A long video on a Passionate Topic that most take to the grave. We all know that we are passionate about our radio choices. Enjoy the video! Thank you to all of those that made this possible!
Why do the Spektrum, JR and Futaba have the TX antenna tip pointing forward?! The point with the lowest radiation! With the other transmitters the antennas are aligned crosswise. Intention or absence of elementary basic knowledge in the high frequency technology?
@@KKM57P They are not pointed forward. they are at a 45 Degree angle to home base. Same as Jeti, Core and any of the other antenna used. Yes I do lack so much basic Knowledge. Please do a better version of this test for the RC Community! Thank you.
@@thelightersideofrc There are serious technical errors in the whole test. Otherwise, 900 MHz would not have nearly the same range as 2.4G. 900MHz would have to reach twice as far with the same transmission power. It has a much lower attenuation. I would like to have an answer to this discrepancy. What the error is here in the test, also explains the reason why this is so.
Thanks much! I'm a 65 year old r/c lifer in Kansas City. I've flown Futaba, Spektrum and now converted to Frsky for the rest of my days. I appreciate the detailed and professional review. You guys rock!
Note 1:08:33 ELRS system has different RF modes. Standard LoRa modes, F mode, D mode and they can give different results. For example LoRa mode gives excellent overall link range because can demodulate RF packet at noise floor level. D mode gives more stable link, les jitter at long range because it retransmits each RF packet multiple times. You can easily change those modes from radio menu, from ELRS LUA script.
@@finn4795also depends on the mode for ELRS. Changes how well the signal stability is for the given power vs latency. ELRS gives way more options for modulation type, power, latency, etc.
I have used my Frsky X9D for the last 12 years. Never had a issue with it. But i am now waitng for my new Radiomaster TX16S MKII to arrive via the local post office. I realize I have made a good choice after watching this video. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. 👍
I'm really impressed. This video show just how much REAL work and PLANNING is required to do REAL comparisons. Thank you and all of the others in the video for the many many days worth of work required to lead up to this! (and the many hours of editing required to make the actual video!) (p.s. I fly Jeti and FrSky) p.p.s. I am an RF engineer - the Chase Car could/would affect the performance of any of the TX/RX systems (height of car, incline, it is "sort of blocking LOS"), The same applies to having the cab of the truck between the TX and the RX (the return trip re-acquisition comments)
Thanks Very much Sean. It’s nice to see the common sense and appreciation about this video as the amount of slander and negativity blows my mind from a select few! I appreciate your comments very much!
I have flown airplanes, helicopters and drones with Futaba all my life, since the 90s when I was just a boy, my first radio was a 4-channel Futaba Conquest and currently a T14SG among all the Futaba models that I have collected through the years. For me they are the most reliable and the only radio I have had from another brand has been FrSky Taranis because of its versatility to configure to fly drones and they are also very good.
The sorry thing is that no matter how long one has been doing something if they did it wrong or with the wrong equipment and we're not smart enough to notice it or to fix it
Happy to see FrSky finally getting some more recognition in the airplane world. There's been a huge influx of large gasser and jet pilots flying them in the last year, since the Tandem systems came out. Price to performance is off the charts. I've been using FrSky since 2017 and wouldn't have it any other way.
@@thelightersideofrc If you ever get a chance to meet someone with an X18(S), try it out. It is shaped a lot more traditionally, reminds me of Spektrum for ergonomics. I prefer it over the X20 for that reason. Cheers!
@@oponohou I thought that they had contacted Futaba but the company obviously didn't want to chance it! 😜 Obviously they have a more realistic insider's view of their product than your own? 😁
Very interesting test, a lot of work, thanks for sharing this! There is no perfect test, but there are some interesting conclusions one can draw. Here is my take: The systems that we can compare in somewhat fair grounds (i.e. no external modules, same type of link -2.4 Ghz FSK only (no LoRa)-, legal FCC transmitting power=
Thank you for doing this test. This will shake the big transmitter industry for the good. Same happened with independent test with LIPO batteries. We need more independent test like this. Bring it on..!
I would be curious to see a current Futaba transmitter like the 16IZ or 18SZ and a higher end receiver too. That is all I use and have never had issues.
@@thelightersideofrc It was bad timing for me being busy, I would have loved to have made the trip, meet you, and toss my 18MZ into the ring. Not as new as the 16IZ or 18SZ, but a little more current than the 14MZ tested.
I've been a long life futawa user and I switched over to FR. Sky and do not regret it. I fly around the house with drones far out. My planes at the field and the signal has been Rock solid. The new receivers are outstanding. A lot of bang for your buck. I'll never go back
Maybe for a multirotor, but most of us run 50hz servos in airplanes. I know in higher end planes many run faster servos, but those craft are usually LOS so long range isn't a requirement. I think an important lesson learned is what happens if a certain radio system has a fail safe and does it rebind immediately after signal returns. @@lightbulbjim
The amount of work put into this test is very impressive the only beef I have is the receiver antenna should have been mounted 5 to 8 ft wood pole above the truck.
I switched from Spektrum to Powerbox about 18 months ago, and i don't regret it. Powerbox was the only radio you tested with just one standard receiver and nothing else. I would have like to have seen the same set up options as you did with Jeti. for example a Powerbox Pioneer or Mercury SR2 with 2 PBR-26D satellite receivers. These is the set set ups i have on my Rebel 1.5m Hot and Rebel 2m classic. I don't know if it would have made a difference but it would have been interesting to see.
Thanks Neil. They are all great Radios! Can't go wrong with any of them. Just tested what we had but yes it would have been interesting to see more variations.
The nice thing about radiomaster is it can talk to all of those relievers and be tuned to get the best reception. It's perfect for me since I've had so many different brands over the last decade and I can just set it up to talk to the futaba, airtronics, Jr, spectrum or hitec recievers..I run frsky on one's I have to update from the old fm receivers.
@thelightersideofrc I want to say that the frsky transmitter can do it as well, but the other nice thing is you can do software updates and make the radio master a touchscreen by just going to the support page. I loved my airtronics radio, but they went out of business and I an not a spectrum fan boy. I know that Jr is affiliated with spectrum and the futaba stuff is great but over priced. So in the end I decided to try the radiomaster and once you get past the learning curve, it just opened the door for more options.
Great work Jon and crew!! Thnx for making the effort! I was already a big ELRS fan (and yes Radiomaster too, but that is not what this test was about) and I'm not surprised it did this well, even at a fraction of the max outputpower! What amazed me was how badly the other, high-end en very much more expensive units performed!! A standard Tx16S with ELRS and a reciever will set you back somewhere around 250 euro (sorry I don't get the imperial sizes.. ;p) while some of the others cost up to ten times as much.... Open source is awesome!!
I’m fully in line with you. I like a lot my tx16s, never get any issue in more than 3 years, edgetx is very powerfull, and since 1 year I use elrs. both togethere are just amazing for a very competitive prices. On top off with fast improvment from open source community, they really make a great job
The thing is, I always had problems with my Spektrum transmitters (connection failure) and switched to FrSky. I have never had a connection failure with the FrSky transmitter. The test has once again confirmed my decision to switch to FrSky.
Nice vid Jon. Everyone's gonna have there favorite hence comments and ya should try this RX etc. Every Radio got a fair suck of the sav. Of course it all comes down to what's Avitabile in your part of the world. Since no one has done anything, similar mission accomplished. Ya lucky it was a reasonable Weather day.. Great bunch of helpers.Carry on.
