ARRIS X-Speed 250B V3 250 FPV Racing Drone Camera Drone RTF W/Flycolor Raptor 390 Tower 4-in-1 (30A ESC + F3 + OSD + PDB)

Hello all. I purchased this ARRIS X-Speed 250B 250mm Quadcopter Racer as my first drone. Maybe I shouldn’t have started off with a racer but that is the direction I want to go with drones. I would like to say I couldn’t be happier with the purchase. 1. Being this is my first drone I really appreciate that this drone was fully assembled and ready to fly. The only additional purchase I needed to make before flying was the batteries (and a battery charger). The drone will fly with any 3S or 4S battery and after reading a LOT of reviews I am still unsure which is best. I purchased a 2200mAh 3S 20C battery and a 1800mAh 4S 40C battery so far and believe I like the 1800mAh 4S 40C best of the two. Other than the batteries I just mounted the props and up it went. I did have to research how to mount the props so I have included a graphic to save you the time if your new like me. 2. The unit is very rugged – I have been in several crashes that I thought for sure would have busted it but there were only a few scratches. Obviously anything will bust with enough crashes but it has held up past my expectations. In addition to the rugged design the package included two extra props which I haven’t had to use yet. 3. All the parts on the quadcopter seem to be quality components. For starters, my experience so far with the RadioLink AT9 9-Channel 2.4GHz Transmitter + R9D Receiver has matched the great reviews I have read. The Transmitter is solid, has an incredible amount of features and with 9 channels you have more than enough switches to add aftermarket things like LED’s. Next, I appreciated the high powered, 20 AMP ESC’s they have added for the high speed 2300KV brushless motors. The flight controller on this drone is a SP Racing F3 which is an open source system you can download and configure with CleanFlight – very nice. The only part I will not comment on is the camera as I have not purchased a FPV viewer yet (but I plan to update this review when I do). I have also noticed that some reviews here on Amazon talk about different parts then I received with mine – this might be a recent upgrade.?. 4. Documentation is adequate however it was on a DVD rom instead of a printed manual. Much of the manual talks about configuration however this drone came fully assembled and configured. There is a nice video on the DVD as well shows a little of the setup and flight (understanding where the lock, self-level, and manual mode switch might be important). :) 5. The SP Racing F3 flight controller is setup to beep when the batteries are running low. This audible alarm can be adjusted to beep at different voltages which I did change to give me a little more flight time. In addition, after a bit of reading I found you can purchase a Radiolink PRM-01 Power Return Module which will send your battery voltage to your AT9 transmitter so you can set the alarms local to the transmitter which is in your hand. This PRM-01 module is plug and play and is especially handy if the drone is going to be out of hearing range. Quick note: I purchased a 22 in 1 RC Flight Simulator USB dongle & Cable for under $10 and loaded FPV Freerider for $5 to practice flying a simulator drone before destroying my real drone. This worked great with the RadioLink AT9 controller that came with the Arris XSP 250B. This helped more than I can say! ---- Review update 06/14/2016: Today I received my FatShark RC vision system, however, when trying to get the goggles to see the drone, I had no luck. I was 99% sure the problem was that the transmitter was transmitting on a channel the goggles couldn’t pick up, however, without knowing exactly what transmitter was on the drone then I didn’t know how to set the DIP switches and so I was up a creek. Finally, I removed the transmitter from the drone and peeled off the foam tape and plastic protection wrap to review the transmitter. In short, the transmitter is a Skyzone TS5823S 40CH 5.8G 200MW AV Transmitter Module. Once I knew this I was able to find the DIP switch settings on the web and, by flipping all the switches to off, the FatShark displayed the video. I have uploaded two new images showing the transmitter and DIP switch options and another image showing what I believe to be the camera used and chip sets. Review update 06/28/2016: Recently I created a FPV viewer for my android tablet. I wanted to used my existing android devices and simply buy an inexpensive 5.8G receiver and a capture device for input. I settled on purchasing a Eachine ER32 5.8G 32CH Wireless AV Mini FPV Receiver (Amazon ID: B017BFX3JQ). To see more information on this project, check out my review on this device. Review update 07/14/2016 Another option to FPV is the Tomlov F408 4.3" LCD 5.8G 32Ch FPV Monitor sold here on Amazon. It is inexpensive and is a great way to learn FPV flying before going to the goggles. There are several other companies selling the F408 FPV monitor – they seem to be all the same.

