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Blade Faze Drone Review
Blade faze Drone is a typical representation of nano-quadcopters. These nano-quadcopters weigh 12.2 grams.
It ascends into the air easily because of the lithium-polymer materials used which makes it light weighted, with a 100mAh the quadcopter is able to last on air for about 3 minutes.
What you should know about Blade 180 QX
The Blade 180 QX HD Quadcopter is the Best RC Quadcopter, which can be virtually used anywhere and very easy to re-charge the battery.
It also comes with equipped SAFE technology that accommodates three positional flight modes for a variety of piloting skills. It comes with a built-in HD camera on any quadcopter model with a free transmission channel.
Blade 180 QX Quadcopter Overview
The head Distribution Center of the Horizon Hobby Company is situated in Champaign, Illinois.
Blade Helis is one of the subdivisions of Hobby Horizon manufacturing lines. This company also manufactures a variety of other products such as RC plane, car, train, boat, Blade 180 QX HD Parts, and other remote radio controllers.
In this Blade 180 QX Review, we will mainly talk about the blade 180 qx battery, blade 180 qx fpv, camera, flight mode, flight duration and so on.
The Blade 180 Quadcopter is the right model if you are looking for a radio-controlled and sleek quadcopter to add to your master collection.
This little RC quadcopter is a good aircraft designed especially for both the beginner and expert RC flyers alike. Some of the other popular lines of Blade quadcopters are blade 200 qx and blade 350 qx.
The Blade Company also says that the Blade Qx180 is similar to the Nano QX and MQX models. However, the propellers and motor pots are the same compared with other models, but the landing gear and color scheme settings are higher to facilitate the built-in camera.
The fact that all the models come with similar spare parts, this makes it possible to repair a few parts from one model to another one easily.
This is an excellent feature if you wish to switch a variety of parts from one quadcopter to another.
We recommend you to go through the upcoming Blade 180 QX Review to find-out additional information that you do not know about the Blade 180 QX HD Quadcopter.
Blade 180 QX Specifications
Model: Blade Qx180
Review Product: Blade 180 QX Review
Model Name: 180 QX HD RTF with SAFE (Blade 180 QX HD RTF)
Dimensions: 20 x 9.5 x 5.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
Transmitter included? Yes (Functional Transmitter/Receiver)
Safety feature: SAFE technology
Motor: 8.5mm brushed motor
Camera: E-Flite EFC-721 Camera
Batteries: 500mAh 1S 3.7V 25C LiPo Battery
Assembly Type: (RTF) Ready-To-Fly – Blade 180 QX HD
Flight Duration: up to fifteen minutes of RC flight experience
Fuel Source: Electric
Blade 180 QX Completion Levels
The Blade 180 Qx HD RTF Quadcopter is designed to work either with the RTF transmitter or you can operate this Quadcopter in BNF (Bind-and-Fly) if you do not want to make an extra investment on the RTF remote transmitter.
The BNF Blade 180 QX Upgrades allow you to make use of an appropriate operational air transmitter and suitable spectrum that you currently got on hand and own.
Blade 180 QX Three Flight Modes
This part of the Blade 180 QX Review will talk about the variety of flight modes offered by the Blade Qx180. Blade 180 Quadcopter comes with SAFE Technology (Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope) for a third agility flight and two stability flight options.
Low Angle Stability mode is for the first flight mode that is ideal for using the built-in HD camera. It is also the smooth flight mode for Aerial Photography and Video Recording.
The second flight mode or the (High Angle Stability Mode) offers the flyer much freedom with controlling the blade 180 qx HD quadcopter for more aggressive patterns of flight, but you cannot flip in this specific model.
You have a few restrictions, although you have complete freedom over the flight in this mode. The third flight mode or the (Agility Mode) intended especially for the expert RC flyers who want to make use of the integrated HD camera, while not using the safety flight mode to avoid the blade 180 qx HD from doing loops or flips while capturing pictures.
