I would be wary if the replacement tail boom is shorter than the stock tail boom. If the tail is not already holding very well, the problem will be made worse by a shorter tail boom. I would prefer to wait for the stock boom or cut a 2.5mm CF rod to the correct length.

I went to the field and got 3D pilots to try my V922! They liked it and felt the V922 flight characteristics is similar to their MCPX. One of them took it to the sky for some 3D action.

WLtoys V922 6-Channel Flybarless Micro Helicopter - 3D Flight #1 (3 min 19 sec)

More details please refer to post #2: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...67&postcount=2

Just my thoughts, no offense to anyone who love V922.

I wonder why would anyone wants to buy V922 as an entry point to micro CP heli. Surely it should be a reasonably good bird, but I will assume if you wanna go for a 6 channel CP, then you are quite serious to this hobby yourself. Why don't you commit yourself to something more "proper"?

I'm currently flying Walkera MINI CP, NEW V120D02S, Blade NANO CP, and Nine Eagle SOLO PRO 319A systems. I prefer to view each bird as a "system" because it includes a lot of consideration and investment other than the bird itself, like transmitters, upgrade options, spare parts, easy of maintenance etc.

Some factors that I'd like to share:

1. Brand reliability - WL Toys is quite new to the heli world. So far, its V911 and V929 series are actually cloning the design of other brands. I am doubtful about its product ingenuity down the road. You just don't want to invest in a system that has no future.

2. Maintenance - This is the second biggest concern. Farbarless CPs are a maintenance hell, particular for beginners like myself. There are lots of moving parts, bearings, servo gears etc etc that can be and will be broken down due to various factors. There are lots of crashes during training and the learning curve is steep. Would you want to invest in parts that you are not sure if you can use it later? I stock up parts from Walkera because they are common to Genius CP v1 & v2, Mini CP, Super CP, Genius FP, and Super FP, and I know I can reuse the part even I change the bird.

3. Transmitter - This is a big upfront cost for entering the CP world. It looks cheap to get the V922 with the "programmable" tx, but wait a second, the tx of V922 is a close system and it is 6 channels only, that's similar toNine Eagle's J6 Pro. Think carefully, with that tx, what else can you do? Can you pair it up with other receivers? For Walkera or Skeptrum you have lots of choices from 4 channel to 18 channels, and you have different types of receiver to choose from. You can use that tx to fly bigger birds later. Currently I'm using DEVO10 myself to control the Walkera, Blade, and Nine Eagles heli with deviation custom firmware. I have the freedom to fly new birds using the same tx, that's a big cost saving.

4. Quality - I haven't flew the V922 yet, but given my experience to V911, I believe it will be not as finely tooled as Walkera or Blade. (I have 100% confidence on Walkera and Blade, while Nine Eagle is just so so) The stability, gyro performance, servo quality, Walkera and Blade just champ.

5. Price - OK, V922 is cheap, but it is not that cheaper than Walkera MINI CP. Price is about the same for V922 and MINI CP in China's taobao.com, if you want, you can get the SUPER CP with an even lower price.


My thought is that, if you are a beginner like myself, I would definitely think about the cost of the "system" as a whole, instead of just the bird itself.

In response to pshkong, I am an amateur pilot as well and I know exactly what category the v922 is in. The main reason why anyone will choose the v922 has to be the cost. A typical Walkers CP will cost about US$180 with a decent transmitter. To someone like me who has never tried a CP before, this is a huge risk to take.

I had owned Walkera helicopters before, like the CB100 and even the 5g-1 coax few years back. These are very fragile and crashes easily for an inexperienced pilot like me. For that reason, I stayed away from Walkera helicopters for some time.

However, the market seems to be changing with Walkera releasing budget friendly version of their CP helicopters. My first return to Walkera was the Ladybird V2 with Devo4 transmitter. Got it to satisfy my curiosity how different it is from other quads. That gave me some confidence to Walkera products as it survived crashes. With the release of the Super CP, I am seriously considering it as a proper CP to start with.

So I think the v922 is there to fulfill a specific segment of the market. It may very well land up in toy department stores which means more can get to enjoy helicopters as a hobby. It served well to train my handling of CP where my Solo Pro100D failed miserably with its twitchy controls and confusing transmitter settings. Not to mention instruction guides out there don't really teach you how to fly a CP properly. So as a trainer for CP, the v922 is very friendly without confusing a beginner with all the throttle and pitch settings. At least for me, I understand how a CP work and fly better after flying the v922.

P.S. Any guides on how to do 3D flights with the v922? I have yet to try it.

