fly mentor

[Morvin]

I posted in November a description of may problems with Flymentor. I returned my heli to the retailer who identified that the gyro was the problem. Currently I do not have any strange behaviour of sound signals or swash plate. Have only tested gentle indoor hovering within very confined space. It looks good and I am back in heli heaven again.

[Thx1326]

I'm a bit curious... if KDS is forced to cease marketing the FlyMentor due to the HeliCommand lawsuit - that will probably mean that all support wil also end for the end user?? Comments?

Also, has anyone thought about "hacking" the internal software? Even if the drivers are updated and current - how about the main brain and software in the control unit? How will updates to it be had? Will there be flash updates - like the bios in our laptops? Will the Helicommand software work?

I'm still thinking of buying one - at $108.00, if it helps avoid one crash and gets me in the air quicker and safer - it will pay for itself.

Any thoughts are welcome.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Thx1326

I'm a bit curious... if KDS is forced to cease marketing the FlyMentor due to the HeliCommand lawsuit - that will probably mean that all support wil also end for the end user?? Comments?

Also, has anyone thought about "hacking" the internal software? Even if the drivers are updated and current - how about the main brain and software in the control unit? How will updates to it be had? Will there be flash updates - like the bios in our laptops? Will the Helicommand software work?

I'm still thinking of buying one - at $108.00, if it helps avoid one crash and gets me in the air quicker and safer - it will pay for itself.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Not too sure you've noticed, but KDS has not responded to any inquiries for help to my knowledge.
KDS seems to have either:
1) No concern to their customers in regards to the flymentor.
2) little or no knowledge to offer to solve the issues that have been presented through out these forum postings.
3) Went and marketed a inexpensive unit to make a quick buck.


The ONLY help available are from those who have purchased the unit and have tried to sort through the set up problems that have come up. ( Ivor and all the others )

As to the malfunctioning issues not a word from KDS.

I've owned one tested a fymentor and had it malfunction and was lucky enough to return it and get a refund, With no customer support, this IMHO is not the type of hardware I would invest in.

I've heard quite a bit of bashing being put out about Captron and helicommand, and the fact is that even though the cost of the HC is high, the equipment works extremely well.

Along with that..FMA Direct's CPII, when it first hit the market worked almost 100% flawlessly according to all posted threads.

I fly both systems and can say with reasonable knowledge that before investing in a flymentor, I would recommend the CPII as a cost efficient platform with some of the best customer support that can be found.

My hat is off to all those private owners of flymentor, who are trying to assist other owners ,
But I find it quite disappointing that customers are trying to come up with solutions rather than the manufacturer stepping up and doing what they should be.

nightfly

[Top2874]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Not too sure you've noticed, but KDS has not responded to any inquiries for help to my knowledge.
KDS seems to have either:
1) No concern to their customers in regards to the flymentor.
2) little or no knowledge to offer to solve the issues that have been presented through out these forum postings.
3) Went and marketed a inexpensive unit to make a quick buck.


The ONLY help available are from those who have purchased the unit and have tried to sort through the set up problems that have come up. ( Ivor and all the others )

As to the malfunctioning issues not a word from KDS.

I've owned one tested a fymentor and had it malfunction and was lucky enough to return it and get a refund, With no customer support, this IMHO is not the type of hardware I would invest in.

I've heard quite a bit of bashing being put out about Captron and helicommand, and the fact is that even though the cost of the HC is high, the equipment works extremely well.

Along with that..FMA Direct's CPII, when it first hit the market worked almost 100% flawlessly according to all posted threads.

I fly both systems and can say with reasonable knowledge that before investing in a flymentor, I would recommend the CPII as a cost efficient platform with some of the best customer support that can be found.

My hat is off to all those private owners of flymentor, who are trying to assist other owners ,
But I find it quite disappointing that customers are trying to come up with solutions rather than the manufacturer stepping up and doing what they should be.

nightfly

I had the FlyMentor, could never get it to setup correctly... still have it... will sell for $50.00...

I bought the CPII and love it... easy to setup and it works!!! My wife bought me a TREX 500 for Christmas today... I ordered another CPII for it... I'm not going to put it in the air until I get my CPII installed!

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by Top2874

I had the FlyMentor, could never get it to setup correctly... still have it... will sell for $50.00...

I bought the CPII and love it... easy to setup and it works!!! My wife bought me a TREX 500 for Christmas today... I ordered another CPII for it... I'm not going to put it in the air until I get my CPII installed!

Hi Do you have a paypal account ?. If not how can I pay you ?.Will you ship to UK ? At my cost of course. If so consider it sold.Thanks Ivor

[Top2874]

Originally Posted by Ivor Hill

Hi Do you have a paypal account ?. If not how can I pay you ?.Will you ship to UK ? At my cost of course. If so consider it sold.Thanks Ivor

I'll put it in the mail on Monday Ivor....

