FrSky X18S Dual Band Ethos Radio Review - Its Hard Not To Like!
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- čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
- FRSKY X18S Dual Band Ethos Radio For ACCESS,ACCST & Tandem.
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In a parallel universe, FrSky got along just fine with the OpenTx developers and continued to help fund their software efforts. In that universe, there is no EdgeTx and there is no Radiomaster. Alas, this is not that universe...
for several reason FrSky has started to stall big times from 2019 onwards
they can do whatever they want but I will not get one of their products again. They were those who had forced me to buy from AliExpress for the very first time for an amount above 300€ cause FrSky had banned the Jumper Radios in 2019 from all my dealer shelves.
Every single one had the same reply: if we sell Jumper the supplies by frsky would no longer be there.
Now 33% of our local shops have disappeared during Covid and the other 2 have grown a lot, but now FrSky is no longer there, Times have changed, cause they sell in that price point other radios that do not dictate the dealers what they can sell or not.
I have sold all my FrSky radios during Covid for good prices, 3 or 4 radios, 1 brand new and also 3 new receivers. Also all sensors have been sold.
Our big shop sells now Yeti and another brand they have accuired from china but with a uniqe shell with very nice and valuable touch and feel.
And it looks like yeti is developing also a radio in that sub 500€ price segment where FrSky has gone with Ethos
Your big shop sells "Jeti."
You know, I hadn't spoken to Ian in about a year, and when I wrote him I did mention to him that I knew that I would see this comment because I've seen it for the last five years. I asked if the relationship with the quad community was gone. He said it was damaged but not destroyed. So, I do really want to thank Ian for the courage it took to make this video.
I hear you, there are some brands that I just won't ever buy again for one reason or another. If you feel this way, thank you for the time we had together. There were a lot of things wrong with that era. FrSky was too large, and too insulated from it's customer base. And yes, there is more to the story than I care to discuss because by now, it's all water under the bridge. Rehashing the past doesn't sway people one direction or another. You've found a radio system you like and you've moved on. Which is great. Truly I hope you're happy.
I think all of us have experience setbacks in our lives that we say "I wasn't treated fairly" or "I was wronged" and yet the damage is done. You can either not accept the reality of the situation and let the situation define you "I would have been great if wasn't for..." or you make a new plan. Tandem and Ethos is the new plan. Ian just spent 40 minutes describing to you what he thinks. I had zero impact on his comments. He would have been just as happy to tell everybody why the radio sucks and why you should never buy it. This is by far the best, most inciteful review I've ever seen of the radio. He just told everybody that this isn't business as usual and that the bar has been raised.
Now, even if you hate FrSky with every cell in your body, you will benefit from this radio because the bar has been raised. And sooner or later all of the FrSky competitors will have to up their game. What I want is Jeti putting out the best products that they can and giving FrSky a run for it's money, same with RadioMaster and Jumper. With good, solid competition, everybody wins.
People really do love these new radio systems. I do remember FrSky circa 2019, and I still own the radios from that era. Some of which I bought on fire sales during that era. I went out to fly with the X9D Plus recently and though it was nice, I have become quite spoiled on how much better Tandem is than these older radios. A lot of good things have changed over the last five years with FrSky. We have much better relationships with our dealers and customer base. I think FrSky is certainly a better all around company. And yes, the company has learned from its mistakes.
I did go to a race quad event a while back, and thought that the community really does hate the company. After spending hours at the event, there was no drama. There were quite a few people still flying FrSky as well as other brands. I had a lot of chats with people there. They told me that there wasn't one beloved radio, and that people often had multiple radios and they would flow from one radio to another over time. In the end they would say "Thanks for coming." They were glad to see FrSky take an interest in the race quad community once again.
Where did you read about Jeti developing a new radio?
I have followed the hobby store situation in the United States, and have been in a fair number of them coast to coast. What I can say with no uncertain terms is that what is stocked in a hobby store today is very different than five years ago. For example, find a casual hobby store that sells anything but low end toy drones. They are few and far between.
As for a new Jeti radio. I have heard from everybody that all manufactures are coming out with new killer radios. A $500 Jeti radio? I'll be waiting. Are they going to drop the price of their receivers by 60% to fall in line with ours? Jeti is a premium radio, and fetches a very premium price. I doubt their model will ever change.
Said it many times this is the best bang for the buck radio there is. X18 standard vs TX16S Max is similar price point. S vs Max Ag01 is the same. And the X18 does more and is better quality.
