO BMP280
• Integrated XSR receiver (SBUS, S.PORT), Full telemetry
• 1~16 channels SBUS output
• 1~6 channels PWM outputs
• Integrated BF OSD
• VTX and camera pads
• Buzzer control pads
• LED control pads
• Integrated voltage sensor
• Current sensor pad
• Dedicated V IN|GND pads
• Boot button
• Receiver BIND button
• Aditional S.PORT pads for XSR FW update and S.PORT sensors connection
• Built-in SDcard slot for BB
• Dimension: 36x36x6mm (LxWxH), with 30.5mm mounting holes
• Weight: 7,7g
• Operating voltage: 4-10V (5V is recommended)

This board is very common in terms of its shape and cababilities + has the intergated XSR recever . Requires power distribution board with 4-10V power supply to run. The layout looks like this:

Now, let’s jump to «PO» boards which are physically not so common: XSRF4PO

Specifications:

• Based on F4 STM32F405 CPU
• Built-in 6-axis sensor MPU6000 (SPI) (Accelerometer/Gyro)
• Built-in BARO BMP280
• Integrated XSR receiver (SBUS, S.PORT), Full telemetry
• 1~16 channels SBUS output
• 1~6 channels PWM outputs
• Integrated BF OSD
• VTX and camera pads
• Buzzer control pads
• LED control pads
• Integrated PDB (up to 6S)
• Integrated voltage sensor
• Integrated current sensor
• Boot button
• Receiver BIND button
• Aditional S.PORT pads for XSR FW update and S.PORT sensors connection
• Built-in SDcard slot for BB
• Weight: 14g
• Dimension: 60x36x6mm (LxWxH), with 30.5mm mounting holes

Exactly the same board to XSRF4O in terms of all capabilities but additionally intergrates power distribution board with dedicated ESC connections (SIG, BAT PWR, GND) and current sensor. Moreover, PDB is capable of 6S LiPO max input voltage. Layout looks like this:

This layout tells us that there is no 12V output. There is 5V output for camera or other devices, but you should use the appropriate VTX that would be able to accept raw flight battery voltage depending on the battery you’d use… Or you can add step-down voltage regulator.

And the last one is XSRF3PO:

Specifications:

• STM32F303 CPU – F3 Processor
• MPU6050 Gyro with I2C BUS
• Integrated Betaflight OSD
• Intergrated FrSKY XSR receiver (S.PORT. SBUS), Full telemetry
• Built in MicroSD card slot for BlackBox
• 1-8 PWM outputs (1-4 outputs are situated in the corners of the board)
• LED strip pads
• Buzzer pads
• OSD pads (camera + VTX)
• Integrated PDB (up to 6S)
• Integrated voltage sensor
• Integrated current sensor
• FC boot button
• XSR bind button
• Aditional S.PORT pads for XSR FW update and S.PORT sensors connection
• Weight: 14g
• Dimensions: 60x36x6mm (30.5mm mounting holes)

Very similar to XSRF4PO in terms of shape and PDB integration but really is a similar product to XSRF3O which we have reviewed last week. Its layout:

This layout tells us that there is no 12V output. There is 5V output for camera or other devices, but you should use the appropriate VTX that would be able to accept raw flight battery voltage depending on the battery you’d use… Or you can add step-down voltage regulator.

So, to summarize all FrSKY current FCs available:

• XSRF3E — F3Evo-based, when you want 8/8KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XSR receiver + telemetry
• XMPF3E — F3Evo-based, when you want 8/8KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XMP receiver + SDcard for blackbox and external OSD
• XSRF3O — F3-based, when you want 4/4KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XSR receiver + telemetry + BetaFlight OSD + SDcard for blackbox
• XSRF3PO — F3-based, when you want 4/4KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XSR receiver + telemetry + BetaFlight OSD + SDcard for blackbox + PDB + current sensor
• XSRF4O — F4-based, when you want up to 32/8KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XSR receiver + telemetry + BetaFlight OSD + SDcard for blackbox
• XSRF4PO — F4-based, when you want up to 32/8KHz gyro and PID loop rate + XSR receiver + telemetry + BetaFlight OSD + SDcard for blackbox + PDB + current sensor’

Seems that we have a good product line here that can satisfy almost any pilot with FrSKY radio…

There is one more FC from FrSKY which is called XMF3E. It is almost like XMPF3E but made to fit some smaller frames with board dimensions of 29x29mm. Main difference s are also: XM receiver with limited range of 300m and 4.2V power supply. This board would not be discussed further because it is not very suitable for the most popular 180-250 FPV copter frames.  

Small note about F3 V/S F4-based flight controllers:

F4-based FCs mean that such FC would have faster processor (72 V/S 160MHz), more flash memory (256KB V/S 1MB), and sometimes more UART ports. What it means in real life is that F4 FC is capable of 32KHz looptime, while 8KHz is selected — leaves more room for processor to run all other features, capable of running recently introduced but resource-heavy «dynamic filter», can handle OSD by main processor instead of usind additional OSD unit.  The only drawback compared to F3 is that F4 doesn’t have integrated inverter and using SBUS and S.PORT features might be tricky (all FrSKY FCs based on F4 do not have this issue.)

So, F4 boards would only be required if you have ESCs that are capable of running much faster types of communication than OneShot 125 or 42. Only if you have DShot600 and more capable ECSs — it is reasonable to jump to F4 instead of F3 or F3Evo. Or, if you require more than 3 UARTs or want so many features enabled at a time that your F3Evo|F3 processor shows more than 30% load figures on a bench.

In the box:

All of the controllers come in a small boxes with English user manual and a set of soldering pins for all available pads. But in case of FCs with integrated PDB (XSRF4PO and XSRF3PO) we would also find XT60 connector and soft mounting spacers made of rubber. The package is nothing to worry about during the transportation. English user manual is ok and it really helps to understand board layouts and initial BetaFlight setup.

Formfactor: 

As we’ve already said — XSRF4O is a regular box-shaped board with 30,5×30,5mm mounting holes (36×36 board size) that would fit any kind of FPV quad racing frame but requires any PDB with 4-10V power supply. ESC PWM singnals are located at the corners of the board for easy reach. USB connection is directed to the side of the board and ESCs numbers are located so that it would correspond to BF setup in case if the board located properly without applying yaw compensation.

In contrary, XSRF4PO and F3PO are unique and despite having the same mounting hole dimensions (30,5×30,5mm) — they both have rectangular shape with 60mm in length (width is regular 36mm). LiPO battery connections are at the back and ESC connections are at corners, corresponding to BF ESC setup. USB port is on the side.

This means that NOT every frame is capable of accepting such FCs. For example, I have KDS Kylin 210 square-shaped frame which would not let FrSKY «PO» fit directly. My FPV camera mount and VTX back vertical mount stand closer to each other than 60mm needed for this FCs and frame aluminum standoffs also prevent using these. If I had some longer frame (1-2cm) I wouldn’t have an issue.

So, either to change the frame or try to fit «PO» FCs transversely. In this case, either board would protrude from both sides of a frame to about 1cm…

Not very aesthetical and safe. Moreover, turning FC around 90 degrees would mean that ESC connections at the corners of the board won’t correspond to ESCs on the arms, forcing me to remap the resources in CLI section of BetaFlight setup. Everything is possible and acceptable but the best solution would still be changing the frame to something more suitable.

On the other hand, thinking of the advantages of such all-in-one board setup — I would finally go with the new more suitable frames… I am just amazed with how easy and neat such setup should be to assemble, with much less of cable connections and soldering required. The weight should also be slightly reduced due to no wires between PDB and FC + due to PDB FC integration.

