Something better than KK?

[papa_lazerous]

I have a couple of KK boards at home, both are from HK one is V1 and the other is the V2.  the only difference is the latter has a different processor.   I am set up with a tricopter right now, although a quadcopter in the future does interest me.

My simple question is this.....  What else is out there other than the KK which works well??  In this area I am 100% noob and really need pointing to whats good rather than buying something and finding out what works the expensive way

Cheers
John

[Balders]

Right now there are a variety of flight controller boards (although Hobbyking are by far the cheapest and are not at all bad!)

Options include the CC board (although getting hold of one is not always easy), various flavours of MultiWii, Criius I think, not sure of the rest.

Someone will be along shortly with a comprehensive list no doubt.

Depends what you are after really.  If you want auto levelling and altitude hold, then yes you will need to buy an expensive board.

If you want to hoon around the sky controlling it like a plane/heli, the KK clone is not a bad path to tread.  All my machines have had either HK KK's or one genuine KK.

[Dusty]

proven track record..... the OpenPilot CopterControl sells for around £80-£90 depending on where you get it (from official outlet, or second hand). It holds it's value really well as they're like rocking horse poo to get hold of. The last time the EU store had 100 boards in stock, they sold out within 4 minutes. the CopterControl gives you autolevel as standard, but no altitude or heading hold. you can turn off autolevel and fly manual just like the KK

the MultiWii based boards are also well rated. they can go for between £25 for the as yet unproven "Crius" boards up to $200 for a Paris board with baro/mag/gps soldered on. these are based on the sensors found in the Wii remotes for stability.

Chris

[Balders]

and just to complete the pricing info, my latest HK V2 board cost the grand sum of £17

[thundead]

I've currently got a genuine kk in my indestructible tricopter and a multiwii controller for my AP tricopter.

Got my multiwii components from www.flyduino.net.

Advantages of multiwii as I see them:
1. Open Source project
2. pretty easy and cheap to construct (shield + arduino pro mini + WMP (wii motion plus) gyros + ACC for autolevel and MAG for heading hold)
3. You can chose what sensors go in your setup.
4. if you like DIY this is for you lol

5. Current software (1.9) flies very well out of the box (doesnt need much PID tuning etc)

Disadvantages:
1. Bad sensors = crappy controller so choose wisely. Example: Autolevel. Some accelerometers are very sensitive to vibrations
2. Current software version doesn't offer great altitude hold ( if u were to include a baro sensor that is).

Mixed stuff:
1. RTH is being developed. Not working yet though lol
2. being open source things will eventually go together offering a great constroller.

My current multiwii setup:

Pro Mini: http://flyduino.net/Flyduino-Pro-Mini-16Mhz-5V-Matt-black-16mm-PCB

MWC Board: http://flyduino.net/MWC-Board-matt-black_1

3.3v regulator: http://flyduino.net/33V-voltage-regulator-set-for-the-MWC-Board

Sensor board: http://flyduino.net/Flydusense-V2-with-LLC

Gyro: http://flyduino.net/org-WMP-Gyro-Sensor_1
ACC: http://flyduino.net/Bosch-BMA020-Sensor-Board_1

MAG: https://www.loveelectronics.co.uk/products/140/3-axis-magnetometer---hmc5883l-breakout-board-r2

Other controller options:

MK controller (Mikrokopter)
ArduCopter (ardupilot software)
CopterControl

[MrBen]

Im going down the 'Naza' path for my next flight controller. $220 though so at the steep end of the 'hobby' market (but with some professional features)

[Balders]

*cough* more money than sense *cough*

[papa_lazerous]

Thanks for the info guys, Mihai you covered all the bases for me as you highlighted the DIY aspect of multiwii and that interests me.  I guess I need to look into it a little further seeing how you gave me plenty of links

[thundead]

haha thought I'd get your attention with the diy bit

Thanks for the info guys, Mihai you covered all the bases for me as you highlighted the DIY aspect of multiwii and that interests me.  I guess I need to look into it a little further seeing how you gave me plenty of links

[papa_lazerous]

Yes mate, I'm a sucker when it comes to doing things the hard way, ie DIY 

There is nothing wrong with my HK KK clone but I want more function and it seems multiwii is the solution, I quit my job yesterday so I have to be a little careful with money for a month.  I have got a new job to goto but I dont start there for a few weeks and its monthly pay etc.  So dont hold your breath but once I get myself sorted I will be getting hooked up with all the gear

haha thought I'd get your attention with the diy bit

[Boeing744]

I started in multirotors about 6 months ago with a FyeTech FY91Q Dreamcatcher Nav edition with GPS. I quickly found out ( like many others ) that the firmware ver 1.1 was badly flawed. So far FyeTech have not issued any update, although are promising to do so anytime, they seem more interested in bringing new products to the market rather than supporting their users. At the moment this controller is gathering dust in my junk box. DO NOT BUY THIS CONTROLLER !!
I then bought the HoverFly PRO and GPS boards and can not praise HoverFly www.hoverflytech.com/ enough for the quality of both the controllers and the support from the company. They are American designed and built and have a big following on www.rcgroups.com/hoverfly-technologies-711/ They are very quick to update firmware in response to users comments and have a dedicated support site https://hoverflytech.zendesk.com/ . I am flying a home designed and built Y6 with JP Energ 28/20 890Kv motors spinning 11 x 5 Graupner E props fed by a 5000 30C LiPo and giving about 8 mins flight time. The GoPro is mounted on a Jakubs roll and tilt gimbal www.sexycopter.com and the HoverFly board provides camera stabilisation and a very good OSD for FPV work. I have been flying fixed wing for about 40 years and FPV for about 3, but have never flown helicopters, so this is all a big learning curve and the Hoverfly boards have really helped.
Hope this helps in your choice of controllers.