BE AWARE, JJRC RECENTLY CHANGED THE DESIGN OF THE FC BOARD, SO CALLED "#2". NOW SOME USERS REPORTED SOME DRIFTS/SHIFTS AFTER HOVERING OR FEW INSTANTS OF FLIGHT. THIS NEW BOARD IS MAINLY PRESENT IN THE NEW COMPACT BOX VERSION OF THE YZ-X6/JJRC H16



INTRODUCTION


After a nice Hubsan X4 clone, YI ZHAN is introducing this time a huge 310mm model, the X6 and its wide-angle camera equiped version X6C. This model is clearly targetting/a competitor of the WLtoys V333 for its size and its good payload capacity ideal to carry a light HD camera. By integrating a rigid canopy instead of huge foam model, we can expect for this X6 to be less sensitive to wind and more sporty. This article will review both the X6/X6C versions


BOX CONTENT




+ 1 x YI ZHAN X6 (with a 63.3g 1200mAh 2S LiPo rated 30C with JST connector)
+ 1 x Controler (using 6xAA batteries not included)
+ 1 x Charger
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Screwdriver
+ 1 x Instruction manual (english/chinese)

For the camera version


+ 1 x 5Mpx camera
+ 1 x8 GB micro-SD card
+ 1 x Anti-vibration camera mount




Since I received a pre-sample model, I also received some extra spare motors and battery.

OVERVIEW

Immediatly our attention is focused on the quality of the plastic shell. It's a rigid one. It means it can absorbe moderate shocks but above a nomimal force, this kind of plastic will crack. It's especially true for the landing gear... clearly, this skid won't survive over time.

Main body

Frontral view



we can recognize the spider face. On top, 2 long eyes and a large transparent blue plastic are diffusing the LED's light.

Side view



Rear view



Bottom view

The landing gear is fixed by only 2 screws by part and the feet's extreminities are so thin .....



The prop guard is quiet flexible probably too much ... and will save props only for light crashes.



and scales 6g



The props guard can also be used as landing gear. Of course, in this condition, the ground clearance will be impacted.

When the battery bay is opened



we can guess the main FC installed on four tiny dumpening balls to absorbe transmitted vibrations and increase the general stability.

With the battery installed, no extra free room available. Notice it's a little bit hard to insert the LiPo. It would have been great, if a power-switch was installed




Motor pod





The weight without the battery is 222.5G



climb to 286.6g with the 1200mAh model



LiPo

The 1200mAh 2S lipo have a 30C discharge rate, it's definitively a very good point.



Dimensions are 69mmx29.5mmx17.5mm








Propellers


The propellers for this model are very similar to those we can meet for brushless model with a more aerodynamic shape and an increased pitch to increase thrust capacity. With higher pitch props, usually you are also increasing the stress on motors.



A small piece of foam is installed on top. Useful when you reverse the quad when installing the LiPo.



Props are longer too (200 mm long)




Shaft and motor pods

Only 6 screws have to be removed to change a motor. 2 screws on the top motor cap



A 1.25mm mini-JST connectors are located beneath the motor pads for an easy mantenance.



Then remove the 2 bottom screws fixing the prop guard



Finally, the 2 screws holding the motor can reached.



Ballbearing

Unfortunatly, some bronze bushings are installed instead of real ball-beargings



They are 3mmx6mmx2mm (IDxODxwidth) so exactly the same than the WLtoys V262/V333/V666 for example







Motors

Motors are exactly indentical to the V262 model, except the presence of a 1.25mm connector for an easy maintenance



A direct comparaison with a V262/V333/V666 motor



The differences with the V262/V333/V666 are located in the shaft lenght and in pinions.



So, I strongly advice to perform a break-in procedure as for the V666 https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=2291665

Transmitter

The transmitter employ the Ben Ma chassis and have LCD display.



