Ryan, I'll make a long story short. I've been a commercial photographer for 25 years. What I'm looking to now is to take it to the sky. I've been training with 2 different toy quad copters and feel it's time to move up to something a little more stable and will get me closer to the Typhoon Q500 4K for aerial photography work that a few of my clients have inquired about. I've been doing a lot of research on this. Do's and don'ts, where you can fly. I got the 2nd CX-20 working the way it should be right out of the box. It fly's great, GPS took about 8 minutes to connect. After that I did the binding with the transmitter as instructed. Just seemed funny with all the video's out there I really couldn't find one other then a Russian guy who had one up. So anyway now that I have that part done I plane on practicing slower maneuvers rather than the sport type flying than a lot of the video's out there. Thanks for your input on this model. You should do a test on the XK Detect 380 sometime if you haven't already. Sounds like one I'll be making a jump to with camera before the Q500.
+R Lee Sounds like a good plan, and I'm glad your replacement model is working! I have been trying to get my hands on a Detect 380, but none of my sponsors seem to want to give me one to review, and it's a bit too expensive for me to buy just to review. :/ I think once you get a feel for the CX-20, you should be able to safely move up to the Q500 after that. I've heard it is really easy to fly. :)
Just bought for 209.99 dollars with coupon code: CX20 www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_113550.html?wid=21&lkid=10742075 I hope this will help you ruclips.net/video/Am5vFPIrXPs/видео.html
Mine should arrive tomorrow. There are more than enough mounts with the SJ4000 to put the camera in a better position. I had a problem mounting the sjcam to my x101 but sorted it by adapting one of the standard mounts.
Hi Ryan, I finally picked the Ausi version called Twister quatro_x. I paid euro250 for it and I cannot believe how nice this machine is for the price. The only problem I've had is trying to assemble the camera mount. Also every part came in it's own box inside the main case which was nice to see. Compared to that troublesome Parrot machine which I forked out 800 for last year it's amazingly user friendly😀 The GPS is rock solid once it kick's in...thakes a while to Warm up but handy to have. So easy to set up and calibration is really easy too...flick the right toggle switch a few times then rotate twice horizontal then the same nose down clockwise of course. Flick both toggles to 0 and off we go in manual until we get the required 6 sat lock. Real bargain I recon✌
Congrats Ryan, I know you have been saying you needed to review the aerial photography/ cinematography platforms with the altitude hold and gps. Great review and nice to see you have one for yourself now.. if any1 deserves one, it's you..It will open you eyes to a whole new world of Multirotoring, and once you get a gimbal aerial footage will never be the same for you ( you won't want anymore 2mp footage soon).. soooo happy 4 my boi Ryan!!!!
Gimbal Guy I have never wanted 2MP footage. lol Wait till you see my review this Friday... my first 2-axis gimbal quad. I think I took some pretty cool footage with it too. :)
Excellent review Ryan, your best to date. Great information, explanations and demonstration. Also Mom & Pop's farm looks like a great place to hang and an awesome RC venue for flyin' and rollin'.
cookieman0916 I was thinking that same thing man! Thanks for calling it out. If I put on my "CSI" hat, I'm guessing "whoever" drove over it right after the seeding, hence nothing came up there.
Great video. I just ordered the Cx-20 this morning and got that same camera (minus wifi) for it. By far the best explanation on how to use this baby by far. I love the fly to home features so you have that as a backup for landings or if there is a control/power issue. The video was pretty stable considering the mounting. I technically have a go pro black+ but don't want to throw that in my first outdoor quad in case there's an oops plus I own go pro scuba attachments and not worth the risk since they are custom to only that go pro. Buying a cheap $60 camera was a no brainier and video quality is great. Maybe down the road I'll go fpv but have mixed feelings about taking my eyes off the quad. They just announced a cx-22 and wingsland quad so they are getting cheaper every year.
Adam Burns Thanks, glad you found the video helpful. :) And yeah, these GoPro knock-offs are great for when you want similar quality, but not risk hurting your more expensive GoPro. I have my eye on the CX-22, and I think it looks great for what it offers for the price. :) The Wingsland looks good too, but the FPV monitor is tiny. I hear they will be releasing a big screen for it, so I may wait and see if that happens before I consider reviewing it.
Ryan, Got my CX-20 today 01/10/15 and when I took the transmitter out of the box I had a Green Important printed label on it saying the following: Before flying you must calibrate the Quad Copter. #1. Connect a charged battery which I did. #2. Switch on the transmitter and allow it to bind. (Which I assume it did) #3. Flick the Switch SWA back and forth until the Red LED flashes yellow quickly. Then Rotate the Quad Copter clockwise 2 times. #4. Now point the quad copter down towards the ground and rotate about it's roll axis another 2 times. #5. Calibration is complete when the Red and Green LED's flash together. Please see the Instruction Manual for full calibration information. I did all this and could not get the Red & Green LED's to flash together. No where on any You Tube videos has anyone talked about this. I have not been able to get a solid green light for any satellites. I have been able to start it but I don't want to fly it till I know for sure I have the satellites. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. You can email if you have any input on this rather then using the thread if you like. Rlee.harley@gmail.com Thanks!
+R Lee Here is a video that shows it, and they are doing it indoors, which I'm not sure is the suggested method since buildings can block the satellite signals. I also think they may be doing the rotations incorrectly. ruclips.net/video/KdVTOXGOlQ0/видео.html
My CX-20 observations: * The green LED goes solid on with 4 satellites. With only 4, GPS drift an be 50-100 ft (or way more if 1 drops out). * What the manual should recommend is to attempt to arm in loiter (GPS hold). That will confirm enough satellites to keep GPS drift under ~5 ft. You can arm in manual and hope to acquire more satellites with altitude, but that's a gamble. * The beep signal from the transmitter is just to confirm you are at mid throttle.
Bill Branning Thanks for the info! I read the manual in full before ever flying this thing, but I don't recall reading anything about it going solid after only 4 satellites. I could've sworn it was 8, or maybe even more.
Flyin' Ryan RC My manual doesn't say anything about the quality of the GPS lock. I see yours does mention 6 satellites. That's probably why you saw some drift at the start of your flight. A good GPS position hold is more likely with 8-10. I have the open source version so I could observe the satellite counts reported in the Mavlink telemetry stream. The sat count usually goes up with time & altitude.
Great review as always! I find that I no longer gravitate to my toy quads anymore since I got the CX-20. The CX-20 just seems to fly sooo much better than a brushed motor quad. I like the flight characteristics tuned for an aerial photography quad even if not filming.
Dennis Coonich For just fun flying I would much prefer the Blade 200 QX or even the brushed LaTrax Alias. It also has a lot to do with flying area, as I don't feel comfortable flying something like this in town around my house, whereas I feel completely safe flying my 200 QX there. :) I wish Cheerson would make a 200-250 size sporty brushless quad. Seems that most of these Chinese brands are keeping the brushless stuff for aerial video, and no one is really thinking about the sport flyer. The Hubsan H109 looks like it could be a killer brushless sport flyer though. :)
The Cheerson CX-20 Vs the DJI Phantom tested in GPS position hold vimeo.com/96928699 About the TX beeping, I found this on RC Groups: "The TX beep is to let you know that the throttle is in the middle and the aircraft should hold position, if no beep then throttle is too low or high meaning you should be descending or climbing."
