The first Falcon 210 was met with mixed feelings. Features like OSD and the great lighting are really nice, and the camera and VTX range were quite good too. But the high weight combined with 3S and 4 inch props proved to be less succesfull, as well as random quality control issues. Will the second version of the Falcon 210, this time with the "Pro" suffix, be much better?



Disclaimer: I don't get paid, or in any other way make money with reviews like these. Product specifications and quality may vary at the manufacturer's discretion, and are beyond my influence. I cannot guarantee you will get a product that performs exactly the same as seen and described in this review. There is always room for a general discussion on the reviewed item, feel free to comment, but if you are planning to add a long review instead of some summarizing remarks, it would be appreciated to put these in a new review topic. And please, no affiliate links!



For easy navigation, here's a list of contents:

1: Specifications (posting #1)
2: Unboxing (posting #1)
3: Transmitter/Setup for 1st Flight (posting #1)
4: Flying Performance (posting #1)
5: Preliminary Verdict (posting #1)
6: Suitable for a Beginner? (posting #1)
7: Camera & FPV Performance (posting #2)
8: Hints, Tips & Modifications (posting #2)
9: Suggestions for Improvements (posting #2)




1 - Specifications:

First, let's start with a link and a picture,



http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Falc...p-1112637.html



2 - Unboxing:

The Falcon 210 Pro uses that same style packaging as the 180 and first 210, a white cardboard box with carrying handle, with a sort of checkerboard pattern printed on the sides, as well as the general shape of the quad, and with a sticker revealing the flight controller version. In fact the box turns out to be the same as the Falcon 180 one, as the picture on the side shows that quad:




Inside the quad, transmitter, and other accessories, are held in white foam:






The quad itself looks a bit different than what I'm used to, as the top plate forms a single part with the frame arms:




The receiver is located on a rather odd place, outside of the quad's body:




Good thing the USB port is conveniently located on the other side:




The frame isn't very light, without battery and props, it's still 327g. With battery, props and VTX antenna installed, the scale indicates 458g, so a little lighter than the Falcon 210, which was almost 490g, and was bundled with 4 inch 2-blade props. The 210 Pro has 5 inch 3-blade props, so a better power to weight ratio for sure. Ready to fly, it looks like this:






The props get quite close to the battery wires:




The FPV camera holder doesn't fully close with the screw tightened, so there is some slop on the camera:





3 - Transmitter/Setup for 1st Flight:

The well known FS-i6 transmitter is bundled again with this RTF Eachine quadcopter. Featuring good range, a compact shape, and modest power requirements, as it can operate on just 4 AA cells, rechargeable cells also supported. Rebranded as Eachine i6, the settings menus are locked when powering up normally. To gain access, keep the roll and yaw trim pressed inward, while powering up. Then press and hold "ok" and the "Settings" and "System" icons appear.

Default Aux 5 is mapped to the VrA rotating knob, which is not very convenient for selecting flight modes. Better to re-assign this to the 3 position SwC switch.


The flight controller comes with Betaflight 3.0.1 installed. Sreenshots of most default settings, and a full CLI dump have been attached to posting #2 in this thread. The receiver is wired in PWM, and there are no modes defined, so it defaults to Acro mode. For the first flights, I only programmed Angle and Horizon modes.



When checking the receiver tab (battery needs to be connected to power the PWM receiver) none of the bars displayed a value around 1500 with sticks centered. So I had to do some subtrimming, to correct this, and also set a deadband of 4 for Yaw and other channels.



Don't be tempted to use regular trimming instead of the subtrim function. In Angle mode you can still get away with this, but in Acro mode, any trim will be interpreted as stick input, and thus make the quad hard to control. Subtrim doesn't have this side-effect.




4 - Flying Performance:

Finally a bright day, and with some settings slightly adjusted from stock (like defining flight modes) this presented a nice opportunity to do some testing.

In hover the quad is rather silent, and stable. I read in SeBy's review that his 210 Pro is suffering from drift issues, mine has been free of those so far. Rates are quite snappy, but that's fine. Bigger issue is that when moving the sticks rapidly from side to side, the quad has the tendency so suddenly climb, indicating some PID tuning issues. Maybe the level strength is set too high, or the P values need some toning down.

When making a rapid descent, the quad gets a little wobbly, which might be caused by PID tuning issues, and/or having no Damped Light. At least the motors don't stop immediately when the throttle is put back to zero. So either Damped Light is not supported, or it wasn't enabled.

The red led at the back is of little to no help when flying LoS, only when you stop the quad, and put back in hover, then rotate, it will help regain orientation, but for flying around it doesn't add much.

Here's a video of this first flight:

Eachine Falcon 210 Pro - first test flight (2 min 18 sec)

5 - Preliminary Verdict:

The Falcon 210 Pro is a sleek looking quad, and definitely has more power than the first Falcon 210. When looking more closely however, some odd design choices, like the externally mounted receiver, the action cam mount that is only suitable for very narrow cams, and other things. The FPV camera is quite decent, and the VTX has already proven itself in other Eachine and Realacc products. But overall the Falcon 210 Pro doesn't feel as professional as it could be.




Pros:

- Sleek design
- F3 Flight Controller
- Good power
- Decent camera and VTX
- Different color props, 4 spares



Cons:

- Receiver mounted outside of the frame
- Props get very close to battery wires
- Action Camera mount can only be used for very small cameras
- Not very well tuned
- ESCs not securely mounted on frame arms
- FPV camera holder has some slop




6 - Suitable for a beginner?



(to be continued)

7 - Camera & FPV Performance:



8 - Hints, Tips & Modifications:



9 – Suggestions for Improvements:

Added unboxing pictures.

Added screenshots of default flight controller settings and CLI dump. This one comes with BF 3.0.1 installed.

Nevermind, figured it out!

Looking forward to more info, good so far.

Added flight video and comments

What are your thoughts on this quad versus the Wizard X220?

Originally Posted by campfir3

What are your thoughts on this quad versus the Wizard X220?

So far the only thing that seems better on the 210 Pro is the camera and it's sleek looks. On all other accounts the X220 wins, stronger motors, all electronics neatly mounted inside the frame, better ESCs, better tuning out of the box, thicker frame.

What the Falcon 210 Pro needs is better tuning, receiver placed inside the frame, better ESCs and tuning, and some more polishing. And deliver the promised OSD, to be worth considering over the X220. As it is now, I would prefer the GX210, Wizard X220 or even something with an older flight controller, like the JJRC P175 or P200 over the Falcon 210 Pro

Added some more pictures and preliminary verdict, with some pros and cons.

Originally Posted by campfir3

What are your thoughts on this quad versus the Wizard X220?

Beat me to it! LOL

With the X220 on back-order, i was wondering the same... Guess I will keep waiting for the X220.

Thanks for the info, Solo!

Originally Posted by JerryRigged

Beat me to it! LOL

With the X220 on back-order, i was wondering the same... Guess I will keep waiting for the X220.

Thanks for the info, Solo!

Glad to help. You could also consider the Realacc GX210, also really nice and punchy, even on 3S.

Solo, any suggestions for replacing the receiver?

If you have frsky transmitter than this
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-16CH-Receiver

Originally Posted by Dutch RC

Solo, any suggestions for replacing the receiver?

A8S or X6B would be nice options. Much smaller and good range.