TEST: EACHINE E56

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The Eachine E56 is a new basic WiFi brushed quadcopter with foldable arms “à la” Zerotech Dobby/DJI spark. Versus other Eachine E5x’s serie, we have as novelty a 720p WiFi FPV camera module for a more precize video feedback and a new type of remote where the pitch and roll are controlled via a builtin IMU-gravity sensor integrated in the radiocommand. Let’s discover this basic WIFi camera machine dedicaced for beginners.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Eachine E56
+ 1 x Transmitter (using 2xAAA batteries not included)
+ 1 x 500mAh 1S proprietary LiPo
+ 1 x USB charging cable
+ 2 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Screwdriver
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

The E56 comes with a nice transportation bag… a nice gift for such cheap quadcopter machine

OVERVIEW

The E56 is a 170mm machine unfolded. The main structure is based on thin, hard a bit “cheapy” plastic… probably a recycled one.
When folded, the machine is 130mm long. It’s super easy to fold/unfold it. There are some “clics” blocking the arms in open position. No real risk mid-flight to have an accidental arm refolding.

Important, the appz “EACHINE FLY” directly available in Google play is not working. You must QRscan the one given in the instruction manual.

-FRONT VIEW

The front side welcomes two large white LED lights

They are brigth enough to keep well your orientation in daylight conditions and for night flights too.

When folded, the E56 is compact and easy to park in the transportation bag

-SIDE VIEW

-REAR VIEW

-UPPER VIEW

A unique power button installed on top. Press more than 3s to turn on/off the machine.

We can guess brushed motors installed inside arms horizontally

-BOTTOM VIEW

The battery tray is optimized for the proprietary battery

with a 3 pads connectors comon with some Hubsan’s batteries.

To attach the battery install it first in the lower position then push it up until you can hear a click

-WEIGHT

85.2g in total

Motors and props

Brushed motors are install horizontally and for maintenance, you will need to split in two the machine. No possibility to open arm individually. Unfortunatly, no ballbearing or bushing are installed in the motor’s shaft section. It means the friction must be controlled very often to avoid to kill motor rapidely.

Props are locked by a central screw

LiPo

A 500mAh 1S cell LiPo is jailed into a proprietary casing.

In practice, it’s easy to swap the internal LiPo if you can’t find official spare batteries

Camera module

A basic sensor with unfortunatly as usual a narow field of view

At least it’s possible to downtilt the lens

Transmitter

The main originatly of the E56. A wii remote style controler with a builtin gyro controlling the pitch & roll, renplacing the right stick of a normal radio. The unique jostick controls the throttle and the yaw…. like the left stick as for a normal radio.
I regret there is not way to attach a smartphone of this radio….

With the four panel buttons, we have an emergency stop button killing immediatly motors…. a must to have when leaning to control with such new radop. There is an headless mode and the it’s possible to turn on/off the lights. To arm/desarm the machine you have to click on the central secion of the joystic. Three speed modes are available with proportional yaw command.

2xAAA batteries feed the transmitter. Rechargeable Ni-Mh works with

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS AND DEMO FLIGHT

So after installing the working appz release, the FPV feedback offers a crisp 720p image with more or less correct and non-staturated colors. More light sensitivity is also correct to handle shadowed zones. It’s a major improvement versus older E5x’s camera model. When the auto take-off button is pressed, the machine hovers at 40-50cm of altitude. The altitulde hold is really efficient even in presence of wind. The control with the gyro takes a couple of minute to be understood…. No delay in the pitch and rolls cammands can be observed… but sometime you need to bend a lot the wrist to apply the opposite previous mouvement. It’s a bit more ticky when the camera is facing to you…. and I really regret the absence of a specfic selfie drone flight mode. At least you have a headless mode available….. and similar controls can be obtained with the headless mode.

The 720p fpv link offers a maximum of 13-15fps even at close distance and the latency is minimym of 0.3s. Flight time offers a solid 6min. THe machine looses a lot of power at the end of battery even before the LVC alarm. So IMHO the machine should be flew with a timer to be sure to not damage the LiPo. In windfree/indoors conditions, the machine offers relatively stable videos but a a poor frame rate since there is no possibility to record in 720p video directly from the quadcopter.

CONCLUSIONS

Probably the most interesting Eachine WIFi FPV machine with a good 720p link up to 30m and correct flight time. The G-sensor brings something new… easy to control but not simplying much more the controls versus a normal transmitter. To be even more interesting, the E56 should include a lens with a wider FOV.

PROS

+ 720p WiFi video signal
+ Easy control with the G-sensor controller
+ Stable machine
+ Efficient altitude hold
+ Foldable arms
+ Strong front lights
+ Transportation bag

CONS

– No selfie flight mode
– No ballbearings
– Proprietary battery
– No really more easy controls than with a real two sticks radio
– Narow field of view

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 46USD at https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-E56-720P-WIFI-FPV-Selfie-Drone-With-Gravity-Sensor-Mode-Altitude-Hold-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1187787.html

Cet article TEST: EACHINE E56 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!.

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