You want gps hold if your flying long distances you might need to update the firmware it will probably help with the drifting issue I put mine in some pretty high winds and it's pretty solid in the air
Ryan, If you log onto mission planner via the usb on bottom. You can adjust max pitch for quad. Check it out the software is free. You can also do full calibrations as well as autonomous flights using gps!! Can't wait to get mine flying!!! Tom
my first flight. took off in manual mode, it went up 10 ' then took off. RTH used, shut tx off. it just kept going going gone. did the calibration of the compass and the dance, etc... several times. no MP. never found it! got another, put that on MP, and un-flown, RTH was 90000 from my current location. reset the max angle to 3500! other important settings reset, plus revision of the firmware. never did it before in my life. Super easy! Glad I did though! it is used just like they link up their Indy Cars to trick them out. it checks to make sure settings are correct, GPS and compass settings are dialed in. fly them out of the box, and your taking a big expensive chance!!!
+philip dangelo Oh, I see, you just mean using the software for settings, but not actually setting up a flight plan. Yeah, that makes sense. No idea why you had fly away problems though, especially in manual mode.
Comment on durability: I have a CX20, and recommend purchasing spare landing legs immediately after receiving one. The landing gear seems to snap easily. I added some packing foam to the latest replacement legs - that seems to have helped. I am not the best operator btw...so practice helps a lot!
There appears to be no sort of damage to the flight controller. The motors are fine. At first I thought that it was a gyro issue, but when I flew high, the wobble slowed or even stopped. The gps lock made it very stable, no wobbling at all. I don't know what to do since there are so many sensors on this thing.
Ryan, well I did what you suggested and I actually waited almost 30 minutes no satellite connection whatsoever. So needless to say I boxed it up took it back to Fry's Electronics and I've got another one coming in tomorrow. If you wouldn't mind I could sure use some one on one self tutoring on this particular quadcopter. All of the RUclips videos make it look so simple mainly because I think you've been doing it for quite a while. I have some particular questions I would like to ask once I take this out of box and get it ready to fly. Email works best for me if you don't mind. Thanks!
+R Lee I am just not sure I can really commit a lot of time... I have a full time job as well as doing this RC thing. :) If this is your first quadcopter, and first flying RC vehicle, I absolutely would NOT suggest starting with this!! This is a very serious quad, and you should be well familiar with flying and the hobby by the time you fly something like this. So, maybe that is the reason you are feeling a bit out of the loop? You need to start with something smaller, safer, and cheaper first, because it is hard to learn how to fly and you absolutely will be crashing while you learn... and this is not a model you want to crash.
Good to see Gearbest and Banggood starting to give away their higher dollar quads to their testers. I wish you had shown the receiver and quad calibration also. You can change the pitch in Mission Planner but as an aerial quad I did not see much of a need for myself. Thanks and I hope to see more on this bird.
dheller777 Well, I didn't want to get too in detail about basic stuff that is covered in the manual, like calibration. And, yeah, I know you can change the pitch, but I wanted to review it as it comes, and I also can't use that software since I use a Mac. :(
Nice review on the Cheerson. I recently bought this quad myself and I think it's a good deal for $225 considering its size and the fact that it has GPS. On another note I think there are several things that could use a big upgrade on this quad. All in all I guess it's a good learner quad for this size category I just wish it was a bit more durable. Oh yeah, I have also seen it mentioned that the GPS mast is prone to breakage so heads up.
Hello Ryan , I was thinking this morning to request you to do a review on cheerson cx 20 and what do you know , couple hours later you had the video uploaded , keep up the good work , and please please please review some brushless rc boats before summer ends.
Ellis Malave I don't think it's faulty... I think the beeping is intended, to let you know you are at half throttle, but I think that's a weird design decision.
Strange because I recall QuadCopter101 reviewed the CX-20 and his didn't beep. I'll have to check out his channel again to confirm. Very nice review though!
Hello.... Hey, I'm wondering just how your feelings are on the cx20?.. I'm thinking about moving up from my x8c's(two of them),. I've been reading reviews, comments both pro and con, I'm still on the fence.. With so much talk about software this and software for that is really concerning and puzzling to me.. Are you happy with your cx20?.. Would you recommend one for a more advanced quadcopter flyer?... Thanks Greg...
+Gregory Johnson I didn't do any software tweaks on mine, and I'm happy with it for the type of flying I do with it. I'm not concerned with waypoint flying or anything like that. It's an aerial video quad, so keep that in mind. It's not for sport flying or anything like that.
Nice review Ryan. This quad is the way to go if you can't afford the Phantom. Do you have to calibrate the GPS on this one? Because on the Phantom, if you fly it in different places you pretty much have to calibrate the compass every time.
ThexAimless Yeah, you are supposed to, but I didn't (I forgot to take the manual with me, and couldn't remember how to do it). I am still not really sure if that is required for GPS hold, or just for headless mode, since you are recalibrating the magnetic compass (not really GPS).
ThexAimless Watch the motor clips that hold the motor spindle in place because when you crash or hard land the E clips come off bottom of the motors, that way the spindle shaft and prop comes off in one. Your props also need balancing to fly correctly. Mine is not stable, and my compass was damaged out the package, so ALWAYS check your compass in mission planner if you have the open source version (Look for the red writing in mission planner saying bad compass health). You also need a big open space/area to fly this quad to learn it properly. A back garden with surrounding buildings is a no no... They are unstable for that and need at least half of a football field or more to even consider flying the quad safely. This is just a tip to anyone who reads this and thinks it's a garden or parking lot flyer, similar to other quads...
update..when i got my cx20 my right front motor was twitching n not spinning so i ordered a new motor and esc just in case, got the motor in the mail first tested the new motor n was hoping it was not n esc problem n yesss now im good to fly i also put my gps inside on top of the dome with copper tape n raised the main board up 4mm to fit a 5200mah battery just to let u know the standard charger messed up 2 new batteries
+LLEVNED Yeah, I don't trust any of the chargers that come with RTF packages. After I get the charging times for my reviews, I always use my hobby-grade charger for all my charging.
Hi Ryan, I am having an issue with the CX-20. After the crash, the motors would arm(on command) in a slow idle. I throttle up but they don't go to full power, the drone can't get enough lift to fly. I've tried several calibrations( ESC, transmitter, gyro, compass) and I've even tried a factory firmware installation. It still arms into the low idle. What should I do to fix that
I am not really sure. You may have a damaged motor somewhere, so the 6-axis stabilization system is bringing all the motors down to match its top speed, in order to keep the quad level, but then not giving enough power for lift.
What are the two AUX pots for? Also, the GPS antenna is usually inside that round thingy on top - the antennas at the bottom are most likely from the Rx (diversity)...
I tried the firmware update and that helped a lot. It still was a bit unstable when making turns and hovering and transitioning to forward flight. The gyroscope calibration works too. I don't see any damage on the props. I tried doing a DJI Phantom 3 prop upgrade, but that made it worse. How do you get the app back to factory settings?
The mount for the gopro, does it seem connected on really well? Any chance that the Cheerson is in flight and for some reason the mount just disconnects from the drone?
+Reggie Andaya I think it's highly unlikely that would happen. If you were really concerned about that happening, you could connect a piece of fishing line from the camera to the body of the quad, as a backup. :)
Hi Ryan, it's Seth again. I am wondering how to bind the CX-20 with the transmitter. I have been having some troubles with that for about 2-3 days. Is there a certain order that you do it in, or a certain time limit that the transmitter needs to be turned on in? What do I do?