Results as expected. Using Frsky long time ago with gas turbines, no problem at all. For the " normal" receiver for Frsky you have used a S8R, an old accst protocol receiver, but anyway working perfect. Maybe you should have had better results with the SR8 or R8, both access protocol receivers, much much modern ones for the 2,4 receiver testing. Also, those receivers can work with redundancy, that improves a lot the recepcion, due to the multiple antenas. Thanks for the review, maybe I expected a little more from powerbox, but everything as expected with the others.
Great video, but I am concerned about one thing. A few years ago, I flew a Futaba 32mz with a device that counted lost frames for each flight. I would typically get to a flying field early mid-morning and fly until late afternoon, and what I found was that the radio frequency environment changed considerably throughout the day. When I first arrived in the morning, the RF environment would be the best. I might get only a few hundred lost frames at this time. Then, as the day progressed, my lost frames would increase to several thousand sometime in the afternoon and then drop off towards the end of the day. I interpreted this as the RF environment being variable throughout the day, and it leads me to be concerned that this effect could have been confounded with the results presented in this video. The proper way to test for this would have been to set the testing up with randomized replicates for each test. Each radio should have been independently tested three times, and the order of all the tests should have been randomized. If this was done, the effects of RF environment variation would have been shared equally across all radios, and three replicates would have allowed for dropping any "high flyers" from each set of three tests... Another concern that just crossed my mind is that my testing with my Futaba radio taught me that transmitter antenna orientation has a big effect on signal quality. I found that the best orientation for my Futaba radio was pointed down at 45 degrees w.r.t. the ground. In this orientation, I might get less than 100 lost frames, but in any other orientation, my lost frames would be in the thousands. Was there any attempt to standardize transmitter antenna orientation for the radios in this test?
It was my understanding that some of the original receivers had this problem but it was corrected by a software upgrade. Recover times went from 8-10 seconds back to 1-2. The upgrade was free. I still have one that was never fixed and came close to losing a model.
Just my experience. For the longest time, we had power lines running along the back edge of our flight line. I flew Spektrum early on and noticed consistent interference. Switched to FrSky for a bit and it was better but hated the early radio build quality. Switched to Jeti and never looked back. My DS-14, DS-12 and now DS-16 G2 have been flawless. The power lines have since been removed but have been super happy with Jeti the last 6 years.
Yea it's funny how those "Small" things can cause interference. Doing the Test, were the Grain bins causing issues for some of the radios? Love my Jeti as well. Happy it performed well and reconnected after signal loss unlike some others.
Excellent work! Manufacturers can talk up all their goods but it's in-field tests that are the real deal. In my looong association with RC flying(getting old!) I've had all sorts of Radio gear from various manufacturers. It's good to see a Budget radio set doing so well such as Radiomaster did in your test! I've recently obtained a Boxer and have to say for the money it's quite incredible what it offers. Once again, good work!
Wow Jon, thanks for this test! And thanks to you and ALL your helpers that made this possible. That took a lot of effort. Just as an aside, I would've really liked to see how the Radiomaster radios would have done using the internal module's DSM protocol. Maybe next time ;-)
It would be interesting to do the same test but with only the Radiomaster TX16S and binding to any of the compatible receivers it can bind to using the onboard Multi-protocole. You could get a kind of receiver only performance test since the signal would be coming from a unique source.
That's the amazing thing about RM. It has the amazing ELRS protocol option while performing with all the other protocols too. All with cnc hall gimbals, limitless color touchscreen programmability, 16 channels, and for mich less than any other offering.
Surprised you guys didn't set one of the Radiomasters up to 1000mW and try it just out of curiosity to see how far it would go. Interesting choice using the AR636 receiver from Spektrum, that has been discontinued for some time now although based on the results from the other two, even the newer AR631 or AR637 would probably have similar results. I use Spektrum with Radiomaster and never had a loss of signal, I would never be able to see my planes if I flew 1/2 mile away. I don't think I ever fly more than 400' distance where I fly. Awesome thorough test, appreciate you guys taking the time to set that up, that was a lot of work.
If the ELRS Radiomaster had been set to full power it would have smoked the shit out of every other radio and highlighted just how crappy last-Gen protocols are in comparison, Frsky included. It's too bad ELRS was so severely handicapped for this test.
Nice review, thank you for the effort Jonathan! I have flown years with Futaba, never had any issues and worked flawless. Yet the programming and telemetry is not the most easiest way of doing things. I recently switched to Powerbox Core and haven’t regret it for one moment. It is very pricy but the programming and the telemetry works easy and very intuitive.
As a futaba flyer myself ( for years) I think it is a dying brand which is over prized ( especially on the telemetry options) and is being outclassed massively by the other brands.. I see myself switching to frsky in the near future. Very popular here in Europe and endless possibilities.
I would say this test is perfect. Perfect to find out how far can a RC-Car be controlled by a dedicated RC Plane TX system. So what xucks the most in this test is the best for RC planes. Weird but you get the point after understanding that. I like these Gheddo-Mod channels on YT. 😂
Hmmm. I have happily used Spektrum for the last 4 years with everything from sail planes to 6S EDF's. I have a RadioMaster TX-16S. I guess I should start using it!
Fantastic Video. These are very surprising results. I was all into PowerBox until I changed about 2 months ago to Jeti. I was shocked by the PowerBox result. I have never seen anything like this test. Well done to all that helped to get us modellers some actual data. I imagine some will say this was wrong or you should have done that. Very easy to say, but the amount of work you all put into a fair test is awesome. Once again, thank you to everyone who helped. Craig Australia
I picked up a boxer a while back..looks like I need to add an elrs module to it. Would be fun to compare with an old school 72mhz system. I still fly a lot on 72, and have never once had range issues. My boxer with 4-1 protocol actually didn't seem to do that great unless the antennas were in the perfect spots. I would get dead zones out the sides sometimes. Looks like ELRS is the way to go..a little extra HP makes a big difference!!
In the field where I fly in Los Angeles, we have what's called a Spektrum dead-zone where we had a good amount of signal loss from Spektrum users. I lost two planes because of this dead-zone. I switched to FrSky X18s Tandem and it solved my headache. I have not had issues with the dual frequency and it does great and the radio is full of wonderful features/channels for the best affordability than Spektrum. Spektrum charges for more channels which I hated.
@@thelightersideofrc Correct, I fly at Apollo! and yup, it's literally like a bermuda triangle for Spektrum. It's on the left most side of the field where one would normally make a final approach to landing. Some days out of the year, the "triangle" likes to eat planes during final approach, some days it doesnt. FrSky solved the issue asap
I loved the Horus Radio and had it in my cart a few times when they just couldn't get their protocols easy to use and then Jumper Radio release the T16S pro internal multiprotocol module for less that $150..Sold, only thing I did was replace the ribbon cables. This now old TX is working great and still my daily driver. Along the way when deep discounts appeared I purchased a Eachine T16s for $120, and recently Team Black Sheep sold their old stock RM T16S Max for $79. It is my backup and for learning EdgeTX.
I would love to see some of the Flysky radios tested. That said, I am confident any of these radios will maintain signal as far as the eye can see, once the plane is in the air. Interesting and informative video; thanks for your work.
I will hard disagree with that. If you fly near any sort of development, dual redundancy like Frsky and Jeti are almost required. Your airplane might make it 100 feet before losing signal in my area if you use a Spektrum.
Jon! A very impressive video that took a ton of effort from you and a very awesome crew! Thanks to all of you, big time! I'm flying with a gen 1 Spektrum DX18 that hasn't let me down (at least not yet), but I wonder....what happens as I grow and model performance increases? Radiomaster was impressive. Thanks again.
Would be cool to see some 915Mhz elrs as well! Especially with different antenna configurations (ceramic vs dipole vs diversity), same for frsky! Especially at lower frequencies (50, 100hz)!
