By Terry Dunnon April 15, 2015 at 8:39 a.m.Testing: Ares Quadcopters

In my recent look at starter FPV quads, I had an opportunity to log some flight time with the Ares Ethos FPV. I'll admit that I wasn't really familiar with Ares products prior to pulling together that article. I later found out that Ares is a house brand for Hobby Town, a chain of brick-and-mortar hobby shops across the US. Until very recently, I didn't have a Hobby Town within 100 miles of my house. I guess that explains my knowledge gap. Regardless, I was impressed by the Ethos FPV. So I decided to investigate some of the other quads that they offer.

The quads in the Ares lineup vary greatly in size, but they are all geared towards beginners and sport flyers. While some carry cameras, none have gimbals or GPS that would be necessary to make them serious aerial photography platforms. These machines are primarily for the sole enjoyment of flying. I tested three models: the Spectre X, Ethos QX 130, and Ethos HD.

This family portrait of a few Ares brand multi-rotors illustrates the significant size differences between quads that were tested.Spectre X

The Spectre X ($89.99) is a mini-quad meant for indoor flying. With a diameter of 120mm, it is in the same league as the Heli-Max 1SQ and Hubsan X4 that we have often recommended as starter quads. While the Spectre X is not Ares' smallest quad, it is the smallest with a camera.

The camera records video at 640x480 at 25fps and photos are 1280x960 JPEGs. With those specs, you won't be shooting any documentary scenes with the Spectre X. But the camera is a fun little novelty to play with. A 2GB micro-SD card for the camera and USB card reader are included as well.

The included transmitter is a medium sized unit with conventional layout. In addition to the two joysticks and trim levers used to control the quad, there are four buttons on the face of the transmitter. They allow you to start/stop video recording, take a still photo, switch between low, medium, and high control rates, and initiate an aerial flip. It runs on four AA alkaline batteries, which are included.

The Ares Spectre X offers very sedate handling, making it ideal for new pilots.

A 1S-700mAh Lipo battery is provided with the Spectre X. This is good for about 9 minutes of flight. The 500mA USB charger takes about 1.5 hours to charge a dead battery. The battery is housed in an enclosed compartment of the quad.

The hinged door of the battery compartment kept falling off every time I opened it. The piece that is supposed to hold the door's hinge pin just didn't fit tightly enough. To correct this, I began by adding a thin layer of grease to the hinge pin. With the door in place, I then filled the gap in the plastic pin holder with Household Goop adhesive. The grease on the pin prevents the Goop from bonding to it.

The first time I flew the Spectre X, I appreciated how sedate the controls are. Many other mini-quads have overly sensitive controls, which makes them difficult to fly for beginners. Sure, most of them can be adjusted to make them more docile. But the Spectre X is the first I've seen that is configured this way out of the box. On low rates, it is really docile…just what new fliers need.

Switching the control rates has a significant effect on the performance of the quad. This should provide an easy progression for a newbie as their skills improve.

Switching the control rates has a significant effect on the performance of the quad. This should provide an easy progression for a newbie as their skills improve. I like to keep it on the medium rate when I'm flying in my living room. I'll usually bump it up to high rates and play with the flip button when I take the Spectre X to larger indoor venues or outdoors.

Ares offers a Wi-Fi FPV option for this tiny quad. It consists of a replacement camera and a clip to mount a smart phone to the transmitter. It only took a few minutes to swap the cameras and install the required app on my iPhone. The system works pretty well, with only occasional lag on the video link. The image quality you see is actually pretty good. But again, the recordings are not very high quality.

The app has cyber joysticks overlaid on the screen which can be toggled on or off. Presumably, these are intended to pilot the model. But they don't seem to work with the Spectre X, which is fine with me. Why would you use fake joysticks when you already have the real thing?

Overall, I think that the Spectre X deserves a place among my other recommended mini-quads. The beginner-friendly controls make it especially well suited as a first multi-rotor.

