ZOHD Nano Talon Evo Review (RC plane)
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- Has reviewer's curse struck again with the ZOHD Nano Talon Evo that was sent in for review? I have to say that I was disappointed with the very significant slop in the ruddervators and the lack of aileron centering on this craft but the rest of it is very, very good.
Pros:
- very efficient, flies on the smell of an oil lipo
- obviously quite tough (when hitting buildings)
- lots of room inside and plenty of access
- perfect for back-packing
- quick to assemble/re-assemble
Cons:
- sloppy torque-rod mechanisms
- bits missing from my kit
Bottom line:
This particular example does not "groove" due to the slop and bad centering of controls but other reviewers do not seem to have had the same problems (check out those reviews). Given the excellent quality of the Talon Rebel GT I reviewed previously, I'll give ZOHD the benefit of the doubt on this and assume that I just got a bad one.
If you plan to fit a flight controller this could be a really good model for long-range FPV, given the extraordinary aerodynamic efficiency and ability to use very high capacity batteries.
Link to the ZOHD Talon Rebel review: • ZOHD Talon Rebel GT FP...
An honest review. I've bought ZOHD Nano Talon based on other's review which praised it so much and didn't mention all this stuff. And now i've got to redo all servo mounts, rudders and replace that crappy stock controller with F411 WING which is way better.
The control surfaces on mine were _exactly_ the same. I didn't even fly it at all until I removed the over-ambitious linkages and put in a servo and normal control horn for all four surfaces, and I also glued in the tail fins. Even so, it still didn't fly that great and I could only be bothered with about 20 minutes total flight time since I got it six months ago - I think there may still be some slop in the wing mountings, but the central plastic spar-holder broke in a mildly bumpy landing anyway so I didn't get any further with it. I bought it to do a 'endurance showdown' with the z84 using 4S li-ion pack and identical hardware in each plane, since they are about the same wingspan. But when the nano-talon arrived it was already heavier out of the box (with no servos, motor, ESC, receiver, FC or GPS) than the z84 was with all that stuff ready to go. I did take some footage showing the the terrible centering performance, but since the endurance comparison was a foregone conclusion I never made any video about this plane at all.
I think the centering issues you pointed out plus the fact that the ailerons are freakin' enormous is probably the real cause of the instability that many people were blaming on dihedral, either that or slop in the actual wing mounting. Your pitch up/down difference would probably be the linkage rods bending under compression in the pitch down direction. Overall I like the size and configuration, the molding quality is top-notch, but I don't like that soft EPP they use. Would love to have an EPO version with slightly slimmer fuselage, made for regular control horns.
deleted my comment. I was being blond again.
Well, you are THE scratch builder. I was thinking the same thing, sloppiness of the linkage under aerodynamic pressure. That must solve the problem. I wouldn't glue the vtail fixed In place, though. This little plane deserves 4 servos.
pro tip : watch series at flixzone. I've been using it for watching lots of of movies recently.
@Alexis Roman Definitely, been using flixzone for years myself =)
I bought this well over a year ago. Many on RUclips raved about it. It is a very interesting design but the slop was bad. You are not alone. Too bad in many ways it is a very good design.
Thank you for all of your hard work bringing us these reviews. That said, it seemed like about half of this review was spent talking about the slop issues. While important that you pointed it out, and I appreciate you calling attention to it, I don’t think it deserved as much attention as you gave it. Again, thank you, but just trying to offer some constructive criticism to help you make each video better than the last one. 👍
I bought one of the original Nano Talons after seeing lots of glowing reviews. Even with the supplied flight controller it flew badly, showing the same problems as this one. On it's third outing a wing flew off in flight and it crashed badly. I've never bothered to try repairing it. Not all ZOHD planes are bad though, my little ZOHD Dart flies beautifully! That has no linkages to mess things up though.
I know that Painless360 manual flight was with the co-pilot installed on the sub 250g model, I will be interested in watching your video on that plane as I suspect it will be with a regular receiver.