I am wondering how my home built system will work, i know the FCC and DOD wouldn't like what i built and use if they were to try and jam the multiple frequencys it uses it would cripple themselves as well. but as of now, I've been just over 26 miles away, always above tree, hills, and building line not going to try behind hills or anything on a aircraft flight and haven't lost video or any control glitches on my test plane.
Great video, thanks for the effort! One thing though, the satellite receivers from Spektrum and Jr need to be about one wavelength apart or more (12.5 cm is the wavelength for 2.4 GHz signal, Horizon hobby video states at least 3 inches, but up to 32 inches apart), they seem really close in some tests.
What would be a good and more relevant test, at 1km of separation put the rx or tx in a Faraday cage to force a loss of link and then see how they recover the connection. That's one that might show some very interesting results.
@@thelightersideofrc undoubtedly. I thought from watching your video that you made it clear that your methodology was far from perfect, but was at least consistent.
Thank you so much for doing this! I fly jeti and was kind of surprised the 900 didnt help with range given that its at a lower freq. I also have a frsky x20 and good to know that with the 18ch rec its rock solid.
Great video, very informative!!! This just validates my decision to switch from Spektrum NX8 to FrSky X18 over a year ago. I am running 2.4 and 900 at 25mw in my EDFs and it works great also verified by the flight logs. FrSky is no Jeti! But for the price and similar features, it was the right choice for me.
Thanks very much! I was very impressed with the Top Radio's. Agreed. FRSky is no Jeti and I won't be switching anytime soon but Great radio brand for the price!
@thelightersideofrc The FrSky Twin Lite Pro Module system is FrSky ELRS+FSK dualband. Since the Radiomaster and the FrSky are clearly in the lead may be worth doing a second test with different power outputs comparing the following 3: 1. FrSky Tandem 2. FrSky Twin 3. RM ELRS
Hey Jonathan. Nice video. All Air radios usually work line of sight which should operate to roughly 2 miles distance, well beyond visual. Testing at ground level is limited especially when working at microwave frequencies. The higher the frequency, more signal attenuation to ground obstructions there is. On Futaba, FASST is fairly old. Try getting a system with FASSTest. I use a 18mz. Happy flying!
The ELRS system can be changed to many many different modes. You don’t need the long range mode on for normal jet flying, this maintains the resolution and latency.
Great test , really interesting. 25mw is the power limit for Germany. You should still take these test results with a grain of salt, especially the 900mhz satellites. If your neighbour runs a 2,4ghz video surveillance setup the 900mhz backup will save your plane, since interference will occur at much shorter distances
What a great review. Lot of hard work went into this. You guys did a heck of a job and for some of you out there it sucks when your horse doesn't finish
I have the 28X, and love it personally but I bought it to replace a Spektrum DX18 which I didn't trust at all for signal reliability. Same goes for all Spektrum stuff short of some batteries; cheap junk. However ... I'm surprised the 28X didn't really do much better. Interesting! I've wanted to replace this radio for a while now with a Jeti ... maybe its time :)
I've used Spektrum since they were the first to bring the 2.4 era into the hobby. I've never had any issues or crashes during the time i've used and supported the brand.. I trust everything i've owned from foamies all the way up to my $20,000 jets.
@@petetynning9964 on the TD receiver line, both signals are important-ish. RadioMaster is running 250mW 2.4gHz, whereas the X20S is at 900mhz 25mW and whatever output wattage is used on the 2.4gHz frequency band. In all fairness, there is no comparison.
for the price of the FRSKY x20/X18 line of transmitters and the Tandem Receivers, Its hard to argue that its easily the best bang for the buck. Especially considering the transmitters have ports for external 900m/2.4g antennas.
I'd figure this will blow up the internet because of the diehard radio owners... At least in this test we know how far we can fly a knife edge 6 feet off the ground..😎 I look at it as what is the range, and actually how much I really need to maintain control in the air. If things check out beyond 1/2 a kilometer, my highest vertical pulls measured by GPS telemetry is @ 1400 feet. (we are limited to 1200 in the US during our events) I should be good. There are many variables that can effect range, but at least everyone gets to see how these radios perform beyond the typical visual line of sight. Good job! We have to get you out to the New England USA area sometime..
Is incredibly to see the Radiomaster performance in comparison with the other radios taking account the price of it even adding to the radiomaster some extras or improvements
Well... Radiomaster/Jumper are clones of Frsky. Looks like they are good clones ;) I use Frsky X20S and Jumper T18. Both are great radios. I just like Frsky more for the build quality and overall experience.
I been using Radiomaster since the day it came out without any issue . No interfere, no glitches, no failures. Been using it with spektrum rxs, Flysky rxs . Also done rhe elrs and thats been awesome.
I got into FPV back in 2013 and dumped my Spektrum radio immediately as a result. Their limitations were extremely clear even though I never flew much more than about 1km away.
Spektrum is not for long range. So you are using the wrong setup. Long range, you need frsky or the radio master (lower quality), plus a cross fire module / elrs
Un grand merci de France. Vos vidéos sont excellentes et en particulier celle ci. J'admire beaucoup votre travail et regarde toutes vos vidéos. D'habitude, nous avons droit qu'aux démonstrations commerciales des fabricants nous exposant les caractéristiques de leurs radios sans vraiment rentrer dans la technique. Avec votre test, terminé les mensonges et les belles paroles! On est dans le concret, ce test est intelligent et très bien pensé. Je pense que certaines marques vont vous reprocher cette video malgré vos explications. Mais au moins, vous êtes honnêtes et curieux! Les passionnés vous remercient et vous sont reconnaissants. J'ai une vieille futaba. Je vouslais la remplacer par une jeti pour la télémétrie assez fournie mais vu les prix élevés, j'ai opté en pré-commande il y a une semaine pour la nouvelle FrSky X20Pro. Milles mercis à vous et votre équipe en espérant que votre chaine dure très longtemps. Ps : une question, pouvez vous m'indiquer, vous qui connaissez bien Skymaster, quel est le meilleur moyen pour importer un kit en France? IL n'y a pas de dealer. Pouvez vous leur demander pour moi car ils ne me répondent pas. Merci.
Great information!! Have considered Jeti before buying my IX20SE, but went spektrum anyway, however, with several guys at our Club flying Jeti, I may still decide to switch, thanks for all the great work to everyone involved 👊🏼👊🏼
Oh, I guess it would be cool to see what happens if you turn on all the transmitters / receivers at the same time and do the range test.... see what handles frequency hopping/interference a bit better, not just range.
As much as I applaud the effort that went into this test (I used to do things like this at work) there's one big flaw, IMO: the test doesn't accurately reflect real-world situations. What aircraft doesn't contain some blocking material like fuel tanks or batteries? How about putting a big fuel tank in front of the receiver's antenna? And then a battery in front of the second remote receiver? How do the results look now? More importantly, how does a Spektrum, with four receivers, two of which are obstructed, two that are unobstructed, perform? Multi-path diversity is why a system using four separate receivers is hard to beat in real world environments. Real world: I regularly get zero frame losses with my aircraft - meaning I had a PERFECT Rf link. Sure, there are plenty of fades (errors) but ONE OF THE FOUR RECEIVERS ALWAYS GETS A GOOD SIGNAL - because I know how to set up the radio for best results. In 12 years of flying, thousands of flights, I've had one crash (a cable failed on my 636 remote - saw it flashing, should have known it wasn't linked - and things got crunchy and lost control with my turbine conversion. My takeaway: it proved to me the importance of multiple receivers! ) Spektrum isn't without its faults, but I'm not sure this test is fair, complete or accurate. I wouldn't doubt many of the other systems are great, but I do know that Spektrum core technology works well, as proven by tens of thousands of modelers around the world.