FyreSG, where is that open space you went to? Looks like a lot of construction work going on at the background.

pshkong,

Are your factors listed in any particular order? I feel that the importance of each factor would affect the suitability of V922 to a beginner. To me, cost is the main attraction. If you had done your calculations right, V922 is cheaper than Walkera products. How much cheaper is subjective. For a V911, would $5 difference mean a thing to you? For a V922, would $20 difference mean a thing to you?

As a beginner to CP helicopters, I'm not sure if they are suitable for me. I know of several beginners who gave up on flying CP helis because they couldn't fly them and have no time to learn or repair their birds. What if I don't master the art of flying CP helicopters? What if I decided to give up on CP helis and be happy with FP helis or even coaxials? What am I going to do with my CP heli? I have to consider the hassle of putting it for sale, and if I damaged it before that, would anyone buy it? So to me, a cheaper bird means less monetary loss when dumping it.

And still on the cost issue, the V922 parts are cheap and readily available. Its high durability is an added bonus. This heli is the same OEM as HobbyKing FBL100 and HiSKY FBL100. Judging by the trend of V911 being cloned by many others, I believe the FBL100 series would be very popular. This may mean that replacement parts are cheap and easily accessible. And... it shares many parts with popular micro CP helis. These micro CPs share similar parts such as main rotor blades and tail blades. This is basically a clone of the MCPX, which means you can try high quality MCPX upgrades, if you have the cash.

If you have the time, compare the size of the motor for the FBL100 series vs the Super CP. Zadaw found the V922 motor to be very powerful.

Initially I was unhappy with the non-programmable TX. But after flying it for so long, I don't think it matters. I mean, the default settings on TX works fine. What do I need to tweak? And, the experts could execute 3D moves with this simplified TX, what more do I need to tweak? None of them asked me to change the configurations (they didn't know it was not configurable). In fact, I am glad that the settings are not configurable so I have time to focus on the important task at hand - learn to fly the thing! Having a DEVO or J6 Pro (yes, I have one for my Solo Pro 180) means "one transmitter to rule them all", haha, but what if I decided to give up on this hobby? Would a well supported TX be appreciated?

To sum it up - if you don't mind the additional cost of a Walkera, then honestly, go for it. If you feel that you're highly likely to remain in this hobby, then a more expensive bird would be desirable. But if you're someone who may not have the patience and/or cash, then the V922 may be a good deal.

Originally Posted by TFMeouch

P.S. Any guides on how to do 3D flights with the v922? I have yet to try it.

FyreSG, where is that open space you went to? Looks like a lot of construction work going on at the background.

You're asking the wrong guy! I think it's better for you to try it in simulators or build a training gear for inverted flight. While I could fly the bird upright fairly well, flying it inverted is NOT EASY. In fact, getting it inverted is not easy! But the pros made it look like a piece of cake. At meet ups, they were like coaches examining how I flipped and gave me valuable advice. You should try meeting experienced pilots too.

The place was Queenstown. Click on the "Maps" link above. (My RCGroups, Blogs, Classifieds, Clubs, Forums, Maps, Regions, Topics, Search)

Originally Posted by pshkong

...
Some factors that I'd like to share:

1. Brand reliability - ...

2. Maintenance - ...

3. Transmitter - ...

4. Quality -...

5. Price - ...

My thought is that, if you are a beginner like myself, I would definitely think about the cost of the "system" as a whole, instead of just the bird itself.

ad pshkong - you are particuallary right .... but leave you beloved walkera, buy one v922, get used to it and come back again ...

... the durability of the v922/fbl100 is surprisingly (im still terryfied by my old cb100 ...), tx, motor, gyro, tail, servos - more than adequate even for practicing piroflips (i never thought i could do it after the first two flights with the bird... but i got disabused ...) !!! and a cp-100 at an unbeleivable price (also for spareparts...) like that is not a level of a heli-system you have to reflect to long about its sustainability ... and the unmanagable product-mess of walkera is not a real recommendation ...

macem

Originally Posted by pshkong

...
Some factors that I'd like to share:

1. Brand reliability - ...

2. Maintenance - ...

3. Transmitter - ...

4. Quality -...

5. Price - ...

My thought is that, if you are a beginner like myself, I would definitely think about the cost of the "system" as a whole, instead of just the bird itself.

ad pshkong - you are particuallary right .... but leave you beloved walkera, buy one v922, get used to it and come back again ...

... the durability of the v922/fbl100 is surprisingly (im still terryfied by my old cb100 ...), tx, motor, gyro, tail, servos - more than adequate even for practicing piroflips (i never thought i could do it after the first two flights with the bird... but i got disabused ...) !!! and a cp-100 at an unbeleivable price (also for spareparts...) like that is not a decision for life-time... imho: the unmanagable product-mess of walkera is not a real recommendation ...

macem

I am not an expert, but I can easily fly my Walkera Genius CP in my living room

Because of the V922 transmitter is without DR/EXP, I will need a gymnasium before I get the V922 into the air so I can trim it or find out its problem

The V922 has a bad case of instability and without DR/EXP the problem nearly unmanageable in my living room.

