TEST: Eachine Falcon 210 Pro

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

After the semi-fiasco of the Eachine Falcon 210, Eachine introduces here the Falcon 210 Pro not a simple bug fix revision, but more a new complete full design where the main leitmotiv was to gain the lost power versus the original EF210. One obvious possibility is the save weight while keeping more or less the same ingredients: 2204 motors, 20A ESC, 700 TVL camera, FlySky radio solution. In the other hand bye bye the OSD MWOSD board …. The RTF version can be still found with three choices of flight controller: CC3D/Naze32 and SPF3 board. I will review the SPF3 model.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Eachine Falcon 210 Pro (with a 3S 1500mAh LiPo with XT60)
+ 1 x Transmitter (using 4xAA batteries not included)
+ 1 x Bind plug
+ 1 x B3 Charger (2S & 3S capable)
+ 1 x 5.8G CloverLeaf antenna
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)

OVERVIEW

Compared to its major competitor, the Eachine Wizzard X220, they share more or less the same dimension. Now motors and individual ESC are installed on the upper structure. With the Pro version, no more a massive heaving feeling, it’s lighter for sure. At least with the pro version, a Cloverleaf antenna is directly given.

-FRONT VIEW
The general distance between the upper & lower plates have been reduced to around 25mm. Just enough to jail the PDB, the FC and the VTX elements. Both plates are linked with aluminium standoff

-SIDE VIEW
Each motor is protected by this green plastic element.

The main upper plate is 3K based with 3mm of thickness

The PDB, FC and the 200mW VTX are completly jailed into the two structures. Notice, main lead connexions are nearby the border… IMHO dangerous if we grab the quad without paying attention. Covering thems with some liquid electrical tape sounds for me an important precaution step

On the left side, by default, the antennas of the FLysky receiver are stupidely installed. You need aboluptly to attach them more vertically via zip-ties or heatshrink tubes

At least, it’s easy to connect the FC via the USB port, the SPF3 board is flipped of 90 degrees

All other UART ports are available

-REAR VIEW
The unique light are located on this read light bar. They indicates turnings (the two left lights or the two right lights are blinking red), the stopping (4 light solid red) and the foward mouvement (4 lights turns to green)

-UPPER VIEW
Since the 5″ props limits the central space, it’s a little bit tricky to connect the battery without contacts. The best option IMHO is to have the main lead wires installed front forming a kind of loop when plugged to the XT60 connector.

Similar to the Falcon 210, the Vband & Vfreq of the 40CH 200mW VTX can be set by long or short press the unique button of the VTX. 2 leds indicates the current band and freq respectively

Linked with the 5″ props choice, the upper HD camera support limits in practice the choice of camera you can install

33mm available ….. so no gopro, no runcam HD, no mobius

Only the Mobius Mini is compatible

The VTX connector is in SMA format

-BOTTOM VIEW
Like the Falcon 180, the lower plate structure is covered by a piece of foam…. Probably to protect, mainly to save some weight by decreasing the thickness of the lower plate

ESC are installed beneath and even not completly attached to each arm

Really bad design

The receiver installation is even worse The FlySky iA6 is installed/taped latterally due to the lack of free room inside the machine

In fact, they wanted to reuse the stock of remaining iA6 receiver using PWM connexion….. I am in shock …
More only 5 channels are connected. It means only 1 switch will be operational …. So assign more the 3-way position switch.

-WEIGHT

A total of 436g …. so close to 50g lighter than the former edition… it’s a huge improvement

Motors

The same 2204 motors 2300KV than the Falcon 180

We could expect some 2205 model like the last wizzard even if the extra thrust given by the 2205 is not really important

5mm of shaft section

5045 triblade props are given

LiPo

The same 1500mAh 3S LiPo than came with the original EF210, a basic 25C model. We could expect maybe a model with higher discharge rate.

Camera module

The 700 TVL CMOS camera is relatively well jailed into the structure. The lens orientation can be akusted from 0 degrees up to +35-40 degrees, great for agressive FPV flights

A tiny switch for the NTSC/PAL selection

Transmitter

A Flysky i6 rebranded by Eachine using the AFHDS-2A radio protocol The menu is locked by default.

To enter into it, with all switched up, press the two horizontal trims inner while powering the radio. Now you can enter into the menu by long pressing OK. It seems all parameters are the default factory ones. No failsafe done, and CH5 & CX6 are associated with the pot…. You need to assign the CH5 with the switch C to select your flight modes.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHTS

In term of practical feedbacks, if the first misssion of the Pro version was to boost thrust capacity, the objectif is fullfilled. Even in 3S carrying a small Mobius Mini cam, the EF210-Pro is much much more powerful. First disapointement is relative to the FPV cam…. The light sensitivity is poor and in cloudy conditions, the contrast between sky and ground surface is so poor than you are almost blind ….. Anyway, no jello is observed. The machine is really pleasant in acro, fun to fly with. With 6-axis stabilized flight mod, I observed with mine than versus time, the quad was drafiting to a random direction. This phoenomena can be even observed prop off, LiPo removed when connected to Betaflight…. when you can see little by little the quadcopter’s avatar spinning on itself. Probably a faulty gyro for my SPF3 board …. or the proximity of the PDB with high currents is creating EMI interferences. We can also regret the absence of the OSD informations previously included.

CONCLUSIONS

Well except to be a big fan of the Falcon’s serie, there are not objective reasons to pick up this model versus for example the Wizzard X220 or the RealAcc GX210. If the machine fixed the lack of power, the poor quality build and the general feeling that this machine is compiling all remaining elements of worst-seller Eachine’s machines is dominant. What is minimum missing around in the corner ? Some more efficient BLHeli_S ESC Dshot, a lighter and smaller FlySky SBUS receiver directly integrated into the frame and a buzzer. For being called “Pro”, a SPF3 board directly including Betaflight OSD would be a must.

PROS

+ Much more powerfull than the original EF210
+ SPF3 board
+ Betaflight 3.0.1
+ 436g (versus 485g for the EF210)
+ Oneshoot 125 & Damping light supported

CONS

– 6-axis stabilized flight mode drifting versus time for the SPF3 version
– Poor general building (ESC not attached, ect…)
– No possibility to install a GoPro, runcam HD or a mobius cam on the camera support
– PWM receiver installed outside
– Poor FPV camera light sensitbility
– Betaflight and transmitter settings not optimized
– No BLheli_S ESC
– No Buzzer
– No OSD

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude.
You can find it actually for 200USD at http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Falcon-210-Pro-CC3D-Naze32-F3-FPV-Racer-RTF-with-OSD-700TVL-CAM-5_8G-40CH-VTX-i6-Transmitter-p-1112637.html

Cet article TEST: Eachine Falcon 210 Pro est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!.

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