I really love this quad. I received it as a father's day gift. It is my first fpv quad, I had been flying micros and a udi for nearly a year. This thing is surprisingly quick and agile for how solid it is, and it can take a few flights to get used to its momentum after a maneuver. I have crashed it into a young tree while banking a turn a little wide, and i have also wiped on a tree branch and dropped 10' to pavement due to the battery coming loose (I came up with a really simple mod that I will detail later to fix this). Only slightly bent 2 aluminum rods, but otherwise still flies stably. Pretty solid construction! It shipped out in a box with a foam insert designed specifically for this frame which should be retained for future transport as pictured below. My only complaint is the documentation included is not clear on a handful of things. This isn't entirely a con because it encouraged (read: forced) me to read a a lot more about the hobby which left me much more informed on the subject. On the other hand, I wish I had something to detail the specs on the hardware on-hand. The flight controller and receiver are easy to find information on as they are labeled, but there is no info about the fpv transmitter so shopping for upgrades is going to be difficult.(I later found another review on this product with transmitter info) The flight controller is a fully configurable sp racing f3 acro that runs on cleanflight software which is free to download and install on any computer. Tons of online support can be easily found. The control AT9 transmitter is a pretty standard configurable 9 channel transmitter that boasts a 1.5 km range in the air. This should be more than adequate as flying out of sight requires special certifications in most regions. The joysticks are smooth and the switches are easy to reach. This quad only uses a few of the channels out of the box, leaving plenty of room for growth with other devices, the transmitter and receiver are universal so they can be used on any other model requiring up to 9 channels to control. Mounting the battery on top can be problematic as the upper carbon fibre plate edges are very sharp. I pulled a very sharp turn and the g-forces actually caused my battery strap to be cut on those edges. I had a 2$ pack of velcro handy and a spare battery strap. I lined the sharp edges to be contacted by the new strap with a piece of velcro wool. Then to help secure the battery, i added 1x1.5" patches of velcro hook to the top plate and corresponding wool on my batteries to help keep them from sliding free. I also remounted the 2.4 ghz RD9 receiver antenna out of the quad body for better range and antenna line-up using a stiff ziptie and used another piece of velcro to protect the antenna wire from rubbing on the outer edge of the upper CF plate. The 20A ESCs are more than adequate to handle the powerful motors, which according to their specs should only draw 12A of current under load. The over-sized ESCs will help protect themselves and the motors from burnout caused by a crash. This excellent and robust quad frame can be easily serviced as the individual frame components are purchasable separately. The arms will accommodate most motor bolt patterns and any of the electronic components can be replaced. I find that you will be hard-pressed to find a better machine for the money. Its modular nature will make it a great beginner model or flexible project for a pro.

Weekend warrior fly when I can, this is my 2nd arris after one was stolen from my car. First one took a beating and lasted a year(probably still alive today.....maybe...?) But after flying this one for only a month the flight controller failed during mid flight and it dropped like a rock... never crashed before.. got a little dirty and bent two props.. the body is ridged but I can’t say so much about electronics. Can’t open up in beta flight I sent a email to Arris support and haven’t heard back ( been 5days since failure and email) will update as process moves along... if ever.. The camera survived and so did the receiver but no LED on the board. Edit 1: Some how the customer service email was in my junk mail, Arris is sending me a new Flight controller, I will come back and do last edit on final thoughts after owning it for a bit longer. Shipping will take minimum of replacement 2 weeks so.. it will probably be awhile.