The biggest problem with any brand will be the person setting them up improperly. People blame spectrum for losing a plane but they don’t understand the flight log screen, how to add RSSI info to it, or how to setup data logging on a switch. So they have poor signal and don’t know it. Then they blame spectrum when they didn’t read the manual and learn the product… th-cam.com/video/nZlHA2FEY20/w-d-xo.htmlsi=zrcb6PVVMMV5pZzz
Pretty much as expected. Something must be going on with the core test, but otherwise not surprised at all. Also, keep in mind that all these ranges are at the ground level. The actual useful range between a radio and an airborne receiver will be much better for all of the radio systems.
Awesome review and comparison 💯 I was looking for a stick transmitter for surface use...cars, trucks and boats. Which one goes well for that too? Can the FrSky be used or is that only for airborne RC's?🙂
@@thelightersideofrc I have seen it depends if it is in configuration mode 1 or 2. I would probably open it up and switch the gimbals around and fixate the direction too and use those two spare channels for some extra knobs 🙂
I was quite surprised by the test results with the Powerbox Systems as well however, many people use them all over the world flying turbines and large scale aircraft. I see Martin Pickering for example flying with his in very large turbine models with what appears to be a rock solid link. Although I switched to Graupner from Spektrum I have to say with Spektrum DSMX I never had an issue, only their now obsolute DSM2 was basically proven junk by RCModelReviews. I have to agree with some of the other posters that newer equipment from Spektrum and Futaba would have likely faired better. Also, from what I mentiond about Powerbox Systems and the disappointing performance in the test vs. real world results I've seen in videos by Martin Pickering I don't think distance when flying line of sight rc aircraft is the ultimate test, helpful and informational no doubt, but as long as the Tx-Rx signal is solid while within a line of sight distance in the air which I think all of these brands do quite well, then all is well.
Jeepers - this is not what the test showed (Nor how Martin flies either - ) He likely has multiple receivers in his planes, are well setup and flies relatively close. In this case - all the transmitters would work for him (However he is sponsored by PB)
I wonder where we could have gotten such a great for its time but now woefully inferior system of measurement from! 🤓 I literally just guessed 1 km = .58 mile then looked it up and confirmed it's actually 1 km = .62 mile so I wasn't too far off. All in good fun, I don't think the majority of us would have gotten quite that close. We really need to convert to metric over here but that's another topic
A long video on a Passionate Topic that most take to the grave. We all know that we are passionate about our radio choices. Enjoy the video! Thank you to all of those that made this possible!
Why do the Spektrum, JR and Futaba have the TX antenna tip pointing forward?! The point with the lowest radiation! With the other transmitters the antennas are aligned crosswise. Intention or absence of elementary basic knowledge in the high frequency technology?
@@KKM57P They are not pointed forward. they are at a 45 Degree angle to home base. Same as Jeti, Core and any of the other antenna used. Yes I do lack so much basic Knowledge. Please do a better version of this test for the RC Community! Thank you.
@@thelightersideofrc Richard Deutsch will do that.
Sweet! Hopefully he also includes 6 to 7 other brands of radios in his testing!
@@thelightersideofrc There are serious technical errors in the whole test. Otherwise, 900 MHz would not have nearly the same range as 2.4G.
900MHz would have to reach twice as far with the same transmission power. It has a much lower attenuation. I would like to have an answer to this discrepancy. What the error is here in the test, also explains the reason why this is so.
Thanks much! I'm a 65 year old r/c lifer in Kansas City. I've flown Futaba, Spektrum and now converted to Frsky for the rest of my days. I appreciate the detailed and professional review. You guys rock!
Thanks for watching! Not everyone liked the video but it was fun to put together!
Note 1:08:33 ELRS system has different RF modes. Standard LoRa modes, F mode, D mode and they can give different results. For example LoRa mode gives excellent overall link range because can demodulate RF packet at noise floor level. D mode gives more stable link, les jitter at long range because it retransmits each RF packet multiple times. You can easily change those modes from radio menu, from ELRS LUA script.
😎🙌
Futaba guy here, that FrSky performance is very impressive 😮
I ditched Spektrum almost 10 years ago for FrSky and have zero regrets (and have had zero issues). I'm not surprised at all by these results.
🤓🙌
Funny how frsky got 5,7km on only 25mw where elrs needed 250😂
@@finn4795also depends on the mode for ELRS. Changes how well the signal stability is for the given power vs latency. ELRS gives way more options for modulation type, power, latency, etc.
Spectrum completely failed me
As someone who is just exploring this as a hobby (and considering it as part of my retirement), this video is hugely helpful. Thank you so much!
Thanks for watching!
I have used my Frsky X9D for the last 12 years. Never had a issue with it. But i am now waitng for my new Radiomaster TX16S MKII to arrive via the local post office. I realize I have made a good choice after watching this video. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. 👍
Thanks for watching!
I'm really impressed.
This video show just how much REAL work and PLANNING is required to do REAL comparisons.
Thank you and all of the others in the video for the many many days worth of work required to lead up to this!
(and the many hours of editing required to make the actual video!)
(p.s. I fly Jeti and FrSky)
p.p.s. I am an RF engineer - the Chase Car could/would affect the performance of any of the TX/RX systems (height of car, incline, it is "sort of blocking LOS"), The same applies to having the cab of the truck between the TX and the RX (the return trip re-acquisition comments)
Thanks Very much Sean. It’s nice to see the common sense and appreciation about this video as the amount of slander and negativity blows my mind from a select few! I appreciate your comments very much!
Thanks to everyone for taking time to do this.
Thanks very much Thomas!
I have flown airplanes, helicopters and drones with Futaba all my life, since the 90s when I was just a boy, my first radio was a 4-channel Futaba Conquest and currently a T14SG among all the Futaba models that I have collected through the years. For me they are the most reliable and the only radio I have had from another brand has been FrSky Taranis because of its versatility to configure to fly drones and they are also very good.
👍they all work great’
I've been using JR for 20 years....never had a problem with the signal or their radios ever. I trust them with my big helis 100%
Awesome!
The sorry thing is that no matter how long one has been doing something if they did it wrong or with the wrong equipment and we're not smart enough to notice it or to fix it
@@1589chicagoyes you buy a jr
Happy to see FrSky finally getting some more recognition in the airplane world. There's been a huge influx of large gasser and jet pilots flying them in the last year, since the Tandem systems came out. Price to performance is off the charts. I've been using FrSky since 2017 and wouldn't have it any other way.
Good value for sure. Odd shaped radio but as you say, great value for the $
@@thelightersideofrc - If you get a chance, try the X18 version. I think you'll like the shape better.
@@thelightersideofrc If you ever get a chance to meet someone with an X18(S), try it out. It is shaped a lot more traditionally, reminds me of Spektrum for ergonomics. I prefer it over the X20 for that reason.
Cheers!
Testing futaba with fasst protocol IS a joke, it is a good stuff but you should try fasstest protocol which more recent and with telemtry....
@@oponohou I thought that they had contacted Futaba but the company obviously didn't want to chance it! 😜
Obviously they have a more realistic insider's view of their product than your own? 😁
Very interesting test, a lot of work, thanks for sharing this! There is no perfect test, but there are some interesting conclusions one can draw. Here is my take:
The systems that we can compare in somewhat fair grounds (i.e. no external modules, same type of link -2.4 Ghz FSK only (no LoRa)-, legal FCC transmitting power=
Great insight and summary! Thank you for your logical response!😎
Thank you for doing this test. This will shake the big transmitter industry for the good. Same happened with independent test with LIPO batteries. We need more independent test like this. Bring it on..!
