Wltoys V262 2.4ghz Big 6 Axis RC Quadcopter RTF

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 3.21.22 PMThis is my second quadrocopter, and the first largish one that I’ve used. I am a big fan of quadcopters, and now I have “graduated” to one of the more advanced semi-professional ones. But I would strongly suggest to anyone who is interested in these cool toys/gadgets to start with something relatively simple and straightforward, and only then go to something more advanced. And preferably something relatively cheap – this quadrocopter now sells for about $90 on Amazon, but when I got it it was “only” $60. That, for me, is about as much money as I would be willing to spend on something that I will almost certainly lose or break eventually.

If you’ve flown an RC helicopter before, the first thing you’ll notice when switching to the quadcopter is how stable and much more maneuverable a quadcopter is. This is, of course, one of the main advantages of having multiple rotating blades – it provides you with additional stability. Even so, you still need to use a decent amount of skill while flying this quadcopter. It will not spontaneously hover in place and it needs constant adjustment when it comes to its positioning. This is OK with me – as I’ve already mentioned, one of the primary uses of this quadcopter for me is as a training device for more advanced multicopters. In my case a few weeks of not-too-regular practice was sufficient to get the hang of it and feel very comfortable flying this thing under all sorts of conditions.

The first quadricopter that I had flown was small enough to be able to be tested indoors. However, this one is just too big for such ventures, so I flew it outdoors from the get-go. Flying outdoors is where the real fun lies anyways. Initially I tested it around my back yard, not venturing beyond my fence or much higher than the top of my house. Eventually I got bolder and let it soar high above at the point where I was hardly able to see it any more. The danger with this is that bringing it down can be really tricky, and I was unable to avoid a few crash landings. Fortunately for me, this quadcopter is fairly durable and was able to survive even some more hair-raising crashes.

This quadcopter comes with a set of replacement blades and a protective bumper. During my use of the quadrocopter I had worn out a whole set of blades, and the spare ones really came in handy. I would strongly recommend getting an extra set of replacement blades down the road. From what I’ve seen on Amazon, most of them are shipped from China, so you might want to order them well in advance.

Unlike many other quadcopters, this one doesn’t come with an in-built video recording camera. It is possible to add an extra one as an accessory, but I never bought one of those. Instead, I decided to improvise and to stick one of the small Polaroid cube cameras. Well, that wasn’t the smartest idea. The camera really threw the quadrocopter out of balance, and I had to deal with a couple really hard crash landings. In the last one of these crash landings my quadcopter got stuck on the top of a tall tree in front of my house. I had tried to get it down, but unfortunately the tree was just too tall and I was not brave enough to climb all the way to its top. Fortunately, this was in late Fall, so once the leaves fell off the quadrocopter came crashing down. To my surprise, it was still functional and free of any major damage.

The included battery will last you for about 15-20 minutes of flying time. The battery is not very well made, and the replacement one that I got was very hard to stick in. It also features a very unconventional charger.

I would strongly recommend that you fly this quadcopter in *very* calm weather. Even the slightest wind will carry it away. And this is finally how I broke mine – it was carried away by the wind. I was remarkable able to retrieve it, but one of its motors was broken, and I was not able to fix it. Oh well, it lasted me almost a whole year, and it was a source of lot of fun and gave me a lot of valuable flying experience that is now coming in handy with my new more advanced quadrocopter.

The quadrocopter build quality is OK. It is incredibly light for its shape and size. As I mentioned already, it had survived many hard crashes. The remote, however, is very cheap and flimsy. One of the joysticks broke off fairly quickly. It was still usable, but not nearly as effective as it could have been.

This quadcopter is one of the most fun purchases I’ve made in a while. The prices of RC multicopters keep coming down, and there is an increasing number of manufacturers and vendors specializing in this product category. Wltoys V262 still leaves a lot to be desired, but at this price at which I purchased it I can’t think of a more valuable quadrocopter.

 

Bojan Tunguz

Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts

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