I wanted to find something fun for my wife, Shannon, to play around with to get her involved in R/Cing. An old friend and her husband visited us a couple weeks ago and showed us footage of their quadcopter and Shannon exclaimed, "I want one!". So, the next day I ordered one for her.
Looking into the vast number of quads available right now, I had to narrow it down to the most practical unit for a beginner. At $100, the LaTraxx Alias won by a landslide with its availability of spare parts, Traxxas customer service and it's simplicity.
The basic unit is pretty bare, but for $250 shipped I got: the Alias (the quad itself with spare blades, controller and battery), an extra canopy, rpm blade guards, rpm landing gear, the 720p Alias Camera unit, a wide angle (120°) camera lens, an extra LaTraxx battery, 2 more batteries (lower mah, but higher discharge ratings for faster speeds) and a 3rd set of blades. The only thing I didn't get is a micro SD card for the camera, but we have plenty of spare ones from our old phones and tablets.
So, Shannon and I put on the rpm landing gear, charged the batteries and read through the directions for the maiden voyage yesterday. I had my fingers crossed that she would fall in love with the cute little quad. She was a little nervous, but fired it up and had had it hover for 10 seconds before nailing the throttle and sending it over the neighbors house, over some trees, and out of range. In a flash, $250 disapeared...shit!
The super-bright leds on the quad made it easy to find (three houses down the road) and there was no damage from the fall. The maiden voyage was short and scary, had it flow a little further it would have landed on a fairly busy road possibly meeting its fate under the wheel of a passing car or worse yet, causing an accident. Both of us were pretty freaked out how quickly the Alias ran away.
After recovering the little hellian, and re-reading the manual (this time acutally reading and not just skimming through it) I saw that it was set on the fast mode...ugh! So, after charging up the 2nd battery I took it out and managed to keep it within visual range however, I did crash into everything I possibly could (bushes, fences, poles and of course the ground).
Shannon is still a bit freaked out and scared of breaking it or breaking something with it, but I hope she learns to enjoy it. Once she get comfortable enough with the Alias we will install the camera and I really think that will get her excited about it again, making flight movies of the house, the neighborhood and our kitties.
I know that I will never be a great pilot (I can barely control my cars in 2 dimensions), but I really think with some practice and a little more confidence she will become an expert pilot and have some real fun with the LaTraxx Alias. So, some day (hopefully by next summer) she can film some of my 100+mph passes with Kake and the Dirty Little Sisters.
My thoughts on the Alias...
It seems to be a great starter quadcopter, though I do wish the controller was a bit more intuitive. I hope to find a way to make the controls more sluggish (at least the vertical control) to prevent another fly-away. The frame is quite forgiving and flexible, and the leds are very bright. The motors and drive gears seem a bit fragile, but so far they haven't crapped out. I really think that the motors should be brushless to increase motor life expectancy as I can already see a new set of motors will be needed soon. Also, it looks as though the rpm landing gear is a neccesity for beginners as the original landing pads are nothing more than tiny rubber stoppers that don't provide much protection to the motor stocks when landing (or crashing).
...in the right hands this quad can be spectacular. With the camera, i can imagine that it will be a great little video maker. We will see how much abuse it can take over the coming months, and I will try to keep a record of flights, repairs and Shannons' improving skill on my site.