On an unrelated matter. After watching your video “How to fly in wind”, I decided to purchase the same model you used, fms SuperEZ. Not only has it been a great trainer, when I was flying last Sunday a major change in wind direction & strength occurred. I think the other club members there, were preparing to help pick up the pieces of my plane. (I am an inexperienced pilot). With the knowledge from that video & a model that can handle those conditions, I managed a near perfect landing.
Thank you Bruce.
Love hes the only one to pick up the movement issue that seems to be in all the models I know about. Gr8 video Bruce.
You enlightened me on the motor mount popping out in a dive. Some of my pusher wings motors don’t have the small “E” clip that secures the bell to the stator. I didn’t think it would ever be a problem as the prop pushes the bell in flight. I never thought bout the spinning prop causing enough drag to pop the bell out. Especially if the motor is just above idle speed. I do have folding props but, I think I will reinstall the clips now for piece of mind.
Hey Bruce, many thanks for the great review. You have thankfully stopped me buying something which in my opinion has a massive flaw. No one else seemed to mention these issues except you and others here in the comments. It’s a big shame as I had high hopes.
Totally agree Bruce with the slop. Mine is exactly the same. Fine in stabilized, pretty vague in manual (Have Kopilot installed). I did not get downward facing lower hatch as well but I didn't care really.
Another practical, well thought-out review all-be-it upside down:-)
EDIT BELOW:
Something to keep in mind.
@ZOHD official is doing innovative and New Concepts. Not all of them are going to work but some of them are going to change the hobby.
We should be reminded to applaud @ZOHD official for having the guts to try something new and forgive them when something doesn't work out.
I’ve got the original nano talon and it was all over the place when I tried to fly it,it’s nigh time and first thing Tommoro I’m going looking for this slop.i had a f4 fc but in pass through mode so had no correction I tried about 10 flights and give up on it.you are always thorough
Crashed my original Nano talon into a tree on our farm and couldn’t retrieve it because it was at least 140ft on top. The plane totally disintegrated within a year. I was amazed how fast it basically melted into nothingness
I checked the painless 360 videos, he does have a video comparing this wing to the Dart and in his comparison points he does point out the slop in the controls
I bought the first version of this plane, certainly the precission of control linkajes are not the best, but anyway after modifing the diedral to flat wings with some 3d printed parts it flies really better, I had some free play at the tail square rods so I've putted a turn of transparent tape so it fit tight and has no gaps, it improves a lot the dive or climb commands.
About the long range capabilities, with stock radio (Flysky FS-i6 / ia6B) and vtx in 5.8Ghz with RHCD antena I reached almost 4Km and have an autonomy for about 35'.
May be it's not the best but definitively not the worst and could do surveying photography for less than the half price of a DJI drone.
Great honest review as always. I can’t wait video on the Zohd Kopilot flight controller as I want two buy one for my glider.
What would be cool Bruce is if you get your machine reamers out and machined some new bearing block pieces with nice tight tolerances out of aluminium and show em how it's done!! The design is great, it's just been badly implemented, perhaps with some stiffer torque rods if necessary.
You got a bugger! I have the black ops version and it was perfect. Sheesh!
Bruce I'm glad you know about the Boeing 737 max.Thats a real disaster of an issue.I hope your staying updated on that saga you will find it interesting being your a pilot and very skilled engineer.
Thanks for the video, ... helpful a few months down the road as I just got mine. I didn't have the linkage problem and it almost looks like my linkage rods are larger diameter than what is in the video. I find the little 1.2mm rods flex with any distance, and use larger rods at the expense of the 0.5grams or so of added weight.
A little more fixing was needed before I could fly it. The hinges were stiff and I scored them (not as deeply as yours) and flexed them until they moved freely. The control surfaces rubbed against the fuselage and I had to trim them, the batteries were not glued down (= add glue) , and the tails didn't sit tight (a little more glue for peace of mind) So a nice plane but not quite there. (7/8th baked) 1st few flights have been ok on a 3S 3000mA with no other gear and a basic receiver. A few more revisions and ZOHD will have a pretty good product. Same for my Talon GT where the skid plates snap off on every 3rd landing.
cheers
You have the best reviews, Bruce:-)
I get a kick out of you saying ZOHD... LOL 😆. Thumbs up great video 👍
You are Bang on Bruce.....even the big BS to go to the Flat wing Mod.....But
it all comes down to the slop.......Im sure they are all the same just others have FC in them,
I will put servos in my wing and tail feathers also.......