This flight mode allows for a precision flight of the Blade 180 QX HD Quadcopter. As we mentioned earlier, there are three different flight modes from which you can switch between. The agility flight mode is not recommended for first-time or novice RC flyer.
Blade 180 QX- On-board EFC 720 Camera
The built-in EFC 720 HD camera comes with an on/off switch which must be set either on or off before flying the Blade 180 Quadcopter. You can use the on-board camera setting from the remote transmitter to swipe between a snapshot picture or video mode and begin the camera within each flight mode.
The built-in camera of the Blade 180 QX comes with 2 gig micro SD card, which connects to the servo lead built into the board base. You can attach the HD camera to the hook loop strap for ideal mounting.
You may also use this camera on other Quadcopter if it is compatible. It also comes with an equipped micro USB connector which allows the person to plug the on-board camera into their personal computer to download pictures and videos without having to remove the Micro SD card out of the HD camera.
Quick Drone Parts Overview Along With Handy DIY Tips
All drone parts and components are vital to a smooth and safe flight. Knowing the parts of a drone will give you extra confidence while flying. You will also know which components to inspect on a regular basis and the drone parts which are easy to replace or upgrade.
If you have any flight problems, then knowing what each drone component does will assist you greatly in getting to the bottom of any flying issues.
This article will provide you with a great overview of all the drone parts and components which you will find on a modern day consumer and professional drone.
Drone Parts And Components
A. Standard Prop
The “tractor” propeller are the props at the front of the quadcopter. These props pull the quadcopter through the air like a tractor. While some drones like the DJI Phantom look more or less the same from any angle, there is a front and back.
Most drone propellers are made of plastic and the better quality made of carbon fiber. For safety, you can also add drone prop guards which you need especially if you are flying indoors or near people.
Propeller design is an area where there is plenty of new innovation. Better prop design will assist in a smoother flying experience and longer flight times. There is also some big innovation towards low noise UAV props.
Tip: It is always good practice to inspect your props before flying and carry an extra set in case you notice some damage on a prop. Never fly with a damaged or bent prop.
B. Pusher Prop
The Pusher props are at the back and push the UAV forward hence the name “Pusher props”. These contra-rotating props exactly cancel out motor torques during stationary level flight. Opposite pitch gives downdraft. These can be made of plastic with the better pusher props made from carbon fiber. You can also purchase guards for the pusher props.
Tip: Same as for tractor props. Inspect before each flight and carry a spare set.
C. Brushless Motors
Practically all the latest drones use a brushless electric “out-runner” type, which is more efficient, more reliable, and quieter than a brushed motor. Motor design is important. More efficient motors save battery life and give the owner more flying time, which is what every pilot wants.
Tip: Examine the motors regularly. Make sure they are clean and free from dust. Get to know how your drone sounds. Listen to it. Most of the sound comes from the motors. If it doesn’t sound right, then examine your drone. Fly a couple of feet off the ground and close to you. Look to see if one of the motors is failing. It’s not a bad option to have a spare motor or 2.
D. Motor Mount
The drone motor mount is sometimes built into the combination fittings with landing struts or can be part of the UAV frame. Their are quite a few parts which are easy to replace on most drones.
Tip: Check the motor mounts and areas close to the motors for stress cracks. If you find stress cracks and your quadcopter is under warranty, then you can send it back and have it fixed. Alternatively the manufacturer may have some strengthener motor mounts.
Tip: When you first receive your new drone, it is also a good to examine areas around the motor mounts or where screws are used. Sometimes, screws can be wound in too tight and actually can crack the frame. It may be just a hairline crack but these won’t fix themselves.
E. Landing Gear
Drones, which need high ground clearance may adopt helicopter style skids mounted directly to the body, while other drones which have no hanging payload may omit landing gear altogether.
