There’s something fascinating to me about flying toys. Okay, so technically this isn’t a toy, which is made very clear by the ‘THIS IS NOT A TOY’ warning plastered all over the user guide, but it is a toy. It’s one (not ‘the’) of the smallest quadcopters you can buy and according to an article I read late last year in PC Pro magazine it is controlled in a very similar manner to the high-end consumer quadcopters such as the DJI Phantom family of craft. Given that fact combined with the extremely low price of the H107C, it seems like it is the perfect introduction to the world of quadcopters for a complete beginner such as myself. So what is a quadcopter? Well, it’s like helicopter but with four rotors, hence the name. The developments in small scale gyro circuitry in recent years has caused quadcopter technology to leap forward – even budget models are capable of hovering level and stable all by themselves. But even with all of the advancements flying them is still not as straightforward as experienced pilots make it look.
Let’s start at the beginning and open the box. Inside you’ll find the quadcopter itself, a controller, a rechargeable battery, two sets of blades (one set already attached to the quadcopter), a charge cable (USB), blade removal tool, user guide, and strangely hidden underneath the plastic box inlay you’ll find a safety frame sellotaped. The very first thing I did was attach the safety frame. Not only does it protect your quadcopter blades against breakages during crashes, but if you plan to fly indoors then it is completely necessary in order to protect your walls, furniture, ornaments, photo frames, children, pets, or whatever else it is that your quadcopter decides to attack when you inevitably lose control. After charging the supplied battery and locating 4xAAA batteries for the controller, I sat down at a table and powered everything on. A word of warning for any other newbies: My supplied controller is known as ‘Mode 2′. That means that the left-hand stick controls the throttle and is adjustable up and down with the stick staying in the vertical position in which you leave it. The right-hand stick in contrast controls the elevator and aileron (which way the quadcopter leans in order to move it in a particular direction) and will always spring back to the centre position. My controller had been set up logically as a Mode 1 controller, so consequently when the controller and the quadcopter paired it flew straight up in the air, hit the ceiling dislodging one of the rotor blades causing it to spin wildly out of control all over the room. Oops. After setting the controller to Mode 2 things were a little easier. The quadcopter will take off and hover easily but it does require constant attention in order to keep it in the same place.
Here’s my first tip: buy the crash pack! The crash pack supplies you with four spare sets of rotor blades, which unless you are careful you will get through rapidly! It also gives you a spare chassis, two spare motors, two LEDs, spare rubber feet, and most importantly a spare battery. The battery life of the H107C is about 5 minutes, possibly longer if you don’t crash as often as I do. Each battery takes up to an hour to recharge (the manual says 30 minutes, I beg to differ). You need lots of batteries available or it’ll take you a long time to learn how to fly the thing. At the time of writing, I’ve probably only been through about 10 battery charge cycles which equates to less than an hour of flying experience. I only have two batteries and I could do with a couple more. The LEDs and motors will require some soldering skill to fit, but this is effectively an electronics hobby kit after all so time to learn!
Once you get the quadcopter outside with fewer walls and ceilings in the way, it’s mainly the wind you have to cope with. It’s very easy to flick the throttle and watch it zoom up into the sky, but it’ll very quickly get blown away if you’re not constantly tweaking it’s position. It’s also really easy to become disorientated trying to remember which way is forward especially if you’re performing turning moves. The H107 series also has an advanced flight mode which increases its sensitivity and allows preset stunts to be performed. I’ve not tested this at all because I’m still trying to get to grips with flying it in the basic mode!
The main selling point of the H107C over the slightly cheaper H107L is the inclusion of a camera. Now, there are currently two different versions of the H107C available: one with a 720P HD camera; another with a standard definition 480p camera. I went for the cheaper SD version because it’s only for learning purposes and I don’t plan to use it for filming anyway – the basic H107L cost £32, the SD H107C cost £38, whereas the 720P HD H107C cost £55. I figured the extra £6 was worth it just for the sake of seeing what it’s like. Video recording is to a microSD card (not included) which is inserted in the base of the quadcopter. You need to manually start and stop the video recording via a button next to the SD card slot. There is no facility to stream the video – I thought I’d explicitly say that now because I’ve read many disappointed comments from Hubsan customers expressing their concerns at the lack of that feature. Really, for this price you can’t expect that!
Anyway, after only a few practise sessions, I turned on the camera in order to demonstrate the quality of the on-board camera. It’s not brilliant by any means and very shaky, and you can’t see a lot of detail even when you do manage to keep the thing still, but it’s quite fun to view afterwards. It also records audio, but very quietly and all you can hear when you normalise it is the sound of the motors anyway.
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