Nice walkthrough Ian. On the RF side of the RX, the centre chip is the semtech sx1280 (the RF chip), and the white component above the u.fl is the RF filter (although I do agree, it does look a bit like an LED). The crooked components on the EP receiver are pretty standard, and are a result of the layout and small package size used. Usually its not a concern, but that cap that was not soldered at all was definitely a concern. Can't wait for your flight test mate!
Thanks for the info Wes, funny enough when I said it i spotted the 4 legs and thought that’s no LEd but too late lol. I intentionally have not looked at anything on these and today was me doing things a little different. Usually I research first but I want to experience this from scratch, rather than explain things out just have an overview. . The TX is really nicely made to be fair. No concerns at all. The RX was not great but resolved it already 😄. On a board this tight as you say thing want to move around a bit. Only when I was soldering a new cap back on did I release how small these components are. And I managed to do it some how lol. I’m really looking forward to the flights, we KNOW the system is capable of amazing things. Really to me a lot of the differences is the module quality. I still find it incredible how small the RX is though. I’m going to do my more normal style stuff later once I have got to grips. I watched your JB interview yesterday. Not finished it all but amazing stuff man. Your really driving things amazingly with this.
@@MadRC I actually didn't mind this format at all... Nice to get a quick overview first up, and leave to door open for more detailed deep-dives later... Wow thanks for the feedback on the interview! JB did a great job of driving the conversation, so it was quite fun and easy to chat with him :)
Excellent Ian. I've got four of these ep1 antennas and 2 Ep2's. Mine all look fine. A few non straight bits but all in full working order. Not had any issues at all.
Great review. Would be interested to see some closer analysis on the asymmetric RX antenna tails. Is the antenna actually tuned to the transmitter, how bad is the SWR etc.
All the HM RXes I have are a bit like that, though to be honest out of 8 EPs I've had only one was DOA (still not looked into it, does not power up at all), others are all just fine, one died after some underwater adventures (well the power regulator chip sort of disintegrated, will probably swap it from the DOA one if it comes to that). BetaFPV ones are better looking and nicer antennas, but twice the size and more cost (have two of those), have some jhemcu bargain basement EPs on order too, should be interesting to take a look. HM's 2G4 AIO seems to be quite good build, survived a lot so far, lots of tiny things on it though :) X1 aio on order too for a digital toothpick build. Overall with the size of those things.. I can see where issues come from for sure, and I'm impressed that you actually put that cap back on :) All in all if size's not an issue beta seems pretty good with RXes, but also like 50% more cost...
Matek makes two 2.4GHz RXes : one with integrated antenna (like the EP2), and a diversity one with higher telemetry output. They are bigger (over twice the size of the EPs) and more expensive, but the quality seems much better.
You’ll love it, I’ve switched all my drones over to ELRS 2.4, I have crossfire and tracer starter kits just laying around now. Out of around 8 EP1s I’ve only had issues with 1, where it popped on first plug in but I believe it was the issue JB and Blunty talked about with the regulator.
This is a very damning video. I’ve held off on ELRS because of quality issues expressed by others I trust and I will continue to hold off until one of these manufacturers have the qa process on these rcvrs nailed down. I’m excited about the future tho and looking forward to your review and opinion.
Absolute rubbish. I had a TBS Fusion module that was faulty on arrival and was part of a bad batch. TBS asked me to send it back, but I got the HobbyRC to deal with it. Every company has issues but it comes down to their reliability as a whole and how they deal with issues, is whether it’s worthwhile sticking with them.
the amount of failsafes I've had on crossfire lead me to want to try this. (both 2.4 and 900 versions) apparently the lrs link is more robust protocol in the face of RF noise and interference.🤷♂️ thanks for walking through your experiences with us and keen to see any coming vids
I have that Tx and the EP2 on all Quads. Can't get it to Failsafe yet, even if the Rssi & drops to 20 or less, still no Failsafe. For that price I don't even talk about quality, it simply works amazing. I sold all my Crossfire and Tracer stuff lately and that was a lot over the years..
