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Spartan Vortex VX1N Review
Okay so here is my chance to review the Spartan VX1 Nano flybarless system…
First a bit of brief background information. For anyone that does not know then Spartan started their gyro days with the very popular DS760 AVCS tail gyro. This was then succeeded by the Quark which basically to the average Joe is a smaller version of the DS760 with slightly refined but very useful features. What made these gyros stand out from others was not only their superb holding ability but the fact that they could be hooked up to a personal computer and advanced features tinkered with using a flash link, a bluetooth link and later the datapod.
Over the last few years flybarless has hit the hobby hugely. I consider it now to be the preferred method of controlling our model helicopters. Although Mikado are considered to be the godfathers of flybarless technology there have been many companies try to follow in their foot steps by manufacturing their own systems. Some have been successful and others tried but never quite got there (in my opinion). Spartans answer to all this was the Vortex VX1 flybarless system. Many people waited for the Vortex flybarless system with open arms, going on the back of the ever successful tail gyros. At this point I need to add that I have no experience of the VX1 as I never tried one. However I consider myself to have worked through most of the flybarless systems that have been on the market. Some with great success and others not so good. Some may remember the 3GX that I had on my Trex 500 EFL at the RCHA 2012 drag race. Yes the one that had a mind of its own and darted for the sky as soon as I leapt off the starting line
Generally the price of a flybarless system dramatically affected my choice. After working my way through many of them I eventually arrived at the Mikado VBar Silver line. I had fantastic results with the system. As everyone said I would, but at the expense of my wallet. This was the main reason it was only installed in 3 of my bigger more expensive models. The rest of the fleet contained the Micro BeastX or its equivalent Spektrum AR7200BX (which is basically a re-branded BeastX with a built in Spektrum DSMX compatible receiver).
Well Spartans answer to the BeastX or Mini Vbar is finally here in the name of the Vortex VX1N (The N standing for Nano). According to the technical specs we will see the same performance from the nano as its full size brother. From what I have been told the sensors in the Vortex are high quality and extremely reliable. Maybe this is the BeastX’s downfall? Who knows? This should make the unit great to fly on electric and nitro models. The unit can currently be bought in 2 ways… the flybarless system by itself currently on offer for £129.99. And also the flybarless system and a data pod for £159.99. The data pod is currently £49.99 when purchased individually. Therefore buying them as a pair is a no brainer in my opinion. You do however need to purchase a data pod to set up the unit if you currently do not own one.
Currently from what I have seen, the fashion is to purchase the unit with a data pod and then any future Vortex systems can be bought individually at the cheaper price. The data pod can be kept in your flight box and attached at will to any of your models. This is done by simply zip tying a servo lead from the Vortex VX1N flybarless system to the side frame of any model. The unit can be plugged in live and parameters very easily adjusted. This is about as good as it gets for ‘on the fly’ programming. I can now say that in my opinion it is definitely the fastest and far easiest way of doing it. It is far quicker than connecting with a bluetooth module and much easier than reading leds from a unit.
What’s in the box?
Basically what you get is the Vortex VX1N flybarless unit. Sticky pads of around 1mm thickness. A complete set of wires for connecting the Vortex to a standard receiver. These are 145mm in length. There is a heavy gauge male-male wire which can also be used for PPM or SBUS connections. There is also a pair of servo to sat wires which are 210mm long.
Spartan also includes a nice set of canopy stickers.
One thing that is not included is a paper manual. The box is so small that it would be difficult to fit one in there regardless. There is however a small card that states that the manual can be downloaded from the Spartan website. That’s Spartan helping reduce their carbon footprint and this could be a factor that also helps contribute a little to the price of the whole package. Packaging can be expensive. A very green way of doing things and something I consider to be the norm in this day and age. Because the flybarless system is constantly improving through firmware updates then any printed manual would be obsolete due to the information constantly changing anyways.
The manual/tweaking documents and any firmware updates can be downloaded from the following link -
Spartan Vortex VX1n
The data pod consists of the unit itself and a male to male servo patch cable. There is also a card with some very brief instructions for operation of the unit. The data pod weighs in at a tiny 11 grams. And is a measly 46mm in length with a height of around 25mm and thickness is 12mm. The display is a 128 x 32 pixel dot matrix which is capable of text and simple graphics very similar to many rc radios.. It is USB 1.0 and 2.0 compatible and currently supports Spartans Quark/DS760 gyros as well as the Vortex VX1/N flybarless systems. It operates up to 8.4V which is great if you are running a HV setup.
Current draw is again a measly 15mA so leaving the data pod connected permanently to your model isn’t going to have any effect on the rest of your system.
Installation
Installation of the flybarless unit is very straight forward. Mount your unit using one of the provided pads. Spartan include thin pads with the VX1N as testing has proved that these provide the best mounting. I always try to pick a location that is further away from the engine if mounting in a nitro. Ideally though the closer to the main mast the better. Make sure that the unit is mounted straight horizontally in the model and on a flat solid surface. Most models will have a dedicated gyro mount for this. In the past I have found that this does not necessarily mean it is the best choice for location (not regarding nitro models anyways). Sometimes using a velcro tie loosely will give extra added support and piece of mind. I have known mounting pads to break down due to fuel residue. Having a loose tie on could potentially save the day if that ever happened. Not essential, more my personal preference though.
One thing that I have found particularly essential on all the flybarless systems I have ever flown is that you should never stiffen up the wiring near the sensor. In the case of the VX1N where the sensors are internal and part of the main unit then nothing changes. If anything you need to be a little more aware of this. A good tip when installing any flybarless system is to either not use braiding on your servo cables, or if you do then don’t attach it to the first few inches of the cable. If you do then this will stiffen them up. What will happen are any vibrations on the model (and there will be a few natural ones regardless of great mechanical setup) will be transferred up the cables into the unit’s sensors. This can greatly effect how the flybarless system performs.
Spartan has used some of the finest quality sensors in the VX1N and they are very resistant to vibration. With this in mind if you get the mounting correct also then things should go as smooth as possible.
A good tip for when the unit is fully installed (after you have gone through the full setup) is to secure the servo plugs. I do this by adding a smear of silicon over the top of the servo leads and casing. This gives me peace of mind that they will not shake loose when flying any sort of 3d.
At the installation stage I would mount and fix everything down but do not plug in any servos to the unit at that time. This is because in the setup the unit needs to know more details about your servos first. Plugging them in prior could also cause them to bind resulting in damage. Also the cyclic servos ideally need to be plugged in individually as per your swash type. The diagrams for this are in the swash section on page 2 of the setup manual.
Setup
Setup needs to be broken down into various sections which I will go through. There is a very good collection of setup videos by Bob O of helifreak located here -
http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/sparta...eo-series.html
These videos were made for the original Spartan VX1 but the setup is exactly the same for the VX1N. Bob goes into considerable detail about each section and so I feel it is unnecessary to repeat on a lot of them.
