Radiolink RC4G or Flysky GT3B

[MrBlank]

After reading through quite a few reviews and other research, I believe I will be making a better choice by purchasing RC4GS from eBay.ca.

I do however see that the GT3B se3ms to be the more popular choice around here.

Is there any reason I should buy the GT3B instead? Initially it is cheaper, but I would like more than 3 channels, so it will need to be hacked. Purchasing a hacked radio, or the kit that unlocks the features - appears to put the price up higher than the RC4GS.

I do not need more than 4 channels... in reality 3 is enough, but a 4th channel would be a nice addition.

I currently have a TTX300 on my Sawback, and I do not like the way the 3rd channel operates my winch. I have a CC01 with a 2 channel traxxas radio which is essentially my fathers and will stay as is, but I am in the process of building an Ascender kit as well as piecing together an SCX10ii based scratchbuild (almost finished at this point) and would like one radio to rule them all, as well as any furure crawlers, and my Latrax SST.

Any opinions on which is the better budget friendly radio? Especially from those who have owned or tried both, but any opinion is welcome.

 

[spoo76]

The programmer to having it yourself should be between $5 and $10. Then you'd have the ability to map almost all the buttons to any channel, program any button to behave as 2 position, 3 position, momentary short press, long press, multi position step rate in any order, and then there's all the mixing options. Then there's the fact the Flysky 3,6, and 8 channel receivers are inexpensive and easy to find including the other brand names like turning, hobby king, and others. Also the transmitter and receiver have 8 or more years of history. It's easily one of the most flexible radios out there.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Jim85IROC]

Spoo, can you explain how all of the hacked channels can be utilized? In looking at the pics of the GT3B, there aren't a lot of buttons on the controller except for the ones that appear to be designed to navigate through the setup. All I see is the single button on the right side of the grip. I'm not a real big fan of the Apple approach of using 1 button to control everything, I'm more of a discrete button for each task type of guy. I was looking at the new 6 channel Radiolink radio that utilizes 2 toggle switches in addition to a rotary knob and an on/off button. I'm wondering if this Flysky has similar discrete button abilities.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I'm in the minority, but I absolutely hate FlySky radios. They feel like garbage in my hand. Plus, there are some irksome firmware bugs. The good thing is that you can hack them to have tons of model memory.

I prefer the Turnigy TS4G which is simply a rebranded RadioLink.

 

[Jim85IROC]

Jato,
from an ergonomics perspective I've got no issues with the Flysky radios, and to be honest, the GT2B feels great to me, at least compared to most of the RTR radios I have. I do have an issue with how they work in a crowded field though. When there are 2 or more of us standing right near each other with Flysky radios, they tend to get glitchy. With just 1, or if you separate a bit, then they're great.

I also agree with your radiolink comment, except that to be honest, my radiolinks feel cheap and fragile to me. They're comfortable, and they work great, but I feel like I'm holding a paper cup instead of a ceramic coffee mug when I use it.

 

[makya]

Jim, this might work for you, It's what I use, but mine has one potentiometer on the front, and two on the back, to make it easier to control my rear steer:
https://www.banggood.com/Dasmikro-C....html?rmmds=search&ID=520183&cur_warehouse=CN

you can also do it yourself with the kit for a lot less:
https://www.banggood.com/Dasmikro-6...-p-1050199.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

 

[Hydrocarbon92]

Sometimes feel is everything & to each his own. I come from the land of cheap AM radios so I don't have that prob. The funny thing is that "feel" comes from an ounce of extra ABS.

The trim buttons are effectively disabled for trims, so the 4 top buttons and the 3ch trim & button gives you control of 6 more. Trims are instead adjusted with the rolling switch and personally I HATE inadvertently hitting a trim button. There are several settings to get around a single button per channel. ATM I have my ch3 button set to alternate from lock to lock (like normal) but if you hold it for a sec it switches back to neutral. You can also set the ch3 trim button to alt between neutral & endpoints, meaning if it's full left a click right sets neutral & 1 more sets full right. You can still set the endpoints.

