HobbyZone Sportsman S+

by FliteTest | July 6, 2015 | (8) Posted in Reviews

We wanted to try out some of the cool beginner pilot functions like the Virtual Fence and AutoLand along with the other SAFE plus features on the Sportsman S+. 

Here's a few Features:
• AutoLand actively assists with landing with minimal to no pilot input
• Instant flight recovery with Panic Recovery mode
• Beginner, Intermediate, and Experienced modes make learning to fly easy
• Holding Pattern returns aircraft to a fixed point and flies in a pattern
• Virtual Fence keeps aircraft within a comfortable flying range

To learn more about the HobbyZone Sportsman S+ CLICK HERE 

 

To learn more about the HobbyZone Sportsman S+ CLICK HERE 

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COMMENTS

The-One-Who-Never-Crashes on July 7, 2015
Wow! It's amazing how far the technology has come.....

Smart-Trek
Anti-Crash Technology
AS3X
SAFE

And now..... SAFE +!
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TimmyGT on July 7, 2015
ok so i've been wanting to get an apprentice for a while now, and now this comes out! So FT between the Sensei, Apprentice and Sportsman, which one should i get? I have radio so I would be going pnf/bnf route

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The-One-Who-Never-Crashes on July 7, 2015
If you have a Spektrum/JR radio, the Sensei will not work with it, as it is from a different manufacturer.

The Apprentice is a good airplane that will work with a DSM2/DSMX radio, but although it has pretty much the same features as the Sensei, it is 50 dollars more, so it might not be the best value.

If you have the money to buy the Sportsman S+, go for it!

Anyway, my recommendations would be:
1. Sportsman S+ (top choice)
2. Apprentice 15e (second choice)
3. Sensei FS (third choice)

Hope this helps!
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millerjr88 on July 9, 2015
I don't have an opinion on which is the better plane, but the Sensei can be flown with Spektrom/ JR radios. Just buy the TXR (transmitter ready) version and you will need the Anylink adaptor (around $30.00) that allows most other radois to work with the SLT receiver in the Sensei. Something to consider is while the Sensei FS does have beginner, intermediate, and advanced gyro modes along with the bailout (oh crap) switch, it does not have gps or geofence feature that theSportsman S does. Hope this helps you make your choice.
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Tom Kelley on July 7, 2015
Read my post below. I have the apprentice and I think it is quite good. If you do get one I do recommend consider to get the RTF because it is not much more. In my case I have a DX6 and I am able to buddy box wirelessly with the dx5 included with the RTF. Depending on your ability you can maiden it solo but I recommend you bring a buddy preferably an experienced rc pilot and read the manual!
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mimicowow on July 7, 2015
Great article and video. Keep it up and good job!!
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Planiac01 on July 7, 2015
Hey THANK YOU SO MUCH for flitetest! This was my favorite video in ages! By the way, who is the dog at the end?
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The-One-Who-Never-Crashes on July 7, 2015
I believe it's Peter's. Check out FT Extra!
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krinaman on July 7, 2015
As they recommend read the manual. I watched someone trying to fly one of these in the local park last weekend. Obviously they didn't read the manual and didn't set it up correctly. Somehow they had the runway outside of the geo fence so immediately on takeoff it started circling (luckily clearly the trees by about 5 feet). Not knowing what to do they gave the controls to an experienced pilot (that had no idea how the plane worked) and it kept circling every time he went to land because it hit the fence. After trying that a half a dozen times they finally took my advice and landed it in the field.
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Tom Kelley on July 7, 2015
I own the apprentice 15e with SAFE and the big difference is the auto land and fence features. You do have to line it up properly for take off and landing but that can be assisted via the panic switch. I noticed from the video landings of this plane were harsh, that is due to the fact that it was hand launched. This is because the plane reached its take off point by GPS and thinks it is on the ground and cuts the throttle. With landing assist on the apprentice you can hold the panic switch down cut the throttle and it glides in on its current path maintaining some throttle and it will cut the throttle when it senses it has touched down. The only thing is that you need to be able to line it up properly in the first place. The apprentice requires much less setup out of the box. As with both Read the manual!
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Miracle Air on July 7, 2015
What a great family you and Jen have created. The world is a better place because of people like you.
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1959cutter on July 7, 2015
for 350 dollars,you better have an aircraft your wife can fly also!!
.............speaking from experience LOL
"you spent $350?" (arms folded,tapping a toe),,,,been there!
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Ano Pilot on July 8, 2015
Excellent episode, much more on point. Nice to see Mrs Bixler, for a bit of novelty charm. Lots of ancillary content, such as 'RTM' more usually known as RTFM... but anyway. An entire serious educational episode on approaches to bench testing intelligent flight systems might not go amiss some time soon. Setting up transmitters to properly acquire multiple flight modes is still pretty much an arcane art. No one ever seems to want to talk about where to find them on the signal output spectrum. It's an awful business. And such as Spektrum's 'instructions' are wrong as often as they are right. Lot's of people out there in a terrible muddle.

Anyway, GREAT EPISODE.
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Kurt0326 on July 9, 2015
Looks look a great plane. Can you turn off some or all of the auto features for the more seasoned pilots?
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Matt Mountain on July 9, 2015
Jen: @6min: If you fly into Alex it's still Alex's fault! ;-)
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JeffCovert on July 14, 2015
I was going to ask why you have a Li-pro on you brace, but then you yanked it off to put in the plain so all is great. The wife said you are making lemon-aid with the lemons you have...

At first, I thought it was some new heat therapy to help healing...

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twidget on August 25, 2015
Josh, what was the Lipo you added later in the video, was that the same size as the stock one?
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Wildblue2u on February 1, 2016
I purchased this product due to no small part on the recommendation by the Flite Test crew. After watching this video and others I notice something that I think bears a comment. In nearly every scene of the launch the Sportsman's S+ the model is hand launch, as opposed to a rolling take-off. Now the instructions and the product video state that the model will make the location when the throttle is advanced past 90% as the point at which the landing for the auto-land feature. In the Flite test video the model lands hard and Josh Bixler makes a comment that the model cut the throttle "high". When looking at the landing I noticed that the throttle was cut about the height of when it was hand launch (throttle advanced past 90%). So, it seems that the accuracy of the GPS is to the point that even the slight height above the ground hand launching will make a difference in auto land feature. Does this make sense, or did this already get discussed?

DK
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HobbyZone Sportsman S+