@@phildawe7172 yes understand that. I also had Failsafes with Crossfire in short range with obstacles between. Now on the same old spots I can stretch the limits so much more and ELRS don't even care about. It's impressive how good it is and i only use that cheap Es24tx on 100mW no Fan. For that price i get a few in spare and be happy, not sure how long the price will be that good 😉
@@phildawe7172 I cleaned my TH-cam channel a bit, if you watch my latest video it's with that Tx and EP2 Rx with no external antenna flown. I got a lot of trouble before with Crossfire and with Tracer that rout didn't work without Failsafes.
@@enrico320i nice vid. Thanks for sharing your experience. I've got the 5.8 DJI fpv controller just for fun and simplicity. Might sell my Crossfire 2watt and get an ELRS instead for longer range stuff.
Thanks Ian, interesting to see… I think I’ll be sticking with Tracer and crossfire for the moment. Looking forward to see how you get on with express LRS.
Hi Ian. Hope you are well. Really interesting video. Thanks. I have a really random question for you....is there a way of using a express LRS tx module on the dji fpv v1 remote. I know It is possible to use the full size crossfire on the dji remote ( by connecting the 3.5mm ppm output jack from the remote to the Crossfire Tx module). I was wondering if you knew of any way to set something up similar to this with an express lrs module instead of crossfire. Also.... is there a way of attaching a bluetooth module to an express lrs tx to send telemetry data to a tablet ? Im interested in getting telemetry data so i can plot the live gps location of my drone on a map ( on an android app like telemetry viewer) .
Cheap is great, but when something we all know is expensive and yet comes in at such a low price, is a red flag for me. I know TBS is reliable and I feel safe knowing it's on my aircraft when flying, and as you said not everyone has a microscope to check the boards before soldering, and because the receiver is so small newer pilots would be likely to think Iv they screwed it up when soldering and bought another, when in fact it could have been shipping faulty like yours. I would rather spend a little bit more and feel secure knowing I have the proverbial seat belts and an airbag. However, looking forward to watching this playlist to see what you think. 👍
@@gmivisualsjason3729 Never had one fail - four in use here and six more fitted on models sold. Seen one fail - bad soldering by user on Ch3 pad had removed SM resistor! Rest of pads solder looked like pigeon crap...
Logging this here in case anyone needs this info : If you bought a Happymodel ES24TX Slim Pro and have the telemetry issue, be warned that if you ask HM to send you a free "fix kit" (which is, afaik, just a 0603 cap and a wire), they will refuse to sell you a new V2 PCB. If you are not confident in your soldering skills, I suggest you buy a new PCB (even if it costs you money.. I can't tell you the price they ask because they would not tell me since they sent me a fix kit...) I hope Matek will come up with more ELRS stuff so that we can finally have good hardware (hopefully ? Matek makes good stuff usually)...
But overall: a 500€ plane could crash now or later ... I would love to see you covering also the nammnino one how that looks in the bench , under microscope and flies. These are the 2 big ones in the Express lrs market. Pavel has decided to stay with Ghost RC Immersion and rejected all his viewers requests for Express Lrs quite often. Watch a Live Stream and he can Go crazy cause first He ignored those questions and then they are asked again n again till the storm breaks loose. Luckily you are now in Express lrs and I grüess it will bring new viewers that were waiting for a technical Investigation and guidance Like myself. I went from frsky over Jumper to radiomaster, same for TX and RX but from acss over r9m to crossFire last chrismas but did not wanna risk it and ASK myself in case of a crash If IT was the fault of Express lrs, the system, inav and flight controller or a poor built quality hard to detect. And finally: cheap can be cheap or affordable quality and it is a deadly mistake to ignore the old rules of thumb: there is NO SECOND CHANCE FOR A FIRST IMPRESSION You were the first YT in about 6 months of elrs products ready for use talking about the ugly nasty flux still on the Board. That would be called bad craftmanship and bad habit . And such habit or neglectancy is the foundation for unsoldered joints. Yes, they can Happen, but then the quality control kicks in. If you can't deliver a cleaned product you lost track - at least for a sustainable success. And it is a wrong signal to customers to ship a dirty product. Long story: but here Pavels warning comes back cause this poor built quality can kill the elrs reputation by bad production cause it will need a lot of sold units to get a noticeable amount of crashes till someone investigates for a cause. It took 6 months to hear your voice about the under the hood Insights All others were about the elrs Hype and