MJX R/C X600 Hexacopter.
Its a fine line these days between toy and useful when it comes to smaller, cheaper RPA. From the outset I thought the X600 looked cool and when Adam from GearBest offered to send one over to try I couldn’t have been more pleased.
I was not paying attention though, I thought it was smaller like the Cheerson CX10, one of which sits on guard at all times on my desk should I need some stick time to help the thinking along. So the first surprise was the size of the box that arrived.
The black X600 looks purposeful and feels well made, light but strong. The supplied 2 cell LiPo charger uses the balance plug to charge a 7.4v 700maH lipo flight battery. More of that later. The 2.4 Ghz TX requires 3, 1.5 AA batteries.
All TX modes can be accommodated, 1 to 4. There are three flight modes, beginner, intermediate and advanced. We have
spent most of our time flying in the intermediate mode. This is quite simply because in advanced its too easy to enter the flip mode. OK if you have some height but trouble close to the ground.
Its important to remember that we are talking of a multirotor that costs less than a LiPo for a larger commercial RPA.
In fact right now they are on offer for $36 http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_193049.html
Back to the battery, being a man I did not read the manual. If I had I would have seen the promised 8.5 minute flight time.Although I have not timed it it most certainly is in that region. Very impressive.
So fellow unmanned professional why on earth would you want one of these other than the obvious, you can never have enough drones answer.
It feels solid and reliable in flight and is able to do anything required of a flight test.
On July 1st here in South Africa new rules came into place requiring a flight test for commercial use and that test must be undertaken without GPS assistance. No point in using something equipped with one IMHO. Bit like using a Ferrari for your driving test so until they realize the X600 would be more than enough for the test.
These are the requirements for the multirotor pilot test in South Africa:-
5. Items applicable to the Remote Pilot Licence (RPL (MR))
(1) Tail-in hover.
(2) Tail-in hover yawing slowly to right and left.
(3) Tail-in hover, move to right then to the left.
(4) Tail-in hover, move forwards then backwards.
(5) Tail-in hover, ascend and descend.
(6) Takeoffs.
(7) Tail-in hover performing a horizontal rectangle.
(8) Tail-in hover performing a vertical rectangle.
(9) Nose-in hover.
(10) From hover fly a square box rotating (yawing) the multi-rotor in the direction of flight.
(11) From hover fly a circle rotating (yawing) the multi-rotor nose-in to the centre of the circle.
(12) Transition from hover to forward flight.
(13) Climbing and descending from level flight.
(14) Turns from level flight.
(15) Speed control in level flight.
(16) Approach and landings.
(17) Actions after failure of a motor.
SA CATS 101
All of these are possible with this capable little hexacopter. I quite enjoy that take offs are point 6 in the requirements 1-5 don’t get a look in without them! You can most certainly practice the maneuvers time and time.