Different ergonomics though. I think I'm a weirdo because I don't like the X18 ergos. Everybody else seems to love them.
@@lightbulbjim I don't like it either
Perfect timing, my Twin X14 just arrived. Beautiful radio for the money. Thanks Mad’s Tech!!!
I love my X20s, and I suppose X18s will be nice too. Using modules IRX4 lite and Radiomaster Ranger Nano, I Fly helis (rx Spektrum/Frsky), planes (RX Spektrum/Frsky), and drones (RX Frsky/Spektrum/ERLS). Love the Ethos system, too.
I'm right there with you! Great system no doubt!
same for me. I'm glad I switched. Ok, I miss Companion, but Ethos is so much quicker and easier to get all mixers and stuff done
And we got complains when we reduced the number of mixer lines you can see at once when we changed the EdgeTX UI. Ethos has even less on one screen than EdgeTX has now
But it makes up for it with smooth and responsive scrolling
But ETHOS packs a lot more functionality into one line .
They're really nice quality. I did the brighter screen upgrade on mine which was my only complaint. I was a bit surprised but they have done a lot of work to support multi-protocol and ELRS. You can run internal 2.4 and 900 and external bay all at the same time. I tried out of curiosity and everything including telemetry from all worked.
Amazing review Ian! Thanks!
QX7 Club! Still rockin it.
I wish Radiomaster would sell a radio of this quality based on EdgeTX and ELRS...
Excellent audio.
Very nice, but what is most important is the distance range where the combination of TX AND RX continues to communicate well!
Beautiful with bells and whistles is nice, but a solid connection is the most important!
Yes, I was one of those who lost connection with the sad aftermath!
(of course it is always your own fault on the end of the story!)
Good luck with the hobby and greetings from the Netherlands!
I have the x20s as my jet radio. With the zavionics lua script it's amazing
They are amazing radios together with the Ethos OS
FrSky is a really nice system for fixed wing flying imo. Most people don't want the hassle of Multi Module and Scripts trying to get different stabs to work. FrSky offers good radios and receivers with stabilizer for less money than brands like Spektrum, Jeti, Graupner etc. I'd compare them to those brands at this point, cause Radiomaster is a different thing (4in1, open source)
I've had an X18 for a month now, upgrading from my Horus X10 running opentx (which developed some sort of intermittent fault that crashed two models on me). I was going to upgrade to a radiomaster tx16 with an elrs module, but changed my mind at the last minute. Can't fault it so far, incredible value compared to other options from spektrum, jeti, powerbox etc with comparible (or better) features. Ethos also feels much nicer to use than open/edge tx.
Will those new Gimbals fit on my X9D+?
I saw you fixing a controller the other day mine would not calibrate it ended up being.... I hit the trim switches and it through off the joystick. It made my pitch -16 all the time No matter how many times i calibrated it was always off.
Ethos suite. Available for Windows and Mac. So no Linux. Fail for my use case. All the open source projects support Linux. I'll stick with my ELRS EdgeTX controller thanks.
1st was futaba ,frsky was a relief for my wallet
Starting to really like the look and design of these newer radios, until I remember how useful my 4in1 RM16s is but a high quality OS radio is needed imo.
Will it be really good to see a review with one of the FRSky Twin protocol.
Long Live ELRS & Radiomaster & OpenTx/EdgeTx & All Open Source Projects, Making our FPV Hobby AFFORDABLE ...
I might have missed it, but can someone explain, why does this radio have a gyro? Being that Ian glazed over it a couple of times, I'm assuming this is common and I just haven't heard of its use case.. tia 🙏
It's just another channel that you could map to something, like a camera gimbal or to puppet a figure in the cockpit.
Could maybe lock sticks, so you can't bump your iNav plane out of auto launch until you're holding the radio properly.
Some use it to show different telemetry pages while flying. I used it for a gimbal.
I absolutely love the X20HD. Ethos is very intuitive and easy to navigate around, but man the way Frsky does things themselves such as the Lua script is an absolute joke. What is their goal here? To try and keep people in their own ecosystem of receivers that only work with certain transmitters? Frsky is back to their old selves again. Some companies just don't care, and keep showing us as to why. Using elrs 3.4 will net with over 620 errors at 400k baud and over 120 errors at 115k baud. I wonder how many months it will take Frsky to update this LUA. If you plan to use Big modules such as the Radiomaster Ranger or Bandit, the handle prevents you from putting on the antenna unless you remove the handle or flip it over, which requires some permanent modifications.