Ethos QX 130

I'll go ahead and say it now, the Ethos QX 130 ($99.99) is my favorite of the Ares quads. In fact, it is now my favorite non-GPS quad of any size from any manufacturer. The QX 130 is a jack of all trades that does many different things well.

The QX 130 has a diameter of 227 mm, so it is significantly larger than the Spectre X. At the same time, it is not too large to preclude living room flights. I wouldn't want to fly anything much larger than the QX 130 in my house, but it's really not a problem with this bird.

The Ethos QX 130 includes a full-size transmitter. The size of the quad makes it suitable for flying indoors or outdoors.

This quad features geared motors with large props…a more efficient setup than direct drive. Just as important, the larger, slower-turning props create much less noise than a comparable direct drive system. The smaller, direct-drive quads like the Spectre X emit a high-pitched whining sound. The note of the QX 130 is noticeably quieter and less harsh.

Another reason I like the QX 130 so much is that it has a full-size transmitter. While it's not fancy, it doesn't need to be. The dual rates are fixed at 100% for high rate and 60% for low rate. I'd prefer adjustable rates, but this arrangement works well enough. As with the Spectre X, there is also a flip button that will make the QX 130 somersault in the air. It's a fun little diversion.

The QX 130 includes a 1S-500mAh Lipo that is good for about 7 minutes of flight. Extra batteries are less than $10, so it makes sense to grab a few extras. The included AC wall charger takes about an hour to refill a depleted battery.

The Ares QX130 is the by far most stable of all non-GPS multi-rotors that I've flown.

In the air is where the QX 130 really shines. It is the by far most stable of all non-GPS multi-rotors that I've flown. At a recent indoor flying session, I was flying the QX 130 and set the throttle to a little under 50%. The QX 130 hovered in ground effect a few inches above the floor and stayed in place as if it did have GPS. At one point, I even set the transmitter on the ground (generally a very dumb thing to do) and pushed the quad around with one finger like an air hockey puck. My friend, Gary Jones, filmed it.

The body of the QX 130 provides a big boost to visual orientation of the quad. There is also a set of LED lights that help you know which way is forward. The lights can be turned on and off via the transmitter.

On low rate controls, the quad should be manageable for new fliers as long as they have some elbow room…an indoor basketball court or outdoors on a calm day. Anybody with multi-rotor experience should have no trouble keeping the QX 130 off the walls within a moderate sized living room.

On high rates, the QX 130 is responsive. You can really toss it around the sky. I was surprised by how much speed I could get out of it even within the space of a basketball court. It's really fun to fly. The only shortcoming I found with this quad's flying performance is that it tends to wallow after a flip. It's like the motors can't get back up to speed quickly enough to stabilize the quad.

I am very impressed with the flying qualities of the QX 130. It is now my favorite non-GPS quad of any size.

Ares offers a selection of neat accessories for the QX 130. These include an HD camera, winch, toy rocket launcher, squirt gun, and bubble blower. It may seem silly, but I was really excited to try those things out. Unfortunately, all but the camera were on backorder when I received the QX 130. As soon as I can get the other stuff in hand, I'll do a follow up to see if those accessories are as much fun as they sound.

I did try the camera for a few flights. It shoots still photos and video at 1280x720 resolution. Ares' website says the camera shoots video at 60fps, but the footage I have is 24fps. If there is a way to change this setting, I haven't found it yet. Regardless of the frame rate, I wasn't impressed with the media I was able to get with the camera. The photos were not sharp and the video was shaky. Perhaps the camera just needs a better mounting system to isolate it from vibration. That being said, I have yet to find any mini-quad-compatible camera that captures truly good media.

Ethos HD

The Ethos HD ($169.99) is the QX 130's big brother. The two quads look very similar and also share many features, including the transmitter. The main difference is that the Ethos HD is considerably larger, with a 355mm diameter (roughly the size of a DJI Phantom). The Ethos HD is also the Ethos FPV's twin brother. The basic airframe is the same. Rather than a FPV system, the Ethos HD includes a HD camera.

