TEST: Tovsto Falcon 210

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The Tovsto Falcon 210 is a new brushless racer clearly copying the Walkera F210 design, especially the tall central section with strong vertical lights. In the menu, a we have F3 board with an OSD but it’s not a builtin one, some strong 30A individual ESC oneshot 125 capable, a 40CH 5.8G 25mW/200mW VTX and a basic 540TVL CMOS camera. The bundle comes in RTF edition so with a transmitter based on the FlySky AFHDS-2A solution. Let’s inspect this new racer.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Tovsto Falcon 210
+ 1 x Transmitter (using 4xAA batteries not included)
+ 1 x 3S 1500mAh 25C LiPo with XT60 connector
+ 1 x Charger
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Screwdriver
+ 1 x Allen key
+ 1 x SBUS receiver cable
+ 1 x PWM receiver cable
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

OVERVIEW

The Falcon 210 is effectively a 210mm brushless racer. Here are all the spécifications.

ESC are some faircolor Raptor 30A…. with a peak to 40A. so no problem to support 4S LiPo. Unfortunatly, the processor is a bit old and only oneshot125 is supported… No BLheli_S/Dshot 600…. More no betaflight OS is installed in the F3 board but an old Cleanfight version (1.2.4)…. Clearly, we have a direct indications that the electronics elements are based on the a 1-1.5 years conpounds. Anyway, if it’s well setup, it’s a not big drama.

For the frame, we have 3mm 3K carbon arms… so relatively strong

and 2mm for the main lower frame.

-FRONT VIEW
The signature of the Falcon 210, the vertical aligned front lights and this thin main central section

They are strong enought for LOS flight in daylight conditions.

-SIDE VIEW

The microUSB port is located on the right side

-REAR VIEW

-UPPER VIEW

The battery tray is long enough to welcome the 1500mAh 3S of course, but a 2000/2200mAh can be probably installed. There is also enough freeroom vertically for 4S LiPo.

A buzzer is here …. but the main problem, there are only two switches on the radio… and we would need a third AUX to assign it to the buzzer.

Another con point… both 2.4G antennas are completly jailed into the main central structure… and the out of the box range will be deeply limited and it’s not negligeable since the failsafe default behaviour is not perfect.

-BOTTOM VIEW

-WEIGHT

A total of 478g for the machine

Motors and props

2204 motors announced to spin @2500Kv. No specific mark on motors..

5mm shaft section

LiPo

No specific indication on the 3S LiPo announced to be a 1500mAh with 25C of discharge rate.

Camera module

A super basic 540TVL CMOS camera… with a 120 degrees FOV. A bad surprize out of the box. The lens can’t be oriented… it’s blocked at -5degrees !!!!!

Don’t panic, as shown in the video, two screws blocking the camera mount must be removed first.

5.8G FPV rig

Located on rear part of the left side, a six position microDIP switche select the Vfreq (for the fist three) and one of the 5 supported Vband with the last three one

Just on the right, there is a small hole where a jumper is pre-installed turning the VTX output power by default to 25mW. If you remove it, the VTX is turned into 200mW. For the 200mW setting, the combinaisons of te DIP switches are given in the following table.

Be aware, by default in 25mW, the 25mW list table is partially false….

Transmitter

The same transmitter chassis used for the Tovsto aegan model. The large central button is used to arm/disarm motors. The 3-way shoulder switch selects the flight modes: angle/horizon and acro. All other buttons are not seen in cleanflight so maybe internally not connected and/or the Flysky receiver is only a 6CH.

4xAA batteries are required but Ni-Mh rechargeable are working with the radio.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine comes with Cleanflight 1.2.4 so eaither you flash directly a new firmware release or you must install the older CF configurator.
You can find attached a dump of the Tovsto_Falcon_210. With the default settings, the failsafe behaviour is not yet perfect… when the transmission is lost, the motors continues to spin but at low speed …. so yes the machine will land almost immediatly. You can ajust the drop setting in CF. The selected flight modes are: angle (position 1) , horizon (position 2) and acro (position 3). No real PID optimization is done. The OSD can’t configurator via the SPrading board… it’s an independant module dialoging with the FC via the MSP of the UART2. Be aware, the flight controlled is rotated of 90 degrees. Only two AUX channels are seen in cleanflight… no possibility to manipulate the buzzer standalone.

In the field, with the default 3S LiPo, the machine is responsive but not incredibly beasty… No miracle for a 478g machine powered with only a “25C” battery. If you need agressive performances, install a 1500mAh 4S/40C battery… no problem for ESC & motors to handle this power. With the default CF settings, the machine is really super smooth …. turns well. No jello/oscillations can be noticed..; It’s impressive. The FPV signal is quiet good for a simple 540TVL model. Maybe shadowed zones can be better handles with a more sensitive sensor. Generally speaking, the machine is very fun to flies, recommanded for a beginner who want a first brushless racer. Out of the box is working well. Flight time is in average is about 4mins.

Tested without problem with 4S LiPo. The top canopy is just a bit more harder to clip on the O-rig but it’s possible.

A step by step video how to install betaflght and how to flash the last BLheli firmware. Unfortunatly no support of DShot600.

CONCLUSIONS

To be honest, after the fist contact with this machine with this blocked FPV camera, I was not so optimistic in general… but it takes 2min to fee the camera. another 1min to install in a better location 2.4G antennas and an extra one to configure perfectly the failsafe. After these minor ajustements, paradoxally the Falcon 210 is pretty fun machine extermely well tuned out of the box in term of flight performances. More it’s absolubtly jellofree. A good RTF brushless racer to start “real” FPV racing. More it can be used in 4S setup.

PROS

+ Strong frame
+ 30A ESC 4S compatible
+ Super smooth machine and well tuned out of the box
+ Nice FPV machine
+ Jellofree machine
+ SPracing F3
+ Switchable VTX output power (25mW/200mW)
+ OSD
+ Strong front lights

CONS

– Camera orientation blocked out of the box
– Old electronic and OS
– Failsafe not perfectly configured out of the box
– 2.4G antennas jailes into the carbon structure
– Not beasty in 3S
– VTX frequency list table false for the 25mW mode
– No extra switch for the buzzer
– No easy OSD setting ajustement via USB

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by RCmoment 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 299USD at https://www.rcmoment.com/p-rm8029us.html

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

View the full article