 | Proto X (Colors Vary, Black or White) Around $30 |
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Flight review of the Proto X Nano Quadcopter by Estes. Being a nano quadcopter I was expecting poor flight performance and flight time but I have to admit that it actually far exceeded my expectations! It is incredibly stable when trimmed properly. It is very important that you trim your quad before flying it or else it will be a pain to fly and you’ll think there’s something wrong with it. I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews that relate to problems with trimming! And when you first turn on your quad and pair it to your controller, you need to leave it on a flat level surface to let the accelerometers initialize.
Because it’s 2.4GHz you can fly this little guy outside in VERY LIGHT WIND conditions. The Proto X can easily handle a 2-3 mph breeze with no problem. As you can see from the video this quad is quick! The range is about 25-30 feet, and then it just falls out of the sky. It’s perfect for the backyard or park, especially around sunset when you can see the LED lights. The blades will pop off when you crash! And surprisingly I’ve always been able to find mine, but just a warning if you’re flying over grass and you crash into a tree, you’ll probably lose a blade or two. It does come with a set of 4 blades and extra sets cost around $5 dollars. You can add a tiny dab of crazy glue to the blade if you want them to stay in place but you will break your blades faster this way. It’s a trade-off between crashing and having your blades come off versus crashing and breaking your blades. I’ve bent blades pretty badly and I’ve been able to bend them back with no problems. I’ve even bent the motor arm from a hard crash and was able to bend it back. Each blade and arm has either an “A” or “B” and this helps when more than one come off at a time and you’re unsure which blade goes where. The motor mounts have a little wiggle to them and this doesn’t affect the performance at all. I have seen some people attach paperclips to the arms to protect the blades witch is helpful for if your learing to fly a quad for the first time.
The front facing blue lights are bright and make it easy to tell which direction the quad is pointed! The little 100Mah lithium battery will last a suprising 4-6 minutes depending on how aggressive you fly. You know when the battery is about to die when all the lights start to blink.
For Nano quads, this is one of the most stable out there. There are faster ones, but for an accurate and predictable flying nano quad, you can’t beat the ProtoX. Check out my other reviews for different sizes and performing quads.