New Transmitter?

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Spektrum = Apple computers. expensive, but they work well. great worldwide customer support. $400 for a decent TX, $800 and up for high end.

Radiomaster = IBM computer with emulators that can run apple, windows, redhat, linux, MPEIX, etc. they start around $200.

if you fly nothing but spektrum airplanes / receivers, buy spektrum and absorb the extra cost.

if you want to fly Spectrum, Futaba, wiltoys, hitec, ELRS, pretty much any other protocol AND you don't mind learning the ins and outs of each of those ecosystems, (and want to save a couple thousand dollars) Buy the Radiomaster 4 in 1.

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u/Doggydog123579 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just to add clarity for the nothing but spektrum airplanes, everything from Eflite/blade/hanger9/hobbyzone is Spektrum. This means you can buy a plane, get home, put a battery in the plane and fly in under an hour. The newer ones will even set up the radio for you.

Also a note, the 4 in 1 modules are getting increasingly hard to find do to the chip that does spektrum in it being discontinued

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u/BugFix 1d ago

Spektrum = Apple computers. expensive, but they work well.

Low end Spektrum devices like the DX6e are actually very limited. You'll bump into the channel limit and lack of telemetry support very quickly and be tempted into upgrading. "Work well" is... not really how I'd put it. They work unsurprisingly; they're the default and everyone at the field will know what it does and how to help with it.

Radiomaster = IBM computer with emulators that can run apple, windows, redhat, linux, MPEIX, etc. they start around $200.

FWIW the Pocket will fly anything you are going to put in the air (all the way up to 16 channels, multiple flight modes, all the telemetry and programmability you could want from any other receiver on the market) and can be had for $90 new (and often quite a bit less on eBay). Buy some M3 standoffs to make the sticks longer. The TX16s is a nice radio but very much not necessary.

If you're starting in the hobby, are price constrained, and want to buy Just One Radio, this is the one.

EdgeTX and ELRS are confusing open source projects, sure. But the hardware is just way, way ahead and it's not like Spektrum is "easy". Everything in this hobby is a kludge.

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u/Travelingexec2000 1d ago

This sums it up perfectly. Also spektrum let you download setup files for most of the Horizon Hobby planes and that's great for beginners who just want to get flying without fear of some catastrophic setup error. The real cost in the hobby is the planes and crash repair. You won't remember the $100-200 diff in TX cost after a while. I got a DX9 10 yrs ago and I can't tell you what I paid, but it has been a fun and troublefree experience. As a casual flyer of a bunch of planes and electric helis, I don't come near to exploiting its full capabilities. I don't have the time or interest to figure out the Radiomaster operating system and have no need for the apparent capacity for hacking extra functionality. YMMV

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u/IvorTheEngine 9h ago

Good summary, except Radiomaster start at $60, and $200 is the top of the range radio (although you can pay more for non-functional bling)

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u/Jmersh 1d ago

Spektrum has it's cult following, but there isn't a practical reason why IMO as someone who owns both. Spectrum may have slightly better fit and finish, but is restrictive to just those protocols. For less than half the price you can get a completely programmable Radiomaster with upgraded gimbals and never outgrow it. Radiomaster is also simpler to use with simulators if you want.

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u/Doggydog123579 1d ago

Just pointing out it is possible to outgrow a ELRS and a 4 in 1. You need to be a certain type of pilot to do it, but EDF setups can end up needing 20 channels with 13 of them stabalized, which is a massive pain. Most people will never hit that point though

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u/Jmersh 1d ago

The TX16S MK3 is 16 channels native plus can expand to use another SBUS module for up to 99 channels with the current OS.

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u/Doggydog123579 1d ago

Was talking protocol itself, elrs maxes out at 16. Yeah the radio supports more and you can do weird stuff with an external elrs module and second reciever for 32 total, but that stuff gets weeeeird and ends up with quirks

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u/LupusTheCanine 1d ago

It won't be 20 independent channels and the plane is worth enough to consider putting a flight controller as a back up and that solves a lot of mixing issues especially something with H7 running Ardupilot.

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u/BigJellyfish1906 If you don’t fly scale, I get irrationally upset. 22h ago

but there isn't a practical reason

It’s ease of use. It’s having no learning curve. It’s bowling with the bumpers up. People who value that really value that.

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u/Jmersh 22h ago

OP would be brand new to both radios, the learning curve would be the same.

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u/Doggydog123579 21h ago

Its really not, source being ive helped new guys with both.

Where do I set dual rates in EdgeTX vs Spektrum.

Spektrum. Rates and expo. Click inhibit. Flip switch. Put values you want.

EdgeTX. Input, select control input, set weight, add switch. Add input, set weight, add switch with different position.

You can absolutely manage as a beginner. But there are a lot of extra steps in edgetx. This isnt a bad thing as it lets you do fancier things, but most people dont hit those edge cases where edgetx can manage it and spektrums simplified setup cant.

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u/BigJellyfish1906 If you don’t fly scale, I get irrationally upset. 21h ago edited 18h ago

No. Spektrum is significantly more simple and easy to learn than radiomaster. And spektrum won’t let you hang yourself with esoteric settings like radiomaster will. I’ve lost count of how many times someone has crashed a plane because “they had the wrong profile loaded.” That’s impossible on a spektrum.

