Walkera tali H500

[quebuenman]

Hi all!
I wonder if you have some experience with this tali h500 from walkera, it comes RTF and includes the I look + camera and h3g gimball, the transmiter is a devo 12 ch (I think this is a good brand of tx) any coments wellcome thanks in advance.

[kenrwi]

Well I am surprised that no one has posted on this subject yet. The Tali is all over other forums and YouTube. So for those here I have my thoughts.

1) A great Hexa but it does have limits It operates with manual mode as the default, GPS is for once its off the ground no big deal its stable in manual, though it will of course drift. once in the air filp to GPS and go shoot video the gimbal is great so far no complaints with it. I have not landed in GPS mode they say not too its for altitude hold and though I haven't gone there yet? once you get below a certain throttle limit on the transmitter the throttle shuts of the motors (this does happen on the bench props off) which would be ugly if landing and boom, I have seen that you can land using the one key take off switch to reverse the process and land it too in GPS mode, see youtube it seems to have worked perfectly I haven't tried this one yet as of writing this review. You can use the throttle of course in GPS and it does go up and down but again below a limit on the bench they shut of which is about 25% on test, in GPS mode I use the throttle and it works to control altitude but I have never needed to go below the 25% or 1/4 throttle to do so it responds well to the +25% and higher (I won't test this in the air) but I will assume for now that this is why no landing in GPS mode? or maybe mine is defective or I am just not willing to text my theory for now someone else can and let me know and I only use GPS for filming when I need it to be steady.

2) The iLook camera isn't too bad I actually like the quality but it is 1080P 30 only. you have to decide prior to flight if its video or photos and flip the switch on the camera prior to lift off. it is 13MP so it does a good job in quality. You can start and stop the video or take photos with the remote. Again that's it, it is a no frills unit but it is designed for this purpose only and it does its job well it is not a hero3+!! you can install your gopro in the gimbal mount add your own transmitter and go, but you have to start and stop the video manually and as for photos?

4) Return to home works perfect and the orientation control as well, just make sure you have GPS sats locked in! same as DJI's units don't fly with out them locked in. Also it has a funtion that when switched on will send the Tali in a circle around a preset parameter that you can increase or decrease with the settings in the transmitter nice for smooth video.

5) I have the black carbon Tali its a great look but it is painted, again it looks great but painted its not the smooth white plastic on the white one, I like the carbon look , getting batteries will be a bit harder and the motors are black and I cant find them listed yet, the black props are available.BTW the parts are priced right the carbon housing/body is only $54.00.

6) The radio/controller (F12/E) is big its pretty cool but big so just be ready for that it has the LCD built in, that is awesome only problem I have with it is its hard to see it. It is very dim outside, its a chore to see it. It does come with a shade but it doesn't help much. I will have to figure out how to shade it on my own for now. It is built well and will amaze you otherwise. The 5.8ghz video receiver is built in as well it receives the signal from the iLooks transmitter which is only 200mw so distance is limited. It also has an OSD which has the altitude, distance from home, speed and battery data as well as the GPS coordinates. Gimbal tilt/roll is available on the transmitter using the side slider controls nice and functional.

7) It is compatible with APM's ground station for flying missions using way-points this is on YouTube as well, apparently it works well though I haven't tried it myself yet.

8) It has retractable landing gear, the gear will still show on your video when retracted with aggressive movements but this is not the norm of course when doing video that you want to be sharp and artifact free.

9) I haven't taken it apart but from the outside the build quality is very good with rubber plugs covering the USB, gimbal, 12V ports, antenna and one spare port. the gimbal attaches/removes very quickly nice option no bolts just slides on and is locked by a spring loaded thumb screw. the props are DJI P2 screw on types. The landing gear are true carbon builds and remove/attach with a push and lock or pull to remove very nice the servo is a worm gear and is $24.00 to replace. They do creak and pop which is no big deal I guess but can be a bit unnerving you think you broke something NOT they can take punishment.

10) I own the DJI vision+ and P2 with Zenmuse 3d Gopro 3+black and a 350QX2 AP (for sale BTW ) I must say this is the most fun to fly but not for beginners it does help to have manual multi rotor flying or heli experience and be careful with the throttle don't be to aggressive with it, it can get a bit scary at times the P2 controls the decent at 2m/s for a reason! I am sure that it might just be me but loosing altitude too fast seems to freak it out a bit? I feel the Video is close to the 3+ on 1080P 30 but of course the 3+ is much better all around! however you lose the camera control from the transmitter a trade I dont feel is necessary for me anyway and again the gimbal is great on par with the ZM 3D IMO.

I suggest that anyone wanting one watch all the youTube videos and read all the forums there is good an bad on this machine as there is with any thing. I can recommend it no question but its 2K and is not a P2 it has its own mind.

I will update this as I use it more

Enjoy

Ken

[quebuenman]

Thanks for your review ken, it makes me clear my mind about tali