As always appreciate your straight forward review. At least I know what I will get.
Bruce, about the Dart XL, that thing is amazing!!! 😱
Some day, when I have enough money, I'm going to get one to do long range at my parent's farm here in Brazil! 😃
(About money, don't worry. It's just a matter of time. 😊)
just buy the mini drak when you have the money ;)
@@kabturek The Mini Drak is pretty amazing as well! But I wouldn't know from where to buy... Because I'm from Brazil and one of the only options I have here is Banggood. 😕
Great Review! The control setup was a great idea, but yeah, that's a lot of slop. All of my factory planes have some type of issue that needs modification. I guess that's why my scratch-build planes seem to fly the best ;-) Appreciate the honest review and I'll see you in the Air!
Great review Sir Bruce hopefully your sub 250 dart is not a Friday build
I like how you test before giving an informed opinion great job take care
Bruce your "Reviewers Curse" convinces me that there are a lot of reviewers who know "which side of their bread the butter is on" and their main concern is getting more equipment to review. Considering the number of reviews some of them do, and they never say "this is crap don't buy it" or point out the faults that you seem to find regularly.
You may not be able to access this but there is a TV program scheduled on the Australian SBS channel 3 tonight 13th November at 8.30 AEDST titled "Drones : The Next Air Disaster". By an Aldo Kane who sets out to investigate the scale of the threat drones pose to our airports and skies. From your comments you seem to be favorably disposed towards CASA over here.
I could give you another unprintable opinion. I am the contest director for a group of Oldtimer model flyers and we have had to cancel our flying because of their changes to flying field height regulations. It has got to the stage where we have no other option but to fly regardless of their threat of legal prosecution.
Bruce, you may have a duffer there. I have a couple of the earlier V1 Talons (with the dihedral wings) and they don't have that much slop. Having said that, this is a wiggly plane at the best of times so you really need a stabilizer (unless you enjoy assigning a part of your brain to the role of a $30 stabilizer ;-)
Even with the stabilizer working the plane tends to rock somewhat which is why Zohd have gone to a flat wing (see Bonafidapirate or Andrew Newton's flat wing mod to the V1).
Slop aside I've also noted that the foam mounts tend to flex under load so it's never going to be perfect.
It good to see a honest review, Good work sir, keep it up sir
I have the same slop problem i have the original nano talon with dihedral i remove the back top cover and glue the carbon controll rod with epoxie the tail is glue permently and the slop is gone
There is nothing like that Chinese precession engineering.
Made of High Quality Chinesium.
They can do best, but you buy too cheap :)
@@tawharanui5011
We are just joking 👍
Bruce is cheap. 😂
Don't think that's true. The Chinese have the ability to design and build great product. I think the issue here is that these were build to a price and not enough development was done to discover their production quality.
@@Hoggdoc1946 It was a joke.
Howdy Bruce, I flew the original Nano Talon (which had a bit of dihedral)... seemed to fly pretty o.k, without stabelizer.. I also have the Black Ops version, of the one you have but haven't flown it yet..
According so specs the bottom skid & camera mount-thing are optional (I got neighter like you did)
00:01 so...did the CAA conclude their investigation yet? The casualties must have been apocalyptic... 22:50 Oh wait the building was unoccupied and the foam plane wasn't even dented...
Yeah, but it's only a matter of time :-)
hello bruce...if you have play put a cut drinking straw shim in there maybe that will get rid of some of the slop.. good luck..!!!
Bruce, I have the same centering issue with mine, I have not flown it yet.
Just flew mine last Saturday and I also have the same issue. It is noticeable in flight too when in manual mode..
Do you think this model would fly more stable if there was more wing tip mass? Would placing some of the battery power placed at the wing tips akin to fuel tanks on a Lear Jet keep the rocking moment from oscillation? Thank you again for your insights. Very Best Regards,
There are other vids show the side to side flight path. Glue a pop sickle stick just behind the control arms to prevent the rearward motion.
