First Quadcopter

DHD D1 world's tiniest pocket quadcopter Pocket quadcopters like this DHD D1 are appreciated because they are affordable and extremely portable. For beginners I always recommend to start with small and inexpensive models. Crashes always happen and it’s not a good idea to throw out the window a $500 model. There are many interesting micro quadcopters on the market and is a tough decision, especially for newbies, which one worth more. On my...

RunCam HD quadcopter camera - Born for RC fanatics Having many quadcopters it's very hard to find a camera that fits all models especially in terms of weight. With only 41g the RunCam HD camera seems to be suitable for most of my Quads. Thanks to the low weight and aerodynamic form factor, that firstly was introduced by Mobius and after that adopted by other manufacturers like...

NIHUI TOYS U807 quadcopter with HD camera My first opinion when I saw this quadcopter was to skip over it but finally I decided that this NIHUI TOYS U807 worth at least to mention few words about it in my quadcopter news section. These kind of cheap Chinese quadcopters have a poor reputation about their reliability. Battery and motor failures may appear after only few...

Cheerson CX-10C - the smallest quadcopter with camera Ten years ago it seemed unimaginable to play with such a small multi-rotor like this Cheerson CX-10C. Now we can purchase nano and micro quadcopters for $10-$20. These small remote controlled toys became popular very quickly because they are extremely affordable, portable and easy to fly. When I purchased my first nano quadcopter, one of my colleagues asked me "OK, that is...

Hawkeye FireFly 5s quadcopter camera There are many action cameras like this FireFly 5s  on the a market and it is very hard to evaluate them only by the specs. Most of them are very similar, based on the same hardware just sold under different "brand" names. What I have firstly learned regarding these Chinese GoPro clones is that the number of megapixels does not count...

FUAV Smargle - the next Phantom killer? I already introduced an interesting multi-rotor model from FUAV, the Seraphi-GPS. This new FUAV Smargle 1 is something totally different in a positive way. It has a very stylish design with retractable landing skids that are absolutely necessary for aerial filming. The FUAV Smargle's remote controller is designed to be used for first person view flights. On the...

Syma X5sC-1 maiden flight video My first flight with the Syma X5sC-1 was very smooth without any issues. As shown in the video, this quadcopter is very stable and easy to fly. The still photos have a disappointing image quality but the videos are pretty good and acceptable for "home" use. Syma X5sC-1 test video https://youtu.be/UZx04RIi5EE I own this Syma quadcopter for about one month and I have not noticed (yet)...

The cheapest 2D brushless gimbal First of all, cheap does not necessary mean poor quality... OK, not all the time:). The popularity of the FPV 2 axis gimbal is the best proof of this fact. Lets talk a bit about what means exactly a gimbal and why we need such a device. A "Gimbal" has roughly two main functions: to keep the camera steady and to allow...

October’s quadcopter reviews on www.firstquadcopter.com Last month I reviewed the XK X380 quadcotper and I'm still impressed, it can't be compared with any other of my cheap models. Next step is to equip it with gimbal, HD camera and a 5.8GHz video transmission module for first person view flights. I can't wait to go out and fly it again. As it is full autumn and rainy...

Z1 quadcopter with headless mode and RTH It looks that the Chinese manufacturers remained without inspiration in finding fancy codename for quadcopters, this new model is called simply the "Z1". This Z1 quadcopter comes with all the latest innovations like headless mode and one key return to home. The angle of the camera's lens can be manually adjusted so that the pilots can set their...