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by Top2874

I'll put it in the mail on Monday Ivor....

Many thanks. Enjoy your 500, that will be my next buy but probably a clone, I want a 500 size scale maybe a seaking. Ivor

[Thx1326]

Originally Posted by SeismicCWave

FlyMentor does work if you know what it is suppose to do. It will not help you fly without crashing. That is for sure. FlyMentor is simply a stabilization augmentation device. There are many problems associated with the FlyMentor and setting it up is not quite as simple. The instruction is not very clear and full of errors. The PC interface is difficult to get to recognize the USB link.

Other than that, once you get it to work properly, it actually works quite well.

One thing I know for sure, I will not rely on the tail gyro feature on the FlyMentor.

So... what is the procedure for using a seperate tail gyro?

also... it seems that the FlyMentor is very demanding about the fact that the heli should be sitting perfectly level when it initializes. Otherwise if it is NOT level on the ground - its reference level point is off and when it trys to stablize in the air, it will return to the same off-level attitude as it had when it initialized.

[Thx1326]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Not too sure you've noticed, but KDS has not responded to any inquiries for help to my knowledge.
KDS seems to have either:
1) No concern to their customers in regards to the flymentor.
2) little or no knowledge to offer to solve the issues that have been presented through out these forum postings.
3) Went and marketed a inexpensive unit to make a quick buck.


The ONLY help available are from those who have purchased the unit and have tried to sort through the set up problems that have come up. ( Ivor and all the others )

As to the malfunctioning issues not a word from KDS.

I've owned one tested a fymentor and had it malfunction and was lucky enough to return it and get a refund, With no customer support, this IMHO is not the type of hardware I would invest in.

I've heard quite a bit of bashing being put out about Captron and helicommand, and the fact is that even though the cost of the HC is high, the equipment works extremely well.

Along with that..FMA Direct's CPII, when it first hit the market worked almost 100% flawlessly according to all posted threads.

I fly both systems and can say with reasonable knowledge that before investing in a flymentor, I would recommend the CPII as a cost efficient platform with some of the best customer support that can be found.

My hat is off to all those private owners of flymentor, who are trying to assist other owners ,
But I find it quite disappointing that customers are trying to come up with solutions rather than the manufacturer stepping up and doing what they should be.

nightfly

I chatted with KDS on their chat line the other night and she immediately sent me a copy of the updated (current) software and manual - so that was pretty quick. I've been monitoring the inventory count at HobbyKing and it looks like in the past week, they have sold over 137 units - so someone is buying and keeping them. At $108, it seems like its too good a deal to let go by. There are postes by several users who have it installed and working and love it. I have a feeling that the ratio of success to non-success is a lot higher than is represented by posts here. In most instances, people fail to report the good news and we normally only see the bad side of things - this is fairly common in all product reviews and posts.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Thx1326

I chatted with KDS on their chat line the other night and she immediately sent me a copy of the updated (current) software and manual - so that was pretty quick. I've been monitoring the inventory count at HobbyKing and it looks like in the past week, they have sold over 137 units - so someone is buying and keeping them. At $108, it seems like its too good a deal to let go by. There are postes by several users who have it installed and working and love it. I have a feeling that the ratio of success to non-success is a lot higher than is represented by posts here. In most instances, people fail to report the good news and we normally only see the bad side of things - this is fairly common in all product reviews and posts.

I 'm happy to hear after 5 months that someone got some kind of information from KDS, and to any who choose to install and operate it, my whole hearted best wishes, as for my self, been there, done that 5 months ago and wouldn't chance one of my birds with it on a bet..this is my personal opinion., and if you and others care to purchase and use the KDS flymentor best of luck.
I've used and tested it, and would not recommend it for any highpriced heli, for a 450 maybe but thats about it.

nightflyr

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by Thx1326

I chatted with KDS on their chat line the other night and she immediately sent me a copy of the updated (current) software and manual - so that was pretty quick. I've been monitoring the inventory count at HobbyKing and it looks like in the past week, they have sold over 137 units - so someone is buying and keeping them. At $108, it seems like its too good a deal to let go by. There are postes by several users who have it installed and working and love it. I have a feeling that the ratio of success to non-success is a lot higher than is represented by posts here. In most instances, people fail to report the good news and we normally only see the bad side of things - this is fairly common in all product reviews and posts.