how great the improvements are from Latency to Ränge and finally comfort when the arrival of the Happymodel kits Made the cumbersome and risky flashing procedures obsolete. I watched over 9 months all the content and how the inav Facebook group became split, mainly against elrs starting with the heads that appear in their channel. Mario , the Green Guy from the um covering elrs + inav + Open HD was in the verge to be banned from that group when he had posted links to his YT experience videos and once his thumbnails were too similiar and called same content. Big wave from the top against him till I kicked in and said that it is beneficial for all inav people if someone like Mario covers the Implementation in videos cause till then elrs was basicly a No-Go in the inav FB group with a simple killer argument: WHO wants to risk his planes just for a cheaper, maybe weaker TX RX ? So I followed Mario on his journey and also bis remarks about Open HD. and a nee Pi Clone for the camera that has Raspberry Pi 3 Power but comes in the size factor of a Zero which was another milestone, cause it saved weight and size and brought big improvements
This ist your core content - the Tech inside. I was also wondering when you would cover it. This might bring another boost while Pavel resisted or netter rejected to even play with Express lrs . He had said that it is bad for the hobby cause they do not have a research and development to pay and therefore they, the makers like Happy Model are that cheap. Right , but same for Open source Software development with Freeware and shareware Up to licence Fees. But you looked at the ugly part , makers that miss to check their quality. The first builts were flashed frsky r9m modules famous for good built quality and then the Express lrs Design was releases to be populated and soldered by the makers and then the PCB way opportunity opened and of cause all the others PCB competitors
Support the ExpressLRS Devs Now: opencollective.com/expresslrs/donate
Nice walkthrough Ian.
On the RF side of the RX, the centre chip is the semtech sx1280 (the RF chip), and the white component above the u.fl is the RF filter (although I do agree, it does look a bit like an LED).
The crooked components on the EP receiver are pretty standard, and are a result of the layout and small package size used. Usually its not a concern, but that cap that was not soldered at all was definitely a concern.
Can't wait for your flight test mate!
Thanks for the info Wes, funny enough when I said it i spotted the 4 legs and thought that’s no LEd but too late lol. I intentionally have not looked at anything on these and today was me doing things a little different. Usually I research first but I want to experience this from scratch, rather than explain things out just have an overview. . The TX is really nicely made to be fair. No concerns at all. The RX was not great but resolved it already 😄. On a board this tight as you say thing want to move around a bit. Only when I was soldering a new cap back on did I release how small these components are. And I managed to do it some how lol. I’m really looking forward to the flights, we KNOW the system is capable of amazing things. Really to me a lot of the differences is the module quality. I still find it incredible how small the RX is though.
I’m going to do my more normal style stuff later once I have got to grips.
I watched your JB interview yesterday. Not finished it all but amazing stuff man. Your really driving things amazingly with this.
@@MadRC I actually didn't mind this format at all... Nice to get a quick overview first up, and leave to door open for more detailed deep-dives later...
Wow thanks for the feedback on the interview! JB did a great job of driving the conversation, so it was quite fun and easy to chat with him :)
Excellent Ian. I've got four of these ep1 antennas and 2 Ep2's.
Mine all look fine. A few non straight bits but all in full working order.
Not had any issues at all.
Great review. Would be interested to see some closer analysis on the asymmetric RX antenna tails. Is the antenna actually tuned to the transmitter, how bad is the SWR etc.
All the HM RXes I have are a bit like that, though to be honest out of 8 EPs I've had only one was DOA (still not looked into it, does not power up at all), others are all just fine, one died after some underwater adventures (well the power regulator chip sort of disintegrated, will probably swap it from the DOA one if it comes to that). BetaFPV ones are better looking and nicer antennas, but twice the size and more cost (have two of those), have some jhemcu bargain basement EPs on order too, should be interesting to take a look.
HM's 2G4 AIO seems to be quite good build, survived a lot so far, lots of tiny things on it though :) X1 aio on order too for a digital toothpick build.
Overall with the size of those things.. I can see where issues come from for sure, and I'm impressed that you actually put that cap back on :) All in all if size's not an issue beta seems pretty good with RXes, but also like 50% more cost...
