21-02-2024, 12:17 PM
Thanks to several posts on the PRCAC whatsapp, I now have seen an amazing comparison of major radio brands. This video is a big deal, given no comparison of this quality has ever been posted, AFAIK. It was posted in Aug 2023.
The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LargnWPSX04
It was made by a Canadian blog: https://www.thelightersideofrc.com/shop
The comparison included Futaba, Spectrum, Frsky (tested with single band 2.4 Ghz rx, and a dual band rx (2.4 Ghz, 900 mhz)), Jeti (4 rx types), Radiomaster (boxer and Tx16s running elrs), JR, and an obscure radio brand, Powerbox.
The test was a severe one with txs and rxs at ground level, given that it is well known RC links improve when planes are in the air. When the rx was driven 1 km from the tx at home base there was a dip in the road, and within a further 500m all the radios had glitches except the Radiomaster at 250 mw and 100mw power, and the Frsky with dual band rx. After driving past this depression in the road many radios did not recover a signal on the gentle incline up a hill (Spectrum, Futaba, JR, Powerbox). The ones that did recover were Frsky (single band), Jeti (all rx types), and RM at 25mw power (see attached results).
At around 5km the top of the gentle incline up a hill was reached, and on the other side of this hill all the radios soon lost signal: Frsky at 5.7 km from base, RM (250 mw) 6.6km, and the RM 100mw and 25mw at 5.7 km.
RM/elrs was the clear winner, even though it was placed at a disadvantage because RM's (arguably) best feature - dynamic power - was not used in the test. In second place was Frsky Tandem dual band; its interesting that the difference between Frsky single band and dual band was apparent. At PRCAC, I found that Frsky dual band (2.4 and 900) gave no control glitches while single 2.4 band rxs had glitches. I sold my Frsky Tandem X20 2 months ago.
RM's win is more remarkable because it is priced lower than the other big name radios, and compared to Jeti, Futaba and Spectrum, much lower.
The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LargnWPSX04
It was made by a Canadian blog: https://www.thelightersideofrc.com/shop
The comparison included Futaba, Spectrum, Frsky (tested with single band 2.4 Ghz rx, and a dual band rx (2.4 Ghz, 900 mhz)), Jeti (4 rx types), Radiomaster (boxer and Tx16s running elrs), JR, and an obscure radio brand, Powerbox.
The test was a severe one with txs and rxs at ground level, given that it is well known RC links improve when planes are in the air. When the rx was driven 1 km from the tx at home base there was a dip in the road, and within a further 500m all the radios had glitches except the Radiomaster at 250 mw and 100mw power, and the Frsky with dual band rx. After driving past this depression in the road many radios did not recover a signal on the gentle incline up a hill (Spectrum, Futaba, JR, Powerbox). The ones that did recover were Frsky (single band), Jeti (all rx types), and RM at 25mw power (see attached results).
At around 5km the top of the gentle incline up a hill was reached, and on the other side of this hill all the radios soon lost signal: Frsky at 5.7 km from base, RM (250 mw) 6.6km, and the RM 100mw and 25mw at 5.7 km.
RM/elrs was the clear winner, even though it was placed at a disadvantage because RM's (arguably) best feature - dynamic power - was not used in the test. In second place was Frsky Tandem dual band; its interesting that the difference between Frsky single band and dual band was apparent. At PRCAC, I found that Frsky dual band (2.4 and 900) gave no control glitches while single 2.4 band rxs had glitches. I sold my Frsky Tandem X20 2 months ago.
RM's win is more remarkable because it is priced lower than the other big name radios, and compared to Jeti, Futaba and Spectrum, much lower.