Originally Posted by 3Deee

I already own a Night Vapor which is well made, functions flawlessly and can take a lot of abuse such as mid airs and unscheduled contact with gym walls and floors. I have not had a chance to fly my Uberlite bi-plane, but the mono-plane flies beautifully.....when it flies. It has better penetration when flying into a slight breeze than the Night Vapor when flying outdoors.

Minor crashes (that wouldn't phase the Night Vapor) can cause the Uberlite power pod to part company with the airframe and sometimes the battery to part company with the receiver, and when I put it back together the battery is dead.

The battery charger works intermittently depending on the mood it is in.

The delicate carbon fibre propeller was terribly out of balance causing the motor and gearbox the vibrate excessively. I lessened the vibration by putting scotch tape on the backside of the light blade.

The delicate prop broke after only a few minor impacts with the gym floor. The weakest point of the prop is right at the hub where it should be the strongest.

One of the struts on the bi-plane airframe is considerably longer than the other causing the plane to sit cocked off to one side when it is sitting on the floor on it's landing gear.

The landing gear should be carbon fibre like on the Night Vapor. The carbon fibre gear on the Night Vapor is stiffer than the spindly music wire gear on the Uberlites which is too springy and causes a lot of nose overs on landing unless one does it perfectly.

The rudder/elevator stick on the transmitter has a sticky spot when pushed all the way forward and to the right.

Fit and finish is not at the level of Parkzone or E-flite products.

I personally think Hobbico needs to re-think the Uberlites. I cannot in clear conscience recommend Uberlites, especially to beginners.

Honestly, uberlights are for beginners. But they need to have enough expirience to really take care of them. They are not for people who have had no expirience with a plane before. My uberlight transmitter does not have a sticky spot, my charger works fine, and the reason that hobbico didnt put carbon fibe landing gear on is because carbon fiber is brittle and has very little give, so under pressure on a hard landing it will break. My landing gear is level. I have hit my prop countless amounts of times and it has not broken. And yes the delecate frames and modules will break, just not very easy. Im sorry but it looks like you just got a model that wasnt as good. All kinds of models have variations on how they are built. Hobbico did a fantastic job on the uberlights.

Originally Posted by Royal air

Honestly, uberlights are for beginners. But they need to have enough expirience to really take care of them. They are not for people who have had no expirience with a plane before. My uberlight transmitter does not have a sticky spot, my charger works fine, and the reason that hobbico didnt put carbon fibe landing gear on is because carbon fiber is brittle and has very little give, so under pressure on a hard landing it will break. My landing gear is level. I have hit my prop countless amounts of times and it has not broken. And yes the delecate frames and modules will break, just not very easy. Im sorry but it looks like you just got a model that wasnt as good. All kinds of models have variations on how they are built. Hobbico did a fantastic job on the uberlights.

Welcome to RC groups. I notice this is your first post and I'm glad all is well in your world with straight landing gear, unbreakable carbon fibre prop, reliable charger, smooth transmitter sticks, and the experience to really care for your plane. No doubt your experience in caring for your Uberlites has made you an authority as to whether Uberlites are for beginners or not. Many experienced flyers fly this type of plane because it is relaxing to fly or their indoor space is too small for anything of higher performance. I hope you have read this thread from the beginning and realize I am not alone in my criticism of the Uberlites. I'm happy for you that you got a good one, but for all you know, yours may be the exception and not the rule, or maybe Hobbico read my critical review and at least bumped up their quality control, making you one of the beneficiaries. Maybe you should be thanking me. Is your Uberlite your first R/C plane? Do you own a Night Vapor to compare it to? Have you done a cross country poll as to how good or bad the Uberlites are?