Turn on the transmitter first, and then the quad. You may need to press some buttons in order to put them in bind mode, if for some reason they have lost their bind. I don't know the details of that though, so you would have to check the manual for info about how to do that.
John Luciano The DJI Phantom is the only quad with a spring-loaded throttle, as far as I know. That only makes sense in a GPS quad which needs to be at half-throttle for GPS hold to work. Otherwise it would make no sense, since then if someone let off the stick it would all of a sudden jump to half-throttle, which would not be a good thing. I personally really dislike how the Phantom throttle does that. I think they basically designed that quad for dummies... not actual RC pilots. :/
Ok, I will try that. Also, the CX-20 is being really unstable. I am going to try an APM reset, then if that doesn't work, a firmware update. I am going to Galveston this weekend for July 4th and would like to take my drone to film the fireworks with and I want to be able to fly it without any problems. Any ideas on what to do?
Hello Ryan, its Seth. My CX-20 just had a crash. It was in manual mode. I was bringing it in to land and the drone cut out and flipped front over and crashed. It was about 3-5 meters off the ground. The stopwatch had 11:28 on the battery and It was flying slowly. I do have a 2.4 ghz/ 5.8 ghz wifi router, but I flew over the house several times and nothing happened. The transmitter was still on. I punched the throttle to full hopping that it would start up and level out. Nothing. Any ideas?
Ryan, I have been meaning to ask you and I forgot since I got CX-20 working. Everything seems fine the one question I have is the trasmitter keeps beeping the whole time I'm flying the different modes, what is the story behind that. Thanks!
+R Lee Yeah, mine did that too, and I talked about that in my review. I think that is just an indication that the throttle is at the mid-level, meaning the quad is ready to be put into GPS hold if you want. It's pretty annoying.
Hey Ryan :) Nice well done video! Good for comparing to my CX-20. Like your style of documentation/presentation in your reviews. Do you have try out the 9450 self locking props? Very good lift and acuracy on my CX-20. They are available in Carbon and white good material plastics. And you`re right, the constant beep from TX is a info that the throttle stick is in center - means the quad in GPS mode holds his position/and height. Thank you, and nice weekend to you and family! Frank
Great review Ryan I got this quad and same sj4000 make sure wifi is off on the camera it causes flyways! And also I have a bunch of camera holders with the sj and there is one with no cover its much lighter and the camera won't be upside down like it is with the water proof cover ! Take care bro!👍
Camshaft Shaft Yeah, I talked about not using WiFi in the video. And, ah, you know what I didn't even think to check all my mounts to see if there was another option! Doh! >.
Hey Ryan, happy 4th. I can arm my CX-20 but then the motors rotate once and then stop and then the quad disarms. I dont know what is causing the motors to rotate. The throttle is at 0. Maybe its the ESCs, but I've done the ESC calibration and it still does that. What should I do?
Hey thanks, I have four batteries now so I have at least 45 minutes of flying time. Can I fly it on all four batteries without messing up the motors or do I need to put some down time in between the two batteries for cooling.
+R Lee Well, brushless motors can take a lot more heat than brushed motors, so you might be okay, though it's always good to let the motors cool, if you can, just to be safe.
I bought one of these and was constantly breaking, then I got the dji phantom v1.1.1 and it is amazing headless mode return to home and more works amazing, fifty times more stable than the cheerson and also it is so well made that you don't need the dampeners for a camera it is jello free so buy a phantom if you can instead of buying one of these and having a pain all the time
I own two CX20 for a year now. I continue to fly both...and at this point of time do not think either as a poor choice. I also fly P3 and P4 Phantom. The Cheerson CX20 and it's cousin Quanum...one-in-the-same....Quanum from inception was always supported with "Open Source" ..FC..flight control, but Cheerson CX20 was not. CX20 delivered after midway 2015 were FC supplied with 'open source FC'....APM 2.5. The 'open source' versions of the CX20, Quanum, platform, are "Mission Planner" threshold, meaning MP recognizes and offers help for the CX20-Quanum. Your in the door.
+finnjamin1991 Everything I showed in the review, other than the camera itself, came with the quad. And, I'm not sure what you mean about the landing leg.... it's *always* visible.
Hi Ryan which is better the cx-20 or the xk detect x380. The cx-20 worries me about the range (they advertise about 300 meters) but i Like it because it has manual mode. (the xk detect x380 advertise about 1000m).you can help me?
+RC infamous I have no experience with the X380, so I can't really say. In general though, I don't really pay much attention to the advertised range, flight times, etc, as they are often wrong, exaggerated, or simply guesses. 1000M seems unlikely, and I don't see any reason to fly that far anyway.
Hi, Maybe the " beeping " is when u flying on Manual Mode and its for find the quads if you lost him? I have the same beeping with my CX20. Nice videos and review, i just update and set some stuff with the APM Planner 2.0 for mac. Cheers.
Nate Grillz Well, the beeping is from the transmitter, so that wouldn't help find the quad at all. It's to indicate that the throttle is at 50%, which is needed to the GPS position hold. But I find it weird that it beeps constantly while flying in manual mode. It should beep only when I turn on GPS hold.
How far can it get? I've flown it far away (in comparission to my former-best quad, tarantula x6) but i still have no idea how far can it fly safe, also i wanted to know if the quad loses the transmiter signal, what does it do? does it returns home when this happens?
+camilo villada I believe it should return to home, but I seriously suggest not finding out. I don't condone long-range flying, as that is not a safe practice and can lead to injury or damage of property.
Ryan, I own a cx 20 and I was wondering when you put the props on did they go on hard for you? One of my props won't go on far enough to put the screw back on. Also I wish someone had said in their review that the two black screws are threaded backwards I spent I don how long before I figured that out. Thanks for your reviews they are great and very helpful!
James Shipley I don't recall having any issues getting the props on. Maybe one of yours isn't quite molded right? I also can't recall, but there may be a flat spot inside the prop that you need to line up with the flat spot on the motor shaft. And yeah, since two motors turn CC and two motors turn CCC, the props screw on differently depending on which way the motors rotates. These are called self-tightening props, because as they rotate, the force of the air pushing against them actually screws them onto the motor shaft even tighter. :)
Would should make to videos for each quad, one like initial thoughts, features, etc. Then one later on once you have flowed it, so like durability, etc.
Jason Hacker I simply don't have the time, nor do I fly most of these that much after the review, to do that. I do put several test flights in before my review though, so I do have a good bit of actual experience with everything I review before filming the review.
hy ryan, thanks for the great video here, I was confuse to choose the version of cx-20, there is opensource, big fat shark, and zero version, what the difference of all? and in the box thats version have 6-axis and 4-axis, may you explain me about that?
+Iman Subarkah I am not familiar with what the difference versions are... mine is Opensource. 4-axis and 6-axis are two different ways of saying the same thing, as far as I know. 3-axis gyro + accelerometer.
im planning to buy this soon.. is this ok for aerial videos and photographs for beginners? i want to buy with the walkera g2d gimbal for stable capture. what your suggestion?
+ely8985 No, beginners should absolutely not start with a model this big, powerful, and dangerous. You need to learn how to fly on something smaller and safer first, and then work your way up to something like this.
