Welcome back Park Pilot and FPV (first
person view) fans and readers. After almost
5 years of writing my column in Airborne, I
must say that my 3 part series on FPV for beginners got amongst the most interest! This
really did not surprise myself or our editor, as
let’s be honest, we are all pilots no matter
what we fly, but in this case we pilots prefer
remote controlled, smaller siblings of what
our wallets might not allow or we simply love
the hassle free park flying experience.
We are very lucky at Airborne as we have
the most loyal and dedicated readership and
you have no doubt read my FPV series and a
large number of readers have contacted me
personally to get my advice on your set up.
Thank you to those readers who have come
back to me with your mostly successful FPV
flight results based on my advice and my
(mostly successfully) experience.
Whist I felt that I was successful in simplifying the process though a three part series, admittedly it’s a fairly complex way to go, but boy
is it rewarding when you get it right! The joys
are obvious, donning some amazing immersive
flight goggles and parting ways with your correctly set up (and expensive) model equipped
with a legal 25Mw video transmitter (remember,
anything more powerful is not legal in Australian
skies) brings with a completely new “ virtual reality” aspect of flying an RC plane or helicopter
in real time. But what if you feel it’s all a little
too much for you to put together or you just
want to see what it’s like without having to outlay over $600 and many hours getting it right ?
Is there a solution? Kellet's Hobbies sure think
there is and have partnered with a new “Park
Flyer FPV RTF” company Hubsan.
Hubsan have a clear product offering.
Small, not quite micro but compact models
that come ARTF and have all the complex
video equipment already installed and working. All the servos are pre-installed and for the
most part, these come ready to fly. The only
exception being the Spyhawk as it’s easier
and cheaper to ship it as sub-assemblies but
there really is no building required on any of
their new fleet. Sounds good? Let’s investigate this further to see what we think.
42
Airborne
Hubsan
FPV
Invader
Helicopter
The Invader
is a very compact, fully functional
single
rotor helicopter
(a multi rotor
version is also
available) that
has the most
simple controls
available. There is no assembly required here and
it fits back in its box for storage. I really think this
is a great point as you can throw this in your car
and take it away with you without having to worry
about damaging it. Looks wise - I like it, clearly it’s
been modelled on the successful Trex heli series
and its small flight camera has been positioned
under the canopy in a nice purpose built moulding.
After you removing your new flying FPV helicopter,
plug in the 2s Lipo to the include wall charger and
then pop up to the shops to grab some AAA bat-
teries for the transmitter.Yep, we are back to the
“batteries not included” stage. That said they’re not
too expensive so let’s move on.
The overall quality of the Helicopter is excellent. Some of the standout features being a full
metal boom and skids and a very impressive metal
rotor head made me smile. Whist your tiny Lipo is
charging and your back home with the AAA batteries, read thought the well written a pictured manual. Nothing too revolutionary but it does explain
everything you might need to know.