Product Review – Foxtech Glyder 600 PNP version with Zero UAV YS-X6

If you are into Aerial photography/ videography and are looking for a decent platform which can hold and carry your camera – well, read on…

On October 2012, Foxtech has released a new quadcopter frame – which design is similar to the concept of Ecilop by Aleksey. With Foxtech being (really?) the good guy Greg, they claimed that they obtained permission and patent agreement with Ecilop designer for their Glyder 600 frame design which is based on the original concept.

So an RC Group member emailed Ecilop team to ask about this. And they responded with:

“We have a condition that if any company uses any technology based on our frame we want them to show Aleksey Zaitsevsky as an inventor. And Ecilop as well as a base model.“

Seeing that Foxtech did mention about Ecilop on Glyder 600 product page – so this is true then. Sadly for the RC Group user who read the email does not understand the content entirely and (in an indirect way) said Foxtech was lying when they did not.

Dropping that subject, here comes the real deal… I was one of (or I believe I am) the first to preorder Glyder 600 Plug and Play (PNP) version – and also made a custom upgrade from the standard Naza Flight Controller (FC) to Zero UAV YS-X6 instead. If you are interested to get the PNP version and in dire need to know more about it – come on in for the full review.

Order / Product Inquiry

The preorder price for Glyder 600 PNP version was USD1,030 – however it is now selling at it’s normal price of USD1,180. You may check out the product page > here <

There was some lengthy discussion with Fu from Foxtech before I clicked the purchase button – and trust me it was a very lengthy one indeed. As we communicated via email, it took awhile before all of my concerns are answered – especially the special order to equip Glyder 600 PNP with Zero UAV YS-X6 Flight Controller.

In short, I was satisfied with Foxtech customer service and proceeded to click on the add to cart and checkout button.

Shipping

I opted for EMS – and you should too if you are buying expensive stuffs as it is insured if something bad were to happen to it. Seeing that I needed some other (quite a lot of) stuffs (but small ones) – I added those to my shipping. In the end, I paid around USD40 for EMS shipping to Malaysia from Tianjin China.

Foxtech was great at keeping their customers updated on shipping status via email. They even included my EMS tracking number to ease the tracking purpose (I was told by others that some did not receive EMS tracking numbers on their purchase and must contact the company itself to know the status).

The only drawback was the long wait – first reason : the unit was preordered, so the shipping date are scheduled in the future. And secondly, all of this happened during end of year, which we experienced delay caused by Christmas and so on.

The package and tax!

I was called by EMS Malaysia saying that my package has been held by customs and as usual – I was required to visit KLIA to pickup the package. After being daylight robbed by customs clearing the tax (10% of total cost for toys imported) – it is now time to check and open the package!

At first check – package was wrapped and no loose part heard when the box was lifted with slight variation of pan and tilt and roll 😛

Opening the box I was greeted by Zero UAV YS-X6 and Glyder 600 which was 90% assembled. This includes motor, esc, and other electronics. The hardware part I need to finalize was screwing the landing gear that took me less than a minute to figure out, as well as mounting GPS (make sure arrow is pointed forward!) and the LED indicator light.

I have to do the wiring’s myself though.. and some cable ties helped.

Missing items and broken things!

Checking the part list I realized that Naza Flight Controller was missing (The Zero UAV was an addition buy, I didn’t ditch the Naza). Also I wonder what actually happened before / during / after the package was wrapped, as my Glyder 600 battery tray (part number GGB017) was really dented!

[ Will update progress of getting Naza FC from Foxtech here once everything is resolved ]

The metal was hard and I can’t imagine how it got dented after it got in? (It took me some force to get it back into shape) Some of the Glyder 600 screws are also loose all over the place, and bearing holder (part number GAF012) and the gimbal mounting kit (part number GAF013) wasn’t properly assembled.

Best thing is that I can’t remember ordering a big red utility knife.. maybe it was a gift.. or a warning sign?

The rest of the non Glyder 600 stuffs looks ok.. although I have not opened those plastics packages up until today as of yet (and I still have few other RC stuffs which I bought that are in package still, lol)

[ storm OSD for my next long distance FPV project ]

Glyder 600 PNP build and quality

I don’t have an Ecilop or any other quad with gimbals before, so my opinion may weigh less. But from my personal observation and experience, the PNP version looked great. The frame seemed solid (I wanted to say light, but it is not that light – will try to weigh it later).

I have not flown or maiden the quad as of yet. So I can’t say much about the flight characteristics with Zero UAV. Also I can’t say much about the gimbal performance with it’s 2 gyros as it have not flown. Ground test looks promising. Hard part is to understand the Zero UAV and how to configure. I may do another post just for this – as it is quite a lengthy one.

[ mind the messy me, I was in a hurry and just had to record this before going to work! ]

 Workmanship by Foxtech in term of assembly is just so-so. It is definitely not ready out of the box. You will need to sit down and re-check – I discovered a lot of loose screws and parts. Also they used black tapes to hide wires – I can’t say whether I like or does not like this style – it does do the job of hiding those wires though.. but opening them up again for maintenance or if something were to go wrong – could be a nightmare.

I am quite concerned in Glyder 600 landing gear. It seemed a bit soft and I don’t expect it to hold or withstand much of rough landings. I would say that my landings are okay and gentle most of the times – but what if something unexpected were to happen? Will it break? Well.. I’ll keep you guys updated for sure.

Glyder 600 PNP verdict

It is not quite value for money in this case. As there are some other similar variants around which are much cheaper. However because Foxtech offers PNP version – this definitely save me a lot of assembly time and the rest can be used to configure the Zero UAV YS-X6 with all its bells and whistles… although it will be much simpler should you buy the standard PNP version with Naza FC. Naza is just damn easy to setup (and damn easy to go crazy sometimes as well.. hehe). Oh not forgetting after sales support by Foxtech have not let me down as of yet.

If you are buying the PNP version, the most challenging part is for you to balance the gimbal. I said the most challenging, not that it’s hard. If you have a look at some of Glyder 600 videos by Foxtech – these are pretty easy to do.

So for the deep pocketed which want less time assembly / configuring and more time flying – why not get the Glyder 600? For those who feel that you can assemble this without issues, get the kit version – or if you want to save more (unsure about the quality though) you may want to look into other alternative – the Ellipse Mini 600 perhaps?

Tags: Buying Guide, Hobby, Photography, Product Review, Tips and advices, Videography