Ok. Thanks much. I found an SJ4000 without the WiFi & was wondering if that would be better to buy since the one with it causes interference to the quad like u mentioned? Sorry to keep bugging you :)
+Alan Savage I like having the WiFi for other uses... it makes it convenient to line up your camera angle, and even start/stop recording, without having to actually be at the camera. And, you can turn it off, so it doesn't interfere with the quad when it is turned off. It really depends on whether or not you think you'd ever have use for the feature. :)
+Alan Savage The camera I used in my video is the SJCAM SJ4000 WiFi. It is a good GoPro alternative, for a fraction of the price. The only problems I've had with it is bad white balance... works best in good bright daylight, which shouldn't be an issue for aerial videography. And poor sound, which again isn't an issue for aerial videography. And, don't use the WiFi while mounted on the quad because it WILL interfere with the radio signal!
Hi Ryan, which calibration method are you using? I've done the one in the manual exactly and I'm not sure that it's correct. I can't get my cx-20 to gps hold and it doesn't return to home that well. Any suggestions? i'm contemplating replacing it.
hey Ryan trying figure out my next quadcopter....I'm rocking the hubsan x4 right love that thing....would like a bigger outdoor copter possibly with live video feed but not a concern on that.....any recommendations for a good copter to buy next
Ryan, one thing I forgot to mention when I was asking you how to do the calibration I did not mention that it has been raining and very overcast this last week. It was pretty overcast and cloudy last night when I tried setting this up in my backyard which is stucco and also then went out front I was on the back of my tailgate of the truck so maybe that might be part of the reason I don't know. No metal buildings around where I live. It's nice and sunny today so when I get home I'm going to take it to an open field where I want to fly and get comfortable using the CX-20. If I still don't get any satellites what are my options? Is this defective? Thanks for getting back to me on this. I'll check out the link you gave me also when I get home.
+R Lee I would let it sit first, and see if you can get the satellites, and then mess with the calibration after that. I've heard it can take like 10-15min to get the satellites, but it's always been relatively quick for me. But, maybe wait up to 15min and if it still doesn't lock in, then you may have something defective. :(
hey FR. I just received my cx-20 and it is my first GPS quad also...a couple of questions...did you ever find out what that incessant beeping is...I ran my battery down to 12% without realizing it because I didn't see a lvc warning., does it have one...do you know what flight range is - I can't seem to find this info anywhere...keep the great reviews coming!
The beeping is to let you know that you are at mid-throttle which means it is in altitude-hold. Pretty silly design. :/ I think it does have an LVC warning, but I don't remember how long it is... you would have to refer to my review for that info. It can often be hard to see the LEDs in daylight though. I am not sure about the range, but the product listing on Banggood claims 300m.
Yeah, Chinese brands don't offer any sort of customer support (that's a big part of why they are so much cheaper than American brands). You would have to try going through the store you bought it from.
hey man i recently got a cx-20 i love it the only thing is the part you were talking about to put prop guard 2 of the screws on 1 moter came stripped. would you happened to know how to remove the stripped screws?
If you have the open source version, you can go into "mission planner" and increase the max pitch and a whole bunch of things with it. Look for "CX-20 Acro" on youtube for some ideas of what it can do.
Flyin' Ryan RC I can connect to the CX-20 using APM Planner 2 on my windows machine (which is also available on OSX).. and I do see the full parameter list, try it out
I have watched most of your videos and was wondering if you could simply give me a suggestion on which quad to buy. What is the best bang for the buck. I have looked for hours on Gearbest and just get more and more confused! I want to be in the $150-250 range and like the features of GPS, return to home, low voltage protection, position hold, gimble. I have had several quads, including the x5c. I am ready to step up but with so many choices I can't decide. I am not willing to invest in a $1000 quad yet but like a lot of the features the x8, cx-20 x6 plus offer for the price.
+Jeremy Rock I am not sure there are any GPS quads for that cheap, especially with a gimbal. And RTH and position hold only work well with GPS... any of the non-GPS quads that offer those features simply don't work well enough to use, yet rely on.
Ryan, I'll make a long story short. I've been a commercial photographer for 25 years. What I'm looking to now is to take it to the sky. I've been training with 2 different toy quad copters and feel it's time to move up to something a little more stable and will get me closer to the Typhoon Q500 4K for aerial photography work that a few of my clients have inquired about. I've been doing a lot of research on this. Do's and don'ts, where you can fly.
I got the 2nd CX-20 working the way it should be right out of the box. It fly's great, GPS took about 8 minutes to connect. After that I did the binding with the transmitter as instructed. Just seemed funny with all the video's out there I really couldn't find one other then a Russian guy who had one up. So anyway now that I have that part done I plane on practicing slower maneuvers rather than the sport type flying than a lot of the video's out there. Thanks for your input on this model. You should do a test on the XK Detect 380 sometime if you haven't already. Sounds like one I'll be making a jump to with camera before the Q500.
+R Lee Sounds like a good plan, and I'm glad your replacement model is working! I have been trying to get my hands on a Detect 380, but none of my sponsors seem to want to give me one to review, and it's a bit too expensive for me to buy just to review. :/ I think once you get a feel for the CX-20, you should be able to safely move up to the Q500 after that. I've heard it is really easy to fly. :)
Your parents have a beautiful farm!
I always love your reviews as you do not hold any criticism out and point out every bad and good things about it!
Thanks! :D
+Flyin' Ryan RC Best reviewer ever!
Just bought for 209.99 dollars with coupon code: CX20
www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_113550.html?wid=21&lkid=10742075
I hope this will help you
ruclips.net/video/Am5vFPIrXPs/видео.html
Look what I just found. It's for 189.99 USD, www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_113550.html?lkid=11414124, I bought one!
just bought this quad yesterday.. so much fun,and so much power....
Mine should arrive tomorrow. There are more than enough mounts with the SJ4000 to put the camera in a better position. I had a problem mounting the sjcam to my x101 but sorted it by adapting one of the standard mounts.
Hi Ryan,
I finally picked the Ausi version called Twister quatro_x.
I paid euro250 for it and I cannot believe how nice this machine is for the price.
The only problem I've had is trying to assemble the camera mount.
Also every part came in it's own box inside the main case which was nice to see.
Compared to that troublesome Parrot machine which I forked out 800 for last year it's amazingly user friendly😀
The GPS is rock solid once it kick's in...thakes a while to Warm up but handy to have.
So easy to set up and calibration is really easy too...flick the right toggle switch a few times then rotate twice horizontal then the same nose down clockwise of course.
Flick both toggles to 0 and off we go in manual until we get the required 6 sat lock.
Real bargain I recon✌
Congrats Ryan, I know you have been saying you needed to review the aerial photography/ cinematography platforms with the altitude hold and gps. Great review and nice to see you have one for yourself now.. if any1 deserves one, it's you..It will open you eyes to a whole new world of Multirotoring, and once you get a gimbal aerial footage will never be the same for you ( you won't want anymore 2mp footage soon).. soooo happy 4 my boi Ryan!!!!
Gimbal Guy I have never wanted 2MP footage. lol Wait till you see my review this Friday... my first 2-axis gimbal quad. I think I took some pretty cool footage with it too. :)
Excellent review Ryan, your best to date. Great information, explanations and demonstration.
Also Mom & Pop's farm looks like a great place to hang and an awesome RC venue for flyin' and rollin'.
The farm looked awesome!! Only question is who drove a car in the rows of crops? It's right next to road.
cookieman0916 I was thinking that same thing man! Thanks for calling it out. If I put on my "CSI" hat, I'm guessing "whoever" drove over it right after the seeding, hence nothing came up there.
cookieman0916 That was probably done by farm equipment, when seeding or tilling, or something like that.
