A Quick Hello

[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.

[Rapidrory]

It should be theoretically possible to buy the entire electronic system for an ant for around £30:

Blade transmitter £13 + an Orange/LemonRx £5 + cheap servos (they'd need to be hacked for drive) ~£5 + a low cost signal mixer ~£1.50+ a cheap 2S Lipo ~£2 + a LiPo charger ~£3 (and a few £ for postage from HobbyKing)

Wouldn't be the best setup, but certainly one of the cheapest (For reference, I spent about £100 on mine )

[Hogi]

if you want to do a gear motor set up, you'll need: 2X geared motors, 2X motor housings, battery packs ( recommend 2 cell lipos but it depends on the battery plug and min/max voltage of your speed controller), reciever, transmitter, speed controller and wheels. a geared motor set up is far more expensive than a modified servo one and it requires soldering in most cases but it's deffinitely the most successful.

[Rapidrory]

At least the speed controller price should be coming down a bit when my NanoTwos start shipping *cough* shameless-plug *cough*

But yeah even so, a speed controller + gear motors + suitable wheels (you can easily make motor housings) are gonna cost about £30- £40, but it's what nearly everyone uses these days as it's a lot better (more controllable/ powerful) than hacked servos.

[terminaldamage]

When in reduced rate mode the red LED power light flashes.

That's interesting to know. I thought the red LED flashing indicated that the batteries were running low. Makes me wonder how many perfectly fine batteries I've thrown out at Scot-Bots events just because the rate switch was on

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

Fine for featherweights, but I seem to remember one of the EOs or tech-checkers saying that they wouldn't be keen on someone controlling a heavyweight with one of them. If anyone is planning on using one in a heavy, probably best just to run it past the EO first in any case.

I don't think 40mhz has any redeeming qualities.

Oh I dunno, I'm still quite partial to their telescopic aerials
The little stubby black ones just aren't as impressive, even if they're less likely to take someone's eye out.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Wonder if someone could make a little money selling decorative telescopic ariels for 2.4ghz sets?