RunRyder - Any thoughts about a Hitec Optic 6

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e-E-Flite Blade CP CX MCX 400-3D > Any thoughts about a Hitec Optic 6

Stuntridah
Senior Heliman
Location: Saugus,Ma.-USA

Ive read the posts, some people say they are good, others say get something better. Im looking for a decent tx to fly my blade. Not really thinking about what I will get in the future. Want something good for blade, not too much more. Going seperates soon. Dont know much about them, they sell a FM and QPCM. Will FM be ok? What are the differences, and what one do I get/why? Looks like it does everything I need. Any info bout this 1 or any other 1 would be appreciated. If theres a thread that will teach me more please let me know. Thank you.

06-05-2006 Over year old.

Deves
Heliman
Location: Anaheim CA.

Have you seen this one?..http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t220778p1/

06-05-2006 Over year old.

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

If it's only park flyers you want a radio for then why not take advantage of glitchless spread spectrum?

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Product...?ProdID=SPM2460

I use this radio for all my small electrics and never experienced a single glitch with it that I'm aware of. It even has fail-safe just like expensive PCM systems.

06-05-2006 Over year old.

Stuntridah
Senior Heliman
Location: Saugus,Ma.-USA

Quote
Have you seen this one?..http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t220778p1/

I read this a couple of times already

Quote
If it's only park flyers you want a radio for then why not take advantage of glitchless spread spectrum?

Ive nerver heard of this one before, is the Hitec better?

What is the diff between FM and Qpcm???

06-05-2006 Over year old.

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

FM (Frequency Modulation) is analog signal - PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) converts analog to digital signal and has fail-safe for lost signal. Both are on 72Mhz frequency which is down in the range of metal-to-metal etc RF interference and PCM is a fairly successful attempt to filter RF interference.

The Optic 6 is likely a better radio as far as more and better programming features, but the DX6 communicates on the 2.4Ghz frequency which is well above most RF interference that 72Mhz is vulnerable to, plus it broadcasts/receives on 2 channels at once for signal loss redundancy and has the same fail-safe feature as PCM. The RX antennas are only about 3" long so you don't have to fuss with routing them around your aircraft worrying about the quality of the reception and them getting tangled or caught on anything. The DX6's programming features are not quite on par with the Optic 6, but it's plenty adequate to operate any of your park flyer style aircraft to take advantage of it's glitch-free digital spread spectrum technology.

I believe to take advantage of the Optic 6's PCM signal you will need a PCM receiver which are usually much too large for use in small park flyer aircraft so you are still stuck with plain ole FM and no fail-safe. Futaba does have a new semi-small PCM RX out now that might fit in park flyers, but it won't communicate with the Optic 6.

I doubt you would be dissatisfied with the DX6, I'm certainly not. I love it's receivers w/ antennas tucked away nicely inside the aircraft and not worrying about anyone else being on my channels or crashing from glitches.

06-05-2006 Over year old.

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

One VERY disturbing thing about the Optic6 that we discovered
this weekend is that there does NOT seem to be any way to
set failsafe for helicopters.

It appears to be limited to airplanes only.

Another thing is that the hover pitch/throttle levers have
no 'disable' so you need to be careful that they are always
centered in N mode.

06-05-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Stuntridah
Senior Heliman
Location: Saugus,Ma.-USA

Thank you Mr. Chaos, very informative. One last ques. Is the stock TX for BCP a FM???

Thank you all again.

06-06-2006 Over year old.

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

Yes, the BCP stock radio is FM. So is the Optic6 and DX6. The Optic6 just has the option to convert the signal to PCM.

The DX6 has a few shortcomings in features compared to the Optic6 such as 3-point throttle and pitch curves instead of 5 and no expo on rudder which you might really only miss if you like to hover planes. But the reliable signal, no channel hassles, not dealing with antenna wire, and having fail-safe makes the trade off worth having this new technology for so cheap a pricetag.

If you're going to be flying larger IC powered aircraft then the Optic6 might be a decent first computer radio for it's pricetag. But if you're just sticking with park flyers then I'd go with the DX6. (I fly 3D with my Hornet using the DX6 no problem - In fact I no longer trust it to 72Mhz as a glitch was the cause of it's latest crash last fall)

06-07-2006 Over year old.

wolfpack72
Heliman
Location: bertram Tx U.S.A.

