Jumper T8SG - First TX stock running on Deviation

Brainstorm wrote: As for price, remember that the T8SG will come with four (4!) RF modules built in! While Devo 7e is very affordable, you have to spend $40 extra for a 4-in-1 RF module, plus more for upgrades like 3-position switches and removable antenna. So I think the current $100 price for the T8SG remains quite attractive, especially if it ships with improved gimbals.

BG is now offering the Tx for $70 (price was $99 during pre-order). I am afraid response is not as expected and it will take quite some efforts to clear the 1st batch of 500.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger and buy this one. Just a question... are the gimbals as good as the 7e's? Thanks

ajtank wrote: BG is now offering the Tx for $80, which is a more reasonable price if the gimbals are improved.
As the volume of the 4-in-1 module increases with the additional sales of Tx, it should no longer cost $40. I do appreciate the manufacturer's efforts to introduce a customized product, it is just the market driving the sellers to be cost sensitive.

FYI, I got a shipment notification for my pre-order this morning. If BG is selling this TX now, it's the existing v1.0 hardware. So no improved gimbals at all.

It looks to me like BG decided to sell the stock they received "as is" and at a discount. A public beta if you will. Therefore, the feedback and efforts of the Deviation developer community will likely flow into a revised version down the road. I do hope we see a new revision with improved hardware as well as dedicated/official Deviation firmware.

dc59 wrote:

aMax wrote: Is this size comparison real? Quite a big radio.

img09.banggood.com/forum_images/20170906...0906035921_53229.jpg

Compare to Frsky QX7 & X9D+ :

Great size comparison. I have been watching this thread and even though my qx7 is bigger the rotary encoder is faster than push button navigation especially when setting values or names.

The M7 Hall sensor gimbals might fit in there (jumper) but time will tell.

Truthfully the biggest point I miss about my modded devo7e with 4in1 module is the ability to adjust output power. That won't happen on frsky

Brainstorm wrote:
FYI, I got a shipment notification for my pre-order this morning. If BG is selling this TX now, it's the existing v1.0 hardware. So no improved gimbals at all.

It looks to me like BG decided to sell the stock they received "as is" and at a discount. A public beta if you will. Therefore, the feedback and efforts of the Deviation developer community will likely flow into a revised version down the road. I do hope we see a new revision with improved hardware as well as dedicated/official Deviation firmware.

Yup, I also received the notification.
I'm sure if they decide to improve the gimbals they'll probably offer an upgrade set, just like with taranis m9 or qx7 m7 gimbals.
I'm more concerned with mainboard modifications in future revisions, but everything can be modded, right?

The product is really good as it is, on paper at least.

Phobos wrote: I'm sure if they decide to improve the gimbals they'll probably offer an upgrade set, just like with taranis m9 or qx7 m7 gimbals.

Let's hope they offer upgraded gimbals for the v1 model!

I'm more concerned with mainboard modifications in future revisions, but everything can be modded, right?

Of course. But if we want to mod, we already have the nice Devo 7e. I was kinda hoping this multi-protocol compact TX was the holy grail that didn't need modding.

The product is really good as it is, on paper at least.

Agree that it looks good. That's why I didn't hesitate to pre-order. But as we've discussed in this thread and elsewhere (RCGroups), there's plenty of room for improvement. I very much hope that Deviation developers working with manufacturer via dc59 bears fruit!

PS for dc59: Thanks a million for the fantastic comparison pics with Taranis QX7 and D9X! Those are very helpful. Now we just need a comparison with Horus X10 (and X12).

joshthebox wrote: I think I'm going to pull the trigger and buy this one. Just a question... are the gimbals as good as the 7e's? Thanks

Gimbals of T8SG is worse than Devo7E at this moment , there is no bearing , but it will be released a new version with hall sensor gimbals.

Brainstorm wrote: PS for dc59: Thanks a million for the fantastic comparison pics with Taranis QX7 and D9X! Those are very helpful. Now we just need a comparison with Horus X10 (and X12).

I don't have Horus X10 or X12 ......

PhracturedBlue wrote: Do they control it today based on the CSN value?

Yes! I confirm that with Jumper , there is a chip to check CNS1/2/3/4 signal then this chip will send signal to PE1/PE2 to select antenna,
but they think CNS signal sometimes is not easy to get correct signal (actually I don't really know why?), that's why they want to use MCU pin.

PhracturedBlue wrote: Also, if it hasn't been done yet, a low-cost change they could make would be to add pads for each of the unused STM32 pins. This would make it easier for custom add-ons.

They will add pads for unused pins next time they modify PCB.

To my understanding, CSN of nRF24L01 does not need to be constantly pulled low to activate. That is why a small STC MCU is used to catch the CSN signals otherwise any common decoder chip can replace the MCU.

If there are going to be customisations to the code anyway, maybe we/they can take a step backwards and look at a different way of doing the selections? Instead of using 6x MCU pins for the 4x chip selects plus 2 more for the PE1/PE2, could it be recoded as a single serial output of some sort which is then split out to the individual lines by a decoder chip? That then frees up 5x MCU pins for future use?

I know they already went to the next size up, but the next big feature is going to need even more.

The Taranis folks are using scripting capabilities to do things like video tx & PID tuning. But Lua takes 70K of flash even for a stripped down build. The "normal language" alternatives I've looked at - micropython (hey, I'm giving a talk on that in OKC next Wednesday!) and picoc - aren't any smaller. We might be able to go to something like Forth or a Lisp, but, well, um, people are already intimidated by the firmware.

This works on the Taranis because they've got 512K of flash. The 12S does as well.

To get around all this why not go for a completely custom tx board ? With a more powrtful cpu, spi flash, SD card , more pins for more io, the works ?

Nitro_123 wrote: To get around all this why not go for a completely custom tx board ? With a more powrtful cpu, spi flash, SD card , more pins for more io, the works ?

There are a number of people working on this - including me. But the hardware (case, gimbals, etc.) in that case are of low or highly variable quality, it looks ugly, and everyone who wants one has to build their own, so you can't leverage economies of scale and it winds up costing a lot.