Concerning the Uberlite landing gear; the reason it is music wire and not carbon fibre is that the stiffer (and stronger) carbon fibre would snap the two thin and delicate "fuselage" frames (or the landing gear mounting point) of the Uberlite in a hard crash, so the compromise is springy music wire to take up the shock which causes the plane to nose over unless one makes a perfect three point landing. Carbon fibre is not brittle and has plenty of give - just go to your local fly fishing store to disprove the fact or look at a Night Vapor. The Night Vapor landing gear is carbon fibre and handles a lot of punishment without breaking, and landings are a breeze. If you don't already own a Night Vapor, I suggest you buy one and pit it against your Uberlites. We have three Night Vapors and they are all the same - great flyers and very robust for a half ounce plane. Owning a Night Vapor will also give you a more balanced perspective of the two planes.

Please see new thread on this subject. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1628901

Just found out that the Uberlites are on sale at Tower Hobbies now, hurry up!
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...XCKWH&P=E#tech

@ 49.99, you cant miss, I have something similar with same Tx called Swap & Fly (same as Snap & Fly, but with 2.4GHz Tx), the controls are really great.

Wish I could get theese Uberlites in Sweden at 50$, its next to nothing...

Tommy

After a few flights, one of the actuator (for the rudder) stopped working. Any one has any idea what happen and how to fix the problem.

Originally Posted by helik7

After a few flights, one of the actuator (for the rudder) stopped working. Any one has any idea what happen and how to fix the problem.

Assuming the rudder is not jammed, then:

Either the coil wire is open circuited or shorting together, or it lost connection to the receiver, or the drive IC on the receiver failed. Continuity check the coil first to help pin point the problem.

The carbon fibre properller broke easily on impact. They want more than $9.00 for a replacement. That seems to be a bit expensive. Does anyone know where I can find a cheaper alternative ? It seems that all the replacement parts for this airplane are quite expensive for a plane that costs less than$50.00.

Believe it or not 9$ for a carbon prop is a great deal. I don't know the dimensions of the Uber's prop but this may be close but not a lot cheaper.
TODD
http://www.bsdmicrorc.com/index.php?productID=860

The ParkZone Night Vapor prop works very well with the Uberlites, is only $3.00, and is virtually unbreakable. Being the Uberlite prop shaft has no threads, all you have to do is grasp the prop shaft with a pair of needle nose pliers and twist the Night Vapor prop on. I didn't even have to glue my prop onto the shaft as the press fit is strong enough.

The connections on the circuit board for both actuators seems to be loosing contact very easily, even it looks like they are securely connected. I have to push very hard on it. After a few flights, the connections (not the connectors) will come loose again. Very annoying. Is there a good fix for it.

So far I found that the Uberlite is fun to fly. However, it seems to be a very delicate plane. The magnetic battery can fall off and get lost very easily on crash. If I have known this, I would not have bought this plane. May be that is why the price of the plane is reduced by half. Is the Vapor as delicate as the Uberlite ? Should I consider getting a Vapor ?

Originally Posted by helik7

...
So far I found that the Uberlite is fun to fly. However, it seems to be a very delicate plane. The magnetic battery can fall off and get lost very easily on crash. If I have known this, I would not have bought this plane.

The Uberlite seems to be designed to fall apart on a crash to release energy and prevent the parts from breaking. But unfortunately, as you noticed, the parts can then get lost.
One way to handle this: I wrapped some removable tape around the battery and base to keep the battery in place while flying/crashing. I also tied some string from the landing gear to the base (after awhile, the landing gear started to fall out) and some string (removable knot) from the base to the frame with wings.

Well, I bought the Uberlites for $49 and I personally really like them. I haven't had any flyability problems at all. You can hang them on a breeze and it is literally the only thing I have that can fly in my front yard. I tend to like the biplane better than the monoplane, but I like both.

I have noticed that the range seems to be very limited, so I don't let it get further away than across the street from my front yard before bringing it back. Part of this could be because the battery was getting weak, and when that happens, reception can be a bit spotty. On a full charge, it works great though.