If you are not looking for a detailed walkthrough of how to set this unit up then please skip these setup sections and head to my flight and conclusions. I have wrote the setup procedure in a step by step fashion to compliment Bob and Angelos videos which are linked throughout this writing.
To help understand the layout of the software on the data pod there are 4 menu sections plus a general home screen. These menus consist of the Rotor, Tail, Governor and Setup menu. These are pretty simple to understand. As an example you would not go into the governor menu if you would like to adjust the tail gain
The data pod is extremely easy to use and has only 3 buttons to contend with. These are an ‘S’ (select) button and a ‘+’ (plus) and ‘-‘ (minus) button for adjusting parameters. It is a simple case of using the plus/minus buttons to scroll through the parameters and then selecting them with the S button. Any adjustments to that parameter can then be made using the plus or minus keys.
Pressing the S button a second time will remove you out of the parameter and back into the menu. It doesn’t get much simpler!
Below is the order of setting up a new helicopter.
Receiver Setup
Basically the VX1N needs to know what type of receiver you are using. I bind to my transmitter using DSMX and 2 sats. Binding is very straight forward and done by selecting your receiver type in the setup menu. The unit will then go into bind mode (in my case the 2 sats flashed) and the procedure is then the same as your transmitter manual describes. After binding it then asks you to assign each channel. There are preset channel assignments for each receiver (Futaba/JR/Spektrum). However double check that each channel is assigned to the correct function. As an example we know that Throttle is channel 1 on Spektrum, Aileron is channel 2, Elevator is channel 3, Rudder channel 4, Gyro channel 5, Pitch channel 6 etc. If you don’t know the exact channel order you can also look at your transmitter’s servo monitor screen. There are options to hook up to Standard/SBUS, XBUS, UDI and PPM receivers also. Something that needs attention here is what channel you are going to assign your gyro to. The reason for this is because all of the parameters in the VX1N are adjusted by the data pod in the flybarless system and not in your transmitter. So for example tail gain, agility, cyclic gain etc For this reason you need to tie your flight modes to the gyro channel in your transmitter also. Parameters need to be adjusted for all flight modes in the VX1N so don’t be caught out when adjusting these on the data pod also. Make sure you make a note to adjust the setting for all the flight modes that you actually use! See Bob O’s transmitter setup video but also check out Angelos (Spartan RC) very easy to understand explanation here –
Transmitter Setup
The transmitter setup is best started with a fresh new model memory in your transmitter. Set it to 1 servo (mechanical) setup. Make sure that all trims are centred, if possible disable the trims. As mentioned earlier it is best to start with no servos plugged into the flybarless system also.
Basically here the live screen in the transmitter menu on the data pod is used to view our directions/centre points and limits.
Moving the sticks confirm they move the same way as the graphics in the live view, if they don’t use the transmitter to reverse them.
Set the collective to its mid point and use the transmitters sub trim to achieve 0% on Aileron/Elevator/Collective and Rudder.
Adjust the transmitter’s end points to achieve +/- 100% on Aileron/Elevator/Collective and Rudder. The throttle should also work from 0 to 100%.
This is also the point at which you need to setup your gyro gain channel in the transmitter to control the VX1N flight modes. Please refer to Angelos/Bob O’s videos above or it is also very clearly explained in topic 138 of the FAQ section on the Spartan RC website -
Spartan Vortex Flight Mode Selection - YouTube
&
Spartan RC
Sensor Setup
In this part of the setup we teach the flybarless controller which way you have it mounted. Please refer to the diagram in the Sensor section which is on page 2 of the installation and setup manual. In both of the models I have installed the VX1N; I have them mounted with the label upright and the servo wiring coming out the front of the unit towards the nose of the helicopter. It is very important to get this bit right or you’re cyclic and tail precompensation will turn out to be wrong.
After confirming your mounting, pressing the select button will bring you to the sensor live screen. Basically what we need to do on this screen is double check that when you physically move the helicopter it equates to the correct movement on the live screen also.
If it does not then the previous step was done incorrectly so go back and look at what mounting you selected.
Be aware that this is not like when testing the precompensation on the swash by looking for an opposite movement to counteract your tilt. The movement on the live screen must move the same way as your tilt!
Pick up the model and when you physically tilt it on an axis you should see some LCD bars move on the data pod. Check they all correspond on all axis of the swash including the tail.
Swash Setup
This is the part where we setup your servos and the head of the helicopter. When entering this part of the setup there should still be no servos plugged into the unit. The first step is to set whether you are using a digital or analogue servo type for your cyclic. The second step consists of setting the swash type that your helicopter uses. The default is 120 degree probably because this is the most common type used today.
After selecting your swash type you are presented with a servo trim screen. The first screen is for SV1. Please consult the diagram under Swash on page 2 of the manual. Find the diagram for your models swash type that you previously programmed. Use this diagram to find the location of the first servo and go ahead and plug it into the port labelled SV1 on the controller. In the case of 120 degree CCPM this servo is for elevator. Plug in the remaining 2 servos using the same method.
From this point the aim is basically to end up with 3 things... these are… the cyclic servo arms should be 90 degrees, the swash plate is level on all axis and there is zero degrees pitch on the main blades at centre stick on the collective.
Go to centre stick on your collective (in the case of an electric model then disconnect the motor or use throttle hold). Attach all of your servo arms so they are as close to 90 degrees as possible. Next use the Trim SV1/SV2 & SV3 screens on the data pod to trim the servos so that you get them perfect 90 degrees. Use the select button to verify each. Next the swash plate needs to be perfectly level. Do this by adjusting the linkages that go from the servos to the swash plate. I prefer to use a swash levelling tool at this point. Many people will just eyeball the swash. Use your preferred method!
At this point then attach a pitch gauge of some sort to your blades. Adjust the link going from the blade to the swash/washout so that you obtain zero degrees of collective pitch on both of your blades. Leave the gauge attached for further steps. Next we need to get the servos working in the correct directions to give us collective movement on the blades. Move your collective stick on the transmitter and check that all the servos move in one direction. If they do not then we need to move to the next option in the Swash Servo Match screen. Go through the options until you find one that equates to all the servos moving in the same direction and then select it. It does not matter if the servos are currently going in the wrong direction at this time. Do not reverse your pitch channel in the transmitter to compensate for this!!
The next screen you are taken to on the data pod is the Pitch Rate screen. It will default to positive + 100%. If you find that your servos are all moving together in the wrong direction of collective pitch then you need to start by changing this figure to the minus side. So start at – 100%. This will reverse all your servos!
After this is done then go to full positive collective using the transmitter stick and set the pitch range you would like to use by adjusting the same slider. The VX1N will adjust both the positive and negative sides of collective pitch at the same time when this slider is adjusted. You can check the negative side also. Technically if you had zero degrees pitch on the blades at centre stick then the negative value on the pitch gauge should be the same as the one you have just set for positive. In the past I have seen that this can be very slightly out on various models. As an example Align DFC heads can be like this. I generally try to get a happy medium and will sometimes sacrifice my zero degrees at centre stick to have equal pitch range. It is very minor and I have never seen it more than half a degree out.
