REC S550 DIY Hexacopter Drone Development kit (Value Pack)

I bought a little pre-assembled drones several years back and I really like flying it. So I thought why not build a drone from scratch. I purchased this kit as more of a hobby, something to tinker with on the side. One issue, there are no instructions provides in the kit. But don't dispair, you can go to YouTube and find a number of videos about assembling it, and it's not very difficult. If you reach out to the seller, they also have assembly instructions, not sure why they don't include them in the kit, or offer it for download. You will need to have some rudimentary soldering skills, but other than that the kit's pretty much there and just a small set of basic tools to assemble it. I did have to purchase one item for this to assemble it to a level that I felt comfortable with. And that is the additional purchase of slightly longer motor mount screws. The ones that come with the kit they only will catch the motors by a thread or two and I just didn't feel comfortable with that. So I purchased a small inexpensive kit off Amazon and the way I went. Even with getting longer screws this was still definitely worth it. Everything that comes with this kit I believe toltals more than the kit itself. I did however purchase an additional GPS unit and reading a lot of reviews online. There was a recommendation to get a GPS and magnetometer that sits away from the electronics. The only things that it didn't come with to get it off the ground was of course a battery, the transmitter and the receiver. I do like the fact that the power distribution board for the ESCs or motor controls is built into the lower level of the unit so you don't have to go out and get a distribution. That's where those soldering skills come in. You just have to do a little soldering to tie in the motors to the chassis which is where the battery ties in. This saves weight since an external distribution component is not required. Another thing, the max blades this will take are 10 inches. Don't put anything larger on it. Everything sets up very easily. You can find a number of different sources on YouTube or walkthroughs of how to program the Pixhawk flight controller and all of the other stuff to get it off the ground when you purchase your transmitter and receiver. One thing to help you out when it comes to activating the drone. The Pixhawk activation control is hold the throttle control in the 5 O'Clock position for several seconds. I spent hours and hours trying to find out why I could not activate the drone to fly it the first time. So you'll want to remember that little tid bit. I will say after putting this together it's not as easy as going out and buying a pre-manufactured one, but there is a different level of satisfaction putting your own drone together and this platform has a lot of lift and potential so you could add all kinds of different cameras and other equipment to this drone kit and it will handle it. I'm still having fun going through the different ways of programming it and setting it up. It is definitely a learning experience. If you want to get into drones on the back side I would recommend getting one just to tinker with and try it out. You'll enjoy it and it could become a really nice hobby and I might have had one blunder on take off. But the drone room it well and wasn't damaged even though several blades where damaged.

I ordered and was hoping to get the full set up but the fins were not included, I am still building it so it may be more pieces missing

I could just be ignorant, but it was very difficult to figure out how to install and configure this kit. It seems reasonably durable and can be fun to fly. Would not recommend as a gift unless the recipient has extensive experience. Decent value for the money.

Incomplete kit, it is useless!

The 6 circular pieces on the top right were not included in the box.

wanted to learn about drones so got this kit. it helps to put together yourself to learn. I have mine started and it is great so far.