Initial Betaflight Configuration and FW:

In contrary to previous FrSKY controllers XSRF3E and XMPF3E which should be identified as SpRacing F3Evo during FW upgrade using BetaFlight GUI, all newer boards would have the following names:

• XSRF3O & XSRF3PO — FRSKY F3 in BetaFlight FW upgrade list
• XSRF4O & XSRF4PO — FRSKY F4 in BetaFlight FW upgrade list

All these boards have the current FW version 3.2.0 RC2 with all features working properly and supporting the newest BF tabs and settings. All boards feature dedicated BOOT button for easy DFU mode access when FW flash in necessary.

FrSKY boards require some defaults in order for the intergrated XSR work correctly and that are initially set on the factory, supplied in the FW files and mentioned in manuals. Those are:

XSRF3O & XSRF3PO

• UART2 should be Serial RX
• UART3 should be SmartPort
• Receiver Mode should be RX_Serial
• Serial Receiver Provider should be SBUS
• RSSI_ADC Analog RSSI input should be disabled
• RSSI CH should be CH8

XSRF4O & XSRF4PO

• UART1 should be Serial RX
• UART6 should be SmartPort
• Receiver Mode should be RX_Serial
• Serial Receiver Provider should be SBUS
• RSSI_ADC Analog RSSI input should be disabled
• RSSI CH should be CH8

All boards would incorporate BF OSD setup, Battery Voltage&Current, LED strip and BlackBox with SDcard tabs in addition to all other BetaFlight setup tabs and features. All those tabs should be setup as it is usually done on all other boards or additional boards with the same features. Nothing strange or unexpected in settings.

Note: intergrated XSR receiver in all FCs has physical S.PORT pads. Those pads can be used to flash XSR with the newest FW versions, change FW region (from FCC to EU LBT and vise-versa) and even to connect other S.PORT telemetry sensors in chain. But remember that you cannot flash integrated XSR with the FW from the stand-alone XSR receiver. You should locate dedicated FW for integrated XSR on FrSKY website.   

Tests, flights and recommendations:

We have already tested XSRF3O board some time ago (in our previous review). It flies good, easy to tune, all features work as expected. It replaced our previous SpRacing F3 board because XSRF3O intergates receiver, OSD and SDCard slot making our FPV copter easier to assemble, more advanced in terms of amount of features and less heavy (only 288g for 210-class frame). Integrated XSR seems to be working exactly the same as any other stand-alone XSR receiver. The range is the same…

Consequently, the newer XSRF3PO would act very similar if not identical… This board shares the same features and specifications… The only difference is that «PO» would also act as PDB making the whole setup even more convenient. We have checked all the features on the bench — everything working fine, but we cannot really make any flight checks now because we are in a process of making / ordering some suitable frames that would accept such rectangular design. But we have already tested the amount of noise or interference from PDB to camera + VTX on the bench with motors and ESCs running — PDB quality seems to be very good as there is no visible picture problems or interference lines. It might happen so that we wouldn’t even need the additional capacitors to filter out the noise.

Other 2 boards that are based on F4 are also yet to be tested thoroughly. I have already tuned and flown XSRF4O which was set to 8/8KHz looptime for my HobbyWing XRotor DShot600 ESCs and XRotor 2205/2300kv motors. I haven’t noticed much of a difference with XSRF3Evo board which had 8/4KHz looptime configuration on the same setup. A bit more precise and a bit more predictable. But I would continue to tune PID and other settings to polish the flight capabilities of the board trying to find the obvious advanyages of F4 boards over F3Evo.

As to XSF4PO would also wait for the newer frames to arrive. All bench tests and settings show consistent and expected behavior. All features work as described. But we would still conduct some flight tests on order to share it with our readers. As already mentioned for F3PO — PDB quality is good and picture quality from FPV camera and VTX shows no signs of distructive noise.

We would add flight test videos to this review soon.

Note: all FrSKY flight controllers with XSR receivers have detachable XSR antennas. So, antenna swap is not a problem. 

Conclusion:  

I have 4 FPV racing quads that I use regularly. All of them are based on FrSKY XSRF3E (F3Evo), XSRF3O and SpRacing F3 FCs. I would definitely get rid of SpRacing F3 boards just because they don’t have the necessary features and require additional stuff, wiring and soldering… I would definitely change it to FrSKY FCs with integrated XSR receivers and other features. Those of my quads that have ESCs capable of DShot600 (and more) are already using XSRF4O and would be using XSRF4PO in future because F4-based boards are able to handle >8KHz looptime and don’t have any stability or processor calculation power shortage issues. But those quads that have OneShot ESCs would be left on XSRF3O and XSRF3PO flight controllers because 4/4KHz is totally enough in this case.

Anyway, concerning that I have already tried what it is like to build and use a racing quad with all-in-one boars — it seems that I would never go back to all-separate solutions. All-in-one boards make the whole setup much more convenient to assemble, much easier to look after it and more neat. In addition to that, all described above boards originate from a good manufacturer — FrSKY — and incorporate one the most popular receiver in FPV racing world — XSR. This is everything that I need for all of my quads!!!

Buy XSRF3PO HERE

Buy XSRF4O HERE

Buy XSRF4PO HERE

It’s been a while since the time FrSKY has released their new and very succesfull radio — Taranis Q X7. Since that time, this radio has got one minor revision, conquered the minds of a large amount of fans and became on of the best selling radios available on the market!

We’ve reviewed Taranis Q X7 half a year ago and you can read our initial review HERE and our additional early to late revision comparison HERE.

Half of a year passed. Radio works perfectly. But there was one little thing that we’ve been waiting for all this time — magnetic Hall sensor gimbals — M7. FrSKY has promissed to release such gimbals as the most anticipated upgrade for this radio since the time they have released the same gimbals — M9 —  for Taranis X9D Plus.

Considering the fact that we have tried M9 with X9D Plus right after the release and found them to be perfectly smooth and precise which helped a lot during flight session despite of the type of a model used — we were impatiently waiting for the M7 to hit the market and make Q X7 just 100% perfect. And now, here they are — M7 magnetic Hall sensor gimbals arrived to our door and we want to share our opinion about this upgrade.

You can buy M7 gimbals HERE

You can read our M9 Hall sensor gimbals for X9D Plus review HERE

If you would like to watch instead of reading — here is our video review:

Starting with the technical specifications:

• Supply Voltage (VCC): DC 3.0 ~ ±0.5V
• Sensitivity: 2.50 mV/G
• Linear Output Voltage Range: 0.1 ~ ( VCC +0.1) V
• Output Load Resistance (output to ground) >15KQ
• Quiescent Output (TA = 25°C, B = 0 G): 0.5 × VCC
• Noise (no load): ≤40mVpp
• Quiescent Output Power Supply Rjection: -69dB

Machanical: 

• X-Axis Adjustable Angle Range: 60°±5°
• Y-Axis Adjustable Angle Range: 60°±5°
• Adjustable Height Range: 24.5mm-30.5mm
• Installation Dimension: 42.9mmx54mm

I would add some more features to this technical stuff:

• Hall sensor based gimbals (maghnetic field instead of mechanical friction in potentiometers)
• 4 bearing design
• CNC aluminum base for the overall stiffness and precision
• Aluminum crossbars for precision in centering
• All axis can be spring-loaded
• Adjustable tension and ratchet
• Stick tips with sharp edge design
• Adjustable stick length
• Aluminum crossbars are covered with rubber at the bottom part to have a soft stop effect when stick limiters touch it.
• Aluminum hollow stick shafts

If we would like to compare M7 to M9 — we would see some differences:

which means that M7 would be a direct fit for the X9D Plus radio and M9 won’t fit into Q X7 radio. I know that there were some pilots who got tired of waiting for M7 gimbals to hit the market and they’ve decided to go along with M9 in Q X7 instead. They had to do a little mod to fit M9 gimbals inside. But my point of view was always the same — I’d like to have something finished and ready to go from the factory without moding…

Knowing the stated specifications and features, I can conclude the following improvements over original Taranis Q X7 sticks:

1. M7 should be more durable — there are no friction electrical compenents that would wear over time. Hall sensors rely on magnetic field and don’t deteriorate because of the mechanical frictions.
2. M7 should be more precise — same thing here — usual potentiometers would loose their layer due to friction, moreover it is in nature of the potentiometers to show some uneven figures and erratic resistance that gets even worse if heavily used. Hall sensors have even and smooth forces that result in more stable readings. Moreover, additional precision comes from aluminum base that makes the whole sturcture to flex less and aluminum crossbars that result in excellent stick centering.
3. M7 should feel smoother — again, due to the absence of additional friction parts and stiffer machanical parts.