Bruce, looks like your off the frsky and zohd christmas card list
Hi Bruce,
Might have to open up the back half of the fuselage to see where all that slop is located. Could be flex in the pushrods.
I'm thinking the same thing ....
I've got slop in my ZOHD NEON as well. I made some pinching on the female connector of the pushrod, seated in the fuselage. It did help some. Generally it's a trade off from easy assembly causing this problem, I think.
WOW that is bad, I was going to purchase a Zohd but I think I will look at it a little more, but BUMMER I purchased a F.C and it's not the Zohd copilot, I sure wish I had seen it before I purchased the one I did. Thanks again for the info and review.
Just had one delivered today.
Trying to work out how to set it up and where to place the crossfire.
Now I've watched your vid I'm wondering if I made a good choice. Hopefully I have a bit less slop etc...
How do you fix the slop then? My ailerons wont center either. One stays up, and when I try to correct it the other raise up.
Unfortunately not a Friday afternoon special, I have the same issues on mine and when you put in an elevator with Alaron it’s even worse sometimes no response in the Elevator at all
Thanks for sharing this Bruce.
I'd love to pick this up but does anyone know if their QC has improved?
worth it to try and fix? Slip some teflon tube in the holes and remove the slop?
on the old pre pro the rear v tail did the same thing... because of how stiff the hinges where it would cause the control rods to flex expecially while pushing (elevator down)... I found at least one other youtuber (older guy) and he just used a hobby knife to thin the hinges... I know I had the same issue and fixed it the same way... if it was a faster plane I'd goto tape hinges or even proper glue in pinned hinges... doesn't fix the aileron stuff though :(
perhaps spring pull setup like in dlg gliders would solve the control centering
Would it be worth your time to pull the torsion rods and brackets apart , maybe shim up the area around the rods to prevent the slop? Just to see how it performs if it was more of a Monday special...
That appears to be the normal variation with ZOHD quality control, unfortunately. ZOHD has some good model designs, but poor builds make a mess of many kits. The original Nano Talon version also had the same hit or miss aileron control issues across the production runs, obviously ZOHD did nothing to correct the issue with this version. They don't seem to take criticism well in the forums, either. I got lucky with my original one, but the fiasco with the Dart XL and the ongoing quality issues has turned me off the brand. For FPV, I don't really care what the plane looks like, just that it works. The Volantex Ranger line is better built and flies better, particularly from an FPV standpoint. The G2 1200mm span is a great flier as well as great value, and the blow mold fuse on the larger ones are incredibly durable.
how its going your project about high bandwidth analog video transmitter?
I've had two of the originals, both had the same sloppy linkages, I re engineered the whole thing and it flies better but
still wobbles around like a cork in the ocean due to various aerodynamic and centre of mass design flaws.
Damn... It's really a bummer. 😕
I was thinking about a DIY solution for the problem, but I couldn't find any at the moment. 😕
Anyway... Maybe a small washer glued there? The problem is how to put it there... I don't know. 😕
How about moving the servos to the wings and ruddevators, they belong there, not hidden inside the model. We're talking plastic rods anchored in foam. They will have play and slop. No! Just carve their pockets in their optimal position and those little wings and v tail will be alright.
Small 3d printed bushing or something like that.
Great review.
have you ever seen a flexural pivot in a model plane? probably with some hard mechanical limits in case of crash.
Time for additional suppliers to start with bushing tunig parts, lol
I think the wire push rods are bending some how ?????
Left left a left right left !
just got this and plan on putting a eagle tree microvector ;P hope it does well
Even if it works great once you have put the flight control board in it's still a fail, because when you buy one it dose not come with the flight board.
mine was the same im sure they all are this just goes to show other reviewer are all about the money
would this be classed as a "general zohd"?? ;)
Shame, but it seems like it would be an easy fix.
Sound like you're plane was first sold to someone other and he sends it back and they sold it 2nd time to you. That could be the reason why some parts are gone.
A friends Night Orbit is the same. Much better for one sevo per control surface!!!