Matek makes two 2.4GHz RXes : one with integrated antenna (like the EP2), and a diversity one with higher telemetry output.
They are bigger (over twice the size of the EPs) and more expensive, but the quality seems much better.
You’ll love it, I’ve switched all my drones over to ELRS 2.4, I have crossfire and tracer starter kits just laying around now. Out of around 8 EP1s I’ve only had issues with 1, where it popped on first plug in but I believe it was the issue JB and Blunty talked about with the regulator.
This is a very damning video. I’ve held off on ELRS because of quality issues expressed by others I trust and I will continue to hold off until one of these manufacturers have the qa process on these rcvrs nailed down. I’m excited about the future tho and looking forward to your review and opinion.
Hardware is the foundation. Software is the house. You can't have one without the other.
Another first class informative video. You get what you pay for with TBS. Happymodel cheap until you lose your quad or wing. Thanks Ian
Absolute rubbish. I had a TBS Fusion module that was faulty on arrival and was part of a bad batch. TBS asked me to send it back, but I got the HobbyRC to deal with it. Every company has issues but it comes down to their reliability as a whole and how they deal with issues, is whether it’s worthwhile sticking with them.
the amount of failsafes I've had on crossfire lead me to want to try this. (both 2.4 and 900 versions)
apparently the lrs link is more robust protocol in the face of RF noise and interference.🤷♂️ thanks for walking through your experiences with us and keen to see any coming vids
I have that Tx and the EP2 on all Quads. Can't get it to Failsafe yet, even if the Rssi & drops to 20 or less, still no Failsafe. For that price I don't even talk about quality, it simply works amazing. I sold all my Crossfire and Tracer stuff lately and that was a lot over the years..
@@enrico320i that's really good to hear how solid it is. I always hated buying TBS receivers. So overpriced and not that amazing for the money.
@@phildawe7172 yes understand that. I also had Failsafes with Crossfire in short range with obstacles between. Now on the same old spots I can stretch the limits so much more and ELRS don't even care about. It's impressive how good it is and i only use that cheap Es24tx on 100mW no Fan. For that price i get a few in spare and be happy, not sure how long the price will be that good 😉
@@phildawe7172 I cleaned my TH-cam channel a bit, if you watch my latest video it's with that Tx and EP2 Rx with no external antenna flown. I got a lot of trouble before with Crossfire and with Tracer that rout didn't work without Failsafes.
@@enrico320i nice vid. Thanks for sharing your experience. I've got the 5.8 DJI fpv controller just for fun and simplicity. Might sell my Crossfire 2watt and get an ELRS instead for longer range stuff.
Thanks Ian, interesting to see… I think I’ll be sticking with Tracer and crossfire for the moment. Looking forward to see how you get on with express LRS.
Hi Ian.
Hope you are well.
Really interesting video. Thanks.
I have a really random question for you....is there a way of using a express LRS tx module on the dji fpv v1 remote. I know It is possible to use the full size crossfire on the dji remote ( by connecting the 3.5mm ppm output jack from the remote to the Crossfire Tx module). I was wondering if you knew of any way to set something up similar to this with an express lrs module instead of crossfire.
Also.... is there a way of attaching a bluetooth module to an express lrs tx to send telemetry data to a tablet ? Im interested in getting telemetry data so i can plot the live gps location of my drone on a map ( on an android app like telemetry viewer) .
Cheap is great, but when something we all know is expensive and yet comes in at such a low price, is a red flag for me. I know TBS is reliable and I feel safe knowing it's on my aircraft when flying, and as you said not everyone has a microscope to check the boards before soldering, and because the receiver is so small newer pilots would be likely to think Iv they screwed it up when soldering and bought another, when in fact it could have been shipping faulty like yours.
I would rather spend a little bit more and feel secure knowing I have the proverbial seat belts and an airbag.
However, looking forward to watching this playlist to see what you think. 👍
I've had a few tbs nano failures in my short time in the hobby.
@@gmivisualsjason3729 Never had one fail - four in use here and six more fitted on models sold. Seen one fail - bad soldering by user on Ch3 pad had removed SM resistor! Rest of pads solder looked like pigeon crap...
