Horizon Hobby Secret Project: First Look

[xviper]

They have my attention ..............................

[Tom]

Very interesting plane. I just talked to Horizon about this. They say it does 75mph in forward flight. You do have to takeoff and land in vtol mode. The props on the nacelles are too large to belly land in forward flight. Does not seem like an issue. uses a 3S 2200 to 3000. 6 - 8 min flight times. They used metal gear servos for the nacelle servos which is nice and necessary IMO. I'm excited to try one of these.

We are in the process of putting up the pre order. We'll have it up today. I was told by Horizon the first batch will completely sell out so I recommend a pre-order if you don't want to wait. BTW, the Horizon ordering system is telling dealers it will arrive in mid November. However, I was told there is absolutely no chance it will arrive in November. Early December is the more likely date.

[xviper]

It looks like the first of these planes have reached private hands. New Zealand was the very first and this fellow has a couple of videos showing it going through the maneuvers. The demand for this appears to be quite high and many shops can't get their whole order. I'm surprised Motion hasn't promoted this plane to any extent. 3 of us at one flying field have it on order. We hope to get them next week.

[Alpha]

They're selling on Pre-Order well enough without promotion, similar to many Eflite planes. We haven't flown one so it's difficult to produce our usual multimedia/promotions packages until our video crew gets their hands on one to film. One of our technicians bought a Convergence as well, and I know I'm very interested to try it out and order one. I always like to support new innovating releases, even if there's a risk of a teething phase (Eflite Scimitar R.I.P.). The Convergence is actually very similar to a design we were working on, but have since shelved. Fingers cross that this Convergence is everything I'm imagining, and more.

[xviper]

Good to hear this is looking like a success in the sales department for you guys.
Yes, I had a Scimitar. It was "OK" - sorta. I even converted it to a 90mm EDF but even that didn't make me like it.

[Oxotnik]

There's a lot of hype and chatter about the Convergence at our flying field, too. We always love to bring something fresh or evolutionary. With that said, though, more of us are biting our nails, waiting for the UMX A-10 to arrive. I have one on pre-order at my LHS, and can't wait to lay my hands on it.

[xviper]

There's a lot of hype and chatter about the Convergence at our flying field, too. We always love to bring something fresh or evolutionary. With that said, though, more of us are biting our nails, waiting for the UMX A-10 to arrive. I have one on pre-order at my LHS, and can't wait to lay my hands on it.

I also have both on pre-order. In Canada, it's a toss up which one will come first. 3 of us are waiting for this plane. I'm also considering ordering the new Opterra. The initial reviews have been stellar.
As for the Convergence, there seems to be some issue with the PNP versions not accepting non-Spektrum gear. Although I ordered the BNF, I'm hoping that these problems will sort themselves out and it just turns out that those trying to get these to work are simply doing something weird in the sequence of binding or that it's something really silly, like plugging in the RX cables with the wrong polarity or having the throttle trim too high or some other small issue like this. The more flying reviews that come in, the more this is looking like a spectacular model.

[xviper]

3 of us picked up our Convergences today. One fellow was so excited, he built it and flew it several times already in the freezing cold. He says it's a great model and we're all going to have lots of fun with them.

[Alpha]

I have one of these coming soon also and I'm excited to hear your group's thoughts on flight performance. I'm most curious about its performance in forward flight. I've also heard some chatter about adjusting the tilt arms to chase out any forward creep in the hover position. Also, apparently the model transitions from forward flight to hover mode if the battery gets lots, but if you're in hover mode already when the battery goes low, a little later it will just cut off and drop to the ground. I'm curious if the flight time is truly only five minutes.

[xviper]

Alpha, lots of private reviews and opinions on the 'net. The ones I'll post here will be from our little trio. First off, my buddy says this thing is "fast" in airplane mode, perhaps faster than he's comfortable with. He's an intermediate RC pilot and a real professional airline pilot. He's flown mostly RC Timber, Eflite crop duster, 3D plane and small CP heli, but flies them really well. I have never seen him crash to date.
There is a slight stutter with the nacelles on transition but it seems to work itself out with subsequent flights. It does drop like a stone in airplane mode when you shut the throttle down. It's my opinion that the CG is possibly incorrect and I'm going to play with moving the battery back little by little in hopes of making it stay level at throttle chop. Yes, it does have forward creep in hover mode and my buddy is going to adjust the nacelle linkage more vertical to try and eliminate this. Will see what happens.
Yes, when battery detects LVC, it will go into hover mode (if in airplane mode) and activate stability mode (if not already) and give about 1 minute for you to land. If in hover mode when LVC happens, don't know what will happen. If it's anything like my Blade QX350, it will go into a default slow decent and land itself wherever it may be. I hope this is the case. One of us might try it if we have the nerve. Will let you know. As I don't post at RCG, all our findings and videos will be posted here. I'll likely start a new thread with a more revealing title. (Unless dkalwishky would be good enough to add the word, "Convergence" to the title of this thread.)

[xviper]

Quick note: I addressed the issue of forward creep in hover mode and the lack of reverse speed by maxing out the servo travel on UP elevator. It will still creep forwards if you let the stick go but it is now easily controllable with the stick and backwards speed is quite acceptable. I did not adjust the nacelle position yet. This was hovering in the basement in limited space. I will know better once I get it to the field in a couple of days. It's very cold and I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to flying in the cold.

[xviper]

Continued here: http://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-...nvergence-vtol

[dkalwishky]

I'll likely start a new thread with a more revealing title. (Unless dkalwishky would be good enough to add the word, "Convergence" to the title of this thread.)

The forum will not let me edit the title.

When I started the thread there was no mention of "Convergence" in the product announcement.

[xviper]

It's OK. Thanks for trying. Some other forums allow the author of a thread to edit the title. I've started another thread with the word in the title. Was hoping to just continue this one.