What problems did you have with your 14MZ so far???

[neavissa]

Originally Posted by bossee

Hi,

- and even if Futaba will come with something new a 14 MZ will still be modern for many years in future.

/Bo

no doubt about it!

[neavissa]

Hey Folks,

JUST GOT MY 14MZ!!! Damn, what a nice radio! I was gonna go ahead and order some batteries for it. I don't see why they have to be genuine Futaba Batteries, so whats the bests aftermarket battery i can get for this thing? I did a search on Google and some sony batteries came up but they have a slightly higher voltage. I am pretty sure it wont hurt the radio but what about the charger? could i charge those aftermarket batteries with the futaba 14mz charger???

thanks,
G

[aussiemick]

No need to get Futaba batteries, they are expensive and the Sony batteries work just fine.

Your charger will have no worries charging the Sony battery


Mick

[neavissa]

coolio...gonna order two of them right now!

thanks,
G

[Ishamiyal]

I got a 14MZ a cple mos back and just started recently using it and have run into what I would consider 2 major issues. The battery life is terrible - I read on here that somebody was getting 2 hours of use on a charge- my hat's off to that individual. If I get an hour I would be surprised. I've looked to see if the brightness was too high or the screen dimming delay was too long, but I haven't found any reason the battery life should be so poor short of a bad battery or just poor design. I have not had a chance to get more batteries.

The other issue was an almost immediate problem with the screen. It worked fine for a few days and then when I turned it on yesterday there was a spot on the lower right hand side that was giving continuous input and causing all sorts of problems. As I am in Iraq right now, having to send it back to Futaba for repair was not something I wanted to do. I had to disassemble the whole radio to see if something was pressing against the screen. Sure enough, there is a rubber seal all the way around the screen that was not seated properly in the plastic shell that was pushing against the screen and causing the issue. I fixed it, reassembled and the issue was fixed. Very irritating to have to do that for a 2200 dollar radio as it was a real pain to do.

Other than those two things, its a GREAT radio. I have been using it in 120F/50C weather here with no problems. LiPo's don't like it though, hehe..The manual sucks IMHO though...

[neavissa]

Originally Posted by Ishamiyal

I got a 14MZ a cple mos back and just started recently using it and have run into what I would consider 2 major issues. The battery life is terrible - I read on here that somebody was getting 2 hours of use on a charge- my hat's off to that individual. If I get an hour I would be surprised. I've looked to see if the brightness was too high or the screen dimming delay was too long, but I haven't found any reason the battery life should be so poor short of a bad battery or just poor design. I have not had a chance to get more batteries.

The other issue was an almost immediate problem with the screen. It worked fine for a few days and then when I turned it on yesterday there was a spot on the lower right hand side that was giving continuous input and causing all sorts of problems. As I am in Iraq right now, having to send it back to Futaba for repair was not something I wanted to do. I had to disassemble the whole radio to see if something was pressing against the screen. Sure enough, there is a rubber seal all the way around the screen that was not seated properly in the plastic shell that was pushing against the screen and causing the issue. I fixed it, reassembled and the issue was fixed. Very irritating to have to do that for a 2200 dollar radio as it was a real pain to do.

Other than those two things, its a GREAT radio. I have been using it in 120F/50C weather here with no problems. LiPo's don't like it though, hehe..The manual sucks IMHO though...

Battery Life is know to be bad...not that bad though! I guess you have to get more batteries!
I am glad that you fixed the screen issue! I am always surprised as well how shitty a manual can be, especially with a high-end item like the 14mz. (I can say that the manual sucks because I never really read it! )

thanks,
G

[hpilotrc]

Since now you can disable the back light you should be able to get much more time then before this option was available. The light will initially come on during boot-up but then will stay off. I proabaly get at least two hours of flight time now.

I find the back light's use doesn't do much good unless there is no sunlight available.

Michael

[neavissa]

Originally Posted by hpilotrc

Since now you can disable the back light you should be able to get much more time then before this option was available. The light will initially come on during boot-up but then will stay off. I proabaly get at least two hours of flight time now.

I find the back light's use doesn't do much good unless there is no sunlight available.

Michael

Good to know...

thanks,
G

[Hotwings]

i have had my 14mz since they became available, 5-6 yrs now, i use a seperate batt when programming, the included charger does not completely charge the batteries, i use a li-on charger and fromeco 2600 batts, would not change for any other radio, thinking of 8fgh for backup though, it is capable of 12-14 channel with s-bus. jmho, ron

[Hotwings]

also, i hear that any new system futaba has will be upgradable with 14mz software

[neavissa]

Originally Posted by Hotwings

i have had my 14mz since they became available, 5-6 yrs now, i use a seperate batt when programming, the included charger does not completely charge the batteries, i use a li-on charger and fromeco 2600 batts, would not change for any other radio, thinking of 8fgh for backup though, it is capable of 12-14 channel with s-bus. jmho, ron

I have the 8FGH but I don't like the feel of it. It looks kinda cool but feels too cheap! Especially right after you handled a 14mz. I am thinking of getting a 12z as well and getting rid of my 8fgh...

G