6xAA are required to power this radio. 4 front and 2 shoulder buttons. The left should button allows to cycle between the three speed rates: 40%, 60% and 100% respectively. The right should button activâtes flipping. The top left front panel button allows to turn on/off the LEDs, the bottom left one, to engage the headless mode, the top right to take a picture and finally the botrom right to turn on/off the camera. Notice this X6 as for the X4 is using the so-called V2x2 protocol. It means you can bind this quadcopter with a lot of WLtoys/JJRC radios for example. This is a good point. The sticks control have an average control precision maybe springs are a little bit to soft imho but it's good radio in general. As for any V2X2 protocol compatible quadcopter, to perform the gyroscope calibration, you have to turn into the 100% mode then push both stick in the lower-left corner until the LEDs are blinking fast.

The internal part of the TX shows a foiled antenna to improve the impedance adaption and by consequence to transmitt full power



(Unfortunatly, the TX i received was damaged during transportation: left stick broken)

FIRST USAGE

YZ-X6/JJRC H16

As you will see in the video, I was positively surprized the outdoors behaviour this big bird. Even its size, the X6 is still agile. You can perform easily some funnels. In expert mode, the X6 have a good Fast Forward and can handle nicely any gentle breezes. The lift power seems to handle easily up to 60-70g, so a light HD camera can be installed imho. Be aware to not abuse of extra weight.... you will reduce drastically motor durability if not. Thanks to its rigid shell, the YI ZHAN is no more completly stopped in Wind confitions in the air like a V333/V666 with its foam shell. I didn't encountered any Drop out as he can happens for some V2X2 (former) models. The flying duration exceed 7min and closer to 8min. You have a visual LVC indicating to you when you have to land. The motors were quiet hot, so be sure to wait 10 good minutes between two LiPos. I also advice to clean regulatory internal motor part with airflow or some spray cleaner (avoid any oil, it will decrease conductivity).

I have to perform extra tests especially for the Headless mode (course or home lock ? actually, the headless mode can't be turn on/off from the Devo 7E)

Yi Zhan X6 "Tarantula" outdoors test (Courtesy Banggood) (8 min 10 sec)

YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C

With the camera version, you can't really feel the impact of the camera gear in the flyind duration, you still got a solid 8-9min. It's a good point. The main problem is IMHO the inefficiency of the anti-vibration mount. Even by adding a piece of foam between the battery door and the camera and also in the tilt camera axis (to fix also the len's orientation), the camera version offers a lot of jello in recorded videos. Probably the dampening balls are too soft. The camera by itself is sharp and precize but this high jello level kills everything. Some users already presented some mods to eliminate partially this Jello but not yet at 100%. The field of view is also disapointing. Not a wide FOV as advertised initially. I estimate it around 60-70 degrees. More the frame rate can drop to less than 25fps during fast transition scenes. Maybe a better micro-SD card can solve this problem.

YI ZHAN X6/JJRC H16-5D outdoors test with camera overlay (Courtesy Banggood) (7 min 14 sec)

CONCLUSIONS

YZ-X6/JJRC H16

I am positivily surprized by the flying caracteristics: stable, efficient props, high discharge rate for the LiPo and good payload capacity. I think it can be a cheaper alternative to the V333 and be a first and cheap mobius plateform. Of course, it's a brushed model. It means that you will need to stock at least 1 CW and 1 CCW motors as spare and regulary clean brush'sresidues. The N50 models used are strictly identical to the V262/V333/V666... so maybe a higher durabilty can be expected due to a lighter weight of this YZ-X6 vs the V262.

YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C

IMHO, the camera version is less interesting especially if you own already a möbius/xiami cam. The C version out of the box is full of jello killing the relative good performances of the camera.