I was planning to buy a Mini CP BNF for my second 100 size, wish I had...

I though giving the V922 a try would be okay considering it is an e-flite clone...

I consider the V922 a e-flite clown...

I hope someone comes up with a good hack so I can use my Devo or Turnigy transmitter to save this cripple heli.

My bet is Banggood will not print my review

Originally Posted by elementary

I am not an expert, but I can easily fly my Walkera Genius CP in my living room

Because of the V922 transmitter is without DR/EXP, I will need a gymnasium before I get the V922 into the air so I can trim it or find out its problem

The V922 has a bad case of instability and without DR/EXP the problem nearly unmanageable in my living room.

I was planning to buy a Mini CP BNF for my second 100 size, wish I had...

I though giving the V922 a try would be okay considering it is an e-flite clone...

I consider the V922 a e-flite clown...

I hope someone comes up with a good hack so I can use my Devo or Turnigy transmitter to save this cripple heli.

My bet is Banggood will not print my review

Hi, yes you can use DEVO to control WLTOY birds, but you need to upgrade the firmware and also need some hardware modification. Please see the site http://www.deviationtx.com/ for more info. Currently, I am using DEVO 10 to fly my Walkera birds and EFlite birds

Originally Posted by TFMeouch

In response to pshkong, I am an amateur pilot as well and I know exactly what category the v922 is in. The main reason why anyone will choose the v922 has to be the cost. A typical Walkers CP will cost about US$180 with a decent transmitter. To someone like me who has never tried a CP before, this is a huge risk to take.

I had owned Walkera helicopters before, like the CB100 and even the 5g-1 coax few years back. These are very fragile and crashes easily for an inexperienced pilot like me. For that reason, I stayed away from Walkera helicopters for some time.

However, the market seems to be changing with Walkera releasing budget friendly version of their CP helicopters. My first return to Walkera was the Ladybird V2 with Devo4 transmitter. Got it to satisfy my curiosity how different it is from other quads. That gave me some confidence to Walkera products as it survived crashes. With the release of the Super CP, I am seriously considering it as a proper CP to start with.

So I think the v922 is there to fulfill a specific segment of the market. It may very well land up in toy department stores which means more can get to enjoy helicopters as a hobby. It served well to train my handling of CP where my Solo Pro100D failed miserably with its twitchy controls and confusing transmitter settings. Not to mention instruction guides out there don't really teach you how to fly a CP properly. So as a trainer for CP, the v922 is very friendly without confusing a beginner with all the throttle and pitch settings. At least for me, I understand how a CP work and fly better after flying the v922.

P.S. Any guides on how to do 3D flights with the v922? I have yet to try it.

FyreSG, where is that open space you went to? Looks like a lot of construction work going on at the background.

TFMeouch and FyreSG

I think the most important component for any beginners is a programmable tx, but yet, that is also the most inhibiting factor for anyone to consider entering this hobby. However, I must have to reiterate the importance of it, because it allows you to tame your bird into something that is more manageable to your skill level.

When I first flew a CP helicopter, I had no clue about TX settings, and the control is just too sensitive. The settings on TX is just Mars language to me. I kept crashing. I was very frustrated and think that I can never fly a CP. But somehow, I went through that period of frustration and climbed up the learning curve. The real breakthrough came from my increased understanding of my tx, and after I tame down the elevator and aileron dual rates, pitch curve, and the throttle curve, I could finally get the bird stable enough to fly and my skills of flying improved drastically since then. That is something only a programmable tx can do for you.

And to your point about CP and FP, actually they shouldn't be too different. The only difference that make people think FP is easier to fly is because most FP are FLYBARed, this is the feature that makes beginner find FLYBARLESS CP so hard to fly.

For flybar helis, when you want to move the plane forward, you have to keep push the elevator down to make the nose pitch down to move forward. However, if you ever try the same thing on a flybarless heli, you will find that the bird keep accelerating. The difference comes of the computer on board the bird. Flybarless heli essentially is a fly-by-wire system, the micro computer on the main-board will interpret the signal from the pilot before sending out the control signal to the servos. So when you keep pressing the control down, the computer will interpret it as you want to accelerate. The correct way to do it is apply a little bit forward elevator, and immediately apply a little bit backward elevator.

