DS-16 vs Graupner MZ-24

[V3ndetta]

Hello everyone,
First post here but thought I could chime in for future reference.
I purchased MZ-24 3 months ago moving from dx7 due to losing 2 planes and 1 heli. I also have futaba 8fg but i have my throttle centered since I only fly my drones with it so I looked around and MZ 24 looked like a good deal but I must say it has potential but it needs alot of work to get there.

It's interface icons are crap. Touchscreen is nice feature but it's no use if you can't even understand what the icons are representing. I've had it for 3 months and programming still takes days for simple setup. And the material it's made out of feels cheap imo. It does come with lots a extra accessories for it's commanding price. It just feels like a rushed product.

Even though I really wanted Jeti DS 16, I didn't want to spend that kind of cash without with seeing or holding one in person. That was until last week I seen a group of ppl surrounding one guy at the field. Everyone was drooling over DS16 except few ppl that were nitpicking it but those ppl, all 3 of them owned dx18. The owner was very cool to let me try the tx and I was instantly blown away. The moment you hold the radio, you know you are holding a quality tool, not a toy. Smoothest gimbals I've ever tried and it just feels so damn solid. It reminds of my fluke 87v.

So I rushed home and began looking around and today finally purchased it. I can't wait to get my hands on it. So long story short, you really can't compare the two radios cuz it's in a different ball park, like comparing Lexus to a Bentley. It does cost alot more but you know a tool that will last you a lifetime when you hold one and those tools don't come cheap.

[Luvmyhelis]

Great thread with lots of good info. I just spent two full days helping a fellow flyer try and program in his new Mz-24 Graupner after his third Spektrum tx went south on him in a row. His brand new DX9 lost its ability to put out a signal, I played around with it for an hour and it is def software related. In his hate and rage over it he went down to one of our few local HS's and picked up the Graupner. Sadly local support for it sucks, they simply handed him a card with hand written ph numbers to connect us to the U.S. Graupner support. Pretty much telling me off the bat this wasn't going to be an easy setup.

The Graup manual is worthless, the touch screen is very cool, but the menu is counter intuitive. Meaning, anything you do takes twice the effort! Things the menu say aren't at all what you think they are. Sitting side by side with its new owner, we have chatted with a couple actual outstanding reps on the phone, but have after two full days. We have been unable to actually connect with his BD fbl controller. The voice prompts are ok, but not nearly as good as my Jeti. The toggles and gymbals still have that cheap feel in comparison. The switches are bunched together also, but feel solid. I confess, as a techie I did like the touch screen! Still miles ahead of Futaba and Spektrum. But not nearly as good as the Jeti setup menu, nor as versatile.

Graupner's best feature at all my simply be the great customer support! Even so, admittedly the guys we talked to fly planks. So they couldn't fully expound on what we actually needed for our setup use. Whereas the Jeti support at least at Esprit is as good as it gets. Plus, they are experienced heli pilots with tons of know how.

As reported above, their receivers are fairly large and bulky compared to the Jeti lineup, at least anything smaller than the R9. But their rx menu is far more detailed and even more flexible. Sadly it borders on confusing!

Fun yet? Not. Yet the Tx is far superior in feel to any Spektrum I have had my hands on. That pretty much includes all of them. It is real easy on the hands to hold this tx. But it is still a cheap plastic feel compared to how solid the Jeti is made.

What is going to begin driving Graupner Mz-24 sales is its pricing. They will never compare with Jeti as the top quality tx, ever. But will most certainly find a strong following in guys wanting to get out of Spektrum or Futaba into a much better tx. Which arguably, the Mz-24 is.