Spektrum Or Futaba ???

[unwind-protect]

I thought Spektrum would win easily, given how often Spektrum kit is mentioned on here, compared to Futaba 2.4GHz kit---but it continues to be neck-and-neck!

[Disc]

it's no great surprise really spektrum had the jump on futaba from the get go and then futaba had the issue with the 6exa as well.

As for future proof both are equal until you get to the 12fg which can be updated etc etc

But between the 7c and dx7 there's not a lot in it IMO

[maderdog_1024]

some pretty good comments there.

spektrum stuff feels cheap, switches and trims etc
futaba feels better built, so thinking i might go for the Futaba 10C

[GravityKills]

..... it was the FF9 that had the slowest out the bunch .. ...BUT , are you a good enough flier to notice ???

Well...
some food for thought:

I play keyboards, piano and Hammond organ in a band.
Today, it's quite common to use a computer for real-time playing: I connect a keyboard through a digital interface and play, the sound comes out of the PC's sound card. This, too, causes latency.
- Studio level equipment achieves < 5 ms
- Above 10 ms, you start to notice, even though you'll adapt to it. This is comparable to the fastest radios.
- 25 ms is about my "pain threshold"
- 50 ms is completely unplayable.

The question is, are piano playing and helicopter flying equally demanding on the eye-hand (or ear-hand) coordination? You decide.
My point is, the frequently heard argument that it's not humanly possible to notice 10 ms of delay (=the fastest 2.4 GHz radio) is simply wrong.

What we "feel" is equally misleading. For example, many people "feel" that a beer or two will not affect their driving skills. To argue, you need nothing but set up a very complicated and expensive scientific experiment including paid drinking... anyway, the results are shattering.
In other words, what I "feel" doesn't mean very much.
Another example: people frequently report that Spektrum "feels" faster than Futaba. Did any of them notice that the travel range of the collective stick is shorter, compared to cyclic? The "felt" result is meaningless, because the Spektrum Tx requires a little bit more accuracy in the left hand than Futaba.

[marktigere1]

Do some of the best fliers in the world use Futaba?

Answer: Yes.

Do some of the best fliers in the world use Spektrum?

Answer: Yes.

So what is the point of this thread?

Buy what feels right for you and then simply fly your model.

Works for me

[unwind-protect]

- 25 ms is about my "pain threshold"

Just as a thought, it takes sound 25ms to travel 8.5 metres, so if you play live and stand more than 8.5 metres from your monitor, presumably you'd have the same issue.

Similarly, with helicopters, regardless of how quickly the receiver gets the signal, it takes time for the servo to move into position, and for the flight surface changes to take effect---although not much time, given the speed of modern servos!

[Tom Burgess]

There is a good write up here about Spektrum and the views of it against the top Futaba radio's. Obviously the speed thing is noticed here but note that when this was written, it was a case of the 14MZ not being 2.4 Ghz.

http://www.avantrc.com/support/showthread.php?t=182

[GravityKills]

Just as a thought, it takes sound 25ms to travel 8.5 metres, so if you play live and stand more than 8.5 metres from your monitor, presumably you'd have the same issue.

Similarly, with helicopters, regardless of how quickly the receiver gets the signal, it takes time for the servo to move into position, and for the flight surface changes to take effect---although not much time, given the speed of modern servos!

Exactly. One reason, why individual amps and monitor speakers are so popular on stage.
Insert 50..100 ms of delay into a performer's monitor channel, and watch what happens... (a feature known among sound engineers as the so-called "s*ck button" )

A typical small correction will move the servos only a couple of degrees.
My ds 8915 on swash need 90 ms for a 60 degrees move. Take a tenth of that, add a fudge factor of 2 to account for acceleration, and we're around 15 to 20 ms. In other words, the radio already now contributes more delay than the servos.

This is not to say that everybody should be worried about latency. I'm sure it won't matter to a beginner, unless it's excessive. And someone who is good will be able to fly anything, anyway.
But, I don't want to spend my money on bad equipment when the same money could buy me something better...

[0h5h1t]

dx7 for one simple reason over the 2.4 7c and thats channel grouping. the futaba radio's do not do this until you get to the 12fg.
Channel grouping will move all 3 swash servos in the same frame whereas the futaba's work like old pcm/ppm radios in that two servo's will move before the other one, probably not a huge problem if one at all.. but if you are thinking of future proofing and getting the most from this size tx then the speccy wins hands down. I was going to buy a futaba 10c to replace a dx7 but turned it down because in terms of this function, it would have been a step backwards.. just my opinion!