The next screen on the data pod is the Cyclic Direction screen. We are going to use the same method as we did with collective pitch to check the cyclic directions of the servos. Scroll through the different options until you have servos that move the swash in the correct directions. This time unlike when we set the collective pitch directions your cyclic stick movements should equate to moving the swash in the correct way. If you had previously set your collective correctly then there should be no problem this!
Confirming with the select key will take us to the Cyclic 8 Degrees screen and the servos will move to a tilted position. Here we need to adjust this parameter so that we obtain 8 degrees of cyclic pitch on the pitch gauge (which you previously left on the blades). Adjust to 8 degrees and confirm by hitting select. Spartan RC says that this value really needs to be kept below 120. If you have a value higher than 120 then you probably need to adjust the ball link on your servos to obtain this. Ideally try to find a position on the servo arms that keep you in the range of 80 – 120. I highly recommend spending some time to get this bit right. It will greatly improve the flight and general locked in feel of your model.
The next screen to which you will arrive is that of the Cyclic Limit. At this point go to centre collective stick again and give full cyclic commands in all directions. Move the slider so that you get no binding at full cyclic deflection in all directions. You can also do the opposite and open the slider further so that you can obtain the maximum amount of cyclic pitch that your model is designed with.
After the Cylic limit % is selected the data pod then brings you to Cyclic Ring Taper. This is the parameter that reduces the cyclic ring size at maximum positive and negative collective. To do that you need to go to full positive and negative collective pitch and then rotate the cyclic stick round its full axis looking at the head/swash plate for any binding. Adjust the figure in the data pod to achieve this.
After selecting this you will be returned to the Setup Menu. Scroll down one from the Swash menu and enter Rotor Direction. Here it is a simple case of setting which direction your blades rotate in flight. The options are simply CW (clockwise) or CCW (counter clockwise).
Selecting this option will conclude the swash/head setup.
Tail Setup
Starting the tail setup begins by again not having your tail servo plugged into the unit. Go into the Tail menu which is located in the Setup section on the data pod. When entering this menu you will begin with servo type. Enter the pulse frequency as per your tail servos specification. Next you are taken to the Servo Direction screen which has 2 options of Nor (normal) or Rev (reverse). At this point you can now plug in your tail servo! Have your ball link mounted on the servo arm as per your helicopter manual. Hook up your control rod to the control arm and ball link on your servo arm.
Don’t worry about it being 90 degrees at this point! Move the rudder stick on the transmitter and watch the tail pitch slider moving. If it’s moving in the wrong direction to your stick movement then select reverse at this point. Consult your helicopter manual for information on which way the tail should be moving if you’re not too sure. Servo Trim should be the next screen you arrive at. At this point the tail servo should sit at its centre position. You need to obtain 2 things at this point… the servo arm is 90 degrees and also the tail control lever is sitting at the angle that your helicopter manual suggests (generally on most helicopters this will also be a 90 degree angle but it depends whether the manufacturer has built in the pitch to counteract the motor torque etc). Mount your servo arm as close to 90 degrees as possible. Then adjust the servo trim in the data pod using the plus and minus buttons until it is perfectly 90 degrees to the control rod. Once this is done then adjust the links on either side of the control rod until the control lever at the rear of the helicopter is sitting in the position as described in your helicopter manual. After hitting select you will end up at the Servo Endpoint CW screen. The servo will then move to one side. This will be the side that you adjust! Adjust the figures on the data pod until the tail pitch slider moves as far as it will go in that direction without binding. When this is achieved make a note of the figure that you ended up at on the data pod (write it down!). After selecting this you will be taken to the Servo Endpoint CCW screen. The tail servo will move to the opposite side and the process for adjusting this is exactly the same as the previous endpoint. Again make note of the figure that you ended up at. Some helicopters may require adjusting the endpoints to a certain point so double check your manual. Pressing select will conclude the tail setup and you will arrive back at the Setup menu in the data pod.
The Vortex manual says to get the optimum performance for the tail that the sum of the CW and CCW endpoints should be greater that 200%. Go ahead and add the 2 numbers that you made note of when setting up the endpoints. If they exceed 200% then alls good. If not then you need to remove some of the mechanical gain from the tail. This is done by basically mounting the tail servo ball link in closer to the centre of the servo. This gives us less mechanical gain at which point you can then go back and skip through the tail setup steps and re-do the endpoints. Hopefully you’ll then arrive at 2 figures that when added together are greater than 200%.
Ideally you also need a figure that will be no greater than around 250%. If you arrive at a figure that is greater than 250% then you need to think about moving the ball on the tail servo arm slightly further out from the centre to obtain slightly more mechanical gain.
Governor
Due to installing the first VX1N on my Thunder Tiger E720 I naturally used my Kontronik governor. Regardless there is currently no support of an electric governor on the VX1N. However… I have been told that a future firmware update coming very soon will give this ability. When using an electric model please set the servo type in the Governor menu to Analogue. Explanation will follow.
My second Vortex unit at this time is currently installed on my Align Trex 600N to which I will write my findings when maidened. Setting up of the governor was very straight forward though.
Start again by not having your servo plugged in.
Then it is a simple case of connecting your data pod and going into the Governor menu.
Set your Governor Type. Inhibiting this parameter will pass the throttle signal straight through the unit to the throttle servo output SV5. Inhibit this if you plan on not using the vortex governor or maybe you currently have one already. Selecting the Mix Only option will disable the vortex governor function but allows operation of the endpoints and throttle mixing that you program into the unit (handy if you want to keep things so that everything is adjusted on the vortex and not in your transmitter). The final option is Nitro governor which will switch on the governor which can be used on nitro models.
Select your servo type as per its specifications. Once this is selected you may go ahead and plug in the servo! There is also an option for Analogue. Choose this option if you are using an electric model with a brushless ESC. If this is not selected then you will find that your electric motor will pulse and the ESC will not initialise. This is because the ESC uses analogue signals and not digital pulses.
Next are the Servo Direction options. Move the stick and observe that the servo is moving in the correct way. If it does not then reverse it. Hook up your throttle linkage as per your helicopters manual. The aim is with 50% throttle on your transmitter the carburettor should be opening the same amount (match up the markings on the carburettor casing and barrel). Also adjust the ball on the servo arm so that you obtain a 90 degree angle to the linkage rod at 50% throttle. With the throttle trim all the way down the barrel should close fully and also open fully. Try and pick a hole on the servo arm that gets you as close as possible to fully opening and closing the carburettor. This will enable very little in the way of endpoint adjustment and give good resolution for the governor.
Hitting select then brings us to the Throttle Idle Endpoint screen. Adjust this figure until the carburettor is at its approximate idle position.
Next adjust the Throttle Max Endpoint parameter so that the carburettor opens fully with no binding.
