A Quick Hello

[haz]

2.4ghz is so much better than 40 meg. You bind the RX and TX together which removes all frequency clashes and crystals and all that. Never any blips or twitching on 2.4ghz.

[EpicentrE]

The simple answer is yes, 2.4ghz is far more reliable, longer range, and less prone (almost totally immune, in fact) to interference. It's also the most commonly used frequency nowadays across all RC gear, so it's much easier to find components, and it's the one which receives the most development time - including the incredibly micro receivers that some of us use, which I don't think have any equal in other frequencies. I don't think 40mhz has any redeeming qualities.

I've not used the blade myself, but there will be a way (normally a button or a series of actions) on the transmitter that puts it into "bind" mode, and something similar on the receiver. You put the transmitter into bind mode, then power up the receiver into bind mode, and after a few seconds they will find each other, and indicate that they are now bound to one another. The binding shall remain until you unbind/rebind one or the other.

[Rapidrory]

Hopefully my blade transmitter will arrive soon so i can work out and run you through the bind procedure (if someone else doesn't first). The £9.99 transmitter uses the DSM2 protocol, which means you'll need a receiver which uses DSM2 as well. Fortunately both the LemonRx and the OrangeRx are DSM2 so they should be fine. The other £12.99 transmitter uses DSMX, which works with both DSM2 and DSMX protocols, so as far as you're concerned i think the only difference is the price. The shipping on the LemonRx is £2, so one of them plus the cheaper blade transmitter should cost just over £15... Wish I'd known that when i started!

[Spaceman]

Has 2.4 ghz taken over in other weight classes also? Not that I wish to get to ahead of myself but its a bonus if the same gear can be used for other robots in the future.

[Rapidrory]

Yes, it's pretty universal now; i use a LemonRx in my featherweight. It's just a lot cheaper and waay more reliable than anything else now really. Though If you did start on a heavier weight class I would advise upgrading to a slightly more advanced transmitter; they're fine at the ant scale, but i don't know how well they'd do with safely controlling something bigger. Most people use 6 channel Spektrum Dx6i transmitters which are around £60 - £80... My Orange transmitter cost £35, but then had to pay the same again in postage as it's only sold in the US, so it came out about the same price in the end However i can use it on both my featherweight and antweight, plus it has a lot of really useful settings. You get what you pay for really..

[haz]

2.4ghz is mandatory in the larger weight classes. Probably not the blade though. A more legit spectrum transmitter like the dx6i etc mentioned above would be better.

[razerdave]

Ceri uses a Blade for Kaizer at the UK champs, so it's fine.

[peterwaller]

Just been looking at the labels on my Transmitters and the Spektrum DX6i ,DX5e and the Blade are all made by Horizon Hobby Inc.
If you want to bind a blade to an orange or lemon reciver you need to power up the receiver with the bind link then power up the blade transmitter with the left stick pushed in.
That is a slightly unusual thing on the Blade both sticks have a switch you can operate by pushing on the end of the stick.
The left as stated is for binding and the right toggles reduced control movement (rate switch) on and off. When in reduced rate mode the red LED power light flashes.

[Hogi]

the orange is an excellent transmitter, I use one for one of my ants. it's DSM2 compatable so it's good for using with a number of different recievers and it has a mix/un mix switch on the transmitter which eliminates the need for that function in the reciever or the speed controller. the trims on the orange are really easy to use and the settings are saved so you don't have to reconfigure the trims every time you turn the robot on like you do on the planet 5 i'd deffinitely recommend it.

[Spaceman]

This is all great info. I have ordered on of the 13 pound blades off ebay and will prob get a tx soon.
Its helpfull to know the pairing info for the blade so thankyou.