Many fixed wing drones which cover large distances such as the SenseFly eBee, Trimble UX5 or the 3DR Aero-M don’t have landing gear and land perfectly fine on their belly. Most drone has a fixed landing gear. However, the best drones will have retractable landing gear giving a full 360 degree view when in the air.
Tip: For most of the latest drones you can buy leg height extenders. If you are flying in areas where there is long grass, then it is a great idea to have a big landing mat.
F. Boom
Shorter booms increase maneuverability, while longer booms increase stability. Booms must be tough to hold up in a crash, while interfering with prop downdraft as little as possible. In many drones, the boom is part of the main body. Other drone have a definite boom as a separate part. The Parrot AR 2.0 has the central cross boom.
Tip: Examine and insure that the boom has not become bent as this would affect the flying capabilities.
G. Main Drone Body Part
This is the central hub from which booms radiate like spokes on a wheel. It houses battery, main boards, processors avionics, cameras, and sensors.
Tip: Most drones are not waterproof so it is vital that the internal components of the main body do not get wet. A hard landing may not break the body of the drone but the shock could damage the internal drone components in the main body.
Tip: If you are not familiar with electronic engineering and soldering, then it is best not to learn on your internal components such as the main board in your drone. More than likely soldering something inside your main body will void your warranty. A warranty generally covers the UAV as it left the factory.
H. Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC)
An electronic speed controller or ESC is an electronic circuit with the purpose to vary an electric motor’s speed, its direction and possibly also to act as a dynamic brake. It converts DC battery power into 3-phase AC for driving brushless motors.
Electronic Speed Controllers are an essential component of modern quadcopters (all multi-rotors), which offer high power, high frequency, high resolution 3-phase AC power to the motors in an extremely compact miniature package.
Tip: The ESC are inside the main frame of the drone and most drone owners won’t need to do anything with these.
I. Flight Controller
The flight controller interprets input from receiver, GPS module, battery monitor, IMU and other onboard sensors.
It regulates motor speeds, via ESCs, to provide steering, as well as triggering cameras or other payloads. It controls autopilot, waypoints, follow me, failsafe and many other autonomous functions. The flight controller is central to the whole functioning of your UAV.
Tip: Most owner won’t need to do anything or modify the flight controller by reprogramming. If you needed to create a customized solution then a drone with SDK as mentioned about would allow this.
J. GPS Module
The GPS module often combines GPS receiver and magnetometer to provide latitude, longitude, elevation, and compass heading from a single device. GPS is an important requirement for waypoint navigation and many other autonomous flight modes. Without GPS, drones would have very limited uses.
Along with FPV, drones can navigate long distances and be used for exciting applications such as creating 3D images using lidar and photogrammetry sensors.
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is an American standard which provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.
Some of the latest drones have added Glonass, which is the Russian equivalent of GPS. This means your drone is almost guaranteed to find many more satellites to get its positioning from. With both systems, you can fly more accurately and also can fly safer as you know you won’t lose satellite connection.
Tip: Most drones allow you to program in a failsafe home point. This allows the drone to fly back to a point if it loses connection to your remote controller.
Most drones have a minimum requirement of satellites before the home point can be set. But always set a home point. When buying a drone, keep an eye out for drones which come with both GPS and Glonass.
K. Receiver
Often a standard r/c radio receiver unit. The minimum number of channels needed to control a quad is 4, but 5 is usually recommended. There are many manufacturers of receivers on the market if you are building your own drone.
L. Antenna
Depending on your receiver, it may be a loose wire whip or helical “rubber ducky” type.
Tip: Antenna are pretty easy to upgrade. Circularly polarized cloverleaf antenna give you further video signal distance and improves the video stability
M. Battery
Lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries offer the best combination of energy density, power density, and lifetime on the market.
Tip: It’s always great to carry a spare battery or 2. Read and follow the instructions for charging and storing your battery to make sure it lasts a long time. Every so often is always good to fully discharge and recharge your battery.