After selecting this will then take you to the Gear Ratio screen. Set this as per your helicopter gear ratio which should be shown in the specification section of your helicopter manual. If you do not have the manual then there is an alternate way to find out. Find how many main gear teeth and pinion teeth that the model has. Divide the main gear value by the pinion value and this will give you your gear ratio.
That concludes the governor setup and anything further on this topic is done as tuning when flying your model.
Heli/Style Wizard
The Heli Wizard consists of a number of models with preset parameters which can be used as a starting point to your personal tuning. Select the helicopter that is closest to your setup for your first flight and then this should be a good starting point to tweaking your own helicopter.
The Style Wizard gives you presets to various flying styles. This will affect how your helicopter behaves basically. So whether that’s for general flight, sport or maybe hard 3d flying. This wizard basically modifies how fast or slow the flip/roll/piro rate is and generally how the helicopter feels on the sticks. They are presets and again once selected can be modified to suit yourself. Once they are modified the settings that you program do not store to that preset though. So if you adjust individual parameters and then don’t like the feel of them you can basically hit up that style again and start over.
Pre-flight checks
Before your first flight its best to check that everything is moving in the correct direction and that the VX1N is compensating in the correct way on cyclic and the tail. The process is so quick that ideally you should get into the practice of doing this before every flight.
Place the model on a flat surface; turn on your transmitter in throttle hold. Plug in your batteries or turn on your helicopter. The Vortex VX1N will briefly go through its starting procedure which takes around 4 seconds to complete. You will know it’s finished this process when the swash plate zips up and down in quick succession. The tail will do a similar thing at the same time also. It is important that you do not disturb the transmitter or helicopter as soon as the VX1N receives power and the process starts.
There should also be a solid blue led on the unit when the procedure has finished.
Move all of the sticks on the transmitter and check that they correspond to the correct movements on the swash and tail (elevator/aileron/collective pitch/rudder). Next pick up the helicopter and tilt it in the axis of aileron and elevator. Tilt one axis at a time. Watch the swash plate when doing this! You should be seeing the swash counteract your tilt and attempt to stay level on both axes.
Now do the same for the tail. Move the helicopter in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction; watch the tail slider when doing this. The same thing should happen and the pitch slider should be moving in the opposite way to which you are rotating the helicopter.
If for some reason your swash or tail does not work as above (maybe opposite) then you need to go back over your setup.
First Flight
The initial flight test for me went as good as a maiden flight could possibly be. No surprises at all and it honestly felt pretty much locked in right away. The only thing that was visibly noticeable was the fact that my tail gain was a tad too high when in idle up with a faster head speed. This as always was shown by a fast narrow wag on the rudder axis of the helicopter. I could have probably still flown some of my limited 3d manoeuvres right from the word go. However I opted to spend the first 2 packs tweaking the tail gyro gain/expo and sensitivity along with cyclic gain/cyclic rate/cyclic expo/agility and style. One thing I should say here is that you can really feel the response on the model when adjusting any of these parameters. That being the case it did’nt take long at all to get the helicopter starting to feel exactly the way I like it. I generally like to have my helicopter setup so that the cyclic are quick for sustained Tic Toks but I also like the centre of the sticks to feel soft. This way I get the best of both worlds without having to flick any more switches. Bang the sticks and I get the response I need for 3d yet not moving them far I can obtain nice smooth flying and hovering. I also like to keep a linear pitch curve in my transmitter for instant collective response.
The tail gyro on the VX1N can be described as very similar in feeling to the DS760/Quark however... I feel that it has logically taken the next step as with very little tweaking you can obtain consistent piros and great hold.
My Thoughts/Conclusion
My initial thoughts in flight were that the unit feels very locked in regardless of dialling in any of my personal preferences… when dialled in it has a very Vbar feel to it (which I can only see as a good thing). Also the VX1N does not feel anywhere near as robotic as my Beast X units. After getting a few flights on it I soon found that it has a feel that seemed closer to a fly barred model. Commands on the cyclic seem to be quick and sharp exactly how I like it.
Later I found that when doing aileron tick toks the tail would not stay true resulting in the model skewing on the horizontal axis. I’m 99% sure that this is a mechanical problem. I have a few ideas that I need to put in motion to sort this.
However I did manage to get it dialled out with the collective to tail parameter in the Vortex. Unfortunately I did not like the feel of this. It felt as if someone else was putting a command in for me.
When you can dial out mechanical problems with a bit of electronics it pretty much shows how versatile the unit is. Definitely thumbs up there!
Taking off and landing with this flybarless unit feels like that of a fly barred one. Unlike the BeastX where I felt the need to be constantly on the sticks until the blades were fully stopped. It has no tendencies to feel like it is going to over compensate on the ground and topple over. In fact I would go as far as saying it felt the same when spooled up on the ground as it does in the air.
I feel that for the current price you would be crazy to miss the VX1N. Especially if your in the market to buy a flybarless system. The unit is the same fantastic quality that all previous Spartan RC products have been. It looks tidy and uncomplicated. The data pod in my opinion is a work of art. I still can’t believe how it holds so much data on that tiny screen. It’s so small that it takes up no room at all in my transmitter flight case. The fact you can leave it on the model when testing is a god send. Other flybarless systems which have a similar programming method involve being plugged in and out until you get the model dialled in.
Support for the unit is second to none. The guys at Spartan RC really seem to look after their customers. They always have a good presence at events up and down the country with demos and Angelos will always welcome people to come and trial before you buy. Development is constantly ongoing in the way of firmware updates. I think by the time the electric governor function has been released this unit will be the best bang for buck flybarless system on the market. In my opinion going off the flight performance I have seen so far combined with its current price and support the VX1N is definitely top of the pile stuff.
I am struggling to find any bad points about the VX1N. The only initial one is the current lack of electric governor. However we do know that this is on the cards and will be included in a future firmware release. I have heard people moan that the manual is probably a little too comprehensive for the average Joe. I partially agree and do feel that maybe there should also be a simplified version with step by step instructions for the average flyer. But… I also feel that all of the information is there; it’s just that the average person will not want to read through it all. The problem is also that the documents are not meant to be fully read. They should be more used as a guide and for quick reference.
A point that I would also like to make here is… if you would like professional quality equipment in any hobby then you will come across the same issue. Its all part of the learning curve. If you would like your equipment to perform on a professional level then you will need to learn about it in any application. Personally after setting this unit up 2 times I felt that I no longer needed any manual. Remember that you will also go through the same issue of learning how to use any new flybarless system! All flybarless systems have their own way of programming. The mechanical setup on a model is generally always the same. It is down to the user to have the knowledge to set this up. And I think another point to be made here is that if you are buying a VX1/N then ideally you should have some knowledge of model helicopter mechanics/electronics anyways. Im of the opinion that if you want the best from something then you need to learn everything about it.
I’m looking forward to getting many more flights on both my units and would like to share my ongoing experiences with this flybarless system.
We can look at advanced tuning features of the VX1N in a part 2 of this review. We can then also look at Nitro Vs Electric performance.
Have fun, fly safe!
