Wow that box had one heck of a trip to Oz , if
only it could speak ! I'm glad to say all the contents got
here safe and sound . For review I have the WLtoys V959
quadcopter with onboard video camera ,
product page . When offered the opportunity to review
the V959 by Banggood.com I simply could not say no , especially
as the V959 has onboard video , and I love helicopters as well
as photography , so combining the two just makes the V959 twice
as much fun for me . Just a quick note on the video , its
QuickTime Movie format @ 640x480 ( 15fps and 6041kbps ) . I get
almost right on the money six and a half minutes flight time
with the camera active ( taking video ) and file size is right
around 959meg or just under one Gig in size . I got a Micro SD
card ( 2Gig ) and card reader ( micro SD ) that looks a little
like a USB drive . The 2Gig micro SD card is plenty large enough
to record a flight , and I have as yet not tried other larger
micro SD cards .
Here is a nice view of the camera
Rear view - That's where the micro SD card goes
The camera can move up and down ( lens ) , manually.
The motor wires come awfully close to the blade hubs .
A look at the guts
On the left is the old V911 Tx and the V959 Tx is on the right .
( A lot more buttons )
V959 Tx still has the cover for the old charging port that was
on the V911 Tx( not functioning )
6 x AA batteries required for the Tx
Here is what the buttons do , pre set rates , as well as turning
on and of the running lights . Or taking a stills image ( photo
)
Top button on left side Turns on and off the video recording ,
and the right button ( some how ) allows the V959 to do a flip (
haven't tried it )
Battery:
I think ( printing on battery is ? ) the battery is rated 500mAh ,
when I got it , I cycled the battery and the most I saw was
452mAh doing a discharge to 3v . Charging the battery I see
anywhere from 390mAh to 420mAh going in . I'm not sure what the C
rating is , but the throttle is a little ( turbo lag comes to
mind ) slow to respond , and this has seen me bounce quite a bit
( bounce of the ground ) . When the temperature is around the
20deg C the battery does not get overly warm , but once you get
to a 30Deg C ambient ( Today ) , the battery does get a little
on the hot side ( heat is bad ) so you may wish to or not ,
extend the life of the battery by not flying when its really
warm ( ambient temperatures can make a difference ) .
Transmitter:
The transmitter looks very similar to the older V911 Tx ,
with some obvious upgrades . The buttons are there to make it
easy to do stuff , like chose how much control you want over the
V959 , I personally found the default ( always starts at 40% )
setting to be not enough , not even indoors . Either 60% or 80%
indoors seems to be about right with this sample , and 80% to
100% outside ( for the more experienced 120% would be sweet ) .
You also get to turn on and off the running lights VIA the Tx ,
as well video or take stills on the fly . Now I haven't attempted
it yet , but apparently the top right button is for doing flips
, you chose 100% and then something else ( I will have to read
the instructions more carefully ) and then when you hit the
button the V959 supposedly does a flip ( or roll ) , but as I
said , I haven't attempted any such thing as yet .
V959 quadcopter:
Along the lines of the V911 the V959 is very light
weight, and due to such is able to absorb a lot of punishment
that most budding pilots are going to dish out . I dare say the
V959 will most likely survive longer in open areas with a nice
grass field ( soft ground ) . Now its very important to power up
the V959 and lay it down flat before the lights go out or the
gyro will initialize off canter so to speak , and the V959 will
want to wander ( varying from how far you were from being
perfectly level ).
The set up of the V959 is rather good , and the plastic body shell looks
to protect the electronics quite well ( I've flipped it onto its
back so many times ) . My only concern is the exposed wires at
the motor ends ( pictured above ) as they may be some what
vulnerable to damage ( something to bear in mind ) .
Video:
Video format is QuickTime Movie @ 640x480 ( 15fps -
6041kbps ) , with the camera running I get almost exactly six
and a half minutes of flight , and the resulting file size is
about 959meg , or just under one Gig . I was supplied with
a 2Gig micro SD card , which is ample to record a single flight
. I have not as yet tried larger capacity SD cards ( micro ) ,
but plan to do so shortly , I have one Class 10 card ( faster
recording ) and hopefully it might see even better video quality
( I hope ) .
To activate the video recording , you just press once the left top button
and that's it . If you press it again it will stop recording
video . To take a picture or still image , press the right
side bottom button once , last time I tried it I got 3 images (
sort of like a 3 round burst ) . The quality of the still
is ? , interesting but some one might be happy with it ( being a
amateur photographer ) . On the other hand the video
quality is acceptable , I posted a sample on YouTube :
Please forgive the poor video presentation , I'm a video Noob ,
and I'm still learning the ins and outs of video editing . Also
excuse the poor flying or tentative flying as this was the first
outdoor flight , and just when the battery was depleted the big
winds started up ( been a windy year so far ) . I had to wait
till another day for my second outdoor flight : ( once again a
early 8am flight to try and beat the wind ) . Now the camera
does have audio , but I have avoided it as its recording 4
motors and the result is rather nasty .
