Transmitter Overview - Helicopter
The transmitter is by far the most impressive
transmitter I have ever seen in an all-inclusive
ready to fly model. For those of you that are unfamiliar with how an FPV model is laid out, you will
notice the duel antennas on the transmitter. One
is dedicated to the 2.4GHz control and the other
for the 5.8 GHz video downlink. Turning on the
transmitter provides a blue screen until you plug in
you flight Lipo that also runs your video downlink.
It takes a few seconds to “go live” and you are welcomed by the live video on you built in LCD
screen. There is a very cool pop up sun protector
that is designed to keep the ambient sunlight away
from the LCD screen, but more on this later. Pushing the menu button allows you to scroll though
some basic computer options like reversing each
flight surface and allow mode 1 or mode 2 to be
configured. You will still need to mechanically modify this if you need to change modes and as this is
a review I decided to do this on one of the transmitters. No soldering is required and I change between mode 2 and 1 in about 15 minutes. It was a
bit fiddly but you will have no real issue doing it if
required, but to be honest, I can’t see why you
would really need to do this but the option is there
if required. The LCD denotes the Lipo usage which
I like, but once again this is never going to get
enough range to get out of line of sight, it’s more
pure fun telemetry than a critical data feed like you
would require if flying a larger, more capable FPV
model. There is a jack in the side of the transmitter
if you have purchased the optioned Hubsan video
goggles. Again, more on this latter in the review.
Flying The Invader FPV Helicopter
This is a first for aPark Pilot review, a Heli review and what a good way to start. My helicopter
flying skills are fair but I’m no helicopter 3D pilot.
I’ll leave that to my fixed wing aircraft. The Hubsan
Invader is an excellent way to start flying helicopters with the added advantage of getting real time
video feed. Placing the helicopter in my small garden, I throttled up to 60% or so and had her in a
very stable hover. 4 or 5 clicks or right trim actually
had the invader hovering completely hands off! I
like this already. Forward flight was nice and
smooth and banking turns maintained fairly good
height consistency, but expect to be on the throttle
here. Backward flight was just as good with just a
hint of tail wag that was ease to control. Pirouettes
were pretty quick, as in all helis, quicker going right
th