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Author Topic: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.  (Read 2536 times)

rob

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F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« on: March 20, 2017, 02:55:07 pm »

ive no connection to Ripmax other than as a customer, and the rep has just told me that the F14 is once again listed in their catalogue.
All accesories for it ( other than the helical aerial ) as well , and not just on 40meg but 2.4 as well. Good news as far as I am concerned.
No plans for the computerised F16 though.
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timg

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2017, 03:13:54 pm »

Hi Rob
That's good news ,hope the quality is the same .
I never use any of the additional functions of my computer set.


Spud
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rob

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2017, 05:12:41 pm »

I was assured that it was exactly the same as before, other than it is now branded Futaba rather than Robbe
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cos918

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2017, 09:17:48 pm »

Can not see why they bother . I have several F14 and they are a good 8 ch radio . Once you start adding modules not switches the price sky rockets . For the money they are quoting a FrSky Tranaus X9e will knock the socks off it . The world have moved on a long way since the F14 was launched .
I think the helical aerial was never an offical robbe  part
John
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rob

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2017, 09:44:13 pm »

Mine had ROBBE  printed on it, bought at Westbourne Models long before the current problems.
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2017, 12:21:46 am »

The helical aerial was an official Robbe item. It would reduce the effective range of the set by about 25% though. Not a major issue in either a surface boat, or probably even a submarine. We don't run them that far 'off shore' usually, they are a pretty small thing to keep track of at a distance.
In the debate over F14 or more modern budget sets, I would still go F14. I have recently commissioned a corvette model and needed the flexibility offered by the internal layout of this style of set. I am currently using the FC16 Boat and Truck variant, which is much the same beast with a few extra bells and whistles. I had the option of this or a 2.4G option, but I cannot get over the 'cheap quality' aspect of these types of set. Looking on various forums, the quality control on some of these strangely well respected sets is dodgy to say the least. So, the suppliers replace faulty units, which is great. But what if the fault manifests itself while the model is in use? Not such an issue with a slow, scale model, but, given the choice, I will always opt for quality over economy. Only today I was idly browsing through the no1 online store for RC stuff, looking for brushless options for a U-Boat. Great search engine, took me straight to a fairly expensive motor by some mayhemmers standards. Checking the six reviews, one bought three motors and one of the three didn't work, one had duff bearings out of the box, and the other four were glowing reports about the motor. So that is two out of eight not working, not very scientific and full of holes as a theory, but then so is the blind belief that cheap is always best. Best advice, buy the best that you can afford, but do your research first.
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TomHugill

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2017, 10:00:52 am »

The helical aerial was an official Robbe item. It would reduce the effective range of the set by about 25% though. Not a major issue in either a surface boat, or probably even a submarine. We don't run them that far 'off shore' usually, they are a pretty small thing to keep track of at a distance.
In the debate over F14 or more modern budget sets, I would still go F14. I have recently commissioned a corvette model and needed the flexibility offered by the internal layout of this style of set. I am currently using the FC16 Boat and Truck variant, which is much the same beast with a few extra bells and whistles. I had the option of this or a 2.4G option, but I cannot get over the 'cheap quality' aspect of these types of set. Looking on various forums, the quality control on some of these strangely well respected sets is dodgy to say the least. So, the suppliers replace faulty units, which is great. But what if the fault manifests itself while the model is in use? Not such an issue with a slow, scale model, but, given the choice, I will always opt for quality over economy. Only today I was idly browsing through the no1 online store for RC stuff, looking for brushless options for a U-Boat. Great search engine, took me straight to a fairly expensive motor by some mayhemmers standards. Checking the six reviews, one bought three motors and one of the three didn't work, one had duff bearings out of the box, and the other four were glowing reports about the motor. So that is two out of eight not working, not very scientific and full of holes as a theory, but then so is the blind belief that cheap is always best. Best advice, buy the best that you can afford, but do your research first.


Conversely I've had load of brushless motors, ESC and a 9x and 9xr pro from hoobyking and only one dodgy esc out of the many things I've bought. 
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TomHugill

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2017, 10:02:07 am »

I don't know about cheap aspect, they're very high quality sets with bearing gimbles etc
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unbuiltnautilus

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2017, 03:23:09 pm »

I know what you mean about the gimbles etc.
It has become more difficult to distinguish 'old guard' quality over the new kids on the block. certainly up until recently, the best way to judge some of these new far eastern imports was via the comments and reviews posted about them. the problem with that, everyone is pursuing some sort of agenda, if a noble cause or not, it is difficult to see the wood for the trees.
I will say that some of the modern budget sets seem to have come of age, forcing people like Futaba to start producing product of a competitive price, we have a Futaba 6 channel set due in April for £79.99, it's not a computer set, but it has Futaba written on it.
I didn't want to 'diss' the budget sets for the sake of it, it just riles me up when I feel I am being preached to, know what I mean %)
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tsenecal

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Re: F14 on 40meg or 2.4.
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2017, 08:21:51 pm »

there are basically 3 advantages that the new equipment has over the old, as far as i am concerned...


1) price.  I own a Frsky Taranis x9d, one of the best chinese radios currently available.  it is functionally equivalent to a spektrum dx9 or a futaba 10ja (FHSS).  That includes the level of quality of the components.  price of Taranis?  $200, spektrum? $450, futaba? $320...  the futaba replaces a 10cg (FASST) .. which was listed at $550 until just recently.


2) digital trims...   models like the Robbe/Futaba f14.. and family, all the way up to the FC-28 (which i own) have analog trims.  this drives me nuts...  the FC-28 has enough model memory for 32 different models, but with analog trims, when i switch from model "A" to model "B", i still need to screw with the trims to get everything "right"...  digital trims don't have that problem...


3) telementry...  i can tell when my submarines are going to lose radio contact before that contact is lost... no more loss of control... i can avert disaster before it happens.   I can also tell when batteries are low, or motor/esc/battery is running hot.   i can also tell exactly how deep the sub is running.   for boats, if it really matters (and it doesn't) i can get GPS coordinates as well... which over time gives me accurate speed and direction.


outside of those 3 points, there really is no advantage over getting a new toy vs keeping the old toy.  the Frsky Taranis also supports as many as 32 servos spread across 2 receivers, so for those of you with lots of r/c functional accessories (winches, lights, etc) then you no longer need to buy the pricy expanders that robbe loved to sell.
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