Re: Futaba 2.4 GHz FASST Service Advisory

flieslikeabeagl wrote:
The second paragraph is speculation, yes, however it is based on the
evidence I've seen so far. For example, when a company chooses to
release a new microcontroller based RC transmitter in the year 2007 and
it has only six model memories, it is a dead giveaway that this is an
old product using old electronic components that are nearly obsolete
technically - they must be from an era when the price of flash memory
was so high that the cost of the few hundred bytes needed to store a
models settings was significant.

I really doubt that the reason the 2.4GHz TX has only 6 model memories - either Futaba didn't have the flash space or else it is an intentional restriction to position the TX to the low end of the market.

> Another giveaway is Futaba's use of a
custom RF chip in an era when 2.4 GHz spread-spectrum equipment is
ubiquitous and dozens of much cheaper off-the-shelf solutions exist -
they probably were using what they already had and knew, rather than
taking the time to come up to speed with currently available parts.

That's basically a stupid argument. It's 100 fold easier to move to 2.4GHz by using other peoples chips than to have to grapple with the intricacies of a completely new system. I'm prepared to bet that Futaba's comparatively late entry to the 2.4GHz field has some dependence on their decision to go it alone with the consequent huge development effort entailed by that.

> A
third giveaway is this enormous blunder with non-unique GUID's - that
smells of a rushed job if anything does.

They had a manufacturing problem where a process was not applied to part of their poroduction run. I really don't see what that has to do with your speculative "rush to get something on the market" ?

By the way, if it isn't already obvious, I have nothing against Futaba
the company - in fact my first microcontroller based transmitter was
made by Futaba; back in 2005 I bought a Futaba 7CAP that served me well
until Spektrum made a better mousetrap.

Me neither :-) In fact all the TXs I've owned in the past have been Futaba ones but the lamentable failings of the 9C Super I own mean I am now looking to jump ship when the 2.4GHz market settles. Ironically, Futaba's version of 2.4GHz seems like it may have major advantages over the Spektrum / JR implementation (in respect of x-country glider application) so I may have to go with them after all.

--
Boo
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Futaba 2.4 GHz FASST Service Advisory
    ... either Futaba didn't have the flash space or else it is an intentional ... restriction to position the TX to the low end of the market. ... the company - in fact my first microcontroller based transmitter was ... made by Futaba; back in 2005 I bought a Futaba 7CAP that served me well ...
    (rec.models.rc.air)
  • Re: Futaba 2.4 GHz FASST Service Advisory
    ... either Futaba didn't have the flash space or else it is an intentional restriction to position the TX to the low end of the market. ... the company - in fact my first microcontroller based transmitter was ...
    (rec.models.rc.air)
  • Re: Selecting a Transistor
    ... > I have a microcontroller which runs of 5V. ... > transmitter to one of its outputs. ... transducer makes no ultrasonic noise at all. ... having DC voltages across them (in addition to the rated peak to peak AC ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
  • Re: Futaba FASST update
    ... If it would respond to our transmitter, ... (It's easy enough to reset ... The time frame that Futaba recommends waiting before cycling the on/off switch in the opposite direction is no more than a couple of seconds at most. ... Futaba's service bulletin, on their web site, also states that the receiver should not loose bind with the transmitter under normal usage. ...
    (rec.models.rc.helicopter)
  • Re: Futaba 2.4 GHz FASST Service Advisory
    ... I use futaba but i'll wait a long time to have one of those. ... Each FASST transmitter contains a unique eight ... subsequently sold prior to our awareness of the situation. ... If two or more units, utilizing this common identification code, were to ...
    (rec.models.rc.air)
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