On the Bench: iFlight Helion 10 

LOL... yeah. I thought the same thing. I am not exactly a speed demon to listen too.

I love your cells for long range. In my opinion, they are the best Li-Ion packs on the market. So far I have been getting great flight times on the red 5600mah packs. For me, these have a great capacity to weight ratio for larger long range birds.

I had to register it with DJI, as is usual with any of their FPV systems.

@@AboveTheBigSky I received a Geprc mark5 and never had anything to register. idk

Hello Peter. that's quite an order of questions, but I am happy to offer my thoughts. Here are my answers in the order of your questions (1 through 5) 1. The GPS assisted stability you find in the Avata or DJI FPV drone (similar to a Mavic, etc.) is not capable in FPV setups like freestyle or long-range drones (the Helion included). The closest thing you will find to this would be to switch to Angle mode when landing or taking off. So you understand, Angle mode is a stabilized setting that can be enabled in Betaflight that will use the IMU in your flight controller to maintain level flight during hover (generally controlled by an assigned switch on your controller). This does not, however, use the GPS to maintain a position, and the drone will still drift with the wind and slight stick inputs. Therefore, you are still making constant stick corrections to maintain the horizontal and vertical position of the drone. Honestly, after you have flown Acro mode long enough, you will forget about switching to another mode for landings and takeoffs. Trust me. 😏 2. The simple answer is No. The altitude limit you experience in an off-the-shelf DJI drone is baked into their factory flight controller. The Blitz F7 flight controller on board the Helion does not contain these limitations and will allow you all the freedom you want. Also, to increase long-range dependability, you would want to choose a control system that utilizes Express LRS or TBS Crossfire. With either of these radio configurations, you will decrease the chances of failsafe and have a ton of confidence in your link with the drone. Your DJI Controller 2 is good, but it will not match the range and reliability of these other protocols. 3. If you have a great charger that accurately maintains the cells while charging, you will have no issue with your FPV batteries. There is a learning curve with charging these batteries that may intimidate a new user, but there is a ton of information out there (and a million RU-vid videos) regarding proper charging procedures for LiPo and Li-Ion batteries. You will pick it right up. Regarding flight time… on my 5600mah Dark Lithium packs I get around 15 to 20 minutes on either my Chimera 7 or the Helion. Admittedly, I have never tried to run one to the max battery discharge (I really don’t like crashing). I will make sure I am back home at around 3.0 or 3.2 volts per cell on my Li-Ion packs and I never go below 3.5 volts per cell on my LiPo packs. 4. First, the interface and overall experience will be somewhat different when you change from using your goggles with the Avata to a FPV drone like the Helion. You will still be able to make modifications within the goggles to your display settings, channels, etc., but your ability to change rates and adjust your camera angle will be gone. You may not be aware, but adjustable camera angle is not a standard to the FPV systems that we fly… it is a DJI feature exclusive to their drones. You will have to get used to a fixed camera (in my opinion that is a good thing). Also, your display during flight will become much more robust as you will now have full Betaflight OSD overlaid on your screen. It is a much better experience in my opinion. As far as flight characteristics… you will be using Betaflight configurator to make tuning adjustments to your drone via PC. 5. My feelings about the Chimera 7 and Helion? They are both wonderful FPV drones. Both are very predictable, stable, and reliable. I fly both with a lot of trust and expectation as iFlight builds a great bird that is, more importantly, tuned VERY WELL. As it sounds like you are unfamiliar with Betaflight and general FPV drone setup (non-DJI). I would recommend tuning into a few RU-vid channels that will have some great content for general education regarding the basics of it all. There is a lot to it, but you will be surprised at how fast you learn it. @JoshuaBardwell has a channel that will have all the best content to help you out. www.youtube.com/@JoshuaBardwell 🙂✌

Thanks! A landing plate... I did not know there was such a thing.

Great idea! Have you had any power loss issues from the usb port? Of course, you may not know unless your RID logs start/stop events.

@@AboveTheBigSky not that i am aware of.

Binding the goggles to the air unit?

Bardwell has a great tutorial to bind goggles 2 to the O3 air unit... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OuJhWgNnplo.htmlsi=acND7k6etwyqTST0

@@AboveTheBigSky many thanks. Much appreciated

Not as of yet... weather permitting I will try it this weekend and maybe release a short video.

I haven't flown it in high winds. But I assume it will do as well as my Chimera 7, which has a lot better wind resistance than my 5 inch. Search around youtube a bit, and im sure you'll find someone that has had it out in the wind and can comment on it with more certainty.

Effortlessly Jess... Effortless 😁

​@@AboveTheBigSkyawesome .

​@@AboveTheBigSkyhave a happy new year

@@hyoh-wu you too old buddy

Greetings! Like you, I fly both as well. As an FPV pilot, you know that the Mavic 3 Pro wont give you that sense of uninhibited flight that FPV offers. However, the Mavic will give you some of the best imagery available (that is a killer camera for sure!). My thought is that there is always room for both (if you can afford it 😉). There have been times that I have combined footage from a camera drone with FPV to get some varying perspectives... together they really make cool content. Camera and FPV drones live in parallel universes... and each will do things the other won't. So I guess it comes down to personal choice. Thanks!

Dji is only for kids. Because flying dji's drones is very very bored.

I like the end of the battery to match the end of the chassis. Sort of squared up on the battery mounting foam. I haven't had any jello issues thus far.

@@AboveTheBigSky thanks for the reply! That isn't how most drones are so I wish they had told me that!

@@AboveTheBigSky thanks for the reply! i tried that yesterday and i still had really bad jello only when hovering or going slow. If i go fast it goes away. 5600mah lipo mounted like you said. Although i only see the jello on gopro, not O3 air unit.... Any other tips how to fix this?

@CRAGLORD If you are a Facebook user, find the Team iFlight FPV page and search for the Helion, Betaflight 4.5 post by Ellis Van Jason (he is a technician with 2RAW). In his post, he talks about the jello issue... specifically that they have not encountered it themselves, so they would like to talk to those pilots who are experiencing it. Also... you may want to try the BF 4.5 update as directed in his post. There is a chance that it will fix your issues. The folks at 2RAW are putting out some great customer support.

@@AboveTheBigSky holy crap! That's exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much ill do all the steps on the fb post. I never would have found that page without you!!

I had to translate this... LOL. I am sorry, but I don't think I can help you out.

Sounds like me

Its the same ESC that is in my Chimera 7 and I havent had any issues with it in nearly 2 years of use. That said, it is worthy of some more research on my end. I am not an ESC guru by any means.

@@AboveTheBigSky That ESC will be fine. Generally speaking, The 7 inch and 10 inch will be more efficient and will draw less amps than a 5 inch.

​@@William_NSyes people don't realize how over rated escs are ie: the drone usually doesn't get close to what the esc is rated for

Lol, you fly LiIon batteries with this, rated 40 amps, the esc is 5 times higher rated.

@@robert-gille The continuous rating on 4-in-1 escs is ridiculous... the designers know that your battery isn't going to provide that kind of current... unless you're flying it on a 10" with a huge battery.... lol So, no ripping with a lipo?? They should state that outright in the product description... I already know that based on the inadequate esc, of course, but I'll bet many purchasers of the product don't and are gonna burn those things up. I hope not, though - losing a big quad due to electronics failure is demoralizing and bad for the hobby.