UNBOXING AND QUICK TESING

YZ-X6/JJRC H16

Yi Zhan X6 "Tarantula" Unboxing and very quick testing (Courtesy Banggood) (20 min 45 sec)

YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C

YI ZHAN X6/JJRC H16-5D Unboxing (Courtesy Banggood) (18 min 59 sec)

PROS


+ Original design
+ Very stable (6-axis stabilization) and intermediate wind resistant
+ Great flyer
+ Fast quadcopter
+ Flipping well even with its large size
+ Bright LEDs ideal for night flying
+ Good yaw rate
+ Good range control
+ Headless mode
+ 30C discharge LiPo
+ Efficient props (can be used on other quadcopters)
+ LVC alarm (LEDs blinking slowly)
+ DeviationTX compatible (V2X2 protocol)
+ Anti-vibration camera mount
+ Slightly lighter than V262/V333
+ Cheaper than V262/V333
+ Can carry a mobius cam without problem
+ Easy motor maintenance


CONS

- Noisy
- No power switch
- N50 brushed motors
- Rigid plastic potentially breakable during hard impacts
- Fragile landing skid
- Relatively inefficient prop guards
- Bushing rings instead of real ball-bearings
- Warm/hot motors usage (may impact their durability)

YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C

- A lot of Jello out of the box
- Narrow FOV and (no wide angle as advertised)
- Some frame rate during fast transition scenes


This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thanks them for this attitude.


You can find it actually at

YZ-X6/JJRC H16

http://www.banggood.com/YiZhan-Tarantula-X6-2_4G-4CH-IOC-RC-Quadcopter-Without-Camera-p-964161.html

YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C

http://www.banggood.com/YiZhan-Tarantula-X6-RC-Quadcopter-Wide-Angle-500W200W-With-IOC-p-964160.html


Ball bearings (IDxODxW) 3mmx6mmx2mm replacement
http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-MJX-F47-F647-RC-Helicopter-Spare-Parts-Bearing-p-57426.html

Reserved for photos, videos and mods


YZ-X6C/JJRC H16C























Anitivibration camera mount



Camera cases







The antivibration camera mount must be screwed in four points






The translucide color plastic can be installed standalone




With a möbius installed

YI ZHAN X6 FPV with mobius cam (Courtesy Banggood) (6 min 9 sec)

Raw sample of the YZ-X6 5mpx camera

YI ZHAN X6 raw video sample (5 min 1 sec)

Full of jello out of the box

A very nice looking quad, pity about the motors, but with it being lighter I think this will be an extremely good quad

Originally Posted by Big fella

A very nice looking quad, pity about the motors, but with it being lighter I think this will be an extremely good quad

At least, it takes 1min to to change to a new one... and maybe they have real CW/CCW motors ... but I doubt about that fact... seems to be the same motor's supllier.

Originally Posted by SeByDocKy

At least, it takes 1min to to change to a new one... and maybe they have real CW/CCW motors ... but I doubt about that fact... seems to be the same motor's supllier.

Time will tell, but quick motor replacement is definitely a positive. Spare parts is a big business.

Originally Posted by Big fella

Time will tell, but quick motor replacement is definitely a positive. Spare parts is a big business.

Definitively ......

I added some other détails/photos... Last night was too tired to finish everything. I will polish everything too

Could you please give more detail or pictures about the simple gimbal .We would like to make one.

Originally Posted by Aaron qin

Could you please give more detail or pictures about the simple gimbal .We would like to make one.

I added in #2

Originally Posted by SeByDocKy

Definitively ......

I added some other détails/photos... Last night was too tired to finish everything. I will polish everything too

You are a bit of a night owl, but reviews are very much appreciated

Have you done a range test with the stock TX as I noticed in the video you said that you were using your Devo to control the quad?

Originally Posted by headlessagain

Have you done a range test with the stock TX as I noticed in the video you said that you were using your Devo to control the quad?

No coz I received a broken TX. Now should be more or less repaired. By the way, the stock antenna have a foiled antenna. I am not worry about a potential bad range...

Thanks. That's good to hear. Providing the motors hold out ok then this looks to be an ideal Mobius carrying quad to replace my Syma X5 which,being the early version, suffers from poor range.
Andy

Added a new video in #2

Good video, nice view. I really like this quad. Have you done a crash test yet?��

Originally Posted by Big fella

Good video, nice view. I really like this quad. Have you done a crash test yet?��

Not a big one ....so I can't tell more about crash test resistance. I liked that with the shipped battery, even carrying a möbius I had full solid 7-8min ...