I was sent the Jumper T8SG for review and testing - RCG Thread

Product page @ Banggood

 The Elephant in the Room ! ( Deviation )

 Deviation is not the easiest OS / Firmware to work with , so just be aware that it just might be the hardest OS to learn to use when it comes to programming functions and mixes .  If you visit the Deviation forum / web > https://www.deviationtx.com/  you will see this warning !

WARNING: Deviation is experimental software. There are no guarantees made or implied about the quality or reliability of this software. RC models can cause serious injury or death if flown improperly. By deciding to use the Deviation software, you are taking sole responsibility for the control of your models. The authors of Deviation will not be held responsible for any injury or damage caused by the use of the Deviation firmware. Be cautious. You have been warned.

 I would highly recommend you visit the deviation Wiki and maybe download the PC Emulator if you have never been exposed to Deviation . Nothing worse than buying something only to be frustrated to the point you give up and sell the Tx you coveted so much . For me personally , what I found most frustrating is the time spent searching for information . The first time I was exposed to Deviation , for the life of me I could not find a throttle cut guide . After ? how much time I worked it out and posted a video on youtube so that others did not have to be challenged as I had been .  So that is the Elephant in the room , Deviation can be a challenge and a learning experience . So Be Aware ... If you are not prepared for an education , you may want to maybe try the Jumper T12 which runs OpenTx ( Which in comparison is a walk in the park ) . Just be aware that the T8SG Lite and T12 are new releases and there may be growing pains . 

My first post @ RCG

 It arrived this morning ! 
Also this morning I went to the park to try some launch settings on the Whipit 
Was getting there till the wind came up , oh well ! My back was saying enough anyways and I did have to walk home ..
( Just trying to increase my activity levels - so I am incorporating some whipit ) 

Back to the Jumper T8SG Lite ......... 

These are my initial un boxing - Impressions ! I have not done anything but take the T8SG Lite out of the box and move the sticks , flick some switches , open the battery cover ..  ok ! 

Gimbals ------- ! 
Very toy transmitter like .
The round hole for the sticks means limited movement in the other axis 
? For some reason , the right gimbals started off ok and then started to bind ? ( Might be some dirt / grime ? ) 
Throttle is too lose for me , I like a lot more tension . 

Switches ----- ! 
Both switches are 3 position - Feel nice 

Rotary Switches on the side ---- ! 
Good tension 
Easy to get to 
I was afraid they might get in the way - but no ! 

Trim ---- ! 
They feel really nice and positive 

Battery cover --- ! 
Pull up and then out .. 
Yeah , I think it will do the job nicely . 

Antenna Stub --- ! 
Lose - ?? Not that it matters ... 

How it feels in the hand --- ! 
It's a small transmitter for sure , actually smaller than a WL Toys Transmitter . ( If you have one ) 
Sits in the hands rather nicely , all the switches are easy to get to and actually feels good in the hands physically .
What's a bit of a let down is the gimbals , very soft and maybe to vague . ( Feels like unused ) 
I would really liked to have seen more tension on both sticks . 
With the right Gimbals binding , I will have to disassemble to investigate .. 

So ends my initial impressions on the unboxed Jumper T8SG Lite . 

Next I open it up for a look see inside

 My second post @ RCG 

So where are we ? 

The Gimpy Gimbals .......... 

Ok ,,, so I pulled out the gimpy G ..
Once the screw were loosened the gimbals was just fine ..
I tried to find some washers to raise the gimbals assembly so that it would not rub against the Tx case ( Which it was doing ) 
I could not find any , so I had to make some ( rubbish ones ) ..

Well the washers I made simply exasperated another problem .. 

Seem the board the gimbals is mounted on was warping when the screws were torqued down .. 
So I threw the washers away , got out a knife .. 
And gouged the hole for the gimbals larger 
Yeah , no more rubbing - 

Still there was the issue with the warping of the board the gimbals is mounted to ..
I played with the mounting screws and ended up deleting two ...
So now there is one screw at the top on one side and one screw at the bottom on the other side .. 
No more warping , no more binding gimbals .. 

So I assembled the Tx , put in some batteries and tested to make sure I had not killed anything .. 
Next I will bind to something ( quad ) and see how the Tx handles ..

So the gimbals are the stuff of Toys , not adjustable . 
Just have to wonder ? 


So the T8SG Lite is ready to be bound to something . 

 The Gimbals ....  ( The interface between the user and transmitter )

 Ok so I had some issue with the gimbal on the right side of the Tx . After sorting things out and binding the T8SG Lite to my Light Wing Project  ( FrSky Rx ) I proceeded to check out how the gimbals feel . And I have to report that there is a fair degree of dead band around Neutral Stick .

  XK251 ( Quad )

 To actually go out and fly is the true test of a transmitter . And for that I bound the T8SG Lite to a XK251 ( Futaba S-FHSS protocol ) and then proceeded to try it out . Now at first I did a bad thing !  I tried to fly in my room and that was a huge mistake . There is just enough dead band around neutral stick to make such an attempt foolish . I had no precise / fine control over the XK251 at all and I was bouncing the XK251 of everything near the floor .  I pulled the plug on that stupidity after a few attempts and the next day took it outside where I have at least a few meters of run off space .  

 Well , it was certainly an experience I can say !

 First , the throttle stick is so lose that throttle control is challenging .

 Applying rudder control ( mode 2 ) was impossible , the throttle is so lose that any attempt at rudder function changed the throttle setting sending the XK251 plummeting toward the ground or rocketing up into the sky .

  Ail / Ele - Dead band around center stick . The dead band really took away any real ability to input fine precise control over the XK251 . You sort of lean on the gimbal and nothing happens , increase the pressure and still nothing . And when it finally does something the XK251 ( being high performance ) , rather than move gently sort of jerks itself in the direction of stick movement . ( That dead band )

  Now the dead band is annoying but not a deal breaker , the lose as a goose throttle how ever !

  So why is this so ?  Well for some reason Jumper decided to go with Toy Gimbals  that can not be adjusted rather than with proper RC gimbals that can be adjusted . Why ?

  The T8SG Lite ...

 Runs on 4 x AA .

 Has two 3 position switches as well two side wheels .

Size - One of the smallest computer Tx available - if not the smallest .

Protocols - FrSky - FrSky V8 - FrSkyX - Skyartec - S-FHSS - Corona - PPM - USBHID

 Jumper had a really good concept going here , I really like everything about this transmitter ( Lets not worry about Deviation ok ) and what really lets it down is the toy gimbals . And in all honesty I simply can not get past how NOT GOOD the gimbals are on the sample I got . The short and long of it is that the gimbals really ruin what was a good idea . If my sample is anything to go by then I can not recommend the Jumper T8SG Lite to the general RC community . How ever if Jumper were to put better Gimbals on this Tx , then it could be something special .