WARNINGS: 

Keep in mind the 2 following warnings about Hall sensors technology:

1. Do not overheat your radio. Natural magnets start to loose their magnetic characteritics when heated >70° Сentigrates. Do not expose your radio to direct summer sunlight for a long time.
2. Keep your radio away from the strong magnetic fields — if the outer magnetic field is stronger than magnets used inside the gimbal it would result in reading inclinations.

One important note here: 

Original Taranis Q X7 gimbals are not bad at all. Despite the fact that I’ve used this radio for half a year now, gimbals are perfectly stable at centers, return perfectly well to zero-values and don’t show any signs of erratic behavior or jittering around centers. The only main and apparent drawback in the direct comparison to M7 Hall sensor gimbals — is that they are not so smooth and feels a bit more flexible bacause of the all-around plastics design. Moreover, they would eventually deteriorate as the time passes. Mechanical fricting would never be so reliable as contactless sensors.

In the box:

M7 gimbal is sold as 1 separate item, packed into soft box together with the extra mounting screws. I would prefer if those gimbals were packed in some more reliable box but seems that there are no complains from other customers about that. In contrary to M9 boxes which had blue pictures, M7 gimbal boxes have orange prints.

Installation process:

• 1.5mm hex screwdriver to adjust the spring tension and remove spring tension screw from Y-xis on throttle gimbal
• Phillips screwdriver to open the case and remove (install gimbal) + adjust throttle friction bracket
• 2mm hex screwdriver to adjust the length of the stick (inner small hex screw in the stick tip)

Nothing to worry about. Taranis Q X7 radio is very user friendly when it comes to dissasembling… There are four screws at the back that hold front and back parts or the radio together. But make sure to remove battery and external module bay prior to this.

When inside, there are 4 screws holding each gimbal to the front part of the case, 2 screws that hold special plastic cable wraps and 2 gimbal connectors that have to be removed from the mainboard and replaced with the similar connectors coming from M7 gimbals.

It took me about 15 minutes to get the job done and assemble everything back again. But there were some things that should be described:

• M7 gimbal cables are not very long. Shorter than I would expect. In order for the gimbals to work silky smooth and cables not to bend too much — I’ve placed the longer gimbal cables (side, Y-axis sensors) together with all other cables under the plastic wrap and the shorter cables (X-axis) were firmly zip-tied to the longer ones near the connector.

• M7 gimbals would not go so deep inside the gimbal podiums as it was with original gimbals. M7 would look as if they are placed too far from the face plate inside the radio. But it is normal.

• Prior to throttle gimbal installation — it is better to remove spring tension and adjust throttle friction bracket. First can be done by removing throttle axis spring tension screw from the gimbal, lifting crossbar all the way up and placing this screw inside the special hole inside the throttle crossbar. This screw will hold the crossbar at the highest position and would not let it interfere into the stick movement.

That’s it.

Comparing the construction of original and M7 gimbals — we can see the following differences:

• Min and max stick lengths are the same if both gimbals are placed on the same height. But considering the fact that M7 gimbals would sit 4-5mm deeper inside the radio — sticks become consequently shorter.

• M7 stick shafts are hollow inside and have a passthrough opening. It means that we would be able to have some further upgrades with additional switches and buttons at the stick top as it was seen in Horus X12S radios.

• M7 shafts have larger diameter and stock gimbal tips won’t fit.

Overall feel:

As expected — M7 magnetic gimbals are perfectly smooth, feel much stiffer and behave rock steady when looking at the channel jitter. From our experience with M9 gimbals placed inside our X9D Plus radio about half a year ago — such gimbal upgrade would result into more precise model control. And it really doesn’t matter which type of a model to fly. I’ve noticed the improvement right away with my bunch of FPV racers, while using the radio for simulators as well as with my RC heli models. Each stick input is silky smooth and results into predictable model manuevers. Hard to explain but it stick-movements-to-model-behavior became more linear and less erratic. Such feel was unreachable with the stock gimbals…

Magnetic field test: 

I’ve taken small magnet from 2212 ruined outrunner motor and put it close to the gimbals:

• 1-2% reading inclinations on aileron and rudder axis when magnet is placed on top upper part of the aluminum gimbal base
• 2-4% readings inclinations on throttle and elevator axis when magnet is placed close to hall sensors on corresponding sides of the radio shell
• 0% inclinations when magnet is placed at the back of the radio shell (hall sensors are far away)

Conclusion:

FrSKY M7 gimbals is a must have upgrade for any Taranis Q X7 user. This upgrade helps a lot to master model control and worth every cent. And, to be honest, the price is very low — only $20,5/gimbal. Difinitely worth it. Especially if to compare with the prices for the same items of other brands. Have a set, try it out and be happy with your radio upgrade!

You can buy M7 gimbals HERE

For a long time FrSKY XSR receiver that featured S.PORT telemetry, good flight range, small size and light weight was the most preferred by racing quad and rc planes pilots. But FrSKY has finally decided to revise this receiver to satisfy all market demands. And today we would like to review the new XSR-M and compare it to the older XSR receiver.

FrSKY XSR-M technical specifications:

• Dimension: 20*20*4mm (L x W x H)
• Weight: 1.8g
• Number of Channels: 16Ch (1~16ch from SBUS channel, 1~8ch from CPPM channel)
• Operating Voltage Range: 4.0~10V
• Firmware Upgrade with S.PORT
• Antenna: 15cm
• Exposed antenna: 32.8mm
• Compatibility: FrSky X-series Module & radios in D16 mode

In the box:

XSR-M comes in a soft package with 4 wires plug and instruction manual.

You can buy XSR-M here

Features:

• Smart Port
• S-BUS/CPPM output (BLUE LED indicates XSR-M in S-BUS mode, otherwise in CPPM mode)

The direct comparison to the older XSR receiver would show us the obvious differences:

• Length and width have been reduced: from 26×19.2mm to 20x20mm
• Weight has been reduced from 4.3g to 1.8g
• Antennas on XSR-M are detachable and have a connector
• Exposed part of the antennas are longer (32.8mm)
• Connection port has 4 wires on XSR-M (S.PORT, CPPM|SBUS, Vin, GND) instead of 5 on XSR (S.PORT, CPPM, SBUS, Vin, GND)

Enabling CPPM output instead of SBUS and vise-versa: long press the F/S button on the receiver for 3 seconds -> GREEN LED will flash three times indicating that the mode change is completed.

Points 3 and 4 are the most critical upgrades: first would make it much easier to change the antenna in case if it has been damaged (no soldering required) and second would aid to resolve the issue that older XSR had less flying range due to shorter exposed antenna area comparing to X4R receivers. XSR-M has the longer exposed part and might improve the range. I have tested both receivers on the ground and found that there are changes….. Both of my receivers work perfectly in terms of range at the open space… But situation changes in the surroundings with some numerous obstacles… All tests are at the end of this review. Let’s move along with the features for now.

