Hey all, I know there's already a thread about this and some information already up, but I wanted to get some feedback from skippers in this hobby on the HobbyKing 6-channel radio. In looking around on the internet for information on the radio, I've seen a lot of good reviews, but a couple of things that trouble me, such as missing cables. To those of you who have used it, seen it used, or talked to guys who use it, what do you think about it? How well does it work for this hobby? How easy was it to program?
short review: Made in China. acceptable in ideal circumstances (rare) but a major pain otherwise (most of the time). Avoid it unless you absolutely need dual knobs. long review: coming soon
Short Review that partially concurs with Carl..: Made in China, Get what you pay for. Seems to do the job, they're infiltrating our local club thanks to cheap cost. Cheap enough to screw around with modifying the tx with no real worry about trashing expensive radios. As long as you're not doing anything too fancy with them they seem to be reasonable enough for our needs. YMMV
I bought two of them a couple years ago for Gascan's and my VUs. They seemed perfect: sticks for maneuvering and firing guns, one dial for a positional-control turret rotation system, and one dial for the pumps (on an ESC). Setup seemed easy enough, we just plugged in the programming cable and adjusted trims, EPA, servo reverse, and fully configured out brand-new battleships. Then the nightmares began. At the pond, we had no way to adjust throttle EPA for speed control. We spent 6 months futzing around guesstimating what throttle EPA to set before a battle, trying it at the battle, then going home and trying a different setting next month. On at least five different occasions, we had signal-loss issues that sank our ships. Works fine on the bench, works fine when you place it in water, but 5 or 10 minutes in, BAM total shutdown and no chance to regain control. We were never able to trace down a cause for this problem and only escaped it by switching back to 75mhz radios. Once we did that, the problem never returned. Other people in the WWCC have also bought these radios. Some have had good luck with them, while others hate them. A lot of people have reported DOA programming cables. Others have had signal loss issues. I recently moved the one I had in my battleship over to my square-rigger because I didn't have any spare receivers for my 75mhz radio, and the HK radio has been doing fine. In short, it's a small, high-risk investment. Not a lot of money, and if it works it's a nice 6 channel radio, but there's also a much larger chance of problems than other brands of radio.
Thanks for the review! In the natural course of things I would much rather go with Futaba, Spektrum, or another tried and true radio system, but the cost of the HK is the only way it really beats the bigger, more expensive systems, and if I can save money and be effective, rock on. But, in the end better to spend more but wisely.
To add to mine a bit.. Yes, the need for a pc to program is a pain, but you can bring a laptop to the pond and that dramatically cuts down on the time. If you don't have one, usually you can find someone who does. We are a small club and I dont think weve had more than 4, maybe 5 of the HK radios on the water at any given moment. The only operational problems any of us have encountered have been results of shorting the rx. We have a mix of the v1 and v2 radios in the club. Caveats: We don't play near large power lines, radar stations or other probable causes of interference. We do tend to play closer to shore, though several people with the HK radios have happily taken their ships out a good distance with them with no problems. With all that said, if I had 300$ in loose change to throw at a spektrum or futaba, I probably would, but I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather spend that 300$ on.
Regarding the 2.4ghz radios on the water. As this wavelength's water penetration is measured in a fraction of a mm, has anybody noticed issues as their boats start to sink deeper in the water? I know the sub guys stick with 75mhz for this reason. Steve
I noticed that with 2.4 ghz as soon as the boat sinks you lose control of the radio. I had a lot of chances to notice that over the last year. I moved my receiver up near the top deck for that reason. Mike Mangus is on 75 mhz and can still fire his guns 6' under, which is useful when looking for it in the deep end. Follow the bubbles! A neat location device to go with the wifi radios would be a extension that plugs into a servo channel and opens a valve for a second once or twice a minute when it loses the pulse train from the receiver. Ron Hunt
At the Maker Faire I actually saw someone operating his ship underwater with a 2.4ghz radio. It was about 8" of water and the skipper was standing only a few feet away, but he was able to control his ship and even fire his cannons from underwater. The bubbles trapped in the bow would lift it up above the water, allowing him to keep shooting at any ship that sailed within a few feet. In our regular pond, however, he lost control once he got more than a few inches deep.
