Well, I've become a builder in my short FPV racing drone experience. I think I'm building a bit better than I'm flying but my piloting skills are improving. I've now built 5-6 birds and I'm in the process of another. I wanted to give my noobie review of my Raceflight Revolt v2 experience both from a building and flying perspective.
Sadly, the Raceflight board doesn't have any options for On Screen Display (OSD) systems so I'm not going to harp on this oversight. I like OSD systems. I don't use a lot of the options but I do like being able to monitor my battery info, RSSI, throttle position and a horizon through my goggles and to set up alerts on my Taranis radio. I originally tried to set up a Diatone SP3 VTX with MWOSD but I couldnt get it to work.
My building experience with the RF (Raceflight) Revolt v2 and Bolt (RF 4-in-one ESC's) has been arduous and full of failure. After purchasing two RF Revolt v1 boards and then finding out that i really needed v2's, I was in the hole from the start. I purchased the first two from a vendor in China with no real expectation of even attempting to return them. I then purchased two Revolt v2's and two Bolt's from a stateside source. I received the two Revolts but only one of the Bolts.
The building process was actually pretty simple and I had a working Revolt v2/Bolt combination in no time. Wiring the Bolt was the trickiest part as my motor wires weren't long enough and they had to be routed in a funky way. When completed I felt like I had a pretty clean build.
The process of installing the RF One configurator and downloading and flashing the Revolt board was a bit of a hassle but was accomplished without too much pain. Instructions, videos and information regarding the RF stuff is very limited and scattered (Unless you understand and use Slack and FB, I guess?). I don't use either, I just use YouTube and the internet.
The RF One configurator with its Wizards seemed fairly straightforward. All went well until I got to the ESC Wizard. RF One was unable to identify and flash the RF Bolt ESC's and the configurator would ultimately just lock up when I tried to do anything with the ESC wizard. After several reboots, I decided to move on to the motor configuration wizard and although I was able to insure the motors were all operating and operating in the right direction, I did get an error at the end of the process saying that one of my ESC's/motor's was not there but they all did spin up properly.
(I got nervous that there was an issue with the RF Bolt so I scrapped it and installed individual Aikon 30A ESC's. I had similar issue with them when I got to the ESC and motor wizard but just moved on anyway.)
After going through all of the Wizards I moved on to the various tabs where further but limited options can be modified. I was particularly interested in a Failsafe process where (as in Betaflight) I can turn off my radio and the beeper on the bird would beep until I found it, I could turn on and off airmode and I could modify my UART's so I could use my Tramp HV Telemetry to modify my PID's through my Taranis.
Well, I was unable to accomplish any of those functions. The only way I found to even enable the beeper was through a switch, as far as I know it can't be enabled through a failsafe process. Airmode is always on in RF. This isn't a big deal but for an inexperienced pilot like me it's an issue. Particularly, in the event of a crash. If I soft crash in a field of long grass the motors will continue to spin even if I'm on the ground, tangling the heck out of the motors. In Betaflight I have airmode on a switch so if I crash I immediately hit the airmode off switch. I can then attempt to take off again if I arm the bird with airmode off. I can quickly tell if I can get it off the ground or if I have to go retrieve it. With airmode always on, as soon as I try to arm the props will try to spin up, further entangling me in the mess I may be in. With regard to the Tramp HV, I had an available UART on TX6/RX6 that I used for the Tramp. When I went into RF One I only had up to UART3 available in the dropdown options, no UART6 so no Tramp.
The bird does fly well and even seems slightly steadier and smoother than my Betaflight F3 birds. It's a good flying bird. How much better is questionable to this inexperienced pilot. All in all, it works but I don't think I'm ready to throw out my Betaflight boards at this point. For me, the Betaflight experience is a better one. I know the board, I understand the settings, it seems to have many more options and I love the ease of the OSD.