The size of XSR-M became more convenient — this receiver would now easily fit into most of the frames and in very tiny places. Weight decrease would help those pilots who are constantly fighting for the lightest setups  This new receiver might now fit such smaller builds as 80-110mm frames!

The rest of the features are the same: XSR-M board has dedicated RSSI and CPPM pads (besides output pins), bind button and status leds. Moreover, the board now has mounting holes at the corners (21x21mm).

Testing and final word:

XSR-M definitely an upgrade for XSR receiver especially if it would be used for racing quads. Lighter, smaller, antennas are easy to swap, should have a slightly improved range, full telemetry support… all of those features make it superior to older XSR version.

I’ve tried to do ground and flight tests and compare XSR to XSR-M receivers in terms of range and I’ve found some significant difference: they both seem to work fine and deliver >1km at the open space. However, XSR-M RSSI figures were 2 — 10 RSSI points higher at all times than on XSR at the same locations and when there are a lot of obstacles are one massive obstacle. So, XSR-M is capable of delivering longer range in saturated environment.

What really stand out when using XSR-M is how easy it is to fit into the board. So, I think that I would finally end up with ordering only XSR-M for the future builds.

You can buy XSR-M here

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

Urgent!!! Excellent offer if you are willing to buy FrSky Taranis QX7 and other FrSKY radios: the lowest price on the market AND 4-7 days express delivery worldwide!!! Such offers are rare, don’t miss that one!!!

Excellent FrSKY Taranis X9D Plus, more specialized Taranis X9E, new groundbreakng flagship Horus X12S and now the youngest brother in the FrSKY radio product lineup — Taranis Q X7. Claimed to have significantly lower price comparing to Taranis X9D Plus, this product is aimed to conquer minds of new hobby incomers and provide uncompromised experience for some tough budgets.

FrSKY premier dealers list

Link to the shop of my own preference 

FrSKY Taranis X9D Plus Special Edition is out (M9 gimbals, upgraded switches, new stick ends, detachable antenna, EVA case, new shell designs)

Now, welcome — the world’s first FrSKY Taranis Q X7 in white color!

For those who are not familiar with FrSKY Taranis Plus yet, I would like to shorty clarify why possessing FrSKY radios now is giving much more profit in a long term and why it outperforms almost any other competitors in price:

• First, it is the ACCST very reliable radio protocol that is proven to work at even the worst scenarios by many hobbyists around the world.
• Second, is the well developed accessories ecosystem that provides receivers, telemetry sensors and other products for any kind of a model and for any budget.
• Third, is the excellent OpenTX FW that is supported by all FrSKY radios that provides very flexible possibilities for any user.
• Forth, is the expandability option, thanks to having 1 inbuilt module and 1 external module bay of the JR type. One can have 32 channels in total.
• At last, it is all about the unbeatable ratio of price|quality|functionality that matters to any wise customer.

 Now, when we are done with the essential stuff let’s move forward to Q X7 review:

Technical characteristics:

• Quad Ball Bearing Gimbals with tension and length adjustment. Spring loading for throttle
• FrSKY ACCST XJT internal module + JR type bay for external module
• Up to 32 CH
• Full Telemetry + X, D, V8II receivers support
• Audio Speech Outputs, loudspeaker and headphones jack
• JR Trainer port
• microSD card slot
• miniUSB connector for PC
• possibility to solder SPort to the board
• 3inch 128×64 backlit screen
• 4 3pos switches, 1 momentary switch and 1 2pos switch
• 2 pots (right with center detent, left with no center detent)
• 4 trimmers
• Power of 6 — 15V capable, JST 2S balance plug
• Haptic feedback
• OpenTX 2.2 FW
• 3 color LED under power on/off button
• any many other great features
• W:200mm, H:170mm, D:50mm. Weight: 631g.

In the box:

1 x Taranis Q X7  1 x Neck Strap  1 x Neck Strap Balancer  1 x User Manual 1 x battery tray for AA battery cells

UPDATE: seems that last units are now shipped with the NiMH battery

IMPORTANT: EU LBT version of Taranis Q X7 would support only X and LR receivers. FCC version would support X, LR, D, V8II receivers.

IMPORTANT: soon the new product — M7 — Hall sensor magnetic aluminum gimbals for Taranis Q X7 would be on sale. For now, there are similar M9 gimbals for X9DPlus and X9D already available.

IMPORTANT — INITIAL RADIO & MODEL SETUP GUIDE: HERE

Look and Feel:

Q X7 incorporates a new, modern design comparing to more conservative Taranis Plus look. But this is a matter of how well does this radio handles in overall, right? I do like the newer design and I do like how it feels in hands. So, nothing to complain about here. Although, I would say that I would like this radio to be a bit heavier which can be solved by using some larger capacity battery. Black or white color — they both would be available from the start — is up to the customer. I’ve got white and think that this would help a lot in case if I’d do some shell paint in future.

Rubber grips are handy and do an excellent job here. No slipping out of the hands.

I can reach any switch on the radio with my fingers despite the fact that I am a two-finger pilot. Switches seem to be on par with what we used to in Taranis Plus and knobs with center detents are very tight. I like this — no longer would I accidently move it.

One of the good new additions — power button is now equipped with 3 color LED under it. This is used to inform a user about different radio states and warnings.

Q X7 comes with a neck strap and a balancer. Personally, I don’t use neck straps very often but it seems to be well balanced when used together.

Screen and navigation buttons:

Screen and navigation buttons section are neat and perfectly located. Moreover, I would say that using navigation and control buttons is where Q X7 outperforms its older brother — Taranis Plus. Using rotary encoder with center press for ENTER and 3 control buttons on the left is much quicker and convenient comparing to separate buttons of Plus radio. Someone mentioned that he would lack some button shortcuts, but I’d say that shortcuts are used rarely comparing to other settings and navigation. So, consequently, the total time used to set the model would significantly decrease.

The screen is 3inch and has 128х64 resolution. Brightness and contrast can be adjusted. Backlight is provided by 4 LEDs at the upper part of the screen. LED color is white.  Despite being smaller than the screen of X9DP — it still handles all the necessary information well. Nothing too small or unreadable. Unfortunately, I can still see the vertical line contrast difference in some sub-menus as in Taranis Plus but it is not a concern as long as the contrast is not dialed abnormally.

Loudspeaker and phones:

The loudspeaker seems to be revised to the point that it no longer produce RF interference noise and became a bit more clear and louder. The 3.5mm headphones jack at the top also performs well — it can reach very high volume levels and is not affected by the internal RF module.

There is one more element at the top — JR trainer jack.

The bottom part:

The bottom part has a rubber cover for microSD card slot and microUSB cable connector. (By the way, I’ve found that there is a place on the main board that is unused — for the Smart Port (GND, S.PT, +5V) (named CON400) that would be accessible through the bottom left hole of the case. S.Port on the bottom side (CON400) would not be physically available for early versions of the radio but would be a standard for all later releases (now, as of April 2017 — all radios come with S.PORT).

Large photo HERE.

This radio comes with no SD card, but having it is essential to use OpenTX FW and its external resources.

The back:

The back side has 2 covers: external JR type module and battery compartment. I’ve noticed that external module cover rattles a bit, but this can easily be fixed.

The battery bay has a physical dimensions of  W:92mm x H:57mm x D:15mm so, you can use whatever battery would fit there.