I bought an i6x mostly for boats but also my "featured" crawler, but I'm now considering keeping the gt3c for my crawler instead. I'll be using 4ws (my own controller), winch, 2-3 LED channels and a 4th channel for a dimmer. I'm very much attracted to their $10 8ch receivers, not willing to pay hundreds to get a 6ch+ Futaba, and would rather toss my crawler in a deep lake than use a Spektrum.

 

[spoo76]

I guess the gt3 interference thing is hit or miss because I haven't experienced it with my pair of radios in the field or when I let a friend use mine.

As far as the buttons. The 4 buttons under the screen can be individually remapped so when running in model mode they are assigned to any channel. The 2 slide switches and single push button on the handle can also be remapped.

So for example I have the top slider on the handle for winch.
The bottom slider can be for dig
And the bottom push button could be for 2 speed trans.

For my 4ws rigs I have the bottom slider to switch between front or back steer and the push button turns on or off the mix for crab steer.

In my MOA dual ESC Berg the top slider is for ESC dig and the bottom can be to adjust the front or rear wheel speed on the fly sort of like over/under drive.

The 4 buttons under the screen I usually leave for lights or accessories.

Also since these are standard buttons and the board is easy to solder to I plan to add micro switches on the neck behind the wheel like the Spectrum DX3 radios. I'll tie those to buttons under the screen for quick access.
Not really needed since I can easily reach the screen buttons, but it's cheap,easy and I like to tinker

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[spoo76]

Hydrocarbon reminded me. I believe you can also program the GTB to have each button for a different function depending on if you long or short press can't you?
I haven't tried that so I'm unsure.

IMO a hacked gt3b is even better than the dasmicro setup because it's more flexible. Also it you don't like it you can easily sell it. It's popular enough to sell quickly for what you've invested.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[Hydrocarbon92]

From all I've ever read, experienced, and heard from real people, the interference thing was a combination of early Flysky firmware not giving a F about early Spektrum firmware. One would hop onto the others channel and Spektrum would lose the fight. When I first showed up with my Flysky an old-timer went googly-eyed and said "woah, you're going to glitch everyone". A year later & 50 various TX's and nobody was ever glitched.

I'm not sure of all the features myself, but they're mostly on PG 11 of the manual: https://rc.305.cz/storage/FS-GT3BC PSX Manual.pdf

I might also consider pre-hacking a few if ppl really get interested. Not really for cash but I like helping the community with such things.

 

[Jim85IROC]

Thanks for the info guys! It seems like that not only is there a hardware option for adding switches, but the firmware hack lets me reassign the existing buttons, which I didn't realize. Plenty of options to chew on. I may need to give one of these a try!

 

[makya]

Hydrocarbon reminded me. I believe you can also program the GTB to have each button for a different function depending on if you long or short press can't you?
I haven't tried that so I'm unsure.

IMO a hacked gt3b is even better than the dasmicro setup because it's more flexible. Also it you don't like it you can easily sell it. It's popular enough to sell quickly for what you've invested.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

I'm on the other side of that argument, I like the DasMikro because the 3-way switches are easy for winches and lockers on my creeper, and the potentiometers allow me to have true rear steer and adjustable lighting

I do prefer the extra model memory and adjustments of the firmware hack, but I'm an old-school analog guy that likes the tactile feel of switches and knobs to get a feel for the controls of my rig. I'm actually getting another hardware kit to mod my old Futaba Brick (2pb 1024) since it switches over to ppm.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Jato,
from an ergonomics perspective I've got no issues with the Flysky radios, and to be honest, the GT2B feels great to me, at least compared to most of the RTR radios I have. I do have an issue with how they work in a crowded field though. When there are 2 or more of us standing right near each other with Flysky radios, they tend to get glitchy. With just 1, or if you separate a bit, then they're great.