Check to make sure your battery doesn’t overheat. All batteries are dangerous when are physically damaged so never install a damaged battery into your drone. Also never try to recharge a battery that has physical damage.
N. Battery Monitor
Provides in-flight power level monitoring to flight controller. Your battery is critical to flying safely. If you fly too far out and your quadcopter runs out of battery then it will either make an emergency landing or will crash.
Tip: Know your drone’s flying time, battery levels and where to read these levels. Don’t push the boundaries of flying on low battery power.
O. Gimbal
The drone gimbal is the pivoting mount, which rotates about the x, y, and z axes to provide stabilization and pointing of cameras or other sensors.
Tip: If you don’t have a great gimbal, then it doesn’t matter how good the camera is. The gimbal is all important for taking great photo and video shots.
With the wrong gimbal and camera on your drone, you will never be able to take professional videos or photos. Some of the problems are rolling shutter, jello and barrel effect.
P. Gimbal Motor
Brushless DC motors can be used for direct drive angular positioning, which require specially-wound coils and dedicated control circuitry which have only recently become commercially available.
Tip: If you are having problem with jello effect, which is caused by vibration from the drone getting to the camera, then look at installing or changing the gimbal dampers. This can make a big difference.
Q. Gimbal Controller Unit
Allows control of direct-drive brushless gimbal motors as if they were standard servo motors.
R. Camera
GoPro or other compact high definition video unit with on-board storage. Real-time streaming is possible on the latest drones.
The latest drones are all in one, which come with an integrated gimbal and camera. These cameras and lens are specifically designed for aerial filming and photography.
DJI who are the largest manufacturer of UAVs take their camera and gimbal technology extremely serious.
In June 2017, DJI and Hasselblad, the leader in high-quality professional medium format cameras introduced the first 100-megapixel drone imaging platform.
Tip: Buy the best you can afford. Look for drones with integrated gimbal and camera which means you’re buying a proven and tested system.
Tip: You can use software to remove fisheye for your aerial photos.
S. Sensors
Drone are more than just for aerial filming and photography. We are now seeing lidar, thermal and many other types of sensors being mounted onto drones and being used in a wide variety of sectors. The mounted camera along with the GPS can be used to create accurate 3D photogrammetry images.
3D mapping, also known as photogrammetry mapping is the science of making measurements from photographs. The output from photogrammetry software is typically a 3D map, a 3D drawing or a 3D model of some real world object or land mass.
By flying a mapped route and taking photos at regular intervals of say every 1 second, these images are then stitched together to create 3D photogrammetry images.
T. Collision Avoidance Sensors
Drones today can come with 2 types of sensors. The above for creating 3D images of the external world by using Lidar and Thermal vision cameras.
The 2nd type is on-board sensors for collision avoidance using Monocular Vision, Ultrasonic (Sonar), Infrared, lidar, Time-of-Flight (ToF) and Vision Sensors.
U. Active Tracking Follow Mode & Safety Features
Many of the above drone parts such as the camera and collision avoidance sensors sent data back to the main flight controller.
The flight controller is also sending and receiving data from the motors, electronic speed controllers, satellite navigation systems, IMU and gyroscope.
The drone is also programmed with sophisticated vision algorithms allowing the drone to be able to track objects and avoid obstacles while following a subject such as a person, car, bike or boat.
The technology used to track and follow a person is absolutely fascinating. These same drone components feed data to the flight controller and receive data also from the flight controller to allow for safe return to home when the drone loses contact with the remote controller or the battery is running low. The drone will then automatically return to its home point.
What you need to know about Blade 130 X
Despite its short comings (ongoing maintenance mostly tail related I might add). It was and still is the perfect size backyard BNF collective pitch RC helicopter in my opinion.
The new 130S takes over where it left off, building on the perfect size for this flying environment, and doing away with the maintenance annoyances.