I'm in process of a new Armattan Chameleon build and I may try the new Lumenier F4 AIO FC in it. If I don't, it'll definitely be getting a Betaflight F3 AIO FC! I'm just not sold on the whole Raceflight experience at this point.
Jerry
Sadly, the Raceflight board doesn't have any options for On Screen Display (OSD) systems so I'm not going to harp on this oversight. I like OSD systems. I don't use a lot of the options but I do like being able to monitor my battery info, RSSI, throttle position and a horizon through my goggles and to set up alerts on my Taranis radio. I originally tried to set up a Diatone SP3 VTX with MWOSD but I couldnt get it to work.
My building experience with the RF (Raceflight) Revolt v2 and Bolt (RF 4-in-one ESC's) has been arduous and full of failure. After purchasing two RF Revolt v1 boards and then finding out that i really needed v2's, I was in the hole from the start. I purchased the first two from a vendor in China with no real expectation of even attempting to return them. I then purchased two Revolt v2's and two Bolt's from a stateside source. I received the two Revolts but only one of the Bolts.
The building process was actually pretty simple and I had a working Revolt v2/Bolt combination in no time. Wiring the Bolt was the trickiest part as my motor wires weren't long enough and they had to be routed in a funky way. When completed I felt like I had a pretty clean build.
The process of installing the RF One configurator and downloading and flashing the Revolt board was a bit of a hassle but was accomplished without too much pain. Instructions, videos and information regarding the RF stuff is very limited and scattered (Unless you understand and use Slack and FB, I guess?). I don't use either, I just use YouTube and the internet.
The RF One configurator with its Wizards seemed fairly straightforward. All went well until I got to the ESC Wizard. RF One was unable to identify and flash the RF Bolt ESC's and the configurator would ultimately just lock up when I tried to do anything with the ESC wizard. After several reboots, I decided to move on to the motor configuration wizard and although I was able to insure the motors were all operating and operating in the right direction, I did get an error at the end of the process saying that one of my ESC's/motor's was not there but they all did spin up properly.
(I got nervous that there was an issue with the RF Bolt so I scrapped it and installed individual Aikon 30A ESC's. I had similar issue with them when I got to the ESC and motor wizard but just moved on anyway.)
After going through all of the Wizards I moved on to the various tabs where further but limited options can be modified. I was particularly interested in a Failsafe process where (as in Betaflight) I can turn off my radio and the beeper on the bird would beep until I found it, I could turn on and off airmode and I could modify my UART's so I could use my Tramp HV Telemetry to modify my PID's through my Taranis.
Well, I was unable to accomplish any of those functions. The only way I found to even enable the beeper was through a switch, as far as I know it can't be enabled through a failsafe process. Airmode is always on in RF. This isn't a big deal but for an inexperienced pilot like me it's an issue. Particularly, in the event of a crash. If I soft crash in a field of long grass the motors will continue to spin even if I'm on the ground, tangling the heck out of the motors. In Betaflight I have airmode on a switch so if I crash I immediately hit the airmode off switch. I can then attempt to take off again if I arm the bird with airmode off. I can quickly tell if I can get it off the ground or if I have to go retrieve it. With airmode always on, as soon as I try to arm the props will try to spin up, further entangling me in the mess I may be in. With regard to the Tramp HV, I had an available UART on TX6/RX6 that I used for the Tramp. When I went into RF One I only had up to UART3 available in the dropdown options, no UART6 so no Tramp.
The bird does fly well and even seems slightly steadier and smoother than my Betaflight F3 birds. It's a good flying bird. How much better is questionable to this inexperienced pilot. All in all, it works but I don't think I'm ready to throw out my Betaflight boards at this point. For me, the Betaflight experience is a better one. I know the board, I understand the settings, it seems to have many more options and I love the ease of the OSD.
I'm in process of a new Armattan Chameleon build and I may try the new Lumenier F4 AIO FC in it. If I don't, it'll definitely be getting a Betaflight F3 AIO FC! I'm just not sold on the whole Raceflight experience at this point.
Jerry
Last edited:
