Radiolink RC8X

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No, Spektrum doesn't play well with anyone. Actually, most receivers are unique to their company.
Radiolink receivers are some of the best and cheapest out there at $20/ea. are cheap in comparison. you can sell a used Spektrum receiver and buy 2-3 new Radiolink receivers :)

The transmitter doesn't need to be set to bind mode, only the receiver.
Set the Transmitter to the desired model memory, in the menu select a receiver ID (if enabled). To bind, the Transmitter must be on, and you just push the little button on the receiver. Done.

Receiver ID is off by default, and it will bind just fine. Only recommended if you have multiple models and use the same transmitter when 2 models need to be on at the same time. It would control both simultaneously, and that is not always desired.
 
Some feedback on RC8. Overall, highly recommended. I was able to get mine on sale for $200 w 2 receivers during XMAS sale on Aliexpress.

LiFe battery linked above fits and at 1600mAh you will get ~9h. You have to remove it for charging, kind of obvious but still annoying.
Screen brightness, all above is true but if you use telemetry for your model lipo, you need 85% or brighter out in the real world to make it readable. Those numbers are tiny (age doesn't help). I did map an on/off button to the screen, easy to do, and you can probably increase hours doing it.
Minimum current draw is ~ 120mA and using that math you can get ~ 12-14h absolute max. with a little capacity left to not destroy your battery.
If they had just made that battery compartment a bit bigger, I could fit 3S or 18650 in here and would run for weeks. They have the room, this thing is shorter than the RC7.

Observations:
Receiver bind, I had 2 occurrences where the bind was lost, or so I thought. Make sure your transmitter is at least 3 ft away when binding or when turning on. Not fully verified yet, but had no recurrence since I've been doing it. Seems to be a bigger issue with the new RC8 receivers.

Receivers - you have to select the correct generation prior binding if you want improvements. Easy to select in receiver menu. These receivers are some of the best in the industry, imho. At least for bashing.

Menus are intuitive, no need for a manual.
99% of the options I will never use, but they are logically sorted and can be skipped easily.
Touchscreen is very good, no fat-fingering yet.

Model memory - I have no idea how to sort them consistently. Tried numbering etc, somewhat annoying. You add a model and everything shifts.
If someone knows the secret here, let me know.

You can copy models to get a good baseline.
No way these can be saved to my knowledge, you make a firmware update and you start over.
Firmware updates are rare, but I expect at least one more.

Battery alarms - works for telemetry(model battery) as well as local.
Reality check, those silly alarms go off even if the model is still off, kind of 'duh of course' effect but annoying. Might just turn off that feature again, not as useful in real life in my applications. I hardly ever turn off my transmitter.
 
jkflow said:
I was able to get mine on sale for $200 w 2 receivers during XMAS sale on Aliexpress.
Click to expand...

$200 is a really good price, did that include shipping?

I find the RC8X menu one of the best so far out of radios that I have tried (RC6GS, FS-G7P, Wfly X9), the translation is also good enough so you know what it is supposed to mean, and you can go edit the text files to change the actual wording as well (radiolink actually advertises this as a function).

The PS3/DL1 Dial is actually a button as well, by default that turns the screen on and off.
The previous firmware radiolink did release an "upgrade" firmware which would retain all your settings, but for V1.1.1 they only released a full version which does say it will wipe all your settings. on their firmware page they do tell you how to copy the model data onto your computer and then back after the update to restore model data: https://www.radiolink.com/rc8x_firmware

And yes the voltage alarms while the RC is not connected is kinda funny coz well technically yes the voltage is below the set threshold... but it should know that there's no RC connected... I don't remember this being an issue with the RC6GS so hopefully they will fix this in a future upgrade.

I don't think the latency will be an issue unless you are racing, this is FHSS same as the RC6GS which others have said it's not the fastest, but that's still one of the most recommended "budget" radios. The advantage for radiolink are that they are affordable (in terms of what features you get for the price), easily accessible, (I can pickup additional receivers on amazon with next day delivery, YMMV), overall good build quality and reliable, and have a good presence in the RC hobby.
I mean the RF7G receiver is $20 on amazon, and includes gyro and voltage sensors built-in, and their voltage telemetry cable doesn't need a resistor like wfly or flysky.
 
orcoconut said:
$200 is a really good price, did that include shipping?