Hi nice to know somebody finaly got a response from KDS, as for the rest I agree, I beleave HobbyKing alone have sold over a thousand. I can find 3 definite failures on this site. Some guys get help and resolve there problems and let you know if its ok or not. Others have problems and given advice and then disappeared, I have PM'd several to see if they resolved they problems but get no answer. A lot of guys only visit this site when they have problems and theres nothing wrong with that.
I have found that most of the problems are caused by incorrect wiring and not understanding the software and that is the fault of the manuel. But I also know that manuals are not easy to write because the writer already knows how it works. Also some guys have problems getting there head around this type of programme.Some guys have problems with CP2 others Helicommand thats the way it is.
I think there has been some bad software and I also think that vista is causing problems, maybe. Anyway I could talk about this all day. so happy new year.

[mslater]

Being a senior techy the flymentor software and link is challanging but not impossible to use.

Loading from the flymentor is NOT a good idea if you are going to make a change - the load is often corrupt and you will end up making changes to the flight parameters without knowing it.

Always save your config to a file - load the file not from the flymentor, make changes, save the file and write config to flymentor.

Slowing the Baud seems to help accuracy in programming.

The problem I'm having now is initialization of the system - It can take six or more attempts to initialize - or it can initialize on the first attempt.

I'm using a Scorpian commander 90A with 22v 3000mah battery. Maybe I'll try a separate power supply and see if that helps.

Should be ready for a test flight later this week.

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by mslater

Being a senior techy the flymentor software and link is challanging but not impossible to use.

Loading from the flymentor is NOT a good idea if you are going to make a change - the load is often corrupt and you will end up making changes to the flight parameters without knowing it.

Always save your config to a file - load the file not from the flymentor, make changes, save the file and write config to flymentor.

Slowing the Baud seems to help accuracy in programming.

The problem I'm having now is initialization of the system - It can take six or more attempts to initialize - or it can initialize on the first attempt.

I'm using a Scorpian commander 90A with 22v 3000mah battery. Maybe I'll try a separate power supply and see if that helps.

Should be ready for a test flight later this week.

Hi If your having problems initializing you must be useing 2.4 ?.
What operating system are you useing ?, I have no problems with the software useing XP, but others have reported similar problems with vista.
Glad your trying a seperate power supply.have wondered for some time if powering up receiver and then flymentor would solve the initialization problem. I have no problem with my non 2.4 system. Please keep us informed. Ivor

[wasabro]

Originally Posted by Ivor Hill

Hi nice to know somebody finaly got a response from KDS, as for the rest I agree, I beleave HobbyKing alone have sold over a thousand. I can find 3 definite failures on this site. Some guys get help and resolve there problems and let you know if its ok or not. Others have problems and given advice and then disappeared, I have PM'd several to see if they resolved they problems but get no answer. A lot of guys only visit this site when they have problems and theres nothing wrong with that.
I have found that most of the problems are caused by incorrect wiring and not understanding the software and that is the fault of the manuel. But I also know that manuals are not easy to write because the writer already knows how it works. Also some guys have problems getting there head around this type of programme.Some guys have problems with CP2 others Helicommand thats the way it is.
I think there has been some bad software and I also think that vista is causing problems, maybe. Anyway I could talk about this all day. so happy new year.

Hi Ivor,I agree with you.I have both FM and CP2 running on two different rigs and plan to buy HC in the near future.Both system running well and I love it.I using vista to setup the FM without facing any problem.My only problem is to know how FM behaves changing some setting ie.Neutral Roll Attitudes(attack angle) , Manual Override Ability and Stick Response Acceleration.This is actually not a problem but rather to fine tune the performance.Maybe you could help me on this.My FM arrived on Nov 09 and the manual inside the CD has been corrected for the connection of green and blue solo pin and came with HeliBal v2.11 and works just fine with vista.Before buying the FM I read all the post treads and lots of people discuss about servo connection and servo directions.From here I got some idea to setup before my FM arrive.Once arrive I don't fine any difficulty to setup the servo operation using the software.From my experience FM can work well if you know the tricks on switching ON and hooking up to the PC.

[Trooper]

Originally Posted by wasabro

My only problem is to know how FM behaves changing some setting ie.Neutral Roll Attitudes(attack angle) , Manual Override Ability and Stick Response Acceleration.This is actually not a problem but rather to fine tune the performance.Maybe you could help me on this.

Heres some information taken from a guide for Helicommand. They will work in a similar manner.

Manual override ability: Allows changes to the minimum movement of the sticks necessary to exceed the stabilizing effects of Helicommand and thus return to direct piloting. Low values (slider towards “early”) make it possible “to take the hand off” with smaller movements of sticks and will be thus be used by more experienced pilots.

Stick response acceleration: Allows refining of the agility of the helicopter, the speed and the force of the application of the signals transmitted by the sticks on the swashplate. Low values (towards “slow”) will be better for larger machines (but it will be necessary to anticipate a little). High values (towards “fast”) are preferable for inexperienced pilots (immediate reactions to a signal).