Great video. I just ordered the Cx-20 this morning and got that same camera (minus wifi) for it. By far the best explanation on how to use this baby by far. I love the fly to home features so you have that as a backup for landings or if there is a control/power issue. The video was pretty stable considering the mounting. I technically have a go pro black+ but don't want to throw that in my first outdoor quad in case there's an oops plus I own go pro scuba attachments and not worth the risk since they are custom to only that go pro. Buying a cheap $60 camera was a no brainier and video quality is great. Maybe down the road I'll go fpv but have mixed feelings about taking my eyes off the quad. They just announced a cx-22 and wingsland quad so they are getting cheaper every year.
Adam Burns Thanks, glad you found the video helpful. :) And yeah, these GoPro knock-offs are great for when you want similar quality, but not risk hurting your more expensive GoPro. I have my eye on the CX-22, and I think it looks great for what it offers for the price. :) The Wingsland looks good too, but the FPV monitor is tiny. I hear they will be releasing a big screen for it, so I may wait and see if that happens before I consider reviewing it.
forget the quad, your parents property is awesome...someday i hope to have some land like that!!
+TwasButNowAint Thanks! It is a nice spot indeed. :)
I just pull the trigger on this quad, can't wait to fly it!!
Ryan, Got my CX-20 today 01/10/15 and when I took the transmitter out of the box I had a Green Important printed label on it saying the following:
Before flying you must calibrate the Quad Copter. #1. Connect a charged battery which I did. #2. Switch on the transmitter and allow it to bind. (Which I assume it did) #3. Flick the Switch SWA back and forth until the Red LED flashes yellow quickly. Then Rotate the Quad Copter clockwise 2 times. #4. Now point the quad copter down towards the ground and rotate about it's roll axis another 2 times. #5. Calibration is complete when the Red and Green LED's flash together. Please see the Instruction Manual for full calibration information.
I did all this and could not get the Red & Green LED's to flash together. No where on any You Tube videos has anyone talked about this. I have not been able to get a solid green light for any satellites. I have been able to start it but I don't want to fly it till I know for sure I have the satellites. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. You can email if you have any input on this rather then using the thread if you like. Rlee.harley@gmail.com Thanks!
+R Lee Are you trying that outdoors, away from any sort of large metal buildings, etc?
+R Lee Here is a video that shows it, and they are doing it indoors, which I'm not sure is the suggested method since buildings can block the satellite signals. I also think they may be doing the rotations incorrectly. ruclips.net/video/KdVTOXGOlQ0/видео.html
Nice video I bought mine about 2 mo.ago and I love it too.the beeping drove NE nuts also but now I
Don't even hear it... keep flying...thanks again
Great looking, perfectly manicured farm. Those are some folks who take care of their place.
Thanks! Sadly my parents recently sold the farm and moved to New Mexico. :(
I don't understand how someone would dislike this video
+Jo ey Lots of haters out here in RUclips land. :/
+Flyin' Ryan RC yeah but still what The shit ??
My first test, very short flights (
I have been eying that quad some time now! Great review!
TOJO RC Thanks bud! :)
My CX-20 observations:
* The green LED goes solid on with 4 satellites. With only 4, GPS drift an be 50-100 ft (or way more if 1 drops out).
* What the manual should recommend is to attempt to arm in loiter (GPS hold). That will confirm enough satellites to keep GPS drift under ~5 ft. You can arm in manual and hope to acquire more satellites with altitude, but that's a gamble.
* The beep signal from the transmitter is just to confirm you are at mid throttle.
Bill Branning Thanks for the info! I read the manual in full before ever flying this thing, but I don't recall reading anything about it going solid after only 4 satellites. I could've sworn it was 8, or maybe even more.
Flyin' Ryan RC My manual doesn't say anything about the quality of the GPS lock. I see yours does mention 6 satellites. That's probably why you saw some drift at the start of your flight. A good GPS position hold is more likely with 8-10.
I have the open source version so I could observe the satellite counts reported in the Mavlink telemetry stream.
The sat count usually goes up with time & altitude.
Great review as always! I find that I no longer gravitate to my toy quads anymore since I got the CX-20. The CX-20 just seems to fly sooo much better than a brushed motor quad. I like the flight characteristics tuned for an aerial photography quad even if not filming.
Dennis Coonich For just fun flying I would much prefer the Blade 200 QX or even the brushed LaTrax Alias. It also has a lot to do with flying area, as I don't feel comfortable flying something like this in town around my house, whereas I feel completely safe flying my 200 QX there. :) I wish Cheerson would make a 200-250 size sporty brushless quad. Seems that most of these Chinese brands are keeping the brushless stuff for aerial video, and no one is really thinking about the sport flyer. The Hubsan H109 looks like it could be a killer brushless sport flyer though. :)
Thanks for that info...
Hi Ryan. Excellent review! I'm so glad you've done a GPS quad! That was really cool!
Brian Evans Thanks! :)
That's awesome, Ryan!
Wow that is LOTS of room to fly!
I have to look into one of those cameras.
Great stuff, enjoy!
The Cheerson CX-20 Vs the DJI Phantom tested in GPS position hold
vimeo.com/96928699
About the TX beeping, I found this on RC Groups: "The TX beep is to let you know that the throttle is in the middle and the aircraft should hold position, if no beep then throttle is too low or high meaning you should be descending or climbing."
Flyin' Ryan RC just to tell you the ecx torment is a really good car. Much similar to the ruckus but more fast on off-road terrain
It seems like a pretty dependable quad and a nice flyer. Thanks for sharing.
You want gps hold if your flying long distances you might need to update the firmware it will probably help with the drifting issue I put mine in some pretty high winds and it's pretty solid in the air
Ryan,
If you log onto mission planner via the usb on bottom. You can adjust max pitch for quad. Check it out the software is free. You can also do full calibrations as well as autonomous flights using gps!! Can't wait to get mine flying!!!
Tom
cookieman0916 I don't think I can use that on my Mac though. :(
Very true. But if you got a friend with a pc, try it out. Don't update firmware. Many great videos here on you tube. Tom
my first flight. took off in manual mode, it went up 10 ' then took off. RTH used, shut tx off. it just kept going going gone. did the calibration of the compass and the dance, etc... several times. no MP. never found it! got another, put that on MP, and un-flown, RTH was 90000 from my current location. reset the max angle to 3500! other important settings reset, plus revision of the firmware. never did it before in my life. Super easy! Glad I did though! it is used just like they link up their Indy Cars to trick them out. it checks to make sure settings are correct, GPS and compass settings are dialed in. fly them out of the box, and your taking a big expensive chance!!!
+philip dangelo Oh, I see, you just mean using the software for settings, but not actually setting up a flight plan. Yeah, that makes sense. No idea why you had fly away problems though, especially in manual mode.
Was hoping you'd do a "Star Wars" type trench run between the corn rows. That camera takes some pretty good video, and no jello-ing
John Rivett Haha, wait till you see my review this Friday... I did some filming that was sort of like the speeder bike runs through the forest. :D
Comment on durability: I have a CX20, and recommend purchasing spare landing legs immediately after receiving one. The landing gear seems to snap easily. I added some packing foam to the latest replacement legs - that seems to have helped. I am not the best operator btw...so practice helps a lot!
There appears to be no sort of damage to the flight controller. The motors are fine. At first I thought that it was a gyro issue, but when I flew high, the wobble slowed or even stopped. The gps lock made it very stable, no wobbling at all. I don't know what to do since there are so many sensors on this thing.