I guess there is nothing preventing the, lets say ELRS team, to submit or provide their own LUA. But as long as no one contributes its ok Frsky is doing it. And regarding the errors. I never experienced an issue with ELRS, and yes I also updated to 3.4. Also 3.4 came out last week, give them two weeks :-)
They have a new handle design to fix the module issue, you can replace it easily.
The errors issue is only with ELRS 3.4 and it's only at the beginning of boot up. ELRS 3.4 delays the startup of the module a bit more than it used to, and when Ethos starts counting errors, the module is not ready yet (too slow). Once the module boots, the error stops and there is no problem at all. It's just because of the extra slow code in 3.4 and Ethos is ready before the module is. Maybe ELRS should try to undo their change that made the module boot so slow now.
I am more interested in the twin x lite in combination with elrs
What's the packet rate on their protocols?
This is something I will cover in a separate video.
Where is ELRS Gemini Xrossband (GemX) dual-band radio there? FrSky please!
Just add a module !? Also Tandem is already dual band ....
If a single person buys an FrSky radio in 2024 then as an entire hobby/industry we have failed our community.
The layout option above the para bluetooth module is for a bluetooth audio module.
The X20S comes with a build in bluetooth audio module and the X18 pcb also has an allocation for this bluetooth module.
However I don't think FrSky ever made an X18 with the module included so it would be interesting to see if it can be added.
I have an X18S and I already found a source for the bluetooth audio module but I'm not sure if the X18 firmware will support it.
Well you surprised me with positive attitude to FrSky, I had different opinion about you and your behavior :) It was a positive surprise. Continue this path outside of the boundaries that other major FPV influencers are pushing.
A good radio is a good radio regardless of the brand. When ever I do a review I am always fair. I specifically choose to leave the history out of this as it’s not the time to keep kicking a dead horse. Overall FRSky are making some incredibly nice radios today. I would love them to get onboard with ELRS officially but that’s not likely to happy however it’s a great radio regardless.
@@MadRC Me too, I have sentiments to FrSky from the past and would like them get along with ELRS. Currently switched from FrSky to RM. Thanks for the teardowns. As an electronics engineer doing it for the living I love that part the most :)
The Tandem series (TD) receivers are really expensive though.
They are in comparison to ELRS but you are paying for dual hardware.
Android based UI is the future, ethos is just a weird detour. It doesn't make sense to build the whole OS from scratch just so that you can scroll through some touch screen menus. You could keep some EdgeTX internals for actual flight mixers and move the config to the Android side. But because it's open source, Radiomaster won't invest in development because its competitors will get the same thing for free :) Oh, and because its main audience is FPV pilots who don''t really need touchscreens - I 'downgraded' from tx16s to black&white Boxer for weight savings..
Will never buy another FrSky product since their ACCESS Fiasco
Bingo. They betrayed the customers and there are way too many other/better options to buy anything from FrSky. I wish we could/would all do the same to DJI for HD FPV gear. I haven't been able to justify swapping all my existing gen 1 DJI hd FPV stuff over to Walksnail, but I'm certainly not buying O3 gear from DJI.
@@DavidTaghehchian wait for HD zero to get better and cheaper. I'm doing the same
it's actually a very nice system for fixed wing flying. For quads, yeah Id choose radiomaster anytime. But for fixed wings, having many different receivers is not very convenient. If you start your journey with fixed wings and have no interest in quads, FrSky beats brands like Spektrum, Jeti, Graupner etc. by a mile. Their Ethos system is coming along nicely and having Bertrand as the main dev, the system isn't community dependend
Still using my Qx7s Access I bought 4 or 5 years ago. Didn't make sense for me to switch to Radiomaster, so it's definitely not for everyone.
@@das.ruderboot I have many FrSky radios and receivers in my possession. It is what I started with. When they tried to Forced loyal customers to buy non backward compatible new Equipment they shot themselves in the foot and lost this loyal customer.... I only fly Fixed Wing with my RadioMaster TX16S. I have another TX16S just for Quads. Like I said... I will never buy another FrSky product since their ACCESS Crap Show.
@@artisticyeti22 Already have an HD Zero system and Goggles with Analog and WalkSnail VTX add on.