Thank you! The back lash has been a shock to me. Thanks for watching!
I would be curious to see a current Futaba transmitter like the 16IZ or 18SZ and a higher end receiver too. That is all I use and have never had issues.
Would loved to have done that as well but Futaba declined to participate.
I have the 18sz and mz with the new 7014 reciever, ill happily do the same test and send you the results@@thelightersideofrc
@@thelightersideofrc It was bad timing for me being busy, I would have loved to have made the trip, meet you, and toss my 18MZ into the ring. Not as new as the 16IZ or 18SZ, but a little more current than the 14MZ tested.
I've been a long life futawa user and I switched over to FR. Sky and do not regret it. I fly around the house with drones far out. My planes at the field and the signal has been Rock solid. The new receivers are outstanding. A lot of bang for your buck. I'll never go back
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I’m an FrSky fan myself, glad to see it did well even with a lower mW setting. I sure like to see what it would have done at 100mW.
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The inverse square law applies, so higher powers may not add as much range as you expect. But still, LoRa FTW 🙂.
I saw that the Boxer was running at 500hz. 50hz would have been a long range setting with probably no loss of resolution. @@lightbulbjim
@@spartan3299 generally for a six channel receiver as used in the test you would run one of the full res modes at 100Hz or 333Hz.
Maybe for a multirotor, but most of us run 50hz servos in airplanes. I know in higher end planes many run faster servos, but those craft are usually LOS so long range isn't a requirement. I think an important lesson learned is what happens if a certain radio system has a fail safe and does it rebind immediately after signal returns.
@@lightbulbjim
Thumbs up to support local business!
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Absolutely fantastic. The most useful video I've seen in a long time. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
The amount of work put into this test is very impressive the only beef I have is the receiver antenna should have been mounted 5 to 8 ft wood pole above the truck.
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I switched from Spektrum to Powerbox about 18 months ago, and i don't regret it. Powerbox was the only radio you tested with just one standard receiver and nothing else. I would have like to have seen the same set up options as you did with Jeti. for example a Powerbox Pioneer or Mercury SR2 with 2 PBR-26D satellite receivers. These is the set set ups i have on my Rebel 1.5m Hot and Rebel 2m classic. I don't know if it would have made a difference but it would have been interesting to see.
Thanks Neil. They are all great Radios! Can't go wrong with any of them. Just tested what we had but yes it would have been interesting to see more variations.
@@thelightersideofrcwas the X20 not tested with a single receiver also?
Yes. Shown in video.
The PBR 9D receiver used in the test is a 2 receiver redundancy unit.
The nice thing about radiomaster is it can talk to all of those relievers and be tuned to get the best reception.
It's perfect for me since I've had so many different brands over the last decade and I can just set it up to talk to the futaba, airtronics, Jr, spectrum or hitec recievers..I run frsky on one's I have to update from the old fm receivers.
Thanks. Yea I had no idea that was an option till after the test and started doing some more research on the RM.
@thelightersideofrc I want to say that the frsky transmitter can do it as well, but the other nice thing is you can do software updates and make the radio master a touchscreen by just going to the support page. I loved my airtronics radio, but they went out of business and I an not a spectrum fan boy. I know that Jr is affiliated with spectrum and the futaba stuff is great but over priced. So in the end I decided to try the radiomaster and once you get past the learning curve, it just opened the door for more options.
Great work Jon and crew!! Thnx for making the effort!
I was already a big ELRS fan (and yes Radiomaster too, but that is not what this test was about) and I'm not surprised it did this well, even at a fraction of the max outputpower!
What amazed me was how badly the other, high-end en very much more expensive units performed!! A standard Tx16S with ELRS and a reciever will set you back somewhere around 250 euro (sorry I don't get the imperial sizes.. ;p) while some of the others cost up to ten times as much.... Open source is awesome!!
I’m fully in line with you. I like a lot my tx16s, never get any issue in more than 3 years, edgetx is very powerfull, and since 1 year I use elrs. both togethere are just amazing for a very competitive prices. On top off with fast improvment from open source community, they really make a great job
Thanks Guys! I appreciate the kind words!
The thing is, I always had problems with my Spektrum transmitters (connection failure) and switched to FrSky. I have never had a connection failure with the FrSky transmitter. The test has once again confirmed my decision to switch to FrSky.
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Love this channel you sir live on the edge. Talking about radio protocols is like calling someones mom a bad name
Yea i'm sure I won't make many friends with this one. 😂
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Hi guys, here's the timestamps for your convenience.
7:43 Test method
17:06 FrSky S8R
22:37 FrSky TDR18 (900 & 2.4 dual band)
26:08 Powerbox Core PBR-9D
32:45 Jeti DS24 + R3 RX
37:24 Jeti DS24 + Rex7
41:20 Jeti DS24 + Rex7+Clone
44:32 Jeti DS24 + Rex7+Clone+900
47:13 Spektrum IX20 AG630
49:20 Spektrum IX20 AG636A
50:45 Spektrum IX20 90290 3 3 Satts.
52:05 JR 28X 613BX
54:02 JR 28X 812BX
55:30 Futaba T14MZAP R617FS
57:02 RadioMaster TX16s@250mW + BETAFPV SuperP
1:01:36 RadioMaster Boxer@100 mW 500Hz + ER6
1:03:46 RadioMaster Boxer@25 mW 500Hz + ER6
1:06:41 Summary and Discussion
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22:37 wasn't Frsky limited to 25mw and Radio Master had 250mw for the test ?
@@petetynning9964 on 1:03:46 RadioMaster Boxer was also tested on 25mW
Nice vid Jon. Everyone's gonna have there favorite hence comments and ya should try this RX etc. Every Radio got a fair suck of the sav. Of course it all comes down to what's Avitabile in your part of the world. Since no one has done anything, similar mission accomplished. Ya lucky it was a reasonable Weather day.. Great bunch of helpers.Carry on.
Thank you very much! Love your down to earth and understanding comment! Some Get it!
Jeti DS radios are the BEST! Pricy, BUT QUALITY !!! loved mine !!
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Only their "pay separate for every software option" is weird.... Otherwise, yes, great radios.
Results as expected. Using Frsky long time ago with gas turbines, no problem at all.
For the " normal" receiver for Frsky you have used a S8R, an old accst protocol receiver, but anyway working perfect. Maybe you should have had better results with the SR8 or R8, both access protocol receivers, much much modern ones for the 2,4 receiver testing. Also, those receivers can work with redundancy, that improves a lot the recepcion, due to the multiple antenas. Thanks for the review, maybe I expected a little more from powerbox, but everything as expected with the others.
Thank you!
Great video, but I am concerned about one thing. A few years ago, I flew a Futaba 32mz with a device that counted lost frames for each flight. I would typically get to a flying field early mid-morning and fly until late afternoon, and what I found was that the radio frequency environment changed considerably throughout the day. When I first arrived in the morning, the RF environment would be the best. I might get only a few hundred lost frames at this time. Then, as the day progressed, my lost frames would increase to several thousand sometime in the afternoon and then drop off towards the end of the day. I interpreted this as the RF environment being variable throughout the day, and it leads me to be concerned that this effect could have been confounded with the results presented in this video. The proper way to test for this would have been to set the testing up with randomized replicates for each test. Each radio should have been independently tested three times, and the order of all the tests should have been randomized. If this was done, the effects of RF environment variation would have been shared equally across all radios, and three replicates would have allowed for dropping any "high flyers" from each set of three tests...