Lee Egan
Okay so here is my chance to review the Spartan VX1 Nano flybarless system…
First a bit of brief background information. For anyone that does not know then Spartan started their gyro days with the very popular DS760 AVCS tail gyro. This was then succeeded by the Quark which basically to the average Joe is a smaller version of the DS760 with slightly refined but very useful features. What made these gyros stand out from others was not only their superb holding ability but the fact that they could be hooked up to a personal computer and advanced features tinkered with using a flash link, a bluetooth link and later the datapod.
Over the last few years flybarless has hit the hobby hugely. I consider it now to be the preferred method of controlling our model helicopters. Although Mikado are considered to be the godfathers of flybarless technology there have been many companies try to follow in their foot steps by manufacturing their own systems. Some have been successful and others tried but never quite got there (in my opinion). Spartans answer to all this was the Vortex VX1 flybarless system. Many people waited for the Vortex flybarless system with open arms, going on the back of the ever successful tail gyros. At this point I need to add that I have no experience of the VX1 as I never tried one. However I consider myself to have worked through most of the flybarless systems that have been on the market. Some with great success and others not so good. Some may remember the 3GX that I had on my Trex 500 EFL at the RCHA 2012 drag race. Yes the one that had a mind of its own and darted for the sky as soon as I leapt off the starting line
Generally the price of a flybarless system dramatically affected my choice. After working my way through many of them I eventually arrived at the Mikado VBar Silver line. I had fantastic results with the system. As everyone said I would, but at the expense of my wallet. This was the main reason it was only installed in 3 of my bigger more expensive models. The rest of the fleet contained the Micro BeastX or its equivalent Spektrum AR7200BX (which is basically a re-branded BeastX with a built in Spektrum DSMX compatible receiver).
Well Spartans answer to the BeastX or Mini Vbar is finally here in the name of the Vortex VX1N (The N standing for Nano). According to the technical specs we will see the same performance from the nano as its full size brother. From what I have been told the sensors in the Vortex are high quality and extremely reliable. Maybe this is the BeastX’s downfall? Who knows? This should make the unit great to fly on electric and nitro models. The unit can currently be bought in 2 ways… the flybarless system by itself currently on offer for £129.99. And also the flybarless system and a data pod for £159.99. The data pod is currently £49.99 when purchased individually. Therefore buying them as a pair is a no brainer in my opinion. You do however need to purchase a data pod to set up the unit if you currently do not own one.
Currently from what I have seen, the fashion is to purchase the unit with a data pod and then any future Vortex systems can be bought individually at the cheaper price. The data pod can be kept in your flight box and attached at will to any of your models. This is done by simply zip tying a servo lead from the Vortex VX1N flybarless system to the side frame of any model. The unit can be plugged in live and parameters very easily adjusted. This is about as good as it gets for ‘on the fly’ programming. I can now say that in my opinion it is definitely the fastest and far easiest way of doing it. It is far quicker than connecting with a bluetooth module and much easier than reading leds from a unit.
What’s in the box?
Basically what you get is the Vortex VX1N flybarless unit. Sticky pads of around 1mm thickness. A complete set of wires for connecting the Vortex to a standard receiver. These are 145mm in length. There is a heavy gauge male-male wire which can also be used for PPM or SBUS connections. There is also a pair of servo to sat wires which are 210mm long.
Spartan also includes a nice set of canopy stickers.
One thing that is not included is a paper manual. The box is so small that it would be difficult to fit one in there regardless. There is however a small card that states that the manual can be downloaded from the Spartan website. That’s Spartan helping reduce their carbon footprint and this could be a factor that also helps contribute a little to the price of the whole package. Packaging can be expensive. A very green way of doing things and something I consider to be the norm in this day and age. Because the flybarless system is constantly improving through firmware updates then any printed manual would be obsolete due to the information constantly changing anyways.
The manual/tweaking documents and any firmware updates can be downloaded from the following link -
Spartan Vortex VX1n
The data pod consists of the unit itself and a male to male servo patch cable. There is also a card with some very brief instructions for operation of the unit. The data pod weighs in at a tiny 11 grams. And is a measly 46mm in length with a height of around 25mm and thickness is 12mm. The display is a 128 x 32 pixel dot matrix which is capable of text and simple graphics very similar to many rc radios.. It is USB 1.0 and 2.0 compatible and currently supports Spartans Quark/DS760 gyros as well as the Vortex VX1/N flybarless systems. It operates up to 8.4V which is great if you are running a HV setup.
Current draw is again a measly 15mA so leaving the data pod connected permanently to your model isn’t going to have any effect on the rest of your system.
Installation
Installation of the flybarless unit is very straight forward. Mount your unit using one of the provided pads. Spartan include thin pads with the VX1N as testing has proved that these provide the best mounting. I always try to pick a location that is further away from the engine if mounting in a nitro. Ideally though the closer to the main mast the better. Make sure that the unit is mounted straight horizontally in the model and on a flat solid surface. Most models will have a dedicated gyro mount for this. In the past I have found that this does not necessarily mean it is the best choice for location (not regarding nitro models anyways). Sometimes using a velcro tie loosely will give extra added support and piece of mind. I have known mounting pads to break down due to fuel residue. Having a loose tie on could potentially save the day if that ever happened. Not essential, more my personal preference though.
One thing that I have found particularly essential on all the flybarless systems I have ever flown is that you should never stiffen up the wiring near the sensor. In the case of the VX1N where the sensors are internal and part of the main unit then nothing changes. If anything you need to be a little more aware of this. A good tip when installing any flybarless system is to either not use braiding on your servo cables, or if you do then don’t attach it to the first few inches of the cable. If you do then this will stiffen them up. What will happen are any vibrations on the model (and there will be a few natural ones regardless of great mechanical setup) will be transferred up the cables into the unit’s sensors. This can greatly effect how the flybarless system performs.
Spartan has used some of the finest quality sensors in the VX1N and they are very resistant to vibration. With this in mind if you get the mounting correct also then things should go as smooth as possible.
A good tip for when the unit is fully installed (after you have gone through the full setup) is to secure the servo plugs. I do this by adding a smear of silicon over the top of the servo leads and casing. This gives me peace of mind that they will not shake loose when flying any sort of 3d.
At the installation stage I would mount and fix everything down but do not plug in any servos to the unit at that time. This is because in the setup the unit needs to know more details about your servos first. Plugging them in prior could also cause them to bind resulting in damage. Also the cyclic servos ideally need to be plugged in individually as per your swash type. The diagrams for this are in the swash section on page 2 of the setup manual.
Setup
Setup needs to be broken down into various sections which I will go through. There is a very good collection of setup videos by Bob O of helifreak located here -
http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/sparta...eo-series.html
These videos were made for the original Spartan VX1 but the setup is exactly the same for the VX1N. Bob goes into considerable detail about each section and so I feel it is unnecessary to repeat on a lot of them.
