Hey everyone,

For all those just starting out in RC as a hobby, what flight controller do you think would be good for someone new to the hobby? Some that can get them to start flying and learning how to fly? Building from scratch is a lot of fun however I think it can also get frustrating because if you can't tune your build to fly properly it can be discouraging.

I this would help me and I'm sure help others new to RC.

Thanks in advance. Special thanks to Oscar for this forum.

I started with a Naze32 Rev5 and I still use it now. I installed Cleanflight on it which is easy to use and has very good documentation if you get stuck. Once I have new speed controllers I am trying out Betaflight which the Naze should handle as well. So overall a very good flight controller, popular and cheap to buy.

I use the Flip32.  It's a Naze clone (cheaper) and works well for me.  Keep in mind, that if you want baro/compass and/or GPS (for things like "altitude hold" or "return to home"), you will need to get the "full" or "+" versions of these, or choose some other board that supports those.

Also consider your soldering skills.  You will sometimes have the option of getting a board with all pins, and/or appropriate sockets installed.  For example, I use a spektrum satellite Rx and the flip has a nice socket preinstalled for that.

Good luck and welcome!
Scotty

BTW, if you haven't checked out Oscar's blog, there's a wealth of information there: https://oscarliang.com/best-flight-contr...ex-copter/

Thanks Hamster and SloScotty! I will read oscarsblog not sure if I read that one. Would you mind posting a link of the Naze 32 I should be buying? I read somewhere one of the hairdos had a diode missing which in turn was arming the esc or something to that effect.

Should I go with the rev 5? I would like to get a board that at least self levels and I can learn to fly from there.

Thanks for your help

You can buy it from Hobbyking:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...oller.html

You should also consider buying a F3 board, since F1 is a little bit old..

Or get a cc3d and run betaflight on it. My old cc3d now runs faster than my spf3 thanks to new code implementing spi gyro.

If heading down the CC3D route, I actually recommend the CC3D REVO mini's.
Cost is in the ~$45 range, but its a F4 with so much capability to grow with... baro, mag compass, gps-capable, etc....
Its a tiny 5g "rectangular" case that can mount anywhere.

It uses any of the same GCS software as the normal CC3D's or other FC's.  But I suggest looking at the Taulabs/dRonin firmware.

Taulabs/dRonin has autotune (even works on the non-REVO F1 CC3D's).  The autotune process determines the PID values automatically, and its quite good.  (google it, and youtube the autotune process!)

I'm flying two F1 CC3D mini (and setting up a F4 CC3D REVO mini) dRonin sub-250g quads and I have no idea how to manually tune PID's!  (not a proud thing, just don't have the flight time to do manual PID tuning!)

I got cc3d before, I had a lot of trouble putting betaflight on it. You'll need to short the boot pads every time and use serial connections every time you need to upgrade the firmware. I'd say get flip32 if you are running cleanflight.

If you are new to everything, get naze3210dof, it'll have magnometer and barometer to help you autolevel.

(25-Apr-2016, 11:27 PM)trojanGoat Wrote: I got cc3d before, I had a lot of trouble putting betaflight on it. You'll need to short the boot pads every time and use serial connections every time you need to upgrade the firmware. I'd say get flip32 if you are running cleanflight.

If you are new to everything, get naze3210dof, it'll have magnometer and barometer to help you autolevel.

True that they are a little more finicky to flash, I was just commenting on their newfound performance. Regarding just pure race performance, my cc3d outperforms my spf3 now.

But flashing Betaflight isn't difficult. Boris is still making bin files for it you can flash in Librepilot. To connect to Cleanflight configurator just plug in the USB only far enough to get the LEDs lit on the cc3d. Count to ten then plug it in all the way. Just a tip in case anyone hasn't already heard.

Thanks everyone, appreciate all the info.