Luv my Optic 6

I bought the optic 6 and love it it. I have 2 planes and a Blade CP set up on it. for the price of a first time computer radio it's hard to beat. It's also very simple to set up and comes with good instructions.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

sixeasy
Heliman
Location: San Diego, CA

Im diggin my optic 6 too. It flies my CX, CP and Rex. If you're new to computer radios, like me I just came here and did some searches on setup as the manual is pretty daunting.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

Stuntridah
Senior Heliman
Location: Saugus,Ma.-USA

Thank you guys very much. Im selling 1 of my 3 crotch rockets (damn helis are addictive). Using some of the money to upgrade to seperates. Taking electronics and mounting them to my arf BCP. So with any luck I will have a brushless/hh BCP, and a stock 1. I think I will go with the optic 6. Hopefully in the next month or so I will have everything. Thanks again.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

Eric_N57105
Heliman
Location: Riverside, CA

Quote
One VERY disturbing thing about the Optic6 that we discovered this weekend is that there does NOT seem to be any way to set failsafe for helicopters. It appears to be limited to airplanes only.

For a REASON! Airplanes have directional sense. They always fly pointy end first no matter what. You can program them to enter a shallow descending turn on fail-safe like an old freeflight airplane and have some hope of recovering it in large enough pieces to rebuild.

But what would you set a helicopter to do? It has no directional sense. It is happy flying in any direction whatsoever even if it means a suicide mission. There are no self-righting capabilities inherent in a helicopter. And the BCP has only a rate sensitive gyro to dampen the tail. The best that could do is slow down the pirouettes in the death spiral.

Getting the Optic 6 has turned out to be the single best improvement I have done for the BCP. It literally transformed it and made me a better pilot...I might even deserve that term some day. heh heh heh.

Eric
www.ke6us.com

06-07-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

Quote
But what would you set a helicopter to do?

You set the throttle to idle and the rest of the controls to a neutral position so that when signal is lost the heli will just fall where it is rather than go off on it's own to who knows where to do what damage/injury. Better that it drop quietly in one spot than to continue flying or convulsing unpredictably while cranking power to the blades.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

Eric_N57105
Heliman
Location: Riverside, CA

Quote
One VERY disturbing thing about the Optic6 that we discovered this weekend is that there does NOT seem to be any way to set failsafe for helicopters. It appears to be limited to airplanes only.

I don't have any way of testing this as I don't have a QPCM receiver. However, nothing in the manual says it can't be done. It simply refers you to the airplane section for information as it does for a lot of features.

I reprogrammed the TX BCP model to QPCM and it allowed me to set FAIL to ON, so there doesn't seem to be an restriction to using it for helicopters.

Captain Chaos recommends throttle to idle and other controls neutral. It would be great if the BCP could find its way to the ground in one piece by enabling failsafe.

I think the biggest objection by those who don't like it for helicopters is that it masks glitching so you can't recognize them in flight. That just about guarantees a "failsafe" end to the helicopter. Maybe right at your feet so you can salvage it. Maybe not.

Eric
www.ke6us.com

06-07-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

Quote
I don't have any way of testing this as I don't have a QPCM receiver. However, nothing in the manual says it can't be done. It simply refers you to the airplane section for information as it does for a lot of features.

No, once you have selected the model to be a helicopter, the
menu structure changes and guess what? The failsafe option
disappears.

A friend and I scrolled through every menu and it doesn't seem
to be there for heli's.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

Quote
It would be great if the BCP could find its way to the ground in one piece by enabling failsafe.

It's much like hitting throttle-hold before impacting the ground. It will just fall to the ground while losing it's rotor inertia minimizing damage once it comes in contact with the ground. The BCP is pretty tough in that way, it'll take an unpowered bounce from good heights onto soft turf with little or no damage.

But you aren't going to get PCM or fail-safe for the BCP with the optic 6 anyways. Only with the DX6 or maybe with a Futaba and a mini PCM RX, but might still be big to use in the BCP, I don't know - I haven't seen one up close.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

theShark
Senior Heliman
Location: Miami, FL

Quote
Another thing is that the hover pitch/throttle levers have no 'disable' so you need to be careful that they are always centered in N mode.

That is most disturbing.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

Stuntridah
Senior Heliman
Location: Saugus,Ma.-USA

Quote
Another thing is that the hover pitch/throttle levers have no 'disable' so you need to be careful that they are always centered in N mode.

Quote
That is most disturbing.

I was thinking bout getting them where I want them, and putting tape over them so they wont move.

06-07-2006 Over year old.

Eric_N57105
Heliman
Location: Riverside, CA

Quote
No, once you have selected the model to be a helicopter, the menu structure changes and guess what? The failsafe option disappears. A friend and I scrolled through every menu and it doesn't seem to be there for heli's.

Well, it is there for Heli's. I'm looking at it right now. The sequence is:
EXP
D/R
EPA
FAIL

Of course, you have to select QPCM, not PPM for modulation method or you won't see it.

Eric
www.ke6us.com

06-08-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

ok, I"ll stand corrected. my friend must have had the PPM receiver.

thanks.

06-08-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

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e-E-Flite Blade CP CX MCX 400-3D > Any thoughts about a Hitec Optic 6

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