I find the RC8X menu one of the best so far out of radios that I have tried (RC6GS, FS-G7P, Wfly X9), the translation is also good enough so you know what it is supposed to mean, and you can go edit the text files to change the actual wording as well (radiolink actually advertises this as a function).

The PS3/DL1 Dial is actually a button as well, by default that turns the screen on and off.
The previous firmware radiolink did release an "upgrade" firmware which would retain all your settings, but for V1.1.1 they only released a full version which does say it will wipe all your settings. on their firmware page they do tell you how to copy the model data onto your computer and then back after the update to restore model data: https://www.radiolink.com/rc8x_firmware

And yes the voltage alarms while the RC is not connected is kinda funny coz well technically yes the voltage is below the set threshold... but it should know that there's no RC connected... I don't remember this being an issue with the RC6GS so hopefully they will fix this in a future upgrade.

I don't think the latency will be an issue unless you are racing, this is FHSS same as the RC6GS which others have said it's not the fastest, but that's still one of the most recommended "budget" radios. The advantage for radiolink are that they are affordable (in terms of what features you get for the price), easily accessible, (I can pickup additional receivers on amazon with next day delivery, YMMV), overall good build quality and reliable, and have a good presence in the RC hobby.
I mean the RF7G receiver is $20 on amazon, and includes gyro and voltage sensors built-in, and their voltage telemetry cable doesn't need a resistor like wfly or flysky.
Click to expand...
Yes with shipping, actually had another discount as cash back i.e. full price with 2 rcvrs was $185, as Black Friday special. Expect it to be in the $250 range, but sales will happen again.

Need to look into this menu editing etc. have you done this?

I can get 5 receivers for the price of 1 Spektrum receiver, and they are better imho plus I get added range. All win win in my book.
 
I might switch to this as my nitro basher radio, getting some weird issues with the FS-G7P lately, but I am a real stickler for radio performance, and this one isn't quite there IMO. Even for doing stunts, it's really nice to have perfect control. The rest of the radio is off the charts awesome.

But I'm not a fan of the RC6GS, while everyone else thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread, so I guess I'm the odd one.
 
I picked up that Life battery from Amain thanks to the previous mention. Definitely need advice on charging if anyone could oblige. It is definitely dead on arrival

20230105_223202.jpg


20230105_223200.jpg

And
 

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It's not dead, it's a life. :LOL:

But seriously, that's normal. Look up Life batteries, and just charge it in Life mode on your charger.
 
Yup, LiFe is NOT a Lipo and has different levels.
Use the LiFe mode on your charger and educate yourself a little bit on the chemistry and charge levels. Just search in google.
You are literally comparing apples to oranges.

Note that LiFe can start charged forever, they will not degrade, i.e. even a fully charged would be healthy, unlike Lipos.

From Google:
Each LiFe cell has a NOMINAL voltage of 3.3V. A fully charged LiFe cell is 3.6V, and a fully depleted LiFe cell is 2.5V. Most LiFe chargers and balancing equipment are based using a battery's nominal voltage rating as a parameter.

And some good info:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1712874-What-voltage-is-too-low-for-a-LiFe-battery
 
Last edited:
jkflow said:
Yes with shipping, actually had another discount as cash back i.e. full price with 2 rcvrs was $185, as Black Friday special. Expect it to be in the $250 range, but sales will happen again.

Need to look into this menu editing etc. have you done this?

I can get 5 receivers for the price of 1 Spektrum receiver, and they are better imho plus I get added range. All win win in my book.
Click to expand...
I bought when it was on sale too, but I find that the shops seems to charge more for shipping to canada, and the US store seems to get better deals/coupons.

If you look in the firmware folders, there is a folder called "FONT" and in it are text files for each language. Once you open the text file you can see the button labels and just find the one you want and edit it.

The "SIF" folder actually contains the font files, if you are interested in changing the font I'd be happy to show you how too.
I wasn't a fan of the times new roman, vintage looking font and wanted something more modern looking so I changed it to Calbri
 
jkflow said:
Some feedback on RC8. Overall, highly recommended. I was able to get mine on sale for $200 w 2 receivers during XMAS sale on Aliexpress.