I’ve double checked the battery bay size again:

W: 92mm (remember that you have to fit wires also there) x H: 57mm (would be tight) x D:15-17mm

If you’d have 15-16mm depth battery — it would fit perfectly. You can fit 17-18mm battery but the battery bay cover might rub against the battery and it would be harder to remove it. The bay cover gets easily removed if you’d press it a bit inside to shift it from the holding openings in the shell… That is why 15 (16mm max) is preferred… but, you can even use 17mm battery depth

Example of the battery that should fit inside perfectly.

Keep in mind that this radio can handle from 6 up to 15V of incoming voltage and the battery connector is JST balance 2S plug. No inbuilt charging circuit and no charging port consequently. Q X7 claimed to have 210mAh power drain at most, so, even 1000mAh battery would last about 3 hours of continuous use.

UPDATE: seems that last units are now shipped with the NiMH battery

The sticks:

Sticks seem to be directly deposited from X9D Plus — the same quad bearing design and overall feel with one major change — throttle comes spring-loaded from the factory. Personally, I don’t use spring loaded throttle and had to adjust one screw inside the radio to get rid of that. Sticks tension and length can also be adjusted. There is also a ratchet option for both sticks.

When looking on the insides — stick cables are all neatly tied together with the special plastic lasso. I had to give each cable a bit more length to get the smoothest movements. In overall, I would say that Taranis X9DP and Q X7 are the same in terms of the sticks and how they feel.

The insides:

What is really good in this radio is how easy it is to disassemble. Only 4 screws to unscrew and no longer to loosen upper switches base to open the shell.

From the very first glance we can see that the antenna is no longer soldered to the board — it has a standard connector and can be easily exchanged.

Concerning the rest — everything seems to be assembled neatly and well. No signs of bad soldering or messy wiring. I would say that there is nothing to worry about at all.

This radio features the latest XJT radio module compatible with all X, D and V8II receivers and has full telemetry support. It would also come in FCC and EU LBT FW versions for different regions. I hope that antenna connector would stay after passing FCC and EU certification

The FW:

The radio comes with OpenTX 2.2 (nightly) preinstalled. I believe that when Q X7 would get released the FW would be updated to stable version. There is not much of a difference to Taranis X9D Plus firmware except for the look of the main and subsequent screen when pressing PAGE button. This has to do with the screen size and some information has changed its location. Anyway, everything is perfectly readable and usable. Main system and model menus are the same.

To get the latest FW version and SD card contents, please, check this page (first post): HERE (I always maintain the latest data in that thread)

By the way, I have discovered the new feature that I didn’t mention in the video — whenever we see a horizontal line on the main and subsequent screens with the press of the PAGE button — if we would scroll with the encoder the bottom half of the screen would show the next corresponding values. Example: when we are at channels monitoring screen at the bottom half we see only 8 channels output — scrolling with the encoder would shift to the next 8 channels and so on. At the same time, the horizontal bar in the middle of the screen would also shift the selection to indicate which number of the channels listing we are at currently. Good.

I couldn’t find Lua support in the current FW nightly build, therefore, cannot check how it works and looks but I hope that there are would be no changes except for the adoption of the smaller resolution.

DFU and bootloader mode are present. Either the radio is switched off and goes to DFU when connected to PC or it forwards all the resources to PC when switched on with trim buttons to center. OpenTX Companion latest build already has Taranis X7 profile but is not yet able to handle radio settings and models. Waiting for the final release or the next version update.

The test:

I wated to compare Q X7 and Taranis Plus in terms of radio signal strength. For this, I’ve taken 1 RX8R receiver and used it with both radios one after another. I’ve left the radios on the table and travelled the same distance through 3 floors of my house to find a room where both radios would report RSSI warnings. Both radios lost the signal at the same room — my garage. But, according to the video — you can see that two radios interpret RSSI figures in some different way or|and with different request periods. Sometimes Q X7 shows larger RSSI value while travelling through the house, sometimes Taranis Plus shows a better value. Moreover, Plus has somehow managed to record RSSI = 12 and Q X7 recorded the smallest RSSI = 46 (although there were lower RSSI values on the screen). So, I would say that it is too early to conclude something. To test both radios in the same conditions we have to use the same OpenTX 2.2 FW + it should be stable. The only conclusion so far — both lost the signal at the same room. Seems that both radios should handle signal similarly.

Conclusion:

I really like this new FrSKY product — Taranis Q X7. Its main aim is to satisfy newcomers and tight budgets not compromising the overall functionality. And I think that as long as the price would be reasonable — this little beast would outperform any other competitor in terms of price|quality|functionality ratio. The final word is awaited from the manufacturer’s side — the verdict on price (UPDATE: officially stated price is $105). Hope that it would not be a miss and this radio would be able to attract a whole bunch of new users to the FrSKY worldwide community.

Download User Manual 

IMPORTANT — INITIAL RADIO & MODEL SETUP GUIDE: HERE

UPDATE: done some painting mod:

How this mode was done:

I used locally made NewTone spray paints:

Blue color — fluorescent — 3 layers, no primer
Structure black for plastic — 3 layers, no primer
And matt lacquer over all the paint — 3 layers

I’ve removed screen glass by heating it. I’ve removed FrSKY metallic letters from the top by heating it. And I’ve covered hand grips to protect them. And the rest of the radio was completely disassembled. It is better to protect and not to paint the following shell parts: base for screen glass, base of battery bay cover. If you’d paint those — parts might not fit together well because there would be 3-6 layers of paint.

Fluorescent paint is semi-transparent and requires white color as a primer layer. White radio shell is excellent for this.

Link to the shop of my own preference 

FrSKY Taranis X9D Plus Special Edition is out (M9 gimbals, upgraded switches, new stick ends, detachable antenna, EVA case, new shell designs)

Recently, racing and acrobatic copters became very popular, especially small frames setups. Many events run worldwide, much competition on the market, lot of newcomers to start their r|c hobby in this segment. And if a year ago we would fly different setups and buy different frames and electronics, now most of the things have been brought to some obvious standards — 180-250 class frames, F3|F4 flight controllers, FrSKY Taranis radios, CleanFlight|BetaFlight FW, etc. This also leads to different manufacturers starting to present all-in-one electronic sandwaiches for copters equipped with different options to keep the weight down and maintain the ease of setup.

FrSKY would also jump into this boat and today I would like to introduce their new products — latest SpRacing F3Evo boards with integrated XM+ or XSR receivers:

• FrSKY XMPF3E (F3Evo with integrated XM+, no telemetry, only RSSI to F3Evo, priced $35)
• FrSKY XSRF3E (F3Evo with integrated XSR, full telemetry, priced $42).

These long model names are just the abbreviation of two names — SpRacing F3Evo board and XM+ or XSR FrSKY receivers.

What is good about those products? XM+ or XSR receivers are intergrated to the latest F3Evo board, still keeping most of the additional features of both products.

Of course, SpRacing F3Evo and XSRF3E or XMPF3E boards are not completely the same. A slightly different layout and amount of I|O ports in favor of having built-in receivers. But most of the features are still there for the most of the user demands. It is not a compromise and you would not lack something in comparison to genuine SpRacing board.