Ryan, well I did what you suggested and I actually waited almost 30 minutes no satellite connection whatsoever. So needless to say I boxed it up took it back to Fry's Electronics and I've got another one coming in tomorrow. If you wouldn't mind I could sure use some one on one self tutoring on this particular quadcopter. All of the RUclips videos make it look so simple mainly because I think you've been doing it for quite a while. I have some particular questions I would like to ask once I take this out of box and get it ready to fly. Email works best for me if you don't mind. Thanks!
+R Lee I am just not sure I can really commit a lot of time... I have a full time job as well as doing this RC thing. :) If this is your first quadcopter, and first flying RC vehicle, I absolutely would NOT suggest starting with this!! This is a very serious quad, and you should be well familiar with flying and the hobby by the time you fly something like this. So, maybe that is the reason you are feeling a bit out of the loop? You need to start with something smaller, safer, and cheaper first, because it is hard to learn how to fly and you absolutely will be crashing while you learn... and this is not a model you want to crash.
Good to see Gearbest and Banggood starting to give away their higher dollar quads to their testers. I wish you had shown the receiver and quad calibration also. You can change the pitch in Mission Planner but as an aerial quad I did not see much of a need for myself. Thanks and I hope to see more on this bird.
dheller777 Well, I didn't want to get too in detail about basic stuff that is covered in the manual, like calibration. And, yeah, I know you can change the pitch, but I wanted to review it as it comes, and I also can't use that software since I use a Mac. :(
The beep is to tell you that the throttle is at the right position for gps hold. You cannot turn it off...
harryhead100 Yeah, that was my understanding as well. Seems weird that it's doing that during manual flying.
Nice review on the Cheerson. I recently bought this quad myself and I think it's a good deal for $225 considering its size and the fact that it has GPS. On another note I think there are several things that could use a big upgrade on this quad. All in all I guess it's a good learner quad for this size category I just wish it was a bit more durable. Oh yeah, I have also seen it mentioned that the GPS mast is prone to breakage so heads up.
Hey Ryan,Do you believe that the CX-20 is still a great deal and buy for a first GPS quad? I like the idea of it being open source and flexible.
+Flyin Ryan RC have you tried not using the waterproof mount? It will give you much better flight times!
Hello Ryan , I was thinking this morning to request you to do a review on cheerson cx 20 and what do you know , couple hours later you had the video uploaded , keep up the good work , and please please please review some brushless rc boats before summer ends.
vicsaggu I've got a couple brushless boats in the testing process, for review soon. :)
That was pretty smooth flying Ryan! Awesome review as always :P
Frequent Flyer RC Thanks bud! :D
Did you ever get the beeping to stop or is it just a faulty transmitter?
Ellis Malave I don't think it's faulty... I think the beeping is intended, to let you know you are at half throttle, but I think that's a weird design decision.
Strange because I recall QuadCopter101 reviewed the CX-20 and his didn't beep. I'll have to check out his channel again to confirm.
Very nice review though!
cant wait to pick this up. if you have the open source cx-20 you can change the pitch rate.
Hello.... Hey, I'm wondering just how your feelings are on the cx20?.. I'm thinking about moving up from my x8c's(two of them),. I've been reading reviews, comments both pro and con, I'm still on the fence..
With so much talk about software this and software for that is really concerning and puzzling to me..
Are you happy with your cx20?.. Would you recommend one for a more advanced quadcopter flyer?...
Thanks
Greg...
+Gregory Johnson I didn't do any software tweaks on mine, and I'm happy with it for the type of flying I do with it. I'm not concerned with waypoint flying or anything like that. It's an aerial video quad, so keep that in mind. It's not for sport flying or anything like that.
Nice review Ryan. This quad is the way to go if you can't afford the Phantom. Do you have to calibrate the GPS on this one? Because on the Phantom, if you fly it in different places you pretty much have to calibrate the compass every time.
ThexAimless Yeah, you are supposed to, but I didn't (I forgot to take the manual with me, and couldn't remember how to do it). I am still not really sure if that is required for GPS hold, or just for headless mode, since you are recalibrating the magnetic compass (not really GPS).
ThexAimless Watch the motor clips that hold the motor spindle in place because when
you crash or hard land the E clips come off bottom of the motors, that
way the spindle shaft and prop comes off in one. Your props also need
balancing to fly correctly. Mine is not stable, and my compass was
damaged out the package, so ALWAYS check your compass in mission planner
if you have the open source version (Look for the red writing in
mission planner saying bad compass health). You also need a big open
space/area to fly this quad to learn it properly. A back garden with
surrounding buildings is a no no... They are unstable for that and need
at least half of a football field or more to even consider flying the
quad safely. This is just a tip to anyone who reads this and thinks it's
a garden or parking lot flyer, similar to other quads...
markybyeah I use a Mac, so I haven't been able to look at the software at all. :/
update..when i got my cx20 my right front motor was twitching n not spinning so i ordered a new motor and esc just in case, got the motor in the mail first tested the new motor n was hoping it was not n esc problem n yesss now im good to fly i also put my gps inside on top of the dome with copper tape n raised the main board up 4mm to fit a 5200mah battery just to let u know the standard charger messed up 2 new batteries
+LLEVNED Yeah, I don't trust any of the chargers that come with RTF packages. After I get the charging times for my reviews, I always use my hobby-grade charger for all my charging.
Hi Ryan, I am having an issue with the CX-20. After the crash, the motors would arm(on command) in a slow idle. I throttle up but they don't go to full power, the drone can't get enough lift to fly. I've tried several calibrations( ESC, transmitter, gyro, compass) and I've even tried a factory firmware installation. It still arms into the low idle. What should I do to fix that
I am not really sure. You may have a damaged motor somewhere, so the 6-axis stabilization system is bringing all the motors down to match its top speed, in order to keep the quad level, but then not giving enough power for lift.
What are the two AUX pots for?
Also, the GPS antenna is usually inside that round thingy on top - the antennas at the bottom are most likely from the Rx (diversity)...
I don't have one, but the aux ports for if you buy a motored gimbal you can control the camera from the the transmitter (the angle the cameras angle)
Thanks for the review, how big is this compared to Syma X8C , I am looking for one smaller than X8C but can be stable in the winds
+Flyin' Ryan RC awesome review, i was waiting for your review of this one. Thanks for posting, now i am gonna get one.
I tried the firmware update and that helped a lot. It still was a bit unstable when making turns and hovering and transitioning to forward flight. The gyroscope calibration works too. I don't see any damage on the props. I tried doing a DJI Phantom 3 prop upgrade, but that made it worse. How do you get the app back to factory settings?
I am not sure about that. I have never messed with the programming or firmware on mine.
your parents have a beautiful place. Does your cheerson cx 20 still work right? i had a defected one had to send it back.
+Ian Rice Thanks! :) Yeah, my CX-20 works fine, though I haven't used it much at all since the review.
The mount for the gopro, does it seem connected on really well? Any chance that the Cheerson is in flight and for some reason the mount just disconnects from the drone?
+Reggie Andaya I think it's highly unlikely that would happen. If you were really concerned about that happening, you could connect a piece of fishing line from the camera to the body of the quad, as a backup. :)
I just want to know where my plane is and what video it's taking while I'm flying it
Hi Ryan, it's Seth again. I am wondering how to bind the CX-20 with the transmitter. I have been having some troubles with that for about 2-3 days. Is there a certain order that you do it in, or a certain time limit that the transmitter needs to be turned on in? What do I do?