LiFe battery linked above fits and at 1600mAh you will get ~9h. You have to remove it for charging, kind of obvious but still annoying.
Screen brightness, all above is true but if you use telemetry for your model lipo, you need 85% or brighter out in the real world to make it readable. Those numbers are tiny (age doesn't help). I did map an on/off button to the screen, easy to do, and you can probably increase hours doing it.
Minimum current draw is ~ 120mA and using that math you can get ~ 12-14h absolute max. with a little capacity left to not destroy your battery.
If they had just made that battery compartment a bit bigger, I could fit 3S or 18650 in here and would run for weeks. They have the room, this thing is shorter than the RC7.

Observations:
Receiver bind, I had 2 occurrences where the bind was lost, or so I thought. Make sure your transmitter is at least 3 ft away when binding or when turning on. Not fully verified yet, but had no recurrence since I've been doing it. Seems to be a bigger issue with the new RC8 receivers.

Receivers - you have to select the correct generation prior binding if you want improvements. Easy to select in receiver menu. These receivers are some of the best in the industry, imho. At least for bashing.

Menus are intuitive, no need for a manual.
99% of the options I will never use, but they are logically sorted and can be skipped easily.
Touchscreen is very good, no fat-fingering yet.

Model memory - I have no idea how to sort them consistently. Tried numbering etc, somewhat annoying. You add a model and everything shifts.
If someone knows the secret here, let me know.

You can copy models to get a good baseline.
No way these can be saved to my knowledge, you make a firmware update and you start over.
Firmware updates are rare, but I expect at least one more.

Battery alarms - works for telemetry(model battery) as well as local.
Reality check, those silly alarms go off even if the model is still off, kind of 'duh of course' effect but annoying. Might just turn off that feature again, not as useful in real life in my applications. I hardly ever turn off my transmitter.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've had Failed binding with some SPektrum Rx's. Took me 30 min to figure out that if I stood across the room it would bind. Drove me crazy.
The RC8 Latency appears to be horrible in that video. Looks like my STX2 was.:ROFLMAO:

What are your thoughts on the RC8X Overall?? My RC6 has the same if not better Latency, than my other radios. IMHO A possible match to my NB4. Maybe splitting hairs, it's that close. I also use slow motion video to evaluate my radios. Also, to be fair, sometimes it the specific Servo that is just slow to respond. Sometimes even more so with a gyro. Some servos don't play nice with Gyros.:cool:
 
Overall: I'd buy it again with no hesitation. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't for the above listed LiFe battery. 4-5h is just not enough in uptime. I guess their Lipo would work as well but transmitters and Lipos are not a good match imho.

I did try this latency thing today myself. My servos are too slow for it to have an impact. Unless you have super speedy servos, this won't be a problem.
Racing or heli use I can see it would be a problem, but nobody would fly with this remote anyway.

Need to look into this font thing just for a change.
 
SrC said:
Yeah I've had Failed binding with some SPektrum Rx's. Took me 30 min to figure out that if I stood across the room it would bind. Drove me crazy.
The RC8 Latency appears to be horrible in that video. Looks like my STX2 was.:ROFLMAO:

What are your thoughts on the RC8X Overall?? My RC6 has the same if not better Latency, than my other radios. IMHO A possible match to my NB4. Maybe splitting hairs, it's that close. I also use slow motion video to evaluate my radios. Also, to be fair, sometimes it the specific Servo that is just slow to respond. Sometimes even more so with a gyro. Some servos don't play nice with Gyros.:cool:
Click to expand...
I just got some new servos so I could do a setup vs spectrum and traxxas radios and receivers. I just sold my RC6GS so won't be able to compare to that.

jkflow said:
Overall: I'd buy it again with no hesitation. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't for the above listed LiFe battery. 4-5h is just not enough in uptime. I guess their Lipo would work as well but transmitters and Lipos are not a good match imho.

I did try this latency thing today myself. My servos are too slow for it to have an impact. Unless you have super speedy servos, this won't be a problem.
Racing or heli use I can see it would be a problem, but nobody would fly with this remote anyway.

Need to look into this font thing just for a change.
Click to expand...

If you want to change the font, I have some info here which may help:
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/radiolink-rc8x.55955/post-848008
 

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