Neutral Roll Angle: Adjustment to the slope of the roll axis is necessary in hover to balance the effects of the gyro. In general modify only for the light helicopters and at low number of revolutions of the rotor (important Angle of attack). In this case enter the angle of inclination.

Ian

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by wasabro

Hi Ivor,I agree with you.I have both FM and CP2 running on two different rigs and plan to buy HC in the near future.Both system running well and I love it.I using vista to setup the FM without facing any problem.My only problem is to know how FM behaves changing some setting ie.Neutral Roll Attitudes(attack angle) , Manual Override Ability and Stick Response Acceleration.This is actually not a problem but rather to fine tune the performance.Maybe you could help me on this.My FM arrived on Nov 09 and the manual inside the CD has been corrected for the connection of green and blue solo pin and came with HeliBal v2.11 and works just fine with vista.Before buying the FM I read all the post treads and lots of people discuss about servo connection and servo directions.From here I got some idea to setup before my FM arrive.Once arrive I don't fine any difficulty to setup the servo operation using the software.From my experience FM can work well if you know the tricks on switching ON and hooking up to the PC.

Hi, Trooper has answered your questions. I am a scale flyer and have not found it necessary to change them. I can tell you that with the preset settings flymentor would probably be compleatly overidden at about 50% stick. Again taken from helicommand. If you visit there site there is a usefull freaquently ask questions page,takes a bit of finding but it's there.
I would not buy a Helicommand just yet there are new models coming out.They are very good a answering emails so ask them when the new ones are due out.
Be carefull with Vista there are reports of it corrupting the programme when loading from flymentor.
I would be very interested to know what radio you are useing, which ports you have the left and right servos plugged into and if you have to change servo directions in your radio. Happy new year Ivor

[wasabro]

Originally Posted by Ivor Hill

Hi, Trooper has answered your questions. I am a scale flyer and have not found it necessary to change them. I can tell you that with the preset settings flymentor would probably be compleatly overidden at about 50% stick. Again taken from helicommand. If you visit there site there is a usefull freaquently ask questions page,takes a bit of finding but it's there.
I would not buy a Helicommand just yet there are new models coming out.They are very good a answering emails so ask them when the new ones are due out.
Be carefull with Vista there are reports of it corrupting the programme when loading from flymentor.
I would be very interested to know what radio you are useing, which ports you have the left and right servos plugged into and if you have to change servo directions in your radio. Happy new year Ivor

Thank you Trooper and Ivor for your help.I am a scale flyer too.Use FM so that my scale cruising slowly and smoothly.I am happy with it.For the HC I will wait until new product hit the market.To avoid corrupting the programme using vista I have to plug and unplug the cable twice.First switch ON the FM then plug in the cable to the USB port.Run HeliBal then load from FM.This time definitely you will get different setting from what you have done previously.Unplug the cable and close HeliBal.Next plug it again and run back the software.Then load from FM.At this time you will get what is previously stored in the FM and you can make any changes.
I am using JR9XII(9303) radio with 7 ch. Rx.For the servo connections - from top view looking toward front heli.Mine is Copter X 450 (Trex 450 clone).
In the Servo menu:- Servo 1 - NOR (left hand side- Ch6-PIT)
Servo 2 - REV (right hand side-Ch2-AILE)
Servo 3 - REV(back side-Ch3-ELEV)
Servo 1 and 2 can be interchange based on Trex manual.
In the Control menu:- Aile -REV
Elev- NOR
Pit- NOR
In the radio Ch2,Ch3 and Ch6 - NOR
I use 3 pos. switch to control between Position Mode - OFF - Horizontal Mode.

[marcosinatti]

Hi,
I have the flymentor, and i have resolved the start-up issue.
When i have received it, it works one time on 10 attemps, now it inizialize nearly always. It not run only one time on 20-30 attemps.
I have added some capacitors on the power line and on the reset signal of the two micoprocessor.
I have added this 4 capacitors.

Excuse me fo my bad english!

[Lenilton]

hello friend
what does in the flymentor improve when we make this modification?
I have a contrast problem. the led is green blinking and it should be green constant. done add that capacitors I will have lit green led constant?

[Lenilton]

Originally Posted by marcosinatti

Hi,
I have the flymentor, and i have resolved the start-up issue.
When i have received it, it works one time on 10 attemps, now it inizialize nearly always. It not run only one time on 20-30 attemps.
I have added some capacitors on the power line and on the reset signal of the two micoprocessor.
I have added this 4 capacitors.

Excuse me fo my bad english!

hello friend marcosinatti
what does in the flymentor improve when we make this modification?
I have a contrast problem. the led is green blinking and it should be green constant. done add that capacitors I will have lit green led constant?

If you prefer to send answer for my e-mail, he/she can send
interinfopctec@yahoo.com.br