Turn on the transmitter first, and then the quad. You may need to press some buttons in order to put them in bind mode, if for some reason they have lost their bind. I don't know the details of that though, so you would have to check the manual for info about how to do that.
Why is your throttle not spring loaded? Seems backwards. I have a GPS quad and others I see have the throttle left stick Center spring loaded.
John Luciano The DJI Phantom is the only quad with a spring-loaded throttle, as far as I know. That only makes sense in a GPS quad which needs to be at half-throttle for GPS hold to work. Otherwise it would make no sense, since then if someone let off the stick it would all of a sudden jump to half-throttle, which would not be a good thing. I personally really dislike how the Phantom throttle does that. I think they basically designed that quad for dummies... not actual RC pilots. :/
Ok, I will try that. Also, the CX-20 is being really unstable. I am going to try an APM reset, then if that doesn't work, a firmware update. I am going to Galveston this weekend for July 4th and would like to take my drone to film the fireworks with and I want to be able to fly it without any problems. Any ideas on what to do?
Do whatever calibration processes you can, and check the blades for any sort of damage or bends.
Hello Ryan, its Seth. My CX-20 just had a crash. It was in manual mode. I was bringing it in to land and the drone cut out and flipped front over and crashed. It was about 3-5 meters off the ground. The stopwatch had 11:28 on the battery and It was flying slowly. I do have a 2.4 ghz/ 5.8 ghz wifi router, but I flew over the house several times and nothing happened. The transmitter was still on. I punched the throttle to full hopping that it would start up and level out. Nothing. Any ideas?
Are you carrying a camera with WiFi on it?
Ryan, I have been meaning to ask you and I forgot since I got CX-20 working. Everything seems fine the one question I have is the trasmitter keeps beeping the whole time I'm flying the different modes, what is the story behind that. Thanks!
+R Lee Yeah, mine did that too, and I talked about that in my review. I think that is just an indication that the throttle is at the mid-level, meaning the quad is ready to be put into GPS hold if you want. It's pretty annoying.
Hey Ryan :)
Nice well done video!
Good for comparing to my CX-20.
Like your style of documentation/presentation in your reviews.
Do you have try out the 9450 self locking props? Very good lift and acuracy on my CX-20.
They are available in Carbon and white good material plastics.
And you`re right, the constant beep from TX is a info that the throttle stick is in center - means the quad in GPS mode holds his position/and height.
Thank you, and nice weekend to you and family!
Frank
+Frank Mende Thanks bud! :D
Great review Ryan I got this quad and same sj4000 make sure wifi is off on the camera it causes flyways! And also I have a bunch of camera holders with the sj and there is one with no cover its much lighter and the camera won't be upside down like it is with the water proof cover ! Take care bro!👍
Camshaft Shaft Yeah, I talked about not using WiFi in the video. And, ah, you know what I didn't even think to check all my mounts to see if there was another option! Doh! >.
Hey Ryan, happy 4th. I can arm my CX-20 but then the motors rotate once and then stop and then the quad disarms. I dont know what is causing the motors to rotate. The throttle is at 0. Maybe its the ESCs, but I've done the ESC calibration and it still does that. What should I do?
Man, you are having nothing but problems, eh!? I have no idea what the problem could be now... sounds like some sort of ESC issue. Maybe it's blown?
Ryan I was wondering if your going to review the WLtoys Q202 Carrier Aeroamphibious it's really interesting looking but I wonder how it really handles
rayikaikin Absolutely! That is way too unique for me to pass up. :) It's not actually available for purchase yet though.
Flyin' Ryan RC It is on gearbest now! $60 but with $20 shipping :(
Hey thanks, I have four batteries now so I have at least 45 minutes of flying time. Can I fly it on all four batteries without messing up the motors or do I need to put some down time in between the two batteries for cooling.
+R Lee Well, brushless motors can take a lot more heat than brushed motors, so you might be okay, though it's always good to let the motors cool, if you can, just to be safe.
I bought one of these and was constantly breaking, then I got the dji phantom v1.1.1 and it is amazing headless mode return to home and more works amazing, fifty times more stable than the cheerson and also it is so well made that you don't need the dampeners for a camera it is jello free so buy a phantom if you can instead of buying one of these and having a pain all the time
Looks great and so much cheaper than a Phantom.
I own two CX20 for a year now. I continue to fly both...and at this point of time do not think either as a poor choice. I also fly P3 and P4 Phantom. The Cheerson CX20 and it's cousin Quanum...one-in-the-same....Quanum from inception was always supported with "Open Source" ..FC..flight control, but Cheerson CX20 was not. CX20 delivered after midway 2015 were FC supplied with 'open source FC'....APM 2.5. The 'open source' versions of the CX20, Quanum, platform, are "Mission Planner" threshold, meaning MP recognizes and offers help for the CX20-Quanum. Your in the door.
Somehow I fixed it. I went into mission planner and upgraded the firmware and did all the calibrations.
Cool, glad to hear that! :)
Wow, it's a great quad!
Does the quad come with the rubber dampener? And also why is the landing stand sometime in view on the gopro and sometimes not?
+finnjamin1991 Everything I showed in the review, other than the camera itself, came with the quad. And, I'm not sure what you mean about the landing leg.... it's *always* visible.
Quick question sir: CX-20 or the XK Detect???? Thanks.
DJ SOUL FORCE I have no experience with the Detect, so I don't know.
Hi Ryan which is better the cx-20 or the xk detect x380. The cx-20 worries me about the range (they advertise about 300 meters) but i Like it because it has manual mode. (the xk detect x380 advertise about 1000m).you can help me?
+RC infamous I have no experience with the X380, so I can't really say. In general though, I don't really pay much attention to the advertised range, flight times, etc, as they are often wrong, exaggerated, or simply guesses. 1000M seems unlikely, and I don't see any reason to fly that far anyway.
great review , on my cx20 the esc where failng had to replace all
The opensource version is very nice as you can set way-points through mission planner!
Hi,
Maybe the " beeping " is when u flying on Manual Mode and its for find the quads if you lost him? I have the same beeping with my CX20.
Nice videos and review, i just update and set some stuff with the APM Planner 2.0 for mac.
Cheers.
Nate Grillz Well, the beeping is from the transmitter, so that wouldn't help find the quad at all. It's to indicate that the throttle is at 50%, which is needed to the GPS position hold. But I find it weird that it beeps constantly while flying in manual mode. It should beep only when I turn on GPS hold.
How far can it get?
I've flown it far away (in comparission to my former-best quad, tarantula x6) but i still have no idea how far can it fly safe, also i wanted to know if the quad loses the transmiter signal, what does it do? does it returns home when this happens?
+camilo villada I believe it should return to home, but I seriously suggest not finding out. I don't condone long-range flying, as that is not a safe practice and can lead to injury or damage of property.
Ryan, I own a cx 20 and I was wondering when you put the props on did they go on hard for you? One of my props won't go on far enough to put the screw back on. Also I wish someone had said in their review that the two black screws are threaded backwards I spent I don how long before I figured that out. Thanks for your reviews they are great and very helpful!