Спасибо
😭i ordered one before this review
Same. Not feeling good about this.
I have the same problem with my old Talon
Thanks, Sir Bruce. After the craze of the first version, I almost got persuaded to get the Evo. But since you are the law of RC for me, this review only affirmed my conviction zohd models are not worthy, overpriced good ideas. Thanks, at these prices, never!
They definitely AREN'T over priced, what are you comparing them too? A paper plane?
@@anthonystownsend for the money I could get nearly 3 s800's, or 2 harrier kits, or 1/5 ranger 1600, or...... 2 mini talons, considering even the pnp has to be modified. The list is endless I'm afraid, well overpriced for what it is worth.
At a certain point you just have to come to terms with most of the population is ignorant. I suspect you have long ago and you're a very polite man.
?? With the model in flight is the air flow enough to get the Elevators and or Flaps level and strait ? I'm thinking the Left Right flight issue could be the V Tail causing the issue ? In the case of full size Aircraft they're Not as stable as a normal Vertical Rudder Tail. Read about the Fish Tail effect. aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/9504/what-is-the-difference-between-the-v-shape-tail-and-the-straight-tail-on-the-bee
It's not the V-tail... there is quite a large vertical stabilizer below the V tail. Airflow will help the ailerons center but the flight characteristics observed (also by others if you read the other comments on this video) indicates that this is not enough to have much effect.
When are they going to design an ...... RC Wireless Smart Charging Dock and a remote On/Off switch ? ...... TVs and Robot Vacuums have them ! ..... Then you can launch your plane or Quad anytime from your Lazyboy , fully charged and Ready to go ! ...... It's time to strap the power of Smartphones to a set of Wings or Rotors , and take to the Skies with proper technology !
thats a lot of friday slop.
Most of the foamy planes are junk.I like balsa planes with conventional control linkage hardware and set ups.
NO, YOU'RE A ZOHD!
I fly FPV Long Range. Which means I have a small fortune invested to make sure the plane comes back. I will NEVER buy a plane of this appalling (lack of) quality!! If the plane is not perfectly responsive to my inputs in manual mode, I don't want it. It's clear that problems like this are systemic, from the factory. And ZOHD has no respect for its customers.👿 You know that ZOHD knew about this problem, and released it anyway. This is just overpriced packing material. Give me balsa any day. My models barely need trim when I'm done building, and last as many years as I allow them to. (Yes, we all have in air servo, or other failures) I was flying before Foam & Flight Controllers became the norm. So I don't treat them like packing foam. And I was about to try this ZOHD, not anymore! You know why TV's, Computer's, etc, come in this same foam? Because it's DIRT CHEAP. If I want an expendable plane, I build my own. For a FRACTION of the cost of a ZOHD. (Using 5mm foam board from Dollar Tree, & plastic geared servo's etc). I don't put in my quality electronics. Bottom line.....
People are getting ROBBED, the profit margin must be through the roof! Christ on a crutch!!!
New frustrating RC.... need accuracy pin point, flying to mountain ranges miles away need to be accurate.
It's got slop. It's a crappy design but some might be OK if they put them together better. There you go, just saved 20 minutes of a 22 minute video.
👍👀🇭🇷
No, it's not a design flaw but a feature to accomodate chinese landings; "one wing low" 😂
Have some modesty, stop this patreon missile hitting the ad crap.
MINE WAS WORSE THAN YOURS IT LASTED 2 FLIGHTS
I put servos in my wings and rods on the tail and scrapped all that plastic crap.
How does it fly after that? Mine has some play (will have to check if it is as bad as B's), and I am wondering if it is worth adding servos?
Reviewers bad luck, your the only one that has this bad luck. Your the bad luck lol
Ok boomer
When are they going to design an ...... RC Wireless Smart Charging Dock and a remote On/Off switch ? ...... TVs and Robot Vacuums have them ! ..... Then you can launch your plane or Quad anytime from your Lazyboy , fully charged and Ready to go ! ...... It's time to strap the power of Smartphones to a set of Wings or Rotors , and take to the Skies with proper technology !