The Ethos HD is much like the QX 130, only bigger and more powerful. It should be flown outdoors or in large indoor spaces.

The included camera is very similar to the popular Mobius Action Camera in size and video specs. A switch on the side lets you choose between 1080P/30fps or 720P/60fps. The camera lens can be tilted manually within about a 20-degree range of motion. The camera's video and photo operations can be controlled in flight via buttons on the transmitter.

Unlike the other cameras looked at here, the HD's camera mount does have a vibration isolation system. Although there is occasional jello distortion in the video, the footage is typically pretty good. The primary limiting factor is smooth flying. The one day that I set out to shoot video with the Ethos HD was windy and I was located between several tall buildings. The turbulent air knocked around the quad and made steady shots hard to come by. I expect much different results on a calmer day.

The Ethos HD includes a pretty decent camera that is mounted on rubber vibration isolators. It produces the best photos and video of the Ares quads I've flown, but I wouldn't consider it a serious camera platform.

As with the Ethos FPV, the 2S-1200mAh battery provides flight times of about 9 minutes. It could take up to three hours for the included charger to fill a dead battery. The same accessories that can be used with the QX 130 are also compatible with the Ethos HD (and Ethos FPV).

This photo taken with the Ethos HD shows the image quality in bright sunlight.

The Ethos HD is too big to comfortably fly in my house, but it is great at an indoor basketball court. The performance and handling of this quad Is quite similar to the QX 130, but with more power on tap. Not only does the HD perform flips without wallowing, I was able to repeatedly do flips without even losing any altitude.

The relative higher power of the Ethos HD also makes it a good outdoor flyer. I've flown it in pretty rough conditions and it has the power needed to buck significant headwinds. As I mentioned, high winds can stymie your camera footage. But the quad will fly in wind just fine. The Ethos HD does not have GPS, so it will not stay in position by itself when the wind is blowing.

Just like the QX 130 and Ethos FPV, the body on the Ethos HD is a huge benefit for in-flight orientation. Also given the larger size of this quad, you can comfortably venture out a little further.

With more power available, the Ethos HD is capable or more aggressive maneuvers than the Spectre X or Ethos QX 130.Conclusion

As a relative unknown in the increasingly-crowded quadrotor market, I wasn't sure what to expect from Ares quads. After all, you wouldn't normally expect a hobby shop house brand to be a top contender. Now that I've flown four quads in the Ares lineup, I have to say that they're pretty good--especially the Ethos QX 130. While none of them are perfect, they are all solid performers with good features.

The Spectre X can hold its own against any other micro-quad I've flown. The QX 130 is the best non-GPS quad I've flown, period. The Ethos HD is like the QX 130, but it simply has no peers in its size range to compare to (that I know of).

I will continue to fly these ships to determine if there are any long-term durability issues. I will also report back once I've had a chance to test out the full array of accessories for the Ethos quads. I'm really looking forward to being the first guy on my block to have a quad with a squirt gun…seriously!

Terry spent 15 years as an engineer at the Johnson Space Center. He is now a freelance writer living in Lubbock, Texas. Visit his website at TerryDunn.org and follow Terry on Twitter: @weirdflight

Ares飞行器测评

特里Pd降低2015年4月15日在a.m.testing：8:39战神quadcopters
我最近在起动机的FPV四周看，我有一个机会与战神精神的一些日志FPV飞行时间。我承认我不是战神产品真的熟悉拉在一起的那篇文章之前。后来我发现，战神是一家品牌连锁爱好的小镇，在我们的砖和迫击炮商店的嗜好。直到最近，我在我家100英里外的一个爱好城市都没有。我想这解释了我的知识差距。不管怎样，我的精神的印象。所以我决定研究一些其他的四边形，他们的报价。

