Blade Nano QX Review : Why Blade Nano QX RTF Quadcopter Is So Good

The tiny Blade Nano QX is possibly one of the best small/toy quadcopters today. It’s especially well suited for those of us who are just starting out with the hobby and also for folks who want to test flying a quad inside their apartment. This one is a great indoor quadcopter, but that does not mean you can’t fly it outdoors.

Blade Nano QX RTF
Blade Nano QX RTF

Most toy grade quads on the market aren’t worth the money. You just can’t have much fun with them – mostly because they are built with the cheapest materials and the quality of these is really bad.

But the blade qx nano is a rare exception. While it is a toy grade quad as well – it’s very inexpensive, weighs 16 grams and is sub 250 millimeter – it handles very well. If you have flown toy quads earlier and then thrown them away in disgust, your very first flight will convince you the blade nano is a breed apart. You simply can’t group it with those pieces of junk that do not perform.

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Here’s what sets this quadcopter apart …

blade nano qx

 SAFE technology : SAFE – short for Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope – is a technology that makes the quad a lot more stable than it would otherwise be. Quadcopters are notoriously unstable – and unless these are electronically stabilized, it would be nearly impossible to control them except for someone who’s an expert. The Blade Nano has a lot more sensors on board that sense various parameters and feed all of the data to the onboard electronic stabilization system that keeps the craft stabilized. This essentially means that this quad will be a breeze even for rank beginners to control – the SAFE system makes it all so very easy. The SAFE mode will keep you from doing flips or flying the quad in an angle that will be very hard to recover from. It also keeps you from flying the quad beyond the range of the radio.

blade nano

If, however, you are an experienced hobbyist, you can turn the SAFE off and switch to the manual, agility mode. With this mode, you can hone your acrobatic flying skills. To be honest, it doesn’t allow you to do very complex stuff – just some elementary flips and rolls. But at least, you can geta taste of acrobatic flying.

This is an excellent choice if you are planning to buy a more advanced quad – like say the DJI Phantom. It allows you to learn all the basics of flying at a small fraction of what a DJI Phantom would cost. Use this together with a simulator for a while and you may be able to fly almost any advanced quad right out of the box without batting an eyelid.

blade nano qx 3
Note :

The Blade Nano QX uses brushed dc motors. While these are much cheaper than brushless motors, they are also less efficient and do not last as long as brushless motors. So if you are going to be doing a lot of flying, you might want to buy a couple of spare motors.

FAQs

Can you attach a GoPro camera to this quadcopter?

GoPro

No. This quadcopter weighs 16 grams, while a GoPro camera with battery and housing can weigh nearly 100 grams or even more. This quad simply does not have the power required for such a heavy payload.

If yu really want to use a camera, you would want to check out the FPV version.

What kind of batteries should you use?

LiPo Battery

This quad uses one 3.7V 150 mAh Lithium Polymer battery. One battery is included with the pack. But you might want to buy a couple of spare batteries so that you can minimise downtime.

How is this different from Blade Nano BNF?

blade nano in flight

This is a RTF quad – and RTF stands for ‘Ready To Fly’. So you can fly it right away. On the other hand, with the BNF (Bind ‘n’ Fly) model, you will have to get your own transmitter as it does not come with a transmitter.

If you are just getting started with the hobby, it would be better to buy the RTF version and get some flying experience under your belt before you buy a BNF model.

What’s included in the package?

This comes with the quadcopter, radio transmitter, one lithium polymer battery (3.7V, 150mAh), battery charger an extra set of propellers and and spare canopy.

How long does it fly on a single charge?

On a single charge, it may fly anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. The flying time depends mainly on how hard you are on the throttle. It takes around 40 minutes for the batteries to charge – which is why you will want at least a couple of spare batteries.

How many channels does the transmitter have?

This comes with a 2.4 GHz, 4 channel mode 2 transmitter.

Is the included transmitter compatible with other quadcopter models?

Yes – it’s compatible with similar sized models from Blade.

What’s the range?

 

blade nano review

This is a tiny quad and you would not want to be more than 20 feet from it while flying. But you might also want to note that temperature and altitude influence both range and flying times. So if you are flying this quad at a high altitude in very cold weather, you would expect the range to be less than 20 feet and flying times to be around 5 minutes or less. But on the other hand if you are flying at sea level in warm climate, the values for range and flying time will be higher.

If the batteries are not fully charged, range can drop. So if you are not able to control it from more than 15 feet or so away, you will want to check the charge on the batteries.

The RTF transmitter that’s included is not high powered – and that’s by design. This model is not for professional hobbyists, but for someone still relatively new to the hobby. But if you want to increase the range, you could try using it with the Spektrum DX6i 6 channel transmitter which has a lot more power. Since this is a pretty tiny quad, fly it too far and you might have trouble seeing it 🙂

You would want to remember that some bigger quads use battery warmers while flying in very cold conditions. Cold climate can be pretty hard on the batteries.

Does the included transmitter come with batteries?

The transmitter uses 4 AA alkaline batteries, and the batteries are included with the pack. It does not come with a spare set though.

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