I have broken both my monoplane and my biplane, but they repair easily. The biplane took it on the chin when I was out in the road and had to pull up to avoid an SUV that I hadn't noticed had just parked on the curb. A little CYA glue and it seems fine.
My monoplane wing folded over when a gust caught it while I was carrying it back inside. Not very strong. But again, a little gorilla glue and the foam structure of the wing was restored.

Haven't had a problem with my battery or my prop breaking. But I had to put a piece of tape over the transmitter's battery cover because it keeps popping open and dumping the batteries, which doesn't work too well when you're flying.

For what these weigh, you can't have too much strength, because they're built to fly, not built to crash. Still, these are great and novel little planes.

I wouldn't mind building my own very lightweight airframe for these myself and adapt the power pod to that. They are just fun.

I had this posted elsewhere, but now realize I should have posted it here, so its back with some additional details. Now that the Uberlites are at half price the following mods make more sense than ever.

I had a spare Night Vapor (NV) receiver/servo board so I thought just for the fun of it to pull out my broken Uberlite power pod with broken actuators and retrofit the NV board to it. I can now use my DX6i transmitter and regular NV 70mAh batteries. The mixing features are needed for the flying wing.
The monoplane and the wing flew well (but unreliably) with the original receiver/actuator setup, but now I have reliability, and more positive control. Although both fly very well, the mono plane excels. It flies like its on rails, but is still very maneuverable, feeling like a much larger plane. This is all in a very small gym at an elevation of 3000 ft. Although the flying wing flies great, it needs more power to be really aerobatic. Those elevons just beg for something more.

Other mods are: .5mm carbon fibre wing reinforcement, NV propeller with extra pitch twisted into it, and fine kevlar thread running from the front of the power pod to the centre of the landing gear axle to keep the landing gear from bending back on landing, causing nose overs. Also, the original receiver, wiring, and actuators were stripped from the power pod, so I started this mod essentially from a blank slate.

Although they will never be as rugged or aerobatic as a Night Vapor, my modified Uberlite versions bring the feeling of larger planes to the table. They fly very steady without having to go fast, and are very predictable. In these areas they outperform the Night Vapor or Ember.

Fast forward to Aug. I installed a Night Vapor gearbox with Cub/Aeronca motor onto the power pod, and wow what zip! I have not tried this setup on the monoplane yet but the flying wing (which flew well before) is now a real aerobat. It can handle a light breeze and will climb like a 3D plane. All the mods caused no noticeable weight gain.

I received my Uberlight set last night. At the sale price of $35 how can I lose.
Out of the box, the bipe wing support was disloged from the bottom wing, but a little glue should fix it. I started with the monoplane as folks say it flys a bit slower indoors. Charged the battery, and put it all together. The magnet system makes things go together quick.

I also noticed the spur gear seemed to have some usage/wear. A rebox sold as new? I hope not.

After power up, I noticed the radio link seemed spotty. The controls lagged, and occassionally didn't respond for a long delay. The actuators seemed very sticky. It has a lot more right than left rudder. And the trim never seemed to stay put, from the sticky actuator operation. The motor control was similar to the surfaces; it was intermittant and not reliable. I turned off the wireless in my house; made no difference. Against my better judgement, I flew it in the house as it was late at night. This resulted in a wall crash each time, with all the bits coming apart. I might be able to fly outdoors but the radio reliability is suspect. If the rain lets up today I'll test it outdoors before deciding to send it back.

My guess is there is a reason these are $35 now....

It does sound like yours might have been a re-box, unfortunately. Maybe if you complain and send it back, you might get a replacement...I dunno. Even when flying mine outside, they seem to manage to find every obstacle there is. You're right about the spotty radio reception. Flying outside, I discovered that you really can't let it get too far away from you. I don't even think it has a 50 ft range. The closer to you, the better.

Also, even the lightest breeze can prove to be too much for these little guys. But they are fun. Yeah, maybe repair yours and try them outside on a calm day. I thought I might experiment with them after I finally total mine. I'm not sure how, but I'm sure I can come up with something.