I also agree with your radiolink comment, except that to be honest, my radiolinks feel cheap and fragile to me. They're comfortable, and they work great, but I feel like I'm holding a paper cup instead of a ceramic coffee mug when I use it.

People often blame the FlySky glitch on Spektrum radios. People love to blame Spektrum for everything bad in the radio world though. :lmao:

I think the TS4G does feel cheap as well, but the wheel is at least foam covered and it's comfortable in my hand. I wrapped baseball bat grip around the handle of mine and that makes it feel world's better.
But as was said - feels is very subjective.

Here's the grip: https://lizardskins.com
My cousin married a pro baseball player and they get so much free shit. He had stacks of them so I got a few.

I can say I dropped mine, hard, out on the rocks on the trail. And another time I think I went down and caught myself on the radio. It still works fine except that the throttle doesn't perfectly center back to zero on the screen. It hasn't given me any issues with my trail rigs though

 

[MrBlank]

For the RC4GS

Gyro integrated into the receiver. Suit for drifting,and rough road condition. making your cars perfectaction!
- Not something I would have switched on for the most part as this will primarily be used for crawlers, but if I grab a reciever for my Latrax Rally it might actually be controllable through turns.

HV servo supported! Servo voltage can be extendedto 10V!
- Will no longer need to build splitters for high voltage servos running off of C.C. BECs

4 channel mix programmable! Easily for an addtionalfuction like lights, beep and linkage as well!
Parameter self-setting!

So mixing (of any 2 channels) is available here as well... not sure what I would use it for - turn signals and brake lights? Not sure if there are already seperate controllers available for that.

Control range: 400 meters and response time 12ms.
Fail Safe self-setting.
20cm long antenna for reciever

- Seem like reasonable stats.

 

[spoo76]

I'm on the other side of that argument, I like the DasMikro because the 3-way switches are easy for winches and lockers on my creeper, and the potentiometers allow me to have true rear steer and adjustable lighting

I do prefer the extra model memory and adjustments of the firmware hack, but I'm an old-school analog guy that likes the tactile feel of switches and knobs to get a feel for the controls of my rig. I'm actually getting another hardware kit to mod my old Futaba Brick (2pb 1024) since it switches over to ppm.

The slide switches work fine for me for winch & dig, but I have thought about adding a pot for rear steer, it just seems like it would be awkward with it setup like the Dasmicro. I'd rather have rear steer where my thumb could control the pot so I can adjust front or rear on the fly as needed.
This way even if I didn't have the programmer I can do both for the cost of a pot and a $5 programmer.

There's also a way to have rear steer act more proportional with the switch instead of endpoint to endpoint, but I haven't tried.

 

[makya]

The slide switches work fine for me for winch & dig, but I have thought about adding a pot for rear steer, it just seems like it would be awkward with it setup like the Dasmicro. I'd rather have rear steer where my thumb could control the pot so I can adjust front or rear on the fly as needed.
This way even if I didn't have the programmer I can do both for the cost of a pot and a $5 programmer.

There's also a way to have rear steer act more proportional with the switch instead of endpoint to endpoint, but I haven't tried.

I have the potentiometer placed on the front of my transmitter, above the slide switch. it makes it so that I can rear steer with my left thumb while i still control the front steer and throttle. If you add one, that's where I would suggest it.

 

[Hydrocarbon92]

People often blame the FlySky glitch on Spektrum radios. People love to blame Spektrum for everything bad in the radio world though. :lmao:

A few months ago there were nearly identical threads here & on another forum where a Spektrum radio & HiTec servo combo were both going bonkers. One glitched the guy's 95mph boat into a rock (easily could have been his head).

Both issues fixed if they swapped to another brand radio. The guy here later said it was also fixed when he added a Spektrum signal booster...hmm. Numerous Spektrum issues abound on this subforum but virtually zero Futaba/Flysky/etc mfg probs. When it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

For the RC4GS

Gyro integrated into the receiver.