If you are not looking for a detailed walkthrough of how to set this unit up then please skip these setup sections and head to my flight and conclusions. I have wrote the setup procedure in a step by step fashion to compliment Bob and Angelos videos which are linked throughout this writing.
To help understand the layout of the software on the data pod there are 4 menu sections plus a general home screen. These menus consist of the Rotor, Tail, Governor and Setup menu. These are pretty simple to understand. As an example you would not go into the governor menu if you would like to adjust the tail gain
The data pod is extremely easy to use and has only 3 buttons to contend with. These are an ‘S’ (select) button and a ‘+’ (plus) and ‘-‘ (minus) button for adjusting parameters. It is a simple case of using the plus/minus buttons to scroll through the parameters and then selecting them with the S button. Any adjustments to that parameter can then be made using the plus or minus keys.
Pressing the S button a second time will remove you out of the parameter and back into the menu. It doesn’t get much simpler!
Below is the order of setting up a new helicopter.
Receiver Setup
Basically the VX1N needs to know what type of receiver you are using. I bind to my transmitter using DSMX and 2 sats. Binding is very straight forward and done by selecting your receiver type in the setup menu. The unit will then go into bind mode (in my case the 2 sats flashed) and the procedure is then the same as your transmitter manual describes. After binding it then asks you to assign each channel. There are preset channel assignments for each receiver (Futaba/JR/Spektrum). However double check that each channel is assigned to the correct function. As an example we know that Throttle is channel 1 on Spektrum, Aileron is channel 2, Elevator is channel 3, Rudder channel 4, Gyro channel 5, Pitch channel 6 etc. If you don’t know the exact channel order you can also look at your transmitter’s servo monitor screen. There are options to hook up to Standard/SBUS, XBUS, UDI and PPM receivers also. Something that needs attention here is what channel you are going to assign your gyro to. The reason for this is because all of the parameters in the VX1N are adjusted by the data pod in the flybarless system and not in your transmitter. So for example tail gain, agility, cyclic gain etc For this reason you need to tie your flight modes to the gyro channel in your transmitter also. Parameters need to be adjusted for all flight modes in the VX1N so don’t be caught out when adjusting these on the data pod also. Make sure you make a note to adjust the setting for all the flight modes that you actually use! See Bob O’s transmitter setup video but also check out Angelos (Spartan RC) very easy to understand explanation here –
Transmitter Setup
The transmitter setup is best started with a fresh new model memory in your transmitter. Set it to 1 servo (mechanical) setup. Make sure that all trims are centred, if possible disable the trims. As mentioned earlier it is best to start with no servos plugged into the flybarless system also.
Basically here the live screen in the transmitter menu on the data pod is used to view our directions/centre points and limits.
Moving the sticks confirm they move the same way as the graphics in the live view, if they don’t use the transmitter to reverse them.
Set the collective to its mid point and use the transmitters sub trim to achieve 0% on Aileron/Elevator/Collective and Rudder.
Adjust the transmitter’s end points to achieve +/- 100% on Aileron/Elevator/Collective and Rudder. The throttle should also work from 0 to 100%.
This is also the point at which you need to setup your gyro gain channel in the transmitter to control the VX1N flight modes. Please refer to Angelos/Bob O’s videos above or it is also very clearly explained in topic 138 of the FAQ section on the Spartan RC website -
Spartan Vortex Flight Mode Selection - YouTube
&
Spartan RC
Sensor Setup
In this part of the setup we teach the flybarless controller which way you have it mounted. Please refer to the diagram in the Sensor section which is on page 2 of the installation and setup manual. In both of the models I have installed the VX1N; I have them mounted with the label upright and the servo wiring coming out the front of the unit towards the nose of the helicopter. It is very important to get this bit right or you’re cyclic and tail precompensation will turn out to be wrong.
After confirming your mounting, pressing the select button will bring you to the sensor live screen. Basically what we need to do on this screen is double check that when you physically move the helicopter it equates to the correct movement on the live screen also.
If it does not then the previous step was done incorrectly so go back and look at what mounting you selected.
Be aware that this is not like when testing the precompensation on the swash by looking for an opposite movement to counteract your tilt. The movement on the live screen must move the same way as your tilt!
Pick up the model and when you physically tilt it on an axis you should see some LCD bars move on the data pod. Check they all correspond on all axis of the swash including the tail.
Swash Setup
This is the part where we setup your servos and the head of the helicopter. When entering this part of the setup there should still be no servos plugged into the unit. The first step is to set whether you are using a digital or analogue servo type for your cyclic. The second step consists of setting the swash type that your helicopter uses. The default is 120 degree probably because this is the most common type used today.
After selecting your swash type you are presented with a servo trim screen. The first screen is for SV1. Please consult the diagram under Swash on page 2 of the manual. Find the diagram for your models swash type that you previously programmed. Use this diagram to find the location of the first servo and go ahead and plug it into the port labelled SV1 on the controller. In the case of 120 degree CCPM this servo is for elevator. Plug in the remaining 2 servos using the same method.
From this point the aim is basically to end up with 3 things... these are… the cyclic servo arms should be 90 degrees, the swash plate is level on all axis and there is zero degrees pitch on the main blades at centre stick on the collective.
Go to centre stick on your collective (in the case of an electric model then disconnect the motor or use throttle hold). Attach all of your servo arms so they are as close to 90 degrees as possible. Next use the Trim SV1/SV2 & SV3 screens on the data pod to trim the servos so that you get them perfect 90 degrees. Use the select button to verify each. Next the swash plate needs to be perfectly level. Do this by adjusting the linkages that go from the servos to the swash plate. I prefer to use a swash levelling tool at this point. Many people will just eyeball the swash. Use your preferred method!
At this point then attach a pitch gauge of some sort to your blades. Adjust the link going from the blade to the swash/washout so that you obtain zero degrees of collective pitch on both of your blades. Leave the gauge attached for further steps. Next we need to get the servos working in the correct directions to give us collective movement on the blades. Move your collective stick on the transmitter and check that all the servos move in one direction. If they do not then we need to move to the next option in the Swash Servo Match screen. Go through the options until you find one that equates to all the servos moving in the same direction and then select it. It does not matter if the servos are currently going in the wrong direction at this time. Do not reverse your pitch channel in the transmitter to compensate for this!!
The next screen you are taken to on the data pod is the Pitch Rate screen. It will default to positive + 100%. If you find that your servos are all moving together in the wrong direction of collective pitch then you need to start by changing this figure to the minus side. So start at – 100%. This will reverse all your servos!
After this is done then go to full positive collective using the transmitter stick and set the pitch range you would like to use by adjusting the same slider. The VX1N will adjust both the positive and negative sides of collective pitch at the same time when this slider is adjusted. You can check the negative side also. Technically if you had zero degrees pitch on the blades at centre stick then the negative value on the pitch gauge should be the same as the one you have just set for positive. In the past I have seen that this can be very slightly out on various models. As an example Align DFC heads can be like this. I generally try to get a happy medium and will sometimes sacrifice my zero degrees at centre stick to have equal pitch range. It is very minor and I have never seen it more than half a degree out.