Logging this here in case anyone needs this info :
If you bought a Happymodel ES24TX Slim Pro and have the telemetry issue, be warned that if you ask HM to send you a free "fix kit" (which is, afaik, just a 0603 cap and a wire), they will refuse to sell you a new V2 PCB.
If you are not confident in your soldering skills, I suggest you buy a new PCB (even if it costs you money.. I can't tell you the price they ask because they would not tell me since they sent me a fix kit...)
I hope Matek will come up with more ELRS stuff so that we can finally have good hardware (hopefully ? Matek makes good stuff usually)...
But overall: a 500€ plane could crash now or later ... I would love to see you covering also the nammnino one how that looks in the bench , under microscope and flies.
These are the 2 big ones in the Express lrs market.
Pavel has decided to stay with Ghost RC Immersion and rejected all his viewers requests for Express Lrs quite often. Watch a Live Stream and he can Go crazy cause first He ignored those questions and then they are asked again n again till the storm breaks loose.
Luckily you are now in Express lrs and I grüess it will bring new viewers that were waiting for a technical Investigation and guidance Like myself.
I went from frsky over Jumper to radiomaster, same for TX and RX but from acss over r9m to crossFire last chrismas but did not wanna risk it and ASK myself in case of a crash If IT was the fault of Express lrs, the system, inav and flight controller or a poor built quality hard to detect.
And finally: cheap can be cheap or affordable quality and it is a deadly mistake to ignore the old rules of thumb:
there is NO SECOND CHANCE FOR A FIRST IMPRESSION
You were the first YT in about 6 months of elrs products ready for use talking about the ugly nasty flux still on the Board.
That would be called bad craftmanship and bad habit .
And such habit or neglectancy is the foundation for unsoldered joints.
Yes, they can Happen, but then the quality control kicks in.
If you can't deliver a cleaned product you lost track - at least for a sustainable success.
And it is a wrong signal to customers to ship a dirty product.
Long story: but here Pavels warning comes back cause this poor built quality can kill the elrs reputation by bad production cause it will need a lot of sold units to get a noticeable amount of crashes till someone investigates for a cause.
It took 6 months to hear your voice about the under the hood Insights
All others were about the elrs Hype and how great the improvements are from Latency to Ränge and finally comfort when the arrival of the Happymodel kits Made the cumbersome and risky flashing procedures obsolete.
I watched over 9 months all the content and how the inav Facebook group became split, mainly against elrs starting with the heads that appear in their channel. Mario , the Green Guy from the um covering elrs + inav + Open HD was in the verge to be banned from that group when he had posted links to his YT experience videos and once his thumbnails were too similiar and called same content.
Big wave from the top against him till I kicked in and said that it is beneficial for all inav people if someone like Mario covers the Implementation in videos cause till then elrs was basicly a No-Go in the inav FB group with a simple killer argument: WHO wants to risk his planes just for a cheaper, maybe weaker TX RX ?
So I followed Mario on his journey and also bis remarks about Open HD. and a nee Pi Clone for the camera that has Raspberry Pi 3 Power but comes in the size factor of a Zero which was another milestone, cause it saved weight and size and brought big improvements
Happy model you make me (😂)
Wow. Dont know if I could trust my expensive quad on this.
I was advised to avoid the EP1 at all costs, I get great reception with the ep2 inside a carbon frame.
I've got both..... no issues
Thanks for your video. ExpressLRS is promising but the vendors are kind of crappy so far.
This ist your core content - the Tech inside.
I was also wondering when you would cover it.
This might bring another boost while Pavel resisted or netter rejected to even play with Express lrs . He had said that it is bad for the hobby cause they do not have a research and development to pay and therefore they, the makers like Happy Model are that cheap.
Right , but same for Open source Software development with Freeware and shareware Up to licence Fees.
But you looked at the ugly part , makers that miss to check their quality. The first builts were flashed frsky r9m modules famous for good built quality and then the Express lrs Design was releases to be populated and soldered by the makers and then the PCB way opportunity opened and of cause all the others PCB competitors
Eagle eyes Ian air2 s army out
That receiver looks vert sketchy. Yikes!
that really is not that good...
Have tracer and Csrf.. been shopping elrs 2.4..
seems I'm not that big a hurry
Wow the quality on that rx is crap. The rx looks better