Let me start this review by saying that I have owned multiple quadcopters, including the Syma x5c-1 and DJI Phantom.
The phantom itself is wonderful to fly, however, the ever present fear of flyaways and all the precautions one must take when flying (no interference, no large metal structures, monitor solar activity, calibrate compass, gps satellites, etc) takes a bit of the fun out of regualr flying. As such, I felt the need for a secondary "dumb" bird so to speak. One that I would have control over exclusively, free from autonomous flight. I figured that I would use my phantom for professional videography at select locations and I would use the secondary quad for just casual flying and recording, in all manner of locations.
I chose the Syma X8C as that secondary and let me tell you, I was not disappointed!
The Syma X8C is a very stable flyer with excellent lifting power for a quad of its class. The headless mode comes in very handy as an impromptu return to home feature, when orientation is lost. Further, the large motors do not seem to get as hot as the Syma x5c-1's and none have burnt out thus far. In any event, the motors are easy to replace as they are plug and play with only a few screws to remove. No soldering required!
I have used this quad to lift my Gopro Hero 3 with ease, as well as my Lumia 1020. However, The Runcam proves to be an ideal companion to this quad.
The range is advertised as being 100-150m, however, I have found the range to be closer to 200-250m (haven't tried to go farther than that as it is practically out of sight at that point).
The lights are bright and easy to see and when the battery is low, it starts flashing whilst leaving you a good 2-3 minutes of flight time left. This is a vast improvement over the Syma X5c-1 which would give practically no warning before blinking and dropping out of the sky.
With further regards to flight time, the large 2000mah battery provides about 10-12 minutes of flight (with runcam attached). This is more than enough time to get your shots.
The yaw rate is a bit slow, which is ideal for an aerial video platform such as this. However, the quad, especially in high rate, is very wind resistant and stable.
Another benefit is that this quad is basically the same exact shape and size as the Phantom 1. As such, almost all of the accessories that fit the Phantom will fit this quad. For example, the extended landing skids and skins for the phantom.
All in all, I love this quadcopter. My Phantom is now reserved for special occasions and this is my daily use quad :).
The only downside I can see is that the propellers are extremely unbalanced. Previous Syma models had pretty balanced props but this one does not. I suspect that the molded lettering on the blades ("A" and "B") contribute to this. However, after a bit of sanding, the props balance nicely and the quad performs better than ever. BALANCE OUR PROPS PEOPLE!
All in all, this is definitely the flagship quad from Syma and it is well worth the money.
I have taken the liberty of adding two pictures to thsi review; one of my modded Syma X8c and one showing a size comparison between said Syma X8c and my Phantom.
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Reviews with images
This is not a beginner drone, I recommend starting with the x5c. This is not a Phantom it is more of a Trainer step 2 after x5c.
This is not a beginner drone, I recommend starting with the x5c. This is not a Phantom it is more of a Trainer step 2 after learning to maneuver the x5c. This copter is less forgiving during crashes so bear that in mind . It can get into speeds of 15 mph and has enough power to crack a windsheild so keep it close to the ground until you get it tuned right. The instructions are no help. Mine wouldn't get off the ground out of the box . It turned out that the blades were on wrong. If you look closely each corner has a small letter and each prop has a corresponding letter and that fixed the take off issue. The other issue is the prop guards aren,t long enough and it will still chip props quickly when it tips over. It is much heaver than the x5c so it will tip over easily. Also the prop caps go on top down so there is no play in the props in up and down movement. To put on the prop stick the letter corresponding prop on stick the prop cap on firmly top down. Then insert metal pin and twist the cap to lock it into place, then insert silver prop cover cap. If this process requires pliers for you chances are you may be doing it wrong.UPDATE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMIPkW_hpL4AFTER PLAYING WITH THIS ...and after wrecking it many times and replacing it and wrecking the replacement I have decided that this is underpowered, requires expert level to control , I have been unable to keep this in the air. It either trys to fly away or flys wildly . If I fly to low it goes into a tree or lands to hard on the ground, not enough power to get back up quick enough with out landing and touching off. Will crack open and bounce. I was much happier with the x50 so i would have to recommend to avoid this model as you will most likely crash it out of the box unless you are a true pro. The phantom should be much more stable as the stabilizers on this unit are unintelligible and almost nonexistent. Warning do not fly in high winds, winds of any kind, near trees etc, so the only place safe to fly this is in a giant gym or warehouse. So basically this one is gonna hang on the wall and rarely get used or get crashed quickly. The great thing about the x50s are they are so light you can crash them over and over and they seem to bounce back.Update 9/1/15This drone is still to hard to fly because it has no hover mode, It walks away and is taken by the wind anytime you try to hover. It has no gps mode like the dji phantom that uses satellite coordinates to make it over in one place. As soon as it gets up in the air it drifts further and farther until you start to panic and bring it down too fast. It can take a crash as I have crashed it over and over and one time right into a swamp and it flew right back out of the water without a problem other than the soggy go pro. It can lift a go pro but not for long it kills the battery and it wants to come back down. Also it bounces off the ground frequently because it doesn't have enough power to recover fast enough. In the end this drone has made me weary of all drones and I am afraid to buy another for fear of loosing an expensive toy.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2015
Let me start this review by saying that I have owned multiple quadcopters, including the Syma x5c-1 and DJI Phantom.