The next screen on the data pod is the Cyclic Direction screen. We are going to use the same method as we did with collective pitch to check the cyclic directions of the servos. Scroll through the different options until you have servos that move the swash in the correct directions. This time unlike when we set the collective pitch directions your cyclic stick movements should equate to moving the swash in the correct way. If you had previously set your collective correctly then there should be no problem this!
Confirming with the select key will take us to the Cyclic 8 Degrees screen and the servos will move to a tilted position. Here we need to adjust this parameter so that we obtain 8 degrees of cyclic pitch on the pitch gauge (which you previously left on the blades). Adjust to 8 degrees and confirm by hitting select. Spartan RC says that this value really needs to be kept below 120. If you have a value higher than 120 then you probably need to adjust the ball link on your servos to obtain this. Ideally try to find a position on the servo arms that keep you in the range of 80 – 120. I highly recommend spending some time to get this bit right. It will greatly improve the flight and general locked in feel of your model.
The next screen to which you will arrive is that of the Cyclic Limit. At this point go to centre collective stick again and give full cyclic commands in all directions. Move the slider so that you get no binding at full cyclic deflection in all directions. You can also do the opposite and open the slider further so that you can obtain the maximum amount of cyclic pitch that your model is designed with.
After the Cylic limit % is selected the data pod then brings you to Cyclic Ring Taper. This is the parameter that reduces the cyclic ring size at maximum positive and negative collective. To do that you need to go to full positive and negative collective pitch and then rotate the cyclic stick round its full axis looking at the head/swash plate for any binding. Adjust the figure in the data pod to achieve this.
After selecting this you will be returned to the Setup Menu. Scroll down one from the Swash menu and enter Rotor Direction. Here it is a simple case of setting which direction your blades rotate in flight. The options are simply CW (clockwise) or CCW (counter clockwise).
Selecting this option will conclude the swash/head setup.
Tail Setup
Starting the tail setup begins by again not having your tail servo plugged into the unit. Go into the Tail menu which is located in the Setup section on the data pod. When entering this menu you will begin with servo type. Enter the pulse frequency as per your tail servos specification. Next you are taken to the Servo Direction screen which has 2 options of Nor (normal) or Rev (reverse). At this point you can now plug in your tail servo! Have your ball link mounted on the servo arm as per your helicopter manual. Hook up your control rod to the control arm and ball link on your servo arm.
Don’t worry about it being 90 degrees at this point! Move the rudder stick on the transmitter and watch the tail pitch slider moving. If it’s moving in the wrong direction to your stick movement then select reverse at this point. Consult your helicopter manual for information on which way the tail should be moving if you’re not too sure. Servo Trim should be the next screen you arrive at. At this point the tail servo should sit at its centre position. You need to obtain 2 things at this point… the servo arm is 90 degrees and also the tail control lever is sitting at the angle that your helicopter manual suggests (generally on most helicopters this will also be a 90 degree angle but it depends whether the manufacturer has built in the pitch to counteract the motor torque etc). Mount your servo arm as close to 90 degrees as possible. Then adjust the servo trim in the data pod using the plus and minus buttons until it is perfectly 90 degrees to the control rod. Once this is done then adjust the links on either side of the control rod until the control lever at the rear of the helicopter is sitting in the position as described in your helicopter manual. After hitting select you will end up at the Servo Endpoint CW screen. The servo will then move to one side. This will be the side that you adjust! Adjust the figures on the data pod until the tail pitch slider moves as far as it will go in that direction without binding. When this is achieved make a note of the figure that you ended up at on the data pod (write it down!). After selecting this you will be taken to the Servo Endpoint CCW screen. The tail servo will move to the opposite side and the process for adjusting this is exactly the same as the previous endpoint. Again make note of the figure that you ended up at. Some helicopters may require adjusting the endpoints to a certain point so double check your manual. Pressing select will conclude the tail setup and you will arrive back at the Setup menu in the data pod.
The Vortex manual says to get the optimum performance for the tail that the sum of the CW and CCW endpoints should be greater that 200%. Go ahead and add the 2 numbers that you made note of when setting up the endpoints. If they exceed 200% then alls good. If not then you need to remove some of the mechanical gain from the tail. This is done by basically mounting the tail servo ball link in closer to the centre of the servo. This gives us less mechanical gain at which point you can then go back and skip through the tail setup steps and re-do the endpoints. Hopefully you’ll then arrive at 2 figures that when added together are greater than 200%.
Ideally you also need a figure that will be no greater than around 250%. If you arrive at a figure that is greater than 250% then you need to think about moving the ball on the tail servo arm slightly further out from the centre to obtain slightly more mechanical gain.
Governor
Due to installing the first VX1N on my Thunder Tiger E720 I naturally used my Kontronik governor. Regardless there is currently no support of an electric governor on the VX1N. However… I have been told that a future firmware update coming very soon will give this ability. When using an electric model please set the servo type in the Governor menu to Analogue. Explanation will follow.
My second Vortex unit at this time is currently installed on my Align Trex 600N to which I will write my findings when maidened. Setting up of the governor was very straight forward though.
Start again by not having your servo plugged in.
Then it is a simple case of connecting your data pod and going into the Governor menu.
Set your Governor Type. Inhibiting this parameter will pass the throttle signal straight through the unit to the throttle servo output SV5. Inhibit this if you plan on not using the vortex governor or maybe you currently have one already. Selecting the Mix Only option will disable the vortex governor function but allows operation of the endpoints and throttle mixing that you program into the unit (handy if you want to keep things so that everything is adjusted on the vortex and not in your transmitter). The final option is Nitro governor which will switch on the governor which can be used on nitro models.
Select your servo type as per its specifications. Once this is selected you may go ahead and plug in the servo! There is also an option for Analogue. Choose this option if you are using an electric model with a brushless ESC. If this is not selected then you will find that your electric motor will pulse and the ESC will not initialise. This is because the ESC uses analogue signals and not digital pulses.
Next are the Servo Direction options. Move the stick and observe that the servo is moving in the correct way. If it does not then reverse it. Hook up your throttle linkage as per your helicopters manual. The aim is with 50% throttle on your transmitter the carburettor should be opening the same amount (match up the markings on the carburettor casing and barrel). Also adjust the ball on the servo arm so that you obtain a 90 degree angle to the linkage rod at 50% throttle. With the throttle trim all the way down the barrel should close fully and also open fully. Try and pick a hole on the servo arm that gets you as close as possible to fully opening and closing the carburettor. This will enable very little in the way of endpoint adjustment and give good resolution for the governor.
Hitting select then brings us to the Throttle Idle Endpoint screen. Adjust this figure until the carburettor is at its approximate idle position.
Next adjust the Throttle Max Endpoint parameter so that the carburettor opens fully with no binding.