A fixed pitch motorized tail that actually works. Okay, having a tail blade that does not work is as bad as not having a tail blade on a quadcopter, so with this new improved drone 130 X.
The long life brushless tail motor along with the fixed pitch tri-blade tail rotor not only responds incredibly fast, those three tail blades give the tail rotor a good amount of “air grip”.
They also provide fast deceleration thanks to the increased drag to practically eliminate over-blow-out when main rotor torque is rapidly reduced.
The strong brushless motor however provides very fast acceleration to deal with main rotor torque spikes. In short, the tail hold and response on the 130 X is pretty much as good as it was on the variable pitched 130X’s tail.
So, pair a small enough CP heli with a fixed pitch tri blade tail rotor being driven off a strong brushless motor, is a working combination. Of course, the secondary benefit is all the mechanical maintenance hassles with the variable pitch tail on the 130X have more or less been eliminated.
The tail boom on the 130 X however is larger, stronger, and made from aluminum so splitting it is no longer possible. I’m sure it can be bent, but it’s going to take a good deal more than a little first ground strike.
Blade 130 X Micro Linear Servos
Love them or hate them, micro linear servos are still used on the blade 130 X like on the X version. The best thing about them is they are all but impossible to strip out due to the worm gear driving the output arm.
Impact energy simply cannot be transmitted through the worm gear to the tiny drive gears. You will snap ball links, break balls off, or bend pushrods long before damaging a micro linear servo’s gears.
The draw back with micro liner servos is they get the “shakes”. The potentiometer sliders get dirty (especially around center where the FBL unit is making constant stabilization corrections), and that causes them to hunt rapidly.
They can be cleaned however to extend the life which I go over in my setup and tips ebook. Cleaning usually cures the shaking, but a new micro linear may also be required after extensive use and slider wear.
This is another robust improvement over the original 130. I rarely had “head issues” with my 130X; any head issues were limited to the person piloting the thing, but a few times I bent the feathering shaft and broke the grip balls off if I didn’t pin them.
This beefier head should more or less cure those few issues. I had to fly this little bird rather calmly of course as it wasn’t mine to test the limits of bendy breakage, but my buddy had a few good “powered down” impacts into the grass and the little Blade 130 X kept coming back for more.
I stress powered down because hitting hold before hitting something will greatly increase your chances of doing no damage to the heli. This little bit of advice holds true for all micro size helis, not just the 130X.
The Blade 130 X frame set is very much like all of Blades plastic frames. They come in two halves, are light weight, and are practically indestructible. I have yet to break any Blade helicopter plastic frame set, even on the 450’s. They are strong where required, and flexible where they need to be to absorb impact or vibration energy it seems.
In SAFE ”Stability Mode”, it actually behaved somewhat like the fixed pitch 120 S, with its limited cyclic pitch & roll angle and self leveling engaged. It’s more reactive, but not by much and some extra positive exponential or dual rates could certainly tame it down further to near 120 S performance. In short, you could certainly forgo the fixed pitch 120S with the 130 X if you know a bit about collective pitch setup.
What was not that impressive with the original S however was flight time. Even in this soft & slow mode with gentle flying, pushing 4 minutes keeping the LiPo within the safe 80% discharged state was about the best I was able to achieve. The 130 X can do 6 minutes plus no problem flying gentle this way so the extra weight and extra power being drawn from the tail motor obviously has an impact.
I suppose I could have tried dialing down the throttle curve a bit to reduce power consumption. The head speed did seem fairly high in normal mode with the factory recommend 75% hover point throttle output, so I’m sure experimentation down as low as 65% power at the hover point would be doable, maybe even lower?
This gave a different mid stick response I found and my preference as well as my friend’s, was to run 100% dual rate at +35% expo and +25% expo with the reduced 75% dual rate settings.