Another concern that just crossed my mind is that my testing with my Futaba radio taught me that transmitter antenna orientation has a big effect on signal quality. I found that the best orientation for my Futaba radio was pointed down at 45 degrees w.r.t. the ground. In this orientation, I might get less than 100 lost frames, but in any other orientation, my lost frames would be in the thousands. Was there any attempt to standardize transmitter antenna orientation for the radios in this test?
😎great point! Unfortunately with limited resources and time that would not have been feasible.
Thats the problem with Spektrum, when you get the brown out they dont recover and down goes your plane
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It was my understanding that some of the original receivers had this problem but it was corrected by a software upgrade. Recover times went from 8-10 seconds back to 1-2. The upgrade was free. I still have one that was never fixed and came close to losing a model.
As expected ELRS is the best and open source!
Congratulations ELRS Devs!
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The very best Radio's ever made are the ones that work for you
Exactly!
Thank you and all of your helpers sooo much for such a fun and informative video.👏👏😀
Thanks for watching!
Just my experience. For the longest time, we had power lines running along the back edge of our flight line. I flew Spektrum early on and noticed consistent interference. Switched to FrSky for a bit and it was better but hated the early radio build quality. Switched to Jeti and never looked back. My DS-14, DS-12 and now DS-16 G2 have been flawless. The power lines have since been removed but have been super happy with Jeti the last 6 years.
Yea it's funny how those "Small" things can cause interference. Doing the Test, were the Grain bins causing issues for some of the radios? Love my Jeti as well. Happy it performed well and reconnected after signal loss unlike some others.
Excellent work! Manufacturers can talk up all their goods but it's in-field tests that are the real deal.
In my looong association with RC flying(getting old!) I've had all sorts of Radio gear from various manufacturers. It's good to see a Budget radio set doing so well such as Radiomaster did in your test!
I've recently obtained a Boxer and have to say for the money it's quite incredible what it offers.
Once again, good work!
Thank you!
Wow Jon, thanks for this test! And thanks to you and ALL your helpers that made this possible. That took a lot of effort. Just as an aside, I would've really liked to see how the Radiomaster radios would have done using the internal module's DSM protocol. Maybe next time ;-)
Thanks Bill. Yea it was a Ton of work and Time to put this together. Wouldn't have been possible without all the help. Good Call on the DSM Protocol.
It would be interesting to do the same test but with only the Radiomaster TX16S and binding to any of the compatible receivers it can bind to using the onboard Multi-protocole. You could get a kind of receiver only performance test since the signal would be coming from a unique source.
Yea that’s a great idea! I didn’t realize that they could bind to Non ELRS stuff but after some research I see that.
@thelightersideofrc that would be a much more fair apples to apple test I would love to see that too
That's the amazing thing about RM. It has the amazing ELRS protocol option while performing with all the other protocols too. All with cnc hall gimbals, limitless color touchscreen programmability, 16 channels, and for mich less than any other offering.
Surprised you guys didn't set one of the Radiomasters up to 1000mW and try it just out of curiosity to see how far it would go. Interesting choice using the AR636 receiver from Spektrum, that has been discontinued for some time now although based on the results from the other two, even the newer AR631 or AR637 would probably have similar results. I use Spektrum with Radiomaster and never had a loss of signal, I would never be able to see my planes if I flew 1/2 mile away. I don't think I ever fly more than 400' distance where I fly.
Awesome thorough test, appreciate you guys taking the time to set that up, that was a lot of work.
Thanks for watching. Just used what spektrum receivers we had access too. Not going to go out and spend 100's of dollars on something I won't use.
If the ELRS Radiomaster had been set to full power it would have smoked the shit out of every other radio and highlighted just how crappy last-Gen protocols are in comparison, Frsky included. It's too bad ELRS was so severely handicapped for this test.
Nice review, thank you for the effort Jonathan! I have flown years with Futaba, never had any issues and worked flawless. Yet the programming and telemetry is not the most easiest way of doing things. I recently switched to Powerbox Core and haven’t regret it for one moment. It is very pricy but the programming and the telemetry works easy and very intuitive.
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As a futaba flyer myself ( for years) I think it is a dying brand which is over prized ( especially on the telemetry options) and is being outclassed massively by the other brands.. I see myself switching to frsky in the near future. Very popular here in Europe and endless possibilities.
Excellent Job...badly needed review!!! Kudos!!
Thanks! The Backlash from some out there has been a hoot! But the General consensus has been positive and appreciative.
Basically, low cost transmitted beats those that are in the 1K price range hands down without a doubt. Great test.
Thanks!
I would say this test is perfect.
Perfect to find out how far can a RC-Car be controlled by a dedicated RC Plane TX system.
So what xucks the most in this test is the best for RC planes.
Weird but you get the point after understanding that.
I like these Gheddo-Mod channels on YT. 😂
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Hmmm. I have happily used Spektrum for the last 4 years with everything from sail planes to 6S EDF's. I have a RadioMaster TX-16S. I guess I should start using it!
They are all great radios for RC Use.
Fantastic Video.
These are very surprising results. I was all into PowerBox until I changed about 2 months ago to Jeti.
I was shocked by the PowerBox result.
I have never seen anything like this test. Well done to all that helped to get us modellers some actual data.
I imagine some will say this was wrong or you should have done that. Very easy to say, but the amount of work you all put into a fair test is awesome.
Once again, thank you to everyone who helped.
Craig
Australia
Thanks Craig. Yea there has been a massive backlash from some. Thanks for watching!
I picked up a boxer a while back..looks like I need to add an elrs module to it. Would be fun to compare with an old school 72mhz system. I still fly a lot on 72, and have never once had range issues. My boxer with 4-1 protocol actually didn't seem to do that great unless the antennas were in the perfect spots. I would get dead zones out the sides sometimes. Looks like ELRS is the way to go..a little extra HP makes a big difference!!
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In the field where I fly in Los Angeles, we have what's called a Spektrum dead-zone where we had a good amount of signal loss from Spektrum users. I lost two planes because of this dead-zone. I switched to FrSky X18s Tandem and it solved my headache. I have not had issues with the dual frequency and it does great and the radio is full of wonderful features/channels for the best affordability than Spektrum. Spektrum charges for more channels which I hated.
Yea you must fly at Apollo! I have heard about the dead zone!
@@thelightersideofrc Correct, I fly at Apollo! and yup, it's literally like a bermuda triangle for Spektrum. It's on the left most side of the field where one would normally make a final approach to landing. Some days out of the year, the "triangle" likes to eat planes during final approach, some days it doesnt. FrSky solved the issue asap
not enough shootout/showdown videos and this one hits the mark, think i am good for a few months lol ty, my man
Thanks!
Would have liked to see RADIOMASTER TX16S ON THE 4-1 internal system also on S8R. Great video!
Thanks for watching!
I loved the Horus Radio and had it in my cart a few times when they just couldn't get their protocols easy to use and then Jumper Radio release the T16S pro internal multiprotocol module for less that $150..Sold, only thing I did was replace the ribbon cables. This now old TX is working great and still my daily driver. Along the way when deep discounts appeared I purchased a Eachine T16s for $120, and recently Team Black Sheep sold their old stock RM T16S Max for $79. It is my backup and for learning EdgeTX.
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Are you me? I had the t16s for years and only upgraded when tbs had their $59 sale 😅
Yup, the cheap twins@@BengalCatChilli
I would love to see some of the Flysky radios tested. That said, I am confident any of these radios will maintain signal as far as the eye can see, once the plane is in the air. Interesting and informative video; thanks for your work.
They are all great! Thanks for watching!
I will hard disagree with that. If you fly near any sort of development, dual redundancy like Frsky and Jeti are almost required. Your airplane might make it 100 feet before losing signal in my area if you use a Spektrum.