Technical Specifications XMPF3E:

• 36×36×6mm (L × W × H) with 30.5mm mounting holes
• STM32F303 CPU (72Mhz inc FPU), MPU9250 (accelerometer/gyro/compass), and BMP280 barometer for F3EVO, CC2510 CPU for XM+ receiver
• 16CH (8CH is RSSI) by SBUS to UART2 Rx of F3EVO
• Voltage Range: 4.0~10V
• Current: 100mA@5V
• Supports: FrSky Taranis X9D/X9E/ Horus X12S/XJT in D16 mode
• Weight: 7g
• 6 PWM outputs from F3Evo
• Separate SBUS output port on the board for XM+ (upgrading and CH output)
• Blackbox microSD card onboard
• Full range receiver
• CleanFilght|BetaFlight ready (comes with Betaflight from the factory)
• Race transponder ready

Technical Specifications XSRF3E:

• Full telemetry downlink to|from UART3 of F3Evo
• 36×36×6mm (L × W × H) with 30.5mm mounting holes
• STM32F303 CPU (72Mhz inc FPU), MPU9250 (accelerometer/gyro/compass), and BMP280 barometer for F3EVO
• 16CH (8CH is RSSI) by SBUS to UART2 Rx of F3EVO
• Voltage Range: 4.0~10V
• Current: 200mA@5V
• Supports: FrSky Taranis X9D/X9E/ Horus X12S/XJT in D16 mode
• Weight: 6g
• 6 PWM outputs from F3Evo
• Separate SPort output port on the board for XSR (upgrading and telemetry output)
• Full range receiver
• CleanFilght|BetaFlight ready (comes with Betaflight from the factory)
• Flight controller PIDs can be configured with LUA scripts from Taranis radios over telemetry and SPort
• Race transponder ready

main differences between 2 boards are in bold letters.

As you can see from the technical description, the main difference between 2 boards is that XSRF3E does support full telemetry + OTA PID configuration over SPort and XMPF3E doesn’t do that (it can only output RSSI value to CH8 of F3Evo). But, at the same time XMPF3E has an additional feature — microSD card slot for blackbox logging. Hard decision, right? Either to go with full telemtry and buy separate blackbox or stick to onboard blackbox and have no telemetry, only optional OSD… It is up to you.

In the box:

XMPF3E comes in the box that includes a short user manual, 5 JST-SH sets of connector pins, JST-SH connector with 6 cables for PWM output and microSD card (1Gb) for blackbox.

XSRF3E comes in the same package but with no microSD card because it doesn’t feature onboard blackbox logger.

Features:

XMPF3E has the following layout that describes all the features it has:

Besides having all the latest accelerometer/gyro/compass/barometer and blackbox logger, it also has additional inputs for:

• LED strip
• Buzzer
• Race transponder
• OSD
• Battery voltage and current monitoring

there are additional unused ports available for a user:

• UART3
• UART1
• SBUS XM+ output + upgrade

So, having everything described above you can make a 100% working setup with optional OSD, optional race transponder, onboard blackbox logging, optional buzzer, optional LED stips and so on. Moreover, you can have 16CH via SBUS output for your external devices and upgrade XM+ receiver with SBUS port.

XSRF3E has a slightly different layout:

It also features the latest accelerometer/gyro/compass/barometer but with no blackbox data logger. And has additional inputs for:

• LED strip
• Buzzer
• Race transponder
• OSD
• Battery voltage and current monitoring

there are additional unused ports available for a user:

• UART1
• SPort XSR for telemetry output and upgrade

So, again, having everything described above you can make a 100% working setup with optional OSD, optional buzzer, optional LED stips, full telemetry link to your radio and so on. But with no SBUS CH output to external devices and with optional blackbox logger. Moreover, you can upgrade XSR receiver through SPort and output telemetry to external devices as well as to use OTA PID tuning from your radio. And the main feature in case of using XSRF3E — having all telemetry values from your F3E board to your radio via SPort telemetry. Which values? All described THERE. Probably, you would be aslo able to connect additional SPort sensors using SPort pins on the board. But this should be yet checked.  

Made a wiring diagram:

It is interesting that XSRF3E uses usual-sized servo pins for SPort output from the receiver on the board. XMPF3E uses smaller pins for SBUS port output.

Frequent question is where to connect ESC grounds to XSRF3E and XMPF3E — you can solder all ground ESC wires together and than to any ground contact of either FC, I prefer to solder it to incoming from PDB to FC voltage GND contact. Or, you can choose any other more convenient soldering GND pad.

FW setup specifics (CleanFlight and BetaFlight):

First, you have to bind your receiver to the radio in order to see channel monitor in the CleanFlight | BetaFlight FW. For this, you have a dedicated bind button on the board and 2 LEDs (red and green) as in any other FrSKY receiver. Press and hold this button while powering your board with microUSB, set your radio to D16 and bind mode, wait until red led on the board would flash and green would be lit, turn eveything of and turn on again. Bind is ready. Now, you can proceed to the CleanFlight | BetaFlight setup using your microUSB cable connected to the board (CleanFlight and BetaFlight GUI are the extention appllications for Chrome and could be found in Chrome Shop).

XMPF3E has the following musts on configuration:

• UART2 has to be confiugured as Serial RX
• Receiver mode should be RX_Serial
• Serial Receiver Provider should be SBUS
• RSSI_ADC Analog RSSI Input should be disabled
• RSSI channel should be 8

XSRF3E has the following musts on configuration:

• UART2 has to be confiugured as Serial RX
• UART3 has to be SmartPort
• Receiver mode should be RX_Serial
• Serial Receiver Provider should be SBUS
• RSSI_ADC Analog RSSI Input should be disabled
• RSSI channel should be 8 (or disabled. RX would still transmit RSSI value to radio without F3Evo board settings for this)

The main difference in this section is that UART3 port in XSRF3E board would be busy with SPort telemetry data coming from XSR receiver. Moreover, it gives you a great advantage — a possibility to tune board PIDs over the telemetry channel. To get this to work you should have BetaFlight 3.1 on your flight controller,  OpenTX 2.2 with Lua support on your Taranis radio, have this script on your SD card in SCRIPTS/TELEMETRY (not more than 6 characters in the file name), set it in MODEL — Telemetry settings (Page 14|14) as one of the 4 dedicated telemetry screens… That is it! Or, in case if it doesn’t work — put it in SCRIPTS folder on your SD, navigate to SD card browser, find the script, execute it and have fun — checked — it’s working.

photo source — flymod.net

XSRF3E telemetry:

The following sensors are transmitted back to the radio (partially taken from here):

• RSSI — seems to be sent directly to radio from receiver. Even with RSSI switched off on the F3Evo board — we still see the value.
• A4 : average cell value. Warning : unlike FLVSS sensors, you do not get actual lowest value of a cell, but an average : (total lipo voltage) / (number of cells)
• Alt : barometer based altitude, init level is zero.
• Vspd : vertical speed, unit is cm/s.
• Hdg : heading, North is 0°, South is 180°.
• AccX,Y,Z : accelerometers values.
• Tmp1 : actual flight mode, sent as 4 digits. Number is sent as (1)1234. Please ignore the leading 1, it is just there to ensure the number as always 5 digits (the 1 + 4 digits of actual data) the numbers are aditives (for example, if first digit after the leading 1 is 6, it means GPS Home and Headfree are both active) : 1 is GPS Hold, 2 is GPS Home, 4 is Headfree, 1 is mag enabled, 2 is baro enabled, 4 is sonar enabled, 1 is angle, 2 is horizon, 4 is passthrough, 1 is ok to arm, 2 is arming is prevented, 4 is armed
• Tmp2 (only of there is GPS sensor available) : GPS lock status, Number is sent as 1234, the numbers are aditives : 1 is GPS Fix, 2 is GPS Home fix, not used, not used, number of sats
• VFAS : actual vbat value.
• GAlt : GPS altitude, sea level is zero.
• GSpd : current speed, calculated by GPS.
• GPS : GPS coordinates.
• Cels : average cell value, vbat divided by cell number. Didn’t find this. Seems to be Vfas or A4.
• RxBAT : voltage of F3E
• Curr : current from main battery if sensor is used, unit in mA
• Fuel : something is provided but cannot figure out that yet

Flight setup and tuning:

I would not focus on this part because all settings, PIDs and configuration is done the same way as you would do it for any other board capable of running CleanFlight | BetaFlight FW. It is better to refer to FW documentation or SpRacing manual in order to understand how eveything works. Besides, I am still waiting for the new 210 frames from KDS Kylin… I would add some information here about my setup as soon as it would arrive and I’d manage to get it into the air. I have XSRF3E & XMPF3E boards from FrSKY and would use it as my next flight controllers (updated — setup is ready, written in the end of this review).