The phantom itself is wonderful to fly, however, the ever present fear of flyaways and all the precautions one must take when flying (no interference, no large metal structures, monitor solar activity, calibrate compass, gps satellites, etc) takes a bit of the fun out of regualr flying. As such, I felt the need for a secondary "dumb" bird so to speak. One that I would have control over exclusively, free from autonomous flight. I figured that I would use my phantom for professional videography at select locations and I would use the secondary quad for just casual flying and recording, in all manner of locations.
I chose the Syma X8C as that secondary and let me tell you, I was not disappointed!
The Syma X8C is a very stable flyer with excellent lifting power for a quad of its class. The headless mode comes in very handy as an impromptu return to home feature, when orientation is lost. Further, the large motors do not seem to get as hot as the Syma x5c-1's and none have burnt out thus far. In any event, the motors are easy to replace as they are plug and play with only a few screws to remove. No soldering required!
I have used this quad to lift my Gopro Hero 3 with ease, as well as my Lumia 1020. However, The Runcam proves to be an ideal companion to this quad.
The range is advertised as being 100-150m, however, I have found the range to be closer to 200-250m (haven't tried to go farther than that as it is practically out of sight at that point).
The lights are bright and easy to see and when the battery is low, it starts flashing whilst leaving you a good 2-3 minutes of flight time left. This is a vast improvement over the Syma X5c-1 which would give practically no warning before blinking and dropping out of the sky.
With further regards to flight time, the large 2000mah battery provides about 10-12 minutes of flight (with runcam attached). This is more than enough time to get your shots.
The yaw rate is a bit slow, which is ideal for an aerial video platform such as this. However, the quad, especially in high rate, is very wind resistant and stable.
Another benefit is that this quad is basically the same exact shape and size as the Phantom 1. As such, almost all of the accessories that fit the Phantom will fit this quad. For example, the extended landing skids and skins for the phantom.
All in all, I love this quadcopter. My Phantom is now reserved for special occasions and this is my daily use quad :).
The only downside I can see is that the propellers are extremely unbalanced. Previous Syma models had pretty balanced props but this one does not. I suspect that the molded lettering on the blades ("A" and "B") contribute to this. However, after a bit of sanding, the props balance nicely and the quad performs better than ever. BALANCE OUR PROPS PEOPLE!
All in all, this is definitely the flagship quad from Syma and it is well worth the money.
I have taken the liberty of adding two pictures to thsi review; one of my modded Syma X8c and one showing a size comparison between said Syma X8c and my Phantom.
The phantom itself is wonderful to fly, however, the ever present fear of flyaways and all the precautions one must take when flying (no interference, no large metal structures, monitor solar activity, calibrate compass, gps satellites, etc) takes a bit of the fun out of regualr flying. As such, I felt the need for a secondary "dumb" bird so to speak. One that I would have control over exclusively, free from autonomous flight. I figured that I would use my phantom for professional videography at select locations and I would use the secondary quad for just casual flying and recording, in all manner of locations.
I chose the Syma X8C as that secondary and let me tell you, I was not disappointed!
The Syma X8C is a very stable flyer with excellent lifting power for a quad of its class. The headless mode comes in very handy as an impromptu return to home feature, when orientation is lost. Further, the large motors do not seem to get as hot as the Syma x5c-1's and none have burnt out thus far. In any event, the motors are easy to replace as they are plug and play with only a few screws to remove. No soldering required!
I have used this quad to lift my Gopro Hero 3 with ease, as well as my Lumia 1020. However, The Runcam proves to be an ideal companion to this quad.
The range is advertised as being 100-150m, however, I have found the range to be closer to 200-250m (haven't tried to go farther than that as it is practically out of sight at that point).
The lights are bright and easy to see and when the battery is low, it starts flashing whilst leaving you a good 2-3 minutes of flight time left. This is a vast improvement over the Syma X5c-1 which would give practically no warning before blinking and dropping out of the sky.
With further regards to flight time, the large 2000mah battery provides about 10-12 minutes of flight (with runcam attached). This is more than enough time to get your shots.
The yaw rate is a bit slow, which is ideal for an aerial video platform such as this. However, the quad, especially in high rate, is very wind resistant and stable.
Another benefit is that this quad is basically the same exact shape and size as the Phantom 1. As such, almost all of the accessories that fit the Phantom will fit this quad. For example, the extended landing skids and skins for the phantom.
All in all, I love this quadcopter. My Phantom is now reserved for special occasions and this is my daily use quad :).
The only downside I can see is that the propellers are extremely unbalanced. Previous Syma models had pretty balanced props but this one does not. I suspect that the molded lettering on the blades ("A" and "B") contribute to this. However, after a bit of sanding, the props balance nicely and the quad performs better than ever. BALANCE OUR PROPS PEOPLE!
All in all, this is definitely the flagship quad from Syma and it is well worth the money.
I have taken the liberty of adding two pictures to thsi review; one of my modded Syma X8c and one showing a size comparison between said Syma X8c and my Phantom.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2016
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