四在战神系列的大小差异很大，但他们都是面向初学者和运动的传单。而一些携带相机，没有框架或GPS，就必须使他们严重的航空摄影平台。这些机器主要用于飞行的唯一享受。我测试了三种模式：幽灵X，精神和民族精神的QX 130，HD。

this几顷品牌多转子全家福说明四边形进行了测试之间存在明显的大小差异。幽灵X
幽灵X（89.99美元）是一个小型的四指室内飞行。一个直径120mm，它是在同一个联盟的合力最大1sq和hubsan X4，我们经常推荐曲四边形。而幽灵X不是阿瑞斯的最小的四，它是最小的一个相机。

摄像机记录视频在640x480在25fps和照片JPEG 1280x960。有了这些功能，你不会任何拍摄纪录片的场景与幽灵X.但是照相机是一个有趣的小玩意儿玩。一个2GB的Micro SD卡的摄像头和读卡器都包括在内。

包括发射机是一种中型机组与常规布局。除了两摇杆和装饰杆用来控制四，有对发射面四个按钮。他们允许你开始/停止录像，采取一个静止的照片，低，中，高控制率之间的切换，并发起空中翻转。它运行在四节AA碱性电池，其中包括。

the战神幽灵X很稳重的处理，使其成为理想的新飞行员。
一1s-700mah锂电池具有幽灵X。这是约9分钟的飞行好。500mA的USB充电器大约需要1.5小时才能死电池充电。电池被安置在一个封闭的隔间里。< /对了，在每一次打开它时，电池仓的铰链门一直在脱落。一块被认为是在门的铰链销，只是不适合足够紧。为了纠正这一点，我开始加入一层薄薄的润滑脂的铰链销。随着地方的门，然后装入塑料针座差距与家用液体粘合剂。在销的润滑脂防止液体从结合到它。

我第一次飞的幽灵x，我欣赏的控制是多么平静。许多其他小型四边有过于敏感的控制，这使得它们很难飞的初学者。当然，他们中的大多数可以调整，使他们更温顺。但幽灵X是我第一次看到如此配置开箱。在低利率的情况下，它是很温顺的…就是新飞行员的需要。

开关的控制率，对四性能效果显著。这应该提供一个新手的技能提高一个简单的进展。

切换控制率对四性能效果显著。这应该提供一个新手容易提高自身技能的进展。我喜欢在我的起居室里飞行时把它放在中等速度上。我通常会撞到高利率和玩翻页按钮，当我把幽灵X较大的室内场所或室外。

阿瑞斯提供Wi-Fi的选项，这个小小的四。它由一个替换的摄像头和一个夹子安装一个智能手机到发射机。只花了几分钟就可以把相机换上，并在我的手机上安装了所需的应用程序。该系统工作相当好，只是偶尔滞后的视频链接。你看到的图像质量真的很好。但是，这些素质不是很高。

应用程序网络游戏杆盖在屏幕可开启或关闭。据推测，这些都是为了试点的模式。但他们似乎不与幽灵X的工作，这是我的罚款。你为什么要用假杆的时候你已经有真实的东西吗？< / P >

总的来说，我认为幽灵X值得我其他推荐的迷你线之间的地方。初学者友好的控制使它特别适合作为第一个多转子。

风气QX 130
我先走一步，现在说，风气QX 130（99.99美元）是我最喜欢的是四边形。事实上，它是我最喜欢的非全球定位系统的任何大小的任何制造商的任何大小。QX 130是一个多面手，做许多不同的事情。

QX 130直径有227毫米，所以它是在同一时间比幽灵X明显大了，不太大，使客厅的航班。我不想要飞比我家的QX 130大得多，但它真的不是这种鸟的一个问题。

the风气QX 130包括一个全尺寸的发射机。四的大小使得它适合在室内或室外飞行。<对大道具的四个特点是齿轮马达，更有效的设置比直接驱动。同样重要的是，更大的，慢的转向道具创造的噪音比一个可比的直接驱动系统。小的，像幽灵X直接驱动四周发出高音调的声音。的QX 130注更安静和不太苛刻。