Great video Ian
Very nice radio but I do have to wonder - why did they put a Nano module bay on a radio this size and quality??? It should have been a full size JR module bay. I would consider it if I were buying from the standpoint of the fit, finish and feel of the unit and the quality of the gimbals are really what is important.
That said, the new generation of "mid size" radios basically do not give anything up to the competition and it is nice to travel and carry around a lighter and more compact radio.
I think that I would buy this if I did not care about portability and if I really wanted a full size radio and really need or enjoy having high quality components.
Based on this video, alone, I predict radiomaster are hard at work making Ian a "higher-quality-feeling" tx.
0:57 - oh FrSky are absolutely still using open source code… they just do it without the consent of the project owners, and with blatant disregard for the GPL licenses 😅
Prove it?
Never buying FrSky again. They use their customers as test subjects and move on, leaving them behind whenever they want. I bought an R9 module back in the day that never worked properly and then they released a revised version without ever fixing the original's poor performance - I eventually gave up on it and bought a Crossfire module like I should have done in the first place. I'm not even touching on their poor behaviour around trying to force retailers not to carry their competitors if they still wanted to carry FrSky. I finally retired my FrSky X-Lite and replaced it with a Radiomaster Boxer Max and I'll be moving my Crossfire module over.
When compared to the X20 RS, it's not to like😇
"The new twin ones can't be used with this radio" . Oh frsky.. will you ever change?
Hey, genius FrSky sells a twin module for the radio. But don't let facts get in the way of your lies.
@@markbutler7027 How is that a "lie", rube?
@@markbutler7027 what lies Einstein? Would you also claim that the 2019 ACCESS radios supported D8 mode because you get to cough up extra cash to buy a multiprotocol module for your older quads?
It's okay. Largely better to use it with an eLRS module anyway.
This radio is already on the market for 2 years, and recently they launched Twin 2.4Ghz System with their X14 and Twin X. These can use Access too of course. But if you want Twin with a 2 year old radio, just get the module
i sold every Frsky product and switched to Radiomaster a few years ago. I will never go back for many reasons
I will never ever buy a closed source thing when there is a suitable open source alternative.
Especially FrSky after they try to kill OpenTX
Enough switches to launch a moon mission but no D8 or ELRS. I don't think it even deserved a review.
Can add ELRS module and has a lua script so it can support ELRS. D8 can do with an external module. It also supports multi-module so is very versatile.
new X14 has Twin 2.4Ghz Protocol thats similar to ELRS and gives you similar range
@@jcnorth Or just buy a radio with CRSF, ELRS, or D8 built in. This radio is NOT for drone pilots.
@@das.ruderboot I don't want something similar to protocols used in RC, we need them to BE ELRS or CRSF so that they work with our receivers. Similar don't cut it.
@@Nodestradamus so. I'm more than a little concerned with ELRS constant updates. Update required if .... Etc. I fly planks and some multi rotor - each to his own. I fly with what I want to. To each his own. You fly what you want to
$400?
Elrs 3.4 have option 900 and 2.4 GHz 😅
Took them long enough lol
why would you even bother reviewing anything from frsky? Remember your own statement - "buy speedybee if a brand doesn't please the community" ?
My point on that was those brands are specifically doing things that are bad or intentionally trying to scam users. FrSky is not. Just because it’s closed does not make it bad. I don’t expect everything to be open source. Frsky have has done somethings the community did not like however that was largely to protect their own IP. That does not in its self make them bad.
@@MadRC scam users by not sending enough samples to the perfect shiny dev team? Seriously? If you say frsky has reasons to do what they do then why don't you apply the same logic to other brands? And yes frsky not only scam sellers but also users by breaking compatibility to their own products (see ACCESS fiasco). Oh, and they even inverted uarts on some of their radios so that the users wouldn't be able to use crossfire modules.
@@MadRC Are you sure? I remember them trying to release a closed source ELRS clone (only compatible with v2 ELRS, strong Microsoft embrace-extend-extinguish vibes), then backtracking..
Elrs clone? Eh? It's just an elders compatibility mode. They have the hardware in twin (Semtech SX chips) so they tried to be nice and added the functionality to it to bind to (an old version of) ELRS. There's no cloning or anything like that. It's no different than multiprotocol. Why keep spreading false info?
Worked with it. Got like 6 and 4 or them got freeze on a regular basis(you have to unplug battery to proceed), and one more got faulty real clock battery. Never got anything like this on radiomasters.
It sounds like you have a gun pointed to your head when making this review. hmmm
Ok riiiight.