Jon! A very impressive video that took a ton of effort from you and a very awesome crew! Thanks to all of you, big time! I'm flying with a gen 1 Spektrum DX18 that hasn't let me down (at least not yet), but I wonder....what happens as I grow and model performance increases? Radiomaster was impressive. Thanks again.
Thanks for watching!
I would avoid spektrum in the future if you value your models
Would be cool to see some 915Mhz elrs as well! Especially with different antenna configurations (ceramic vs dipole vs diversity), same for frsky!
Especially at lower frequencies (50, 100hz)!
Yea very true! I didn’t know ELRS systems existed prior to this test! I have learned lots as well!
Well, but ELRS is an illegal system for the most part. As soon as it is limited to be able to certify it, it is limited as anything else.
WOW! What a good review, it gives you a much clearer point of view. Thanks for your time to make this video.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
Love my radiomaster tx16s mk2 max.Beast.
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Thanks for testing, i also love my DS24
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Very honest review . I Learned a lot . Thank you
Thanks for watching!
I am wondering how my home built system will work, i know the FCC and DOD wouldn't like what i built and use if they were to try and jam the multiple frequencys it uses it would cripple themselves as well. but as of now, I've been just over 26 miles away, always above tree, hills, and building line not going to try behind hills or anything on a aircraft flight and haven't lost video or any control glitches on my test plane.
That sounds interesting!
Powerbox ! ? Never heard of it, hardly common. Thank you for the great video
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Great video, thanks for the effort! One thing though, the satellite receivers from Spektrum and Jr need to be about one wavelength apart or more (12.5 cm is the wavelength for 2.4 GHz signal, Horizon hobby video states at least 3 inches, but up to 32 inches apart), they seem really close in some tests.
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What would be a good and more relevant test, at 1km of separation put the rx or tx in a Faraday cage to force a loss of link and then see how they recover the connection. That's one that might show some very interesting results.
Oh I'm sure there would be some sort of complaint about the structure of that test as well.
@@thelightersideofrc undoubtedly. I thought from watching your video that you made it clear that your methodology was far from perfect, but was at least consistent.
Thank you so much for doing this! I fly jeti and was kind of surprised the 900 didnt help with range given that its at a lower freq. I also have a frsky x20 and good to know that with the 18ch rec its rock solid.
Thanks for watching!
The best radio is the one that does everything it's owner requires !!
Exactly!
Too much common sense and rationality there! That's not what we want here! 😉😊
Great video. Thank you for doing this. I just purchased the Radio master boxer max after watching your review. Merry Christmas.
Nice! Thanks for watching!
Great video, very informative!!! This just validates my decision to switch from Spektrum NX8 to FrSky X18 over a year ago. I am running 2.4 and 900 at 25mw in my EDFs and it works great also verified by the flight logs. FrSky is no Jeti! But for the price and similar features, it was the right choice for me.
Thanks very much! I was very impressed with the Top Radio's. Agreed. FRSky is no Jeti and I won't be switching anytime soon but Great radio brand for the price!
@@thelightersideofrc would be interested to know what Jeti has that the Frsky X20 tandem doesn't?
@thelightersideofrc The FrSky Twin Lite Pro Module system is FrSky ELRS+FSK dualband.
Since the Radiomaster and the FrSky are clearly in the lead may be worth doing a second test with different power outputs comparing the following 3:
1. FrSky Tandem
2. FrSky Twin
3. RM ELRS
Thanks! Always interested in follow up testing! Unfortunatley the FRSky Radio is back with it's owner.
But try to do the test with 900Mhz at 1W of power this time!
Good field test for sure!
I would like to see each of those transmitters connected to a signal analyzer.
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did he just said WOW on the tx16s😂😂😂 man i feel realy bad for spektrum and its market hype😂
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Great video. Unfortunately you have important exuberant spectrum (SRXL2) and Futaba (fastest)both have new receivers that are significantly better
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Awesome test, congrats!!
Thank you! Cheers!
Hey Jonathan. Nice video. All Air radios usually work line of sight which should operate to roughly 2 miles distance, well beyond visual. Testing at ground level is limited especially when working at microwave frequencies. The higher the frequency, more signal attenuation to ground obstructions there is. On Futaba, FASST is fairly old. Try getting a system with FASSTest. I use a 18mz. Happy flying!
Thanks Gogian!
The ELRS system can be changed to many many different modes. You don’t need the long range mode on for normal jet flying, this maintains the resolution and latency.
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Great test , really interesting.
25mw is the power limit for Germany.
You should still take these test results with a grain of salt, especially the 900mhz satellites. If your neighbour runs a 2,4ghz video surveillance setup the 900mhz backup will save your plane, since interference will occur at much shorter distances
Thanks very much!
25mw is imho only the max for "analog/constant power" tx systems on 5.8 and 2.4 - for frequency hopping it is 100mw
@@hirnlegorush Correct. Frequency hopping is a whole different ball game for the FCC.
What a great review. Lot of hard work went into this. You guys did a heck of a job and for some of you out there it sucks when your horse doesn't finish
Lol. Well said. Thank you!
I have the 28X, and love it personally but I bought it to replace a Spektrum DX18 which I didn't trust at all for signal reliability. Same goes for all Spektrum stuff short of some batteries; cheap junk. However ... I'm surprised the 28X didn't really do much better. Interesting! I've wanted to replace this radio for a while now with a Jeti ... maybe its time :)
I flew 28x for many years and always a great signal. Switched due to hardware issues myself.
Borrow a Jeti with their "Test Drive" program, it will change your mind, such great gear!
I've used Spektrum since they were the first to bring the 2.4 era into the hobby. I've never had any issues or crashes during the time i've used and supported the brand.. I trust everything i've owned from foamies all the way up to my $20,000 jets.
Perfect! Congratulations 🥳
I generally prefer my US$80 Jumper T-lite for my 400mm Mini Warbirds. All fits in the old 2CV easily too. 🤔🙄🤣🤣
Switched from spektrum to frsky x18s a year ago. Never looked back. Great video thanks for doing all the work.
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I've been saying RadioMaster is superior to most mainstream brands since my first TX16S. Now we have proof.
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@@thelightersideofrc although, a fair comparison would need the X20S to be set at equal wattage.
Not Really, Frsky power reduced on 900mhz to 25mw compared to RadioMaster 250mw
@@petetynning9964 on the TD receiver line, both signals are important-ish. RadioMaster is running 250mW 2.4gHz, whereas the X20S is at 900mhz 25mW and whatever output wattage is used on the 2.4gHz frequency band. In all fairness, there is no comparison.
Great test and insightful. THANKS, Terima kasih!
Thank you.
for the price of the FRSKY x20/X18 line of transmitters and the Tandem Receivers, Its hard to argue that its easily the best bang for the buck. Especially considering the transmitters have ports for external 900m/2.4g antennas.
Agreed!
I'd figure this will blow up the internet because of the diehard radio owners...
At least in this test we know how far we can fly a knife edge 6 feet off the ground..😎
I look at it as what is the range, and actually how much I really need to maintain control in the air.
If things check out beyond 1/2 a kilometer, my highest vertical pulls measured by GPS telemetry is @ 1400 feet.
(we are limited to 1200 in the US during our events) I should be good.
There are many variables that can effect range, but at least everyone gets to see how these radios perform beyond
the typical visual line of sight.
Good job!
We have to get you out to the New England USA area sometime..
HAHA. Well Said Mark. Would love to visit your neck of the world sometime!