After selecting this will then take you to the Gear Ratio screen. Set this as per your helicopter gear ratio which should be shown in the specification section of your helicopter manual. If you do not have the manual then there is an alternate way to find out. Find how many main gear teeth and pinion teeth that the model has. Divide the main gear value by the pinion value and this will give you your gear ratio.
That concludes the governor setup and anything further on this topic is done as tuning when flying your model.
Heli/Style Wizard
The Heli Wizard consists of a number of models with preset parameters which can be used as a starting point to your personal tuning. Select the helicopter that is closest to your setup for your first flight and then this should be a good starting point to tweaking your own helicopter.
The Style Wizard gives you presets to various flying styles. This will affect how your helicopter behaves basically. So whether that’s for general flight, sport or maybe hard 3d flying. This wizard basically modifies how fast or slow the flip/roll/piro rate is and generally how the helicopter feels on the sticks. They are presets and again once selected can be modified to suit yourself. Once they are modified the settings that you program do not store to that preset though. So if you adjust individual parameters and then don’t like the feel of them you can basically hit up that style again and start over.
Pre-flight checks
Before your first flight its best to check that everything is moving in the correct direction and that the VX1N is compensating in the correct way on cyclic and the tail. The process is so quick that ideally you should get into the practice of doing this before every flight.
Place the model on a flat surface; turn on your transmitter in throttle hold. Plug in your batteries or turn on your helicopter. The Vortex VX1N will briefly go through its starting procedure which takes around 4 seconds to complete. You will know it’s finished this process when the swash plate zips up and down in quick succession. The tail will do a similar thing at the same time also. It is important that you do not disturb the transmitter or helicopter as soon as the VX1N receives power and the process starts.
There should also be a solid blue led on the unit when the procedure has finished.
Move all of the sticks on the transmitter and check that they correspond to the correct movements on the swash and tail (elevator/aileron/collective pitch/rudder). Next pick up the helicopter and tilt it in the axis of aileron and elevator. Tilt one axis at a time. Watch the swash plate when doing this! You should be seeing the swash counteract your tilt and attempt to stay level on both axes.
Now do the same for the tail. Move the helicopter in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction; watch the tail slider when doing this. The same thing should happen and the pitch slider should be moving in the opposite way to which you are rotating the helicopter.
If for some reason your swash or tail does not work as above (maybe opposite) then you need to go back over your setup.
First Flight
The initial flight test for me went as good as a maiden flight could possibly be. No surprises at all and it honestly felt pretty much locked in right away. The only thing that was visibly noticeable was the fact that my tail gain was a tad too high when in idle up with a faster head speed. This as always was shown by a fast narrow wag on the rudder axis of the helicopter. I could have probably still flown some of my limited 3d manoeuvres right from the word go. However I opted to spend the first 2 packs tweaking the tail gyro gain/expo and sensitivity along with cyclic gain/cyclic rate/cyclic expo/agility and style. One thing I should say here is that you can really feel the response on the model when adjusting any of these parameters. That being the case it did’nt take long at all to get the helicopter starting to feel exactly the way I like it. I generally like to have my helicopter setup so that the cyclic are quick for sustained Tic Toks but I also like the centre of the sticks to feel soft. This way I get the best of both worlds without having to flick any more switches. Bang the sticks and I get the response I need for 3d yet not moving them far I can obtain nice smooth flying and hovering. I also like to keep a linear pitch curve in my transmitter for instant collective response.
The tail gyro on the VX1N can be described as very similar in feeling to the DS760/Quark however... I feel that it has logically taken the next step as with very little tweaking you can obtain consistent piros and great hold.
My Thoughts/Conclusion
My initial thoughts in flight were that the unit feels very locked in regardless of dialling in any of my personal preferences… when dialled in it has a very Vbar feel to it (which I can only see as a good thing). Also the VX1N does not feel anywhere near as robotic as my Beast X units. After getting a few flights on it I soon found that it has a feel that seemed closer to a fly barred model. Commands on the cyclic seem to be quick and sharp exactly how I like it.
Later I found that when doing aileron tick toks the tail would not stay true resulting in the model skewing on the horizontal axis. I’m 99% sure that this is a mechanical problem. I have a few ideas that I need to put in motion to sort this.
However I did manage to get it dialled out with the collective to tail parameter in the Vortex. Unfortunately I did not like the feel of this. It felt as if someone else was putting a command in for me.
When you can dial out mechanical problems with a bit of electronics it pretty much shows how versatile the unit is. Definitely thumbs up there!
Taking off and landing with this flybarless unit feels like that of a fly barred one. Unlike the BeastX where I felt the need to be constantly on the sticks until the blades were fully stopped. It has no tendencies to feel like it is going to over compensate on the ground and topple over. In fact I would go as far as saying it felt the same when spooled up on the ground as it does in the air.
I feel that for the current price you would be crazy to miss the VX1N. Especially if your in the market to buy a flybarless system. The unit is the same fantastic quality that all previous Spartan RC products have been. It looks tidy and uncomplicated. The data pod in my opinion is a work of art. I still can’t believe how it holds so much data on that tiny screen. It’s so small that it takes up no room at all in my transmitter flight case. The fact you can leave it on the model when testing is a god send. Other flybarless systems which have a similar programming method involve being plugged in and out until you get the model dialled in.
Support for the unit is second to none. The guys at Spartan RC really seem to look after their customers. They always have a good presence at events up and down the country with demos and Angelos will always welcome people to come and trial before you buy. Development is constantly ongoing in the way of firmware updates. I think by the time the electric governor function has been released this unit will be the best bang for buck flybarless system on the market. In my opinion going off the flight performance I have seen so far combined with its current price and support the VX1N is definitely top of the pile stuff.
I am struggling to find any bad points about the VX1N. The only initial one is the current lack of electric governor. However we do know that this is on the cards and will be included in a future firmware release. I have heard people moan that the manual is probably a little too comprehensive for the average Joe. I partially agree and do feel that maybe there should also be a simplified version with step by step instructions for the average flyer. But… I also feel that all of the information is there; it’s just that the average person will not want to read through it all. The problem is also that the documents are not meant to be fully read. They should be more used as a guide and for quick reference.
A point that I would also like to make here is… if you would like professional quality equipment in any hobby then you will come across the same issue. Its all part of the learning curve. If you would like your equipment to perform on a professional level then you will need to learn about it in any application. Personally after setting this unit up 2 times I felt that I no longer needed any manual. Remember that you will also go through the same issue of learning how to use any new flybarless system! All flybarless systems have their own way of programming. The mechanical setup on a model is generally always the same. It is down to the user to have the knowledge to set this up. And I think another point to be made here is that if you are buying a VX1/N then ideally you should have some knowledge of model helicopter mechanics/electronics anyways. Im of the opinion that if you want the best from something then you need to learn everything about it.
I’m looking forward to getting many more flights on both my units and would like to share my ongoing experiences with this flybarless system.
We can look at advanced tuning features of the VX1N in a part 2 of this review. We can then also look at Nitro Vs Electric performance.
Have fun, fly safe!
Lee Egan
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