In video 3 ( 3rd Flight ) I have included some of the onboard
audio , now you will have to excuse me for replacing most of it
with High Brow Elevator music , but that's the only royalty free
audio I could find in my 5 minutes of searching .
Flying:
The default 40% control setting ( when you turn on the Tx
) is not really good enough ( not enough control input ) , 60%
for indoors is much better as is 80% better again . 100% works
well outside , but I would have liked to have seen 120% for the
more experienced pilots ( no not me ) . Now due to the light
weight of the V959 it really gets pushed around by a breeze ,
you can see the V959 shudder when a breeze hits it , even a
light one . And if there is a reasonable wind about it can be
very challenging to keep in the air , or from being blown away
for that matter . One of my pet hates is up and down
drafts , and the V959 is affected by them , I had the V959
suddenly shoot up a good 20 feet or more as I was decreasing
power , and I was almost at 0 throttle before it began to come
down again . And once it begins to come down , you really need
to come on the power earlier than you think , I'm used to 450
class helicopters and they have power to spare . If you hit the
throttle on a 450 , man that bird is gone , instantly .
Not so with the V959 , it really needs forward thinking on the
throttle as it takes time for things to happen , you need to be
a good 1 to 2 seconds in front of what's going on with the V959
, you cant react , you need to predict , and that will take some
time ..
I was able to get in my 4th outdoor flight today , but its breezy , and it
was challenging . A school hall , or some sort of indoor venue
would be simply fantastic for the V959 , as you could factor out
the wind ( for us Quad Noobs ). This would allow one to
concentrate on throttle control and flight prediction . Now
don't get me wrong , the V959 is just great , and in fact
possibly a lot better than a lot of fixed pitch micro
helicopters , but its no wind buster ( unless you carry a lot of
speed ), and just like the FP micro heli's , some time its
better to play inside . The downside is the V959 begs space so
you can hot dog . Experienced pilots will be able to fly in the
wind better as they can keep momentum going , and momentum will
help stability in flight .
The V959 will fly through a decent breeze , but try hovering . I was
trying to hover and @ 100% ( control ) had about 50% forward
stick to maintain the hover in a light wind , which is by far
better than say a V911 which in the same light wind would be
hovering backwards ( flying backwards ) . Now pushing the stick
forward 50% means the quad will tilt forward , and once it does
that it will dip and shoot of forwards and towards the ground ,
so you pull back on the elevator and it skims along and begins
to gain altitude , it will climb to a hover and then the wind
will push it back to where you started , and then you need to
push the elevator forward and it all begins again . Seriously ,
I haven't had this much fun in a long time ! ( wind like
this would push my V911 into the neighbors yard and there was
nothing I could do about it ) .
Last Word:
When you have to pack up your FP micro to go inside , the V959
can keep going . The more experienced quadcopter pilots will get
more from this quad when conditions get to the point Noobs pack
up. Also if your considering helicopters as a hobby , the V959
is probably a better choice than a FP micro heli . It offers
more control ratio's ( 40-60-80-100% ) , better stability
, and can tolerate more weather. Its just as crash resistant as
the FP micro , costs about he same money ( a little more as it
has more options - like a camera ) , and offers just about the
same flight experience ( learning curve ) . I've never flown a
quad before now , and it is easier to fly than a FP micro , is
more rewarding ( crash less ) , and inside is far more precise .
You can actually pic a spot , fly over to it , hover above it
and land on it with very little trouble . Now this does not mean
you cant get into strife , because once it starts moving , it
can bump and crash just as easily as a FP micro helicopter , in
fact sometimes it actually seems easier as the V959 is capable
of far more speed .
Negatives:
Throttle Lag - just because you hit the
throttle don't mean something is going to happen straight away (
think Turbo Lag ) Descending Hover - The V959 tends to rock from
side to side when you throttle down in hover ( altitude ) you
can see this in video 3
Positives:
Wow so many things , Inbuilt Camera , Flies better than a
FP micro heli , Crash survivability , Control rates , running
lights that can be turned off , Price ( $69 at time of
review ), Indoor or outdoor capability , auto shut down ( motors
) to prevent damage when bumping into things , probably a faster
learning curve ( learning to fly ) , just a Ton of fun !
When was the last time you flew , and walked away with a silly
grin ? rather than something to repair .
Epilogue:
I would like to thank
Banggood.com for sending me the V959 for reviewing , this
quadcopter has put a smile on this old dial . Not only do you
get to fly but the onboard video allows you to share your
exploits . In fact I also got to learn a lot along the way (
Sony Vega - Hmm how much $$ ) . The WLtoys V959 is a
great quadcopter , can I say a real great toy that has given me
some serious fun the last couple of days . And even with the all
the bumps remains in mint condition ( have I put 10 to 12
batteries through it or more ? ) , well , I've failed to break
it . In fact I just went over it carefully , and not even a
scuff on the rotor blades ( propellers ) .
If your looking to get into the hobby , then the quadcopter could be for
you .
Thank you Dimas , the most fun I have had in a long time ..