Upgrading receiver FW in XSRF3E and XMPF3E boards:

As usually, built-in receivers in both boards would be available as FCC and EU LBT versions of FW. Whenever you buy the wrong version, you would be able to upload the required FW and upgrade it in future.

In case of XSRF3E it is a straightforward — you have SPort pins (SPort, +5, G) on the board which you can use to upgrade XSR receiver from your Taranis radio or using Upgrade Stick or FUC cable.

In case of XMPF3E it is not so logical but still — you have SBUS pins on the board (SBUS, +5, G) which would act the same as SPort during the upgrade process. You can also use your radio or upgrade stick or FUC cable.

But remember, firmware for the receivers that are a part of F3E board is not the same as the FW for standalone XSR and XM+ receivers. If you’d just try to upload such standalone FW inside the built-in receivers — they wouldn’t work. There would be separate FW for  receivers in XSRF3E and XMPF3E on FrSKY website. 

My current setup using XSRF3E board:

Frame: KDS Kylin 210

Cam: Foxeer 700TVL
VideoTX: 5.8GHz DalRC 600mW
Antenna: clover, Aomway
Flight board: FrSky XSRF3E (F3Evo with built-in XSR)
Power DB: FlyMod.net BEC/ZMR
Motors: KDS Kylin 2204 2300kv
ESC: KDS Kylin 20A OneShot125
LiPO: FlyMod.net 1,300mAh, 4S, 45-90C
Props: 5x4x3
Total weight (everything except LiPO): 300g

Flies great. Yes, I had to use some silicone dampers to mount the flight board, but see no problems with vibes after that.

Conclusion: 

Both flight controller boards from FrSKY have detachable antennas. Whenever you’d kill one or both — you would be able to exchange it. Both have the same physical and mounting size. Therefore, the only decision you should make is about Telemetry + PIDs OTA configuration VS Blackbox. The rest of the features are almost the same.

So, what are the pros and cons of using XMPF3E or XSRF3E instead of SpRacing F3Evo?

Pros:

• built in 16CH SBUS XM+ or XSR receiver
• keeps the weight lower
• keeps the setup easier and smaller
• RSSI on CH8
• 16CH SBUS separate output for XM+
• SPort telemetry output for XSR
• external receiver still can be used
• price is very attractive

Cons:

• UART2 is busy with the receiver in case of XM+
• UART2 and UART3 are busy with the receiver in case of XSR
• 6PWM output instead of 8PWM
• No I2C for external screen or sensors

What are the pros and cons of using XMPF3E instead of XSRF3E?

Pros:

• microSD card slot for blackbox data log
• 16CH SBUS output to external devices

Cons:

• No telemetry
• No OTA PID tuning

What are the pros and cons of using XSRF3E instead of XMPF3E? 

Pros:

• full telemetry to|from UART3 of the F3Evo
• SPort output to external devices
• OTA PID tuning

Cons:

• no onboard blackbox

That is all folks. Make your decision!!

You can buy FrSKY XMPF3E from FrSKY premium dealers

You can buy FrSKY XSRF3E from FrSKY premium dealers

FrSKY XMPF3E in the shop of my own preference

FrSKY XSRF3E in the shop of my own preference

Kylin 210 frame

Stay tuned, more to come…

FrSKY premium dealers list

If you didn’t know yet, there are some products that FrSKY already make to get the most bulletproof radio signal by adding full-duplex relay with 2 parallel receivers together with doubling onboard batteries — Redundancy Bus and RB10.

But, if you don’t want to mess with such complicated setups, want to keep the weight of your model as low as you can, want to spend less yet having some compromise between a mere receiver and the full redundancy setup — RX8R is here for you.

Technical specifications:

• Band: 2.4GHz ACCST
• Channel: 16CH / 1-8ch from PWM
• 1-16ch from SBUS port
• S.Port
• RX IN port
• Two PCB antennas
• Full Range
• Full Telemetry
• Dimension: 46.25×26.6×14.2mm (L×W×H)
• Weight: 12.1g
• Operating Voltage Range: 4.0-10V
• Operating Current: 100mA@5V
• Firmware Upgradable
• Compatibility: FrSky radios/transmitter modules in D8/D16 mode

Those, who used X8R and X6R receivers before, would not find any difference in casing design, size and weight of the new product. What’s different — RX IN port instead or RSSI out and newly designed PCB antennas with no plastic covers. Moreover, you would follow the same steps to set it up as you’ve done with X8R and other jumper-equipped SBUS|PWM, S.Port receivers.

Despite the possibility of this receiver to work as a conventional X8R, the main goal of RX8R is to be used as master with some X-series, SBUS equipped receiver connected to RX IN port as a backup slave receiver. The only demand in such setup — slave receiver should be configured to no telemetry mode with PWM channels set to 9-16 (or else) output, if any, and master RX8R should be configured to 1-8PWM with telemetry. Than, you can connect SBUS output of RX8R to your flight model controller or ESC/servos to PWM 1-8 channels and connect other electronics to PWM channels of slave receiver, if any. Moreover, you have to configure failsafe values for 1-16 channels in master and 9-16 channels in slave to the desired positions.

You can bind both receivers to 1 radio module or bind the them separately to 2 separate modules ( in case if internal and external XJT are used — both switches of the exteranl module should be set to ON)

Such combination of 2 receivers would do the following:

1. RX8R, as a master, would give out SBUS channels 1-16 and PWM 1-8 as long as it stays online. With all telemetry and RSSI values.
2. When RX8R looses the signal, it would take the signal from slave receiver if it is still online with no interruption to all channels functionality. Unfortunately, you’d loose the telemetry.
3. In case if slave fails and master works — you’d loose PWM channels from the slave receiver (9 — 16) if any, and slave receiver would output failsafe values for those channels. But there is a telemetry from master to the radio.
4. In case if both receivers fail — they would both output corresponding failsafe values.

As you can see, the only real drawback of such setup is that you’d loose the telemetry and RSSI value whenever master goes offline. Even despite the fact that you model still controllable because slave’s receiver signal is relayed to the master.

Other combination would be to have 2 RX8R connected together. There are 2 options:

1. If you’d connect them with only one cable — system would act the same as in the previous description.
2. If you’d interconnect them with 2 cables in circles there would be 2 changes: one is that you no longer have SBUS channels because master SBUS port is busy with the cable, but, what is good is that you would have 16PWM channels system (1-8 from master and 9-16 from slave) that would work at any time, no matter which one of the receivers goes offline. Still, slave should be configured to have no telemetry, thus, again, if master fails all 16 channels work but no RSSI and other values….

Binding 2 interconnected RX8R (with 2 cables) to 2 separate radio modules would bring even more reliability and give you the most out of such system setup.

I have conducted the test to check the first situation: 1 RX8R as master and 1 X8R as a slave. No problems here (look at the video review). They work as described, making the radio link more reliable especially if receivers are situated at different locations on the model to get the most out of such kind of diversity or redundancy setup.

I have noticed that right at the time when RX8R master looses signal the servo connected to its PWM output has a momentary freeze or uneven movement and then continues to work smoothly. This is due to the signal overtake (relay) time period when master fails and slave starts to output its signal is about 900ms. In case if you want much faster relay time — you should use RB10 instead. I have reported this to FrSKY and hope that they would be able to reduce the lag.