(sorry, my language is not good enough to describe it, but what I want to say is flying a flybar and a flybarless heli is very different)

Anyway, I truly believe there are many ways to do it, but I do sincerely believe that once you fly a CP, you will never move back to a FP. You can start with V922, but I'm sure sooner or later you will find the inadequacy of it and inevitably have to spend some cash to upgrade.

A poorly configured TX will be bad for a beginner. That is true. What I'm trying to highlight is the default TX for V922 works fine for me and many others. Maybe it's luck or magic, I don't know, but all I know is... I'm happy with it and my 3D friends are happy with it too. I agree that different pilots may have different preferences, so one way is to know if the TX suits a person is for him to somehow try the V922 before buying. If the TX feels good, then go ahead to buy it.

Have you tried the V922? I suspect you may find the stock settings ok.

Originally Posted by pshkong

For flybar helis, when you want to move the plane forward, you have to keep push the elevator down to make the nose pitch down to move forward. However, if you ever try the same thing on a flybarless heli, you will find that the bird keep accelerating. The difference comes of the computer on board the bird. Flybarless heli essentially is a fly-by-wire system, the micro computer on the main-board will interpret the signal from the pilot before sending out the control signal to the servos. So when you keep pressing the control down, the computer will interpret it as you want to accelerate. The correct way to do it is apply a little bit forward elevator, and immediately apply a little bit backward elevator.

As for your comment on FBL vs FB you may wish to what an expert had wrote recently:

Originally Posted by Xrayted

This issue you are having is not the way FBL gyros are supposed to behave. BTW, a flybar heli and properly set up FBL gyro are no different from each other. A flybar heli will not return to level or stop moving if you let off of the sticks. The heli will keep traveling the same direction it was last sent until you tell it otherwise, and so will any decent, quality FBL unit.

So far I've learnt a lot from this guy. He is very knowledgeble.

In reponse to pshkong, I must emphasise that my first entry to CP was a Solo Pro 100 with the J6 programmable transmitter. I too tried fiddling with the throttle and pitch curves, and also went into the dual rates and stuff. Even after much tweaking, I still found it difficult to fly.

I understand the marvels of having a programmable transmitter, but I guess perhaps the most important part of CP is to unlearn the way you fly a FP. That was one of the hardest challenge for me. I can fly FP in very constrained spaces and do lots of trick moves with ease, but with a CP I become like a novice again.

So the point is the v922 still is a good choice for an introduction to CP. I wish I had this before I got the Solo Pro 100. Anyway, the Walkera Super CP is probably another good option with its promising affordable price and likely good performance. I'm getting that if the reviews are favorable.

a programmable tx is not as important as somebody could believe... on the contrary: people slow down their learning-progress by changing the tx-settings everey five minutes... most non-programmable tx have the best beginner-settings allready installed - of course there are exeptional cases...

it could be the wrong way round trying to boost ones flying skills to meddle with the technology, usually it is far better to improve the flying skills step by step ...

Originally Posted by pshkong

TFMeouch and FyreSG
.....
For flybar helis, when you want to move the plane forward, you have to keep push the elevator down to make the nose pitch down to move forward. However, if you ever try the same thing on a flybarless heli, you will find that the bird keep accelerating. The difference comes of the computer on board the bird. Flybarless heli essentially is a fly-by-wire system, the micro computer on the main-board will interpret the signal from the pilot before sending out the control signal to the servos. So when you keep pressing the control down, the computer will interpret it as you want to accelerate. The correct way to do it is apply a little bit forward elevator, and immediately apply a little bit backward elevator.

....

the problem of differnt flight-behaviors is not the flybar or flybarless, the difference is basically not the computer board...

you have to differ between guided- and non-guided flybars. the guided ones have paddels on the outer side, the non guided have weights. most of fp-helis (as the koax-helis, the v911, aso ... ) have non-guided flybars - this means a mechanical self-horizontal-levelling effect by the weights. the guided paddel-flybars keep the heli mechanical in that position it was tiltet by the pilot (the function of a guided flybar is realy complex...) this makes the difference for the pilot ... finally the flybarless-systems regulate that in an electronical way (two gyros to analyse the aileron and nick-position...). there is not much difference between fbl-helis and good adjusted flybared paddel-helis

macem

I'm on the fence between this one and the Super CP as my second CP (have nano cpx with dx4e). Waiting to see some better prices. Does this TX not have dual rates? That may be somewhat of an issue if attempting to fly inside house. Does the inverted control mode work very well? I'm to the point flipping is pretty easy (outside), but the backwards controls is my struggle right now when attempting to fly inverted. Just wondering if this special mode could be flipped into and out of fast enough to use it to help learn the correct inverted controls, or if it would just make it more confusing.