James Shipley I don't recall having any issues getting the props on. Maybe one of yours isn't quite molded right? I also can't recall, but there may be a flat spot inside the prop that you need to line up with the flat spot on the motor shaft. And yeah, since two motors turn CC and two motors turn CCC, the props screw on differently depending on which way the motors rotates. These are called self-tightening props, because as they rotate, the force of the air pushing against them actually screws them onto the motor shaft even tighter. :)
Would should make to videos for each quad, one like initial thoughts, features, etc. Then one later on once you have flowed it, so like durability, etc.
Jason Hacker I simply don't have the time, nor do I fly most of these that much after the review, to do that. I do put several test flights in before my review though, so I do have a good bit of actual experience with everything I review before filming the review.
I buy it in Amazon.de but was not possible configure properly the compass.
How is the video upright if the camera was upside down?
I flipped the video in editing.
Flyin' Ryan RC thank you for telling me
+Flyin' Ryan RC does this quad come with everything needed to mount a go pro and other cameras?
+Kyle Raney I showed everything it comes with in the review. It comes with a static mount, which you can connect the GoPro's waterproof case to.
And, to fix the 2 blades with the black cap, i had some trouble.! so hard for fix it. i dont know if you had the same problem.
Nate Grillz I had no issues with my props.
awesome looking quad and great review !!
RC Johnny Thanks! :)
Well it looks pretty damn good with just the anti vibration stabilizer!!!!
You can connect it to mission planner and change the pitch setting,etc.
hy ryan, thanks for the great video here, I was confuse to choose the version of cx-20, there is opensource, big fat shark, and zero version, what the difference of all? and in the box thats version have 6-axis and 4-axis, may you explain me about that?
+Iman Subarkah I am not familiar with what the difference versions are... mine is Opensource. 4-axis and 6-axis are two different ways of saying the same thing, as far as I know. 3-axis gyro + accelerometer.
im planning to buy this soon.. is this ok for aerial videos and photographs for beginners? i want to buy with the walkera g2d gimbal for stable capture. what your suggestion?
+ely8985 No, beginners should absolutely not start with a model this big, powerful, and dangerous. You need to learn how to fly on something smaller and safer first, and then work your way up to something like this.
Ok. Thanks much. I found an SJ4000 without the WiFi & was wondering if that would be better to buy since the one with it causes interference to the quad like u mentioned? Sorry to keep bugging you :)
+Alan Savage I like having the WiFi for other uses... it makes it convenient to line up your camera angle, and even start/stop recording, without having to actually be at the camera. And, you can turn it off, so it doesn't interfere with the quad when it is turned off. It really depends on whether or not you think you'd ever have use for the feature. :)
nice review Ryan... just got mine 2day !
I just got this quad but why does the transmitter beep all the time
Hello Flyin Ryan. I'm considering on buying this model & was wondering what type of GoPro camera that I can get that does photo & video? Thanks much
+Alan Savage The camera I used in my video is the SJCAM SJ4000 WiFi. It is a good GoPro alternative, for a fraction of the price. The only problems I've had with it is bad white balance... works best in good bright daylight, which shouldn't be an issue for aerial videography. And poor sound, which again isn't an issue for aerial videography. And, don't use the WiFi while mounted on the quad because it WILL interfere with the radio signal!
Hi Ryan, which calibration method are you using? I've done the one in the manual exactly and I'm not sure that it's correct. I can't get my cx-20 to gps hold and it doesn't return to home that well. Any suggestions? i'm contemplating replacing it.
I just did whatever the manual said. Are you flying in a crowded area, around trees, buildings, etc?
i'm flying in a newly developed area. i'm wondering if that's the issue with my gps.
BTW you are my most favorite youtuber
TomsDroneLife Thanks! :)
hey Ryan trying figure out my next quadcopter....I'm rocking the hubsan x4 right love that thing....would like a bigger outdoor copter possibly with live video feed but not a concern on that.....any recommendations for a good copter to buy next
+wsy480 Maybe something like the WLtoys V686G?
does the cx20 need to be calibrated every time b4 flight? was having GPS alt hold issues. thanks.
Not unless you fly in a location far away from wherever you last calibrated it.
Ryan, one thing I forgot to mention when I was asking you how to do the calibration I did not mention that it has been raining and very overcast this last week. It was pretty overcast and cloudy last night when I tried setting this up in my backyard which is stucco and also then went out front I was on the back of my tailgate of the truck so maybe that might be part of the reason I don't know. No metal buildings around where I live. It's nice and sunny today so when I get home I'm going to take it to an open field where I want to fly and get comfortable using the CX-20. If I still don't get any satellites what are my options? Is this defective? Thanks for getting back to me on this. I'll check out the link you gave me also when I get home.
+R Lee I would let it sit first, and see if you can get the satellites, and then mess with the calibration after that. I've heard it can take like 10-15min to get the satellites, but it's always been relatively quick for me. But, maybe wait up to 15min and if it still doesn't lock in, then you may have something defective. :(
Okay I will give that a try. I will let you know what happens from that point.
I have the sj400... how does it do with vibrations on this quad? I am thinking about purchasing it.
+C Bruhs That is the camera I used in my review, so you can see first-hand how it does.
hey FR. I just received my cx-20 and it is my first GPS quad also...a couple of questions...did you ever find out what that incessant beeping is...I ran my battery down to 12% without realizing it because I didn't see a lvc warning., does it have one...do you know what flight range is - I can't seem to find this info anywhere...keep the great reviews coming!
The beeping is to let you know that you are at mid-throttle which means it is in altitude-hold. Pretty silly design. :/ I think it does have an LVC warning, but I don't remember how long it is... you would have to refer to my review for that info. It can often be hard to see the LEDs in daylight though. I am not sure about the range, but the product listing on Banggood claims 300m.
What do you think I should do? I've tried to email the Cheerson company, but they can't understand English.
Yeah, Chinese brands don't offer any sort of customer support (that's a big part of why they are so much cheaper than American brands). You would have to try going through the store you bought it from.
Is there any thing to set so one does not get a fly away or is it automatically set for the area.
Willie Walley There is a calibration process to make sure the magnetic compass is set for the area.
Nice video Ryan!
***** Thanks! :)
hey man i recently got a cx-20 i love it the only thing is the part you were talking about to put prop guard 2 of the screws on 1 moter came stripped. would you happened to know how to remove the stripped screws?
Rudolph Smith Not really, but I'm sure there are plenty of tips and videos out there about removing stripped screws.
Can u do a build or just review of a picnic quad frame it would be pretty cool
If you have the open source version, you can go into "mission planner" and increase the max pitch and a whole bunch of things with it.
Look for "CX-20 Acro" on youtube for some ideas of what it can do.
Razvan Taranu Yeah, but I'm on a Mac so I can't use the software. :/
Flyin' Ryan RC I can connect to the CX-20 using APM Planner 2 on my windows machine (which is also available on OSX).. and I do see the full parameter list, try it out
I have watched most of your videos and was wondering if you could simply give me a suggestion on which quad to buy.
What is the best bang for the buck. I have looked for hours on Gearbest and just get more and more confused!
I want to be in the $150-250 range and like the features of GPS, return to home, low voltage protection, position hold, gimble.
I have had several quads, including the x5c. I am ready to step up but with so many choices I can't decide. I am not willing to invest in a $1000 quad yet but like a lot of the features the x8, cx-20 x6 plus offer for the price.
+Jeremy Rock I am not sure there are any GPS quads for that cheap, especially with a gimbal. And RTH and position hold only work well with GPS... any of the non-GPS quads that offer those features simply don't work well enough to use, yet rely on.