I like a calmer tail and no cross stick tail movement with collective banging so using an even higher positive expo when at both 100% & 75% dual rate on the tail would be my preference, but this was his machine and he had it dial in for what he liked. He runs fairly high spring tension on his sticks as well so that certainly helps.
”Intermediate Mode” was my personal favorite and as I mentioned before, tail blow out on acell or decel was next to impossible to initiate. Impressive for a FP tail rotor! For light aerobatics, this was my favorite flight mode and what reminded me of my 130X’s so much. It just behaves so well for a helicopter of this small size. Loops can be made big and round and stress free inverted practice is where it really shines.
I only used “Panic Recovery“ once to see how well it worked. To be perfectly honest, I’m not a fan of save or rescue, but it seemed to work for the most part and did upright the heli when inverted and kept it fairly level with minor drifting after the “save”. I would much rather try to save it myself, especially on a little micro heli like this to learn important “stressed out rescue skills”, but to each their own. Average flight time in agility (80% flat line throttle curve)… a disappointing 3 minutes!
”Agility Mode” was again very much like what I’ve become accustomed to on my 130X but certainly more powerful despite the added weight. It becomes a fast little humming bird for the lack of a better description (in the hands of a good 3D pilot which I am not).
I would rather get more flight time flying more gentle aerobatics and inverted practice but no question, this little bugger has the power to pull off rainbows, and pitch pumps, without much loss of rotor energy – better than the 130X for sure in the power department.
Flight times are dismal at under 2.5 minutes however (100% flat line throttle curve). In fact, 2 minutes if you are really banging the collective with the stock Eflite 3S 300 mAh LiPo battery.
Blade 130 X Specifications and Owner’s Manual
- Heli Classification: Micro Collective Pitch 130 Size
- Versions: ARF & BNF
- Radio System Compatibility: Spektrum DSMX 11ms
- Swash & Stabilization Type: eCCPM Flybarless
- Main Motor: Brushless Outrunner 5650kv
- Tail Motor: Brushless Outrunner 4700kv
- FBL System: Spektrum AR6335A
- Heli Length: 304mm
- Heli Height: 114mm
- Main Rotor Diameter: 310mm
- Tail Rotor Diameter: 64mm
- Gross Weight: 170g
- LiPo Battery: 3S 300mAh 30C / Main Plug JST RCY / Balance Plug JST-XH 3S
- Flying Environment: Indoor/Outdoor
Pros:
- Perfect size for practicing aero in the yard
- Flies Great
- Low maintenance BL motorized FP tail rotor (that actually works)
- Low parts count
- Crash resistant
- Nice micro FBL unit
- SAFE enabled with 3 flight modes and panic recovery
- Easy to see color scheme
- BNF (if you have Spektrum/JR DSM2/X TX already)
Cons:
- Short flight times
- Limited LiPo battery options (so far)
- BNF Basic version comes with no battery
- Fairly expensive (heli & replacement parts)
Our Final Thoughts On Blade 130 X
Blade 130 X has a lot to offer and demand, likewise 130 S, like many reading this, I’m in the same boat right now. Do I throw down my money on the Blade 130 S, keep flying my maintenance intensive 130 X’s, or perhaps look at some other collective pitch BNF Blade offering under the 250g threshold to fly in my own yard without pissing off anyone? I’ll go for 130 X because it the most suited for a newbie, with its crash resistance and other amazing features, I’ll recommend Blade 130 X.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a drone that makes video and aerial photography affordable and easy, blade 180 QX is just the perfect choice. Blade 180 QX is an ideal flying machine if you are looking for innovative flight capabilities and features.
The 1.3 megapixels EFC-720 on-board camera allows for an enhanced experience. Overall, Blade 180 QX Quadcopter is ideal for both beginners and expert hobbyists, powerful enough to be flown in indoor and outdoor conditions.
*Update* Blade Faze Drone is currently having an ongoing promo.
50% off your order today.
The promo is on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you delay, you might end up missing out and paying full price.