FrSKY has updated RX8R FW and now it has no visible lag of master to slave switching at all!!! Excellent!!! Newer FW is available by this LINK.

I don’t have 2 RX8R to check the other described situations, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work.

Therefore, I can conclude that whenever someone wants to reinforce or defend his radio link with the lowest possible cost, weight and amount of wiring — he should consider having one or even two RX8R receivers with redundancy bus feature.

Link to the shop of my own preference

Stay tuned, more reviews are coming!!! 

FrSKY premium dealers list

FrSKY Taranis X9D Plus Special Edition is out (M9 gimbals, upgraded switches, new stick ends, detachable antenna, EVA case, new shell designs)

Many people would ask why is this product is so important and what improvements does it have over the original Taranis gimbals? I would try to explain the point here, but lets start with the technical specifications:

There is a list of electrical specifications provided by FrSKY:

I would add some more features to this technical stuff:

• Hall sensor based gimbals (maghnetic field instead of mechanical friction in potentiometers)
• 4 bearing design
• CNC aluminum base for the overall stiffness and precision
• Aluminum crossbars for precision in centering
• All axis can be spring-loaded
• Adjustable tension and ratchet
• Stick tips with sharp edge design
• Adjustable stick length
• Aluminum crossbars are covered with rubber at the bottom part to have a soft stop effect when stick limiters touch it.

Knowing the stated specifications and features, I can conclude the following improvements over original Taranis sticks:

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1. M9 should be more durable — there are no friction electrical compenents that would wear over time. Hall sensors rely on magnetic field and don’t deteriorate because of the mechanical frictions.
2. M9 should be more precise — same thing here — usual potentiometers would loose their layer due to friction, moreover it is in nature of the potentiometers to show some uneven figures and erratic resistance that gets even worse if heavily used. Hall sensors have even and smooth forces that result in more stable readings. Moreover, additional precision comes from aluminum base that makes the whole sturcture to flex less and aluminum crossbars that result in excellent stick centering.
3. M9 should feel smoother — again, due to the absence of additional friction parts.

Note: as LapinFou from RCG mentioned — Taranis X9D Plus starting with C01 version also have aluminum crossbars in the gimbal construction (PR-10 gimbals) that made them center better… But this is not only about having crossbars — there are plenty of other advantages of M9 over even PR-10 original sticks.

Note2: M9 stick shafts are bit longer than in original gimbals. If you got used to fly with original stick tips set to the shortest position — you might experience some troubles with M9 gimbals. In this case, you would have to find some after market shorter tips. 

So, those 3 main advantages make M9 gimbals to be the must have upgrade for any Taranis X9D Plus and X9D owner.

WARNINGS: 

Keep in mind the 2 following warnings about Hall sensors technology:

1. Do not overheat your radio. Natural magnets start to loose their magnetic characteritics when heated >70° Сentigrates. Do not expose your radio to direct summer sunlight for a long time.
2. Keep your radio away from the strong magnetic fields — if the outer magnetic field is stronger than magnets used inside the gimbal it would result in reading inclinations.

In the box:

M9 gimbals are exactly the same. They are sold separately — 1 piece in the box. There is no such thing as right or left gimbal — any two would do. The box is ok but I would prefer something more sturdy to eliminate all possible issues during the transportation. The box also contans 4 hex screws for each gimbal which are really needed because the original gimbals use self-tapping screws and would not work with M9 gimbals.

Installation process:

It is easy. The product is design to be plug and play. But still some tools are needed:

• 1.5mm hex screwdriver to adjust the spring tension
• 2.5mm hex screwdriver to unscrew original stick and tie new ones to the case
• Phillips screwdriver to open the case and to remove spring load from throttle
• scissors or any other tool to loosen SE and SG switches
• 2mm hex screwdriver to adjust the length of the stick (inner small hex screw in the stick tip)

First, remove the battery and unscrew 6 screws on the back of the radio. Than, loosen SE and SG switches. Open the case and unplug 3 gimbal plugs of each gimbal. Unscrew 8 srews holding gimbals on the front side of the radio, remove gimbals. Put new gimbals inside so that Hall sensors would be directed outside the case. Be careful with wires coming from the top switches and pots. Plug back 3 plugs coming from each gimbal — it is hard to make a mistake because the length of the cable shows where it can be plugged to. Use the new screws to tie M9 gimbals to the case. Adjust all tensions, ratchets and so on and close the radio. Calibrate. That is it!!!

Note: if you want to remove spring tension from throttle channel you have to lift throttle crossbar all the way up and srew in the screw in the center of the crossbar. It is better to release the tension of the spring completely prior to doing this.

A bit of comparison between original and M9 gimbals:

Original gimbals are made of plastic. No aluminum. This results in different weight: default gimbals weight 49g per gimbal and M9 weight 59g per gimbal. It means that your Taranis would get 20g heavier than it was before.

M9 gimbals are less tall but the stick length might be adjusted so that it would almost reach the level of original sticks adjusted to the highest position. This means that M9 sticks have wider range of length adjustment.

Springs in M9 seem to be a bit more tough in comparison to original gimbals but it might be an effect of the original gimbals long and heavy use.

All the rest of features and adjustments are the same. Cables also look almost the same.

Stick shafts are hollow inside, therefore, you’ll be able to use mods like this one in future when they would become available for M9. Moreover, stick shaft has the same thread as X12S sticks have.

Overall feel:

Yes, in fact — M9 gimbals feel smoother. And centering is much more pronounced thanks to aluminum base and crossbars. As I’ve shown in the video — it seems that channel values are also kept more stable. I would say that I completely satisfied with the results. Cannot conduct any tests in real flying — the weather is still bad — but I am sure that this upgrade would also result in more stable flights.

And there is some small detail that I like very much — aluminum crossbars are covered with rubber at the bottom part to have a soft stop effect when stick limiters touch it. Small detail that results in very pleasant feeling and shows that gimbals are developed by engeineers rather than economists 

Some more technical tests:

Analog readings test (SYSTEM — Analog test menu):

Slow movements of full deflection to side and than to center:

Rudder from left to center: 044D
Rudder from right to center: 044D
No increments.

Elevator from Down to Center: 0350
Elevator from Top to Center: 0351
Increment of 1.

Ailerons from Left to Center: 03EE
Ailerons from Right to Center: 03F0
Increment of 2.

Magnetic field test: 

I’ve taken small neodim magnet from 2212 ruined outrunner motor and put it close to the gimbals:

• 1-2% reading inclinations on aileron and rudder axis when magnet is placed on top upper part of the aluminum gimbal base
• 2-4% readings inclinations on throttle and elevator axis when magnet is placed close to hall sensors on corresponding sides of the radio shell
• 0% inclinations when magnet is placed at the back of the radio shell (hall sensors are far away)

Conclusion:

FrSKY M9 gimbals is a great addition and upgrade to Taranis X9D Plus and X9D radios. One of the best TX in the world now has the cutting edge technology applied to its main controls — gimbals. This upgrade worth every cent and, to be honest, the price is very low — only $19,5 per piece, excluding VAT as stated by FrSKY. Difinitely worth it. Have a set, try it out and be happy with your radio rebirth!

UPDATE: 1 month passed since I’ve started to use M9 — I can tell you now that they are really great. Even in simulators they feel much more precise than regular ones. When swtiching to another radio with regular gimbals my flights become less smooth. I even decided to use only X9DP with M9 for now and wait intil M7 gimbals would be released for Q X7. Must have.

You can buy M9 gimbals from one of the FrSKY premium dealers

Link to the shop of my own preference

FrSKY Taranis X9D Plus Special Edition is out (M9 gimbals, upgraded switches, new stick ends, detachable antenna, EVA case, new shell designs)

Stay tuned, there are more reviews to come soon!!!