@@thelightersideofrc.. Either that, I'll have to come your way, or we could meet in the middle? 🤣
Is incredibly to see the Radiomaster performance in comparison with the other radios taking account the price of it even adding to the radiomaster some extras or improvements
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Well... Radiomaster/Jumper are clones of Frsky. Looks like they are good clones ;) I use Frsky X20S and Jumper T18. Both are great radios. I just like Frsky more for the build quality and overall experience.
I been using Radiomaster since the day it came out without any issue . No interfere, no glitches, no failures. Been using it with spektrum rxs, Flysky rxs . Also done rhe elrs and thats been awesome.
Nice!!!
"Spektrum radio we use to set up customer planes, and to fly foamies." Ouch. 🤣
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I got into FPV back in 2013 and dumped my Spektrum radio immediately as a result. Their limitations were extremely clear even though I never flew much more than about 1km away.
Sprektrum is junk
Spektrum is not for long range. So you are using the wrong setup. Long range, you need frsky or the radio master (lower quality), plus a cross fire module / elrs
@@user-rx8qq8sk9ydv1ce5ib And what is "long range?"
Awesome job! Thanks for doing this.
Thanks!
Interesting & informative. Thank you for taking the time to do this video. Appreciate it.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
Un grand merci de France. Vos vidéos sont excellentes et en particulier celle ci. J'admire beaucoup votre travail et regarde toutes vos vidéos.
D'habitude, nous avons droit qu'aux démonstrations commerciales des fabricants nous exposant les caractéristiques de leurs radios sans vraiment rentrer dans la technique.
Avec votre test, terminé les mensonges et les belles paroles! On est dans le concret, ce test est intelligent et très bien pensé. Je pense que certaines marques vont vous reprocher cette video malgré vos explications. Mais au moins, vous êtes honnêtes et curieux!
Les passionnés vous remercient et vous sont reconnaissants. J'ai une vieille futaba. Je vouslais la remplacer par une jeti pour la télémétrie assez fournie mais vu les prix élevés, j'ai opté en pré-commande il y a une semaine pour la nouvelle FrSky X20Pro.
Milles mercis à vous et votre équipe en espérant que votre chaine dure très longtemps.
Ps : une question, pouvez vous m'indiquer, vous qui connaissez bien Skymaster, quel est le meilleur moyen pour importer un kit en France? IL n'y a pas de dealer. Pouvez vous leur demander pour moi car ils ne me répondent pas. Merci.
Thank you very much! Yes, not everyone is happy with the outcome. I deal with Doug Boyle at Jets North for Skymaster stuff.
The FrSky 900 can be setup to broadcast up to 25m - 1000mw
Correct. We tested at 25 mw
I'm using Frsky since 2017 and I love it. I fly turbine and guys who uses Spectrum were skeptical about my radio haha
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Radio Master is a class act of a company.
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Great information!! Have considered Jeti before buying my IX20SE, but went spektrum anyway, however, with several guys at our Club flying Jeti, I may still decide to switch, thanks for all the great work to everyone involved 👊🏼👊🏼
Thanks For Watching!
Spektrum invented the Satellite receiver, guess why, and I switched to Radiomaster TX16s and Zorro.
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Oh, I guess it would be cool to see what happens if you turn on all the transmitters / receivers at the same time and do the range test.... see what handles frequency hopping/interference a bit better, not just range.
Yea we thought about having all the radios on at the same time but requires lots more people, setup, servos etc.
As much as I applaud the effort that went into this test (I used to do things like this at work) there's one big flaw, IMO: the test doesn't accurately reflect real-world situations. What aircraft doesn't contain some blocking material like fuel tanks or batteries? How about putting a big fuel tank in front of the receiver's antenna? And then a battery in front of the second remote receiver? How do the results look now? More importantly, how does a Spektrum, with four receivers, two of which are obstructed, two that are unobstructed, perform? Multi-path diversity is why a system using four separate receivers is hard to beat in real world environments. Real world: I regularly get zero frame losses with my aircraft - meaning I had a PERFECT Rf link. Sure, there are plenty of fades (errors) but ONE OF THE FOUR RECEIVERS ALWAYS GETS A GOOD SIGNAL - because I know how to set up the radio for best results. In 12 years of flying, thousands of flights, I've had one crash (a cable failed on my 636 remote - saw it flashing, should have known it wasn't linked - and things got crunchy and lost control with my turbine conversion. My takeaway: it proved to me the importance of multiple receivers! ) Spektrum isn't without its faults, but I'm not sure this test is fair, complete or accurate. I wouldn't doubt many of the other systems are great, but I do know that Spektrum core technology works well, as proven by tens of thousands of modelers around the world.
Agreed! Far too many variables to consider! Was a simple test that many people are far too butt hurt over.
The biggest problem with any brand will be the person setting them up improperly. People blame spectrum for losing a plane but they don’t understand the flight log screen, how to add RSSI info to it, or how to setup data logging on a switch. So they have poor signal and don’t know it. Then they blame spectrum when they didn’t read the manual and learn the product… th-cam.com/video/nZlHA2FEY20/w-d-xo.htmlsi=zrcb6PVVMMV5pZzz
❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻very well writen explanation to why i have been a true and trusted user of spektrum equipment since there inception into the 2.4 era....
Pretty much as expected. Something must be going on with the core test, but otherwise not surprised at all.
Also, keep in mind that all these ranges are at the ground level. The actual useful range between a radio and an airborne receiver will be much better for all of the radio systems.
Absolutely! Hence the reason “all great options! Pick the one you like and enjoy!”
Awesome review and comparison 💯 I was looking for a stick transmitter for surface use...cars, trucks and boats. Which one goes well for that too? Can the FrSky be used or is that only for airborne RC's?🙂
Thanks. The downside to these air radios is the throttle doesn't naturaly centre. I'm sure you could do that if desired.
@@thelightersideofrc I have seen it depends if it is in configuration mode 1 or 2. I would probably open it up and switch the gimbals around and fixate the direction too and use those two spare channels for some extra knobs 🙂
Great job with the test!!!
Thanks!
I was quite surprised by the test results with the Powerbox Systems as well however, many people use them all over the world flying turbines and large scale aircraft. I see Martin Pickering for example flying with his in very large turbine models with what appears to be a rock solid link. Although I switched to Graupner from Spektrum I have to say with Spektrum DSMX I never had an issue, only their now obsolute DSM2 was basically proven junk by RCModelReviews. I have to agree with some of the other posters that newer equipment from Spektrum and Futaba would have likely faired better. Also, from what I mentiond about Powerbox Systems and the disappointing performance in the test vs. real world results I've seen in videos by Martin Pickering I don't think distance when flying line of sight rc aircraft is the ultimate test, helpful and informational no doubt, but as long as the Tx-Rx signal is solid while within a line of sight distance in the air which I think all of these brands do quite well, then all is well.
Jeepers - this is not what the test showed (Nor how Martin flies either - ) He likely has multiple receivers in his planes, are well setup and flies relatively close. In this case - all the transmitters would work for him (However he is sponsored by PB)
Hey Jon, great test with some interesting results. Thanks for converting KM to Miles for the American’s. In the UK we can work it out ourselves 😂😂😂
😂😂😂 Thanks for watching!
I wonder where we could have gotten such a great for its time but now woefully inferior system of measurement from! 🤓 I literally just guessed 1 km = .58 mile then looked it up and confirmed it's actually 1 km = .62 mile so I wasn't too far off. All in good fun, I don't think the majority of us would have gotten quite that close. We really need to convert to metric over here but that's another topic
Missed Graupner. I have been using their HOTT technology for many years and it and it’s telemetry are very mature.
Not really a used brand around me so I had no idea it was an existing radio system.