Comparing Spektrum dx6i and dx5e

Hello,
My brother and I are building a second beetle and are trying to choose between the spectrum dx5e and dx6i. I know the dx6i has more features than the the dx5e , but can anyone comment on how useful the extra features are for combat robots?

It all depends on how sophisticated you want your bot to be. The 6i is a six-channel transmitter, so if you use a 5-channel receiver, you nullify that extra channel anyways. The 6i is especially useful for controlling multiple bots since there is a "model select" setting that lets you store up to ten (?) models in memory and switch between them without rebinding. As for mixing and direction control, you can do both with the 6i and 5e.

As far as channel usage goes, if you have a bot with mixed ail/ele steering (i.e. one motor per side of the bot, and the ail/ele stick controlling both) and a single spinning weapon, there's no reason to opt for the sophistication of the 6i unless you're planning on doing a lot of precise trimming and adjustments. Even if you're planning on adding in an invert switch/channel, the 5e will still be enough to provide for that.

I'm a big fan of the 5e - the 6i that I've used has had some weird glitches, but I'm sure other people can speak more on the subject and give better advice than I can.

Good luck with your beetle! When/where are you planning on competing with it?

We plan to be at the next GCRS event with RamVac and the new one, an overhead clamp/stabber.

I know I've said this too many times before, but you're new here, so you haven't heard it yet, so

PISTOL GRIP CONTROLLERS RULE!!

Seriously, if you drive an automobile, you have practiced driving that way lots more than with a joystick. (Yeah, I know that the car doesn't spin around when you simply turn the steering wheel, and the bot will, but it's a minor difference to adjust to)

A simple install of a elevon mixer between the receiver and the ESC's, and you're good to go. The only real difficulty is how you operate your weapon, and most are a simple on/off, which isn't too hard to implement. Generally the improvement in driving control gained with a pistol grip more than compensates for the minor difficulties of turning your weapon on and off.

We just purchased a DX3S for our 120 (last year we were running with a Nomadio, but the guy who understands that system graduated, so. . .) I have been so sold on the difference in driving that I felt this was a worthwhile investment even if we still need to design and build an active weapon.

It does cost more than the 6i.

Might as well throw in my 2 cents

Not sure about the features on the 5, but with the 6i...here is what we can do

1) we use scorpion esc for the drive motors, so it has a flip switch function to reverse the bot...great if you can use your bot in both directions and /or inverted. So we activate this from the gear switch

2) If you have a weapn that can reverse direction...(like our wedges and drums) then you can use the mixing functions of the 6 to reverse the weapon...also actu=ivated thru the gear switch

So, with 1 switch , your drive and weapon are reversed... but if you want to do this thru mixes, you need to use up BOTH on the dx6i

3) as already mentioned, you can store 10 models

other than that ,we use the dual rates and exponential settings to tweak the drivetrain in that we mostly use MUCH faster motors.

If you feel that you may need any of this down the road, think about it and compare to the 5, 3 and whatever else is out there.

hope this helps

Thanks for the responses. Were the problems you had on the dx6i with the DSM1 receivers or the DSM2 receivers or both?

SamM wrote:

Thanks for the responses. Were the problems you had on the dx6i with the DSM1 receivers or the DSM2 receivers or both?

If you're asking me, the problems are with the DSM 1 receivers...particualrly the BR6000

I know that others state that the ar500 and another one do failsafe, but I don;t know if all the smoke has cleared on those....

Unless you intend on competing in Battlebots or BotsIQ, you're probably safe with the ar's

We got one of the 'new' AR6255 DSM2 'Bot recievers" today. It bound to the DX6i in a flash (MUCH better than the BR6000), and seemed to falisafe just fine. It DOES cost more than the BR6000 used to ($80 instead of $60), but the BR6000 is no longer available, and now I can actually use the DX6i transmitters that I bought three years ago and have been gathering dust ever since because they would not reliably bind to the BR6000 and BotsIQ will not allow non-failsafe.

the biggest problem people are running into are 6i with br6000, dsm2 trying to link to dsm1 took forever and had glitches.
Shouldnt be a problem anymore of course.

Have you looked into any other controllers outside of spektrum?

Cody Harris wrote:

Have you looked into any other controllers outside of spektrum?

There's not really any point at looking at other systems is there? Spektrum is the latest and greatest in terms of size, reliability, failsafes and functionality. Switching to other systems just seems like going backwards. (and no i am not getting a paid by spektrum.)

Unless you want to look at the old futaba crystals or switch to IFI's bulky set up.

actually hobyking has there own rx/tx that are very inexpensive and i have heard a ton of good things about.

Everyone just recognizes spektrum because they are the best and they are the innovators but there are others out there

I haven't looked outside of Spektrum since several years ago when we bought a half-dozen or so of them (some DX6, two DX6i, and we now have four pistol grip-DX3s, DX3r, and DX3e).

Two years ago, one of our team members convinced us to try out one Nomadio. It seems Nomadio was the actual innovator of Spread Spectrum 2.4 GHz, primarily for military use, and they made some systems for hobby applications. I did not do any of the research, nor did I use the system any--I figured the student could be in charge of that.

The system we got was a pistol-grip, 3 channel, with telemetry. It seemed very lightweight, which could be interpreted as cheaply made, but it worked very well until someone shorted something and the rx died.

Then we found out the company was discontinuing their hobby line, and could not find another rx anywhere.