< P >的另一个原因我喜欢QX 130这么多的是，它有一个全尺寸的发射机。虽然不喜欢，它不需要。双率固定在100%的高利率和低利率60%。我希望可调利率，但这安排工作很好。与幽灵X，还有一个翻页键，将使QX 130空翻。这是一个有趣的小分流。

QX 130包括一个1s-500mah脂很好，大约7分钟的飞行。额外的电池不到10美元，所以要抓住一些额外的电池是有意义的。包括AC充电器大约需要一个小时补充耗尽的电池。

战神qx130是迄今为止最为稳定的非GPS多转子，我飞在空中。
在QX 130真正的光芒。它是迄今为止最稳定的所有非全球定位系统的多转子，我已经飞。在最近的一次室内飞行期间，我在飞的QX 130和设置油门略低于50%。QX 130在地面几英寸以上的地板和呆在的地方，如果没有GPS。在这一点上，我甚至将发射器在地上（通常是一个非常愚蠢的事），把四周围用手指像空气曲棍球。我的朋友，加里琼斯，拍摄它。

身体的QX 130提供了一个很大的提高，视觉定位的四。还有一组发光二极管灯，帮助你知道哪条路是向前的。灯可以打开和关闭通过发射机。

低利率管制，四应该可以控制新的传单，只要他们有一些空间…一个室内篮球场或在一个平静的一天。多转子经验人应该不难保持QX 130上墙在一个中等大小的起居室。

高利率，QX 130响应。你可以把它扔到天空。我感到惊讶的是，我可以在一个篮球场的空间里，能有多快的速度走出去。飞行真有趣。唯一的缺点我发现这四的飞行性能，它往往沉溺在翻转。就像汽车不能回到速度之快足以稳定四。

i是与飞行品质的QX 130印象很深刻。现在是我最喜欢的非GPS四的任何大小。
战神提供了一个选择的QX 130整齐的配件。这些包括一个高清摄像头，绞车，玩具火箭发射器、水枪、泡沫机。可能看起来很傻，但我真的很高兴去尝试这些东西。不幸的是，除了相机缺货时我接到QX 130。只要我能用手拿其他的东西，我会做一个跟进，看看这些配件是否像他们的声音一样有趣。它拍摄照片和视频在1280X720分辨率。“战神”网站说，摄像头拍摄的视频在60fps，但我的镜头是24fps。如果有一种方法来改变这个设置，我还没有找到它。不管是什么速度，我都没有印象与媒体我能够得到的相机。这些照片并不是很清晰，视频也不稳定。也许相机只需要一个更好的安装系统来隔离它的振动。也就是说，我还没有找到任何迷你四兼容相机捕捉真正的好媒体。

精神高清

风气HD（169.99美元）的QX 130的哥哥。两四周看起来非常相似，也有许多共同的特点，包括发射机。主要的区别是，风气HD是相当大的，与355mm直径（约一DJI Phantom的大小）。民族精神是民族精神的HD FPV的孪生兄弟。基本的机身是一样的。而不是一个FPV系统，风气HD包括一个高清摄像头。

the风气HD很像QX 130，只是更大和更强大的。它应该悬挂在室外或大的室内空间。
包括相机非常类似于流行的Mobius行动相机的大小和视频规格。旁边的一个开关可以让你1080P/30fps或720p 60fps之间选择/。该相机的镜头可以在大约20度范围内手动倾斜。该摄像机的视频和照片操作可以通过在发射器上的按钮来控制飞行，而不像其他的相机在这里看，高清的摄像机安装有隔振系统。虽然是在视频中偶尔的果冻失真，画面通常是很好的。主要限制因素是平稳飞行。有一天，我拍摄的视频与民族精神的高清是有风的，我在位于乙