That right there turns me off, or at least the problems I see from people with Radiolink & Spektrum integrated gyros. You can get a Flysky RX plus aftermarket gyro for about the same price too.

I do have an issue with how they work in a crowded field though. When there are 2 or more of us standing right near each other with Flysky radios, they tend to get glitchy. With just 1, or if you separate a bit, then they're great.

That's interesting to hear, was one or both a really old model?

I just fired up my GT3C, GT3B, and i6x w/in a meter of each other and couldn't get any glitching. I was only doing channels 1&2 tho (yes, I was using my foot lol). I'd expect it to be even worse indoors and with the i6x's dual half-wave antennas (GT3's are quarter); all were AFHDS [1]. I can't guess on the GT3B's vintage, but the other 2 are less than 2 yrs old.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

A few months ago there were nearly identical threads here & on another forum where a Spektrum radio & HiTec servo combo were both going bonkers. One glitched the guy's 95mph boat into a rock (easily could have been his head).

Both issues fixed if they swapped to another brand radio. The guy here later said it was also fixed when he added a Spektrum signal booster...hmm. Numerous Spektrum issues abound on this subforum but virtually zero Futaba/Flysky/etc mfg probs. When it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Duck shit! What do I win?

Lots of internet experts have these grand stories about how Spektrum killed their babies and stole their money. Few have actually experienced such tragedies in real life.

Crawling, bashing, indoor racing and outdoor racing my Spektrum has never let me down even with FlySky radios right next to me.

Internet hype or in this case internet over hype.

That right there turns me off, or at least the problems I see from people with Radiolink & Spektrum integrated gyros. You can get a Flysky RX plus aftermarket gyro for about the same price too.

What problems have you seen with Radiolink and Spektrum integrated gyros?

That's interesting to hear, was one or both a really old model?

Didn't you just say glitching only happened with Spektrum? :lmao:

 

[MrBlank]

"That right there turns me off, or at least the problems I see from people with Radiolink & Spektrum integrated gyros. You can get a Flysky RX plus aftermarket gyro for about the same price too."

- I only mentioned it since it was in the information I Copy pasted. I really could not care less about the gyro function and would probably not use it. Any additional receivers I buy would not have gyros, and I wouldn't waste money on an aftermarket one.

I only mentioned possibly using it for the rally as I would be interested in seeing how it works. I have not gotten around to replacing the worn out bushing with bearings and reassembling the damn thing since I first started having issues with it a couple of years back.

 

[Jim85IROC]

That right there turns me off, or at least the problems I see from people with Radiolink & Spektrum integrated gyros. You can get a Flysky RX plus aftermarket gyro for about the same price too.



That's interesting to hear, was one or both a really old model?

I just fired up my GT3C, GT3B, and i6x w/in a meter of each other and couldn't get any glitching. I was only doing channels 1&2 tho (yes, I was using my foot lol). I'd expect it to be even worse indoors and with the i6x's dual half-wave antennas (GT3's are quarter); all were AFHDS [1]. I can't guess on the GT3B's vintage, but the other 2 are less than 2 yrs old.

I haven't used the Radiolink integrated gyros yet. I've got a Turnigy version of the Radiolink RC4G still new in the box, and I'm currently using the Radiolink RG3S on my Bomber. I just ordered up 4 of the Turnigy receivers with the intent of moving more of my vehicles over to the Radiolink/Turnigy controllers. On some of those cars I intend to give the Radiolink gyros a try. I do have an external gyro in use on my son's Circuit, and I was extremely happy with how it worked. Since I replaced the ice-skate Traxxas Talon tires with better rubber, the gyro is no longer necessary and will be coming out when I get the time.

Getting back to the glitching, it was when using a pair of GT2B radios, both of which are 3-4 years old. One is on my dad's Ruckus, the other on my son's Circuit. When they would both be operating at the same time, especially if they stood real close to each other, the throttle would start getting intermittently stupid on one or both of them. None of the other radios being used at the time (99% of the time my Traxxas TQi) would be impacted.