RC India

So,I built my mini quad, put battery in it and went to fly. The thing weights around 450gm with a 2200mah Lipo battery.

At first I turned auto level on and flew the copter (Am a complete newbie). The quad tends to drift but I solved the problem when I actually flew it, i.e. I took it from one place to another, turned around, came back and so on. First lesson learned - Quads aren't meant to hover in one place, if you try to do so, it will just try to drift away.

Then I watched the Flite-test videos and they recommend flying with auto-level off. So,I turned auto level off, and again went to fly the thing. Oh , the quad felt solid and it was doing the exact things I wanted it to do. BUT....once I lost sense of direction.....the thing crashed, resulting my battery to be bent, and cracking one of the buzzers of the LVC.....but yeah it was much more maneuverable.

Then, in the afternoon I again went to fly......turned off auto-level and was flying..suddenly I again lost sense of direction ,but at that moment I turned auto level on........and the quad corrected itself.....

For me, if I don't want any more damage to the quad, I will fly the quad in auto level mode. But others say it is good to learn in Auto level off mode. My question is, is this absolutely necessary? I don't think i am gong to participate in a race in the near future, all I am after is arial photography.

And oh, I also have dual rates turned on, else the quad becomes too aggressive to handle.

Fly horizon, = when transmitter sticks are centered its angle mode, when sticks are deflected its acro mode.

Uh I don't quite understand what you're trying to say. Are you suggesting that I should fly in Horizon mode?

In multiwii, I think there are two modes, one is Horizon and the other is Angle.
In Horizon mode, as I leave the sticks, the quad gets self balanced, and in angle mode, unless I give an opposite stick input, the quad keeps on going to the direction it was moving previously.

oho Okk Okk, I got it.
However As i am using Dual rates @ 45 %, I think I will never go into Acro :D

For AP, flying in acro/angle mode is not required. Flying in Auto level mode helps you concentrate on the shot you want to take instead of worrying what the quad is doing. Having a GPS is even more beneficial for AP. But having the extra hardware requires more real-estate thus mini quads are not the best choice for a photography platform.

Ashim.