You’ve heard of gateway drugs, right? Well, the CX-10 was my gateway drug into the world of drones and quadcopters. I found one on sale through one of those “deal-a-day” sites and couldn’t resist the price – only $10! Little did I know that the tiny CX-10 would turn me into a full-blown drone addict
Build Quality
These little guys can take a beating! Since this was my first drone, you can imagine the number of crashes and rough landings that it endured. Having flown it a few dozen times, I’ve only broken 1 propeller so far – so even those hold up well!
Battery Life
Here’s where we see a major difference between the 10 and 10C. The 10 usually goes for about 4-5 minutes on a charge. The 10C only gets me about 3-4, possibly even less if I am recording video the whole time.
Thankfully they both charge pretty quick. I’ve had them go from completely dead to fully charged in 15 minutes, depending on the charging source used (a higher amp phone charger seems to charge them more quickly).
Control/Responsiveness
Once you get a little practice under your belt, you can get the CX-10 to respond pretty accurately. They are tough to hover in one spot, even with some moderate trim tweaking. Don’t forget that they have 3 different speed modes: low, medium and high. The low and medium speeds are great for learning, but if you really want to see these things zip around, try out the high speed.
Range
Compared to bigger drones, the CX-10 has pretty limited range at around 20 meters or so. However, for their size, it really isn’t too bad. Especially since the further it gets from you, the harder it is to keep it oriented. I really have no complaints about the range.
Value
At their regular price of about $15 for the CX-10 and $25 for the CX-10C, they are a good value. If you happen to catch them on sale – then they are a fantastic value. You can get a whole lot of fun out of these things and not feel too bad if you mangle it in a crash since you are only out $15 (unlike crashing a $300 CX-20 or a $1000 DJI!).
Other Notes
The camera on the 10C isn’t great, but what do you expect on such a tiny drone? I really can’t subtract points because of the quality – I think it is pretty amazing that they were able to cram a camera in there in the first place.
Since the camera adds weight, the flight time of the 10C is noticeably less than the 10, especially when you are recording video.
There is also a CX-10A model out there. The main difference is that the 10A offers “headless mode,” which essentially just means that if you tell it to go left, it goes left, regardless of what direction the “head” is facing. This makes it easier to fly, especially for beginners, since it can be easy to lose orientation.
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