Start of With a Beginner Quadcopter or Else...

Syma XC-5

Written by Will Hughes

Over the summer, I purchased my first quad-copter. It was the Syma XC-5 off of Amazon for 50 dollars. I wanted a cheaper drone for the purpose of learning to fly one and thought the Syma model would be only good for flying indoors and low wind days outside. Boy was I wrong...

For only 50 dollars, this drone flew very confidently in moderate wind conditions and was really easy to learn to fly! The system is very stable and once you get good at flying it, it has an advanced mode that allows you more control and permits flips to be done. The drone had a small moderate quality camera that recorded onto a micro SD card. It recorded video and pictures, however it did not have any FPV (first person view) capabilities during flight.

Not only was this drone apt to flying in harsher conditions than I had expected, it could sure take a beating which again makes it great for beginners! The drone has probably been dropped from 50-75 feet without power and I did not notice any visual damage to it. The drone is cheap enough where it is not worth fixing or buying replacement parts for. You are better off buying a new one if yours ever breaks.

Learning to fly the drone was hard at first. I am a fixed wing (airplane) flight instructor, so how I'm used to flying is very much different than how quad-copters and helicopters fly. If you start off wanting to learn to fly one, it is best to go to a large open field. I would also venture to say it is better to start off in the evening to night time so you can see the orientation lights better in case it runs off on you, and yes I know from personal experience...

The biggest lesson I learned from my first drone is that if you have a normal place you like to fly and practice patterns with it, be very cautious when you change from your normal spot. I had a park I would go to just about every day when I could find the time and I ALWAYS stood in the same spot when I flew my drone…until the day I lost it.

For some reason unknown to me, I decided to stand at the opposite end of the field one sunny windy afternoon to do patterns and landings. During my first pattern, I accidentally flew the drone in the opposite direction than I had intended and it just so happened to be directly in the sun. As a last ditch effort to get my drone to head towards me, I picked a random direction for it to fly. That day, I learned that I should not go to Las Vegas anytime soon, seeing that the 25% chance I had in picking the right direction was not in my favor.

Going full throttle in the wrong direction, my drone flew off into the sunset and soon did not respond to my controllers cries for it to turn around. I lost sight of it over a new housing development and never saw the poor drone again. On a positive note one lucky home owner just buying their new house will have a free drone included on their roof...or a broken window...