Flying 3D X8 Review

The Flying 3D X8 is considered to be one of the best cheaper alternatives to DJI Phantom. This drone has brushless motors, GPS, altitude hold and return to landing. It is suitable for new flyers to brushless motors and it is perfect for anyone wishing to move up from coreless motors drones.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 251 x 251 x 224 mm (9.9 x 9.9 x 8.8 inches)
• Weight: 880 grams (1.94 pounds)
• Battery: 11.1V 2200mAh Li-Po 3S
• Flight Time: 15 minutes
• Charging Time: 60 to 100 minutes
• Takeoff Weight: 1300 grams (2.87 pounds)
• Maximum Speed: 36 km/h (22 mph)
• Operating Range: 500 meters (1640 feet)
• Controller Frequency: 2.4GHz

Flight Features

• RTF drone
• GPS
• Return-To-Home
• Automatic landing
• Automatic orientation control (AOC )
• Altitude Hold

What’s in the box?

• Flying 3D X8 Quadcopter
• Transmitter
• 2200mAh 3S Li-Po Battery
• Battery Charger
• 4 x Props
• Screws
• Instruction Manual

Design

The Flying 3D X8 is a distinctive drone. It has GPS receiver perched on top and a ‘cockpit window’ at the front with LED light. This feature makes it easier to find its flight trace if you fly the drone at night. This feature also makes this drone look more like a miniature spy plane than most.

Also, the LED inside the arms and the body are extremely bright. The 2 rear arms are blue and red, 2 front arms flash yellow and orange and the lights closet to the main canopy flash all 4 colours. The faster you fly the drone the faster LED lights will flash.

There are four holes for mounting a gimbal. There are also connectors for 12v power and tilt control. The landing legs are long and out from the body. This feature gives the drone decent stability as well as good height clearance if you want to install a gimbal and camera.

This drone does not offer you the shooting camera. This means that you have to buy it additionally. The only downside is the GPS module that sits on top of the drone and is higher than the propellers. This could easily break the thin stalk that the GPS module sits on if you crash upside down.

Transmitter and Features

The transmitter has large LCD display and many functions you won’t find on smaller models. It’s a basic dot-matrix mono LCD and you can see all sorts of stats on the LCD, such as the drone’s battery, speed, voltage, heading and altitude.

The right-hand control stick on the transmitter is sprung and the left-hand one is used for throttle and can work in two basic ways. First, movements above half way make the drone rise, while movement below 50% make it descend. Second, it can operate as a real throttle. This means moving it up from the bottom increases thrust, and returning to the bottom will cause the props to stop spinning.

There are settings to allow GPS height, regular GPS mode and manual mode and another switch controls return to home and land and headless flight. There are also trim adjust buttons and 2 control knobs at the top of the transmitter for controlling a camera gimbal.

It’s good to have the information on the controller’s display. This allows you to check altitude and voltage at a glance while flying. When the battery is running low you’ll get a warning. There’s also a return to home function that will enable if the drone loses connection with the transmitter. You can operate the Flying 3D X8 up to 500 meters away from you.

The transmitter uses four AA batteries, which are not provided. There is also a trainer port at the back.

Battery and Flight Time

The Flying 3D X8 uses a nice 11.5V 2200mAh Li-Po 3S battery with a T style connector. If you are flying in manual mode your flight time is about 15 minutes. On the other hand, your flight time is reduced to about 11 minutes when you are flying using GPS mode.

Also, attaching a manual or electric gimbal and camera will again reduce your flight time to about 7 to 8 minutes. The battery takes about 60 to 100 minutes to charge completely.

Flight Performance

The Flying 3D X8 will beep and refuse to start up if you try to turn on the drone without the switches and sticks in the right places. When you’ve got it right, you’re basically in non-GPS mode. This means that you fly this drone manually. However, it is recommended to flip the left toggle switch to the bottom to GPS mode because flying drone manually is not easy.

The drone flies stably and it can cope with light wind like most 350-sized drones because it has decent power in its motors and props to ascend quickly. The Flying 3D X8 also has 6-axis gyro that allows for a stable and smooth flight.

Some users have reported that the drone struggled to find enough satellites to get a GPS lock (you must have at least 6 satellites locked to the drone). This drone has the maximum flight speed of 36 km/h in normal mode and 18 km/h high-speed flight in GPS mode.

Summary

The Flying 3D X8 is a worth trying drone and it is considered to be a reasonable alternative to a DJI Phantom. The drone features stable flight, cool appearance and precious GPS positioning. Also, if you want to record aerial footage you mustn’t forget to budget for extra batteries and a gimbal and camera.