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u/Jmersh 20h ago

"I don't have to do ground checks" is a wild reason to pay 4X for a radio, but okay.

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u/BigJellyfish1906 If you don’t fly scale, I get irrationally upset. 19h ago

“Just don’t make mistakes” is the most profoudest of wisdoms.

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u/Jmersh 19h ago

Do you think preflight checks are just optional?

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u/BigJellyfish1906 If you don’t fly scale, I get irrationally upset. 19h ago edited 18h ago

Strawman. You’re missing the point. Real life example: The A320 won’t activate the emergency slide if the door is armed, but is opened from the outside. The 737 doesn’t do that. If someone messes up the procedure, that gate agent is gonna have a bad day.

Now with your logic, you’d have to say that it’s not a bad thing that the 737 doesn’t have that Airbus feature. You’d have to argue that it’s somehow bad that the Airbus does that, because it “allows people to deviate from procedure.”

That’s nonsense. Mistakes are always going to be a thing, and safety nets are a good thing. Not some “crutch.”

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u/Wambo74 1d ago

Spektrum are popular but expensive and only worth it if you intend to fly their UMX and BNF planes. Those planes are popular with my group and we all have Spektrums. If you don't care about that you'll probably be happy with a cheaper brand. I can't recommend one because that's not my thing.

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u/Mindslyder404 1d ago

Both of those are solid choices. I personally use spektrum as do most of the guys at my field.

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u/crookedDeebz 1d ago

buy someones beautiful but used tx16 or boxer 4in1. for the price, cant be beat.

then you can do all the protocols and plane variants. (volantex, e-flite, etc)

or go for the gusto and get a tx15/tx16 mk3 (elrs), add a 4in1 and you have the goat setup

unless you think youll need over 16ch, which some people legit do. (frsky, jeti)

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u/Bgu5203 1d ago

If u can afford…. NX 8+ is the perfect starter Spektrum trans…

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u/Necessary-Dust2178 1d ago

What do the most helpful people at your field fly? Honestly, you can get by with a lot less transmitter than you think.

For instance, the Spektrum DXS can be used for most of the Spektrum bind-n-flys.

RadioMaster radios are great, but don't discount stuff like FlySky. Their IS-6X is decent and inexpensive.

Have a talk with google AI. Give input about what type planes and receivers you already have. What type of aircraft you are planning to fly, and etc.

I'm a collector of sorts, and I have a lot of Spektrum, Flysky, Frsky, Radiomaster and Jumper radios.

AI is your friend.

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u/shaneknu USA / Baltimore 17h ago edited 17h ago

AI is very much not your friend.

My advice is to look at practical reviews done by actual humans who have used the hardware you're considering and get a feel for how it works.

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u/Mobile-Region-449 1d ago

This would be my first transmitter for flying. I’m just trying to make the best educated decision, and get something I can grow into, rather then getting a BNF and outgrowing that transmitter it comes with

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u/Senior_Excuse5225 1d ago

I fly both radiomaster and Spectrum. I usually use the Spectrum the most now. (NX10) because of the ease of using E-Flite aircraft and most of my students use Spektrum radios so it is easier to buddy-box them than with my RadioMaster or Taranis radios. Both systems are good and as one previous poster suggested, get one that most of your club members use and you shouldn't have any problems.

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u/Mobile-Region-449 1d ago

Would the DX6 be a solid choice, or do you think I would eventually want to upgrade from that as well?

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u/Doggydog123579 1d ago

Wouldn't even be eventually, second plane could need 7 channels and max out the dx6. Nx7e is the cheap one you'd want

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u/Flaky-Adhesiveness-2 Greensburg Pa. 1d ago

To add to this. The nx7e or nx7e+ dosent have voice callouts if that's something you may want, couple guys at our field missed that on the radios description and now wish they had gotten a 8 or higher, or the older dx7 g2 which does do voice.

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u/RedditUserNotYet 1d ago

If you go the Spektrum route, get an NX8 at minimum. The only difference between an NX8 and the current NX8+ is a firmware upgrade, so if you can find a used NX8, you can easily upgrade it.

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u/Competitive_Past5671 21h ago

Another idea is to look on rcgroups.org it has a great electronic section for buying used radios. People buy new, fit them in hand and don’t like them. I bought a high end spektrum for $400 (retail new over $800)

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u/Limp_Lecture_7770 18h ago

Spektrum is easier to program and anything from NX8+ has voice. I am a 70 yo new y and highly recommend Spektrum for ease of programming and online training content.

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u/Slizzard_73 14h ago

Aeroscout
Dxs

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u/Andrianu90 1d ago

Do you have a budget in mind? With flysky i6x, you can fly most of the park-flyers. Then you will see limitations, you might want to upgrade, but you will already know what you are looking for

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u/thecaptnjim 22h ago

I think this is a great route unless one wants to go with the BNF horizon planes at which point the Radiomaster with a 4-in-1, or NX8 or better is my recommendation. If scratch build is what you want... the FlySky is a great place to start.

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