ImmersionRC Vortex 250 PRO FPV Review

The ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro is a almost ready to fly racer.

The Vortex 250 Pro is the result of listening to top pilots, taking the product to a new level, with the same level of integration as it’s big brother, the Vortex 285.

ARF: You only need a remote, receiver, batteries and your FPV goggles. So no soldering required for there setups. But it does require to tear down this machine. Get to know it 🙂

For this kit these parts below are used and supplied by Toemen.nl:

ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro
Spektrum DX6i remote
Spektrum Air Transmitter Soft Case
Spektrum DSMX Quad Race Receiver with Diversity
Tattu 1550mAh 11.1V 75C 3S1P Lipo
Yellow RC Easy Charge Balancer Needs separate XT60 cable to charge lipo’s.
Fat Shark Teleporter V4 Video Headset with Head Tracking (Nice starter goggles)
(DomintatorHD was on my mind but i’m still hoping goggles based on tech like light bridge, that would be a real kicker.)

The ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro:

ImmersionRC has designed the new Vortex 250 Pro as a purebred, high-speed FPV racer. They swapped out the ‘F1’ processor for the ‘F3’, added an integrated Black Box recorder, Gen2 20A ESCs, Serial receiver support… and so much more. As with the Vortex 285, the 250 is ARF, just add a compatible R/C Rx (CPPM, Spektrum, S-Bus, XBus, EzUHF, etc. etc.), and a battery, and go race, everything else is included, from the SpiroNET Tx antenna, to the props.

Download the getting started guide here.
Download the “Living Manual” here.

Features:

• State-of-the-art ‘F3’ FC processor
• 2nd Generation 20A EzESCs with OneShot125, rotorSENSE
• Built in black-box recorder (2MB)
• Rigid 4mm Carbon Fibre arms (non-foldable)
• Direct connection to PPM, Spektrum, S-Bus, XBus receivers
• Ear-piercing Lost Model Alarm (much louder than it’s predecessor)
• GoPro-3/4 mount included

Specs:

• Size (diagonal): 250mm (275mm option for 6″ Props)
• Frame: 2mm Carbon Fiber, with 15x Aluminium Standoffs
• Motors: 2204-2300 (CW and CCW)
• ESC: 20/22A EzESC
• Flight Controller:STM32F303 based (‘F3’)
• OSD:Full Graphic
• Arms: 4mm Flat CF
• BlackBox with 2MB data storage
• Rx Support: Native CPPM, S-Bus, Spektrum, XBus, SumD, SumH
• Rx Selection: Fully Automatic
• Case: Zipper case options at order time
• Camera Mount: GoPro 3/4, mount included
• USB Port: Through-Hole (Much more robust)
• LED Board: v2, more robust
• Standoffs: Metal (all of them)
• FlightCam: 700TVL CMOS v2
• Weight: ~415g without battery

Included:

• Vortex 250 Pro Zipper case, fits 250 and 270 versions (5″ or 6″ props), with two zipper pockets
• 2x ImmersionRC Branded battery straps
• SpiroNET Omni 5.8GHz antenna
• PPM Interface Cable
• Spektrum(tm) Interface Cable
• SBus Interface Cable
• 8x Gemfan 5045BN GFK Props

Teardown:

Taking the Vortex apart is not that difficult. This can be done via the manual or check out this video below.

Setup:

Before you start working on any Drone, ALWAYS remove the propellors! Just learn to only put on the props when you are ready to fly. I have seen people smash up there fingers with accidental arming of the drones.. #FingerSushi

To set this up you can simply follow one of these youtube video’s below. I can explain it here in writing or you can go RTFM but these 2 video’s are freaking good!
The setup can be different depending on which receiver and transmitter you use on your kit so be aware of that.

In my setup experiences i had issues connecting my controller to the receiver. In the end it was simply a defective receiver and a new one worked just fine!

Using SBUS/Spektrum with Vortex 250:

By default the Vortex includes a pre installed CPPM cable to connect to your receiver, so if your receiver is not CPPM I suggest you bind your Spektrum receiver in Spektrum mode. CPPM wont work. However you will need to open the Vortex up and install the Vortex Spekrum cable. For full details see the official Vortex 250 quick start guide. This involves removing 10 screws on the top of the frame and 4 on the bottom so that you can access the flight controller board to plug in the SBUS cable. Be carefull though, do not put much tension on the board or you might snap it. If you want to be safe you can remove the whole top plate.

Remove the screws above and the four on the bottom that hold the side platings.

Then connect the spectrum cable to the red indicated connector.

To connect a DX6i to a Spektrum DSMX Quad Race Receiver with Diversity you will need to go into Clearflight or Vortex Configurator. Both are chrome add-ins and with it you can change settings of the Vortex via the USB connection on the back. You need to install drivers before connecting which can be found here.

The settings that need to be changed to use the Spektrum receiver are:
Set the receiver mode from auto to Spektrum2048 and save.
Via these apps you can change more exotic settings a.k.a pro tuning and do firmware updates.

Within clearflight it is RX_SERIAL and SPEKTRUM2048.

Binding the DX6i remote to the Spektrum DSMX receiver is pretty easy.

Now you are up and running and you can go through the OSD setup.

Fat Shark Teleporter V4 Video Headset with Head Tracking:

These goggles are a nice for starters. It’s also a perfect match for the Vortex 250 Pro.

Key Features:

Overview

Trainer:

You also might want to check out the Liftoff FPV Racing Simulator. This is a very nice simulator available on Steam for Windows and OSX.
You can connect your remote with the trainer port to your system and start practicing your skills using your actual remote! This sim has you Vortex virtually! no pain in crashing that 🙂
A Trainer cable with USB can be found here for 12 euro:

USB Flight Simulator Cable for DX5e Dx6i DX7 JR Futaba RC RealFlight Spektrum Esky FMS

Also xbox 360 or playstation 4 controllers are compatible but that will not give you that real feeling.
I run this sim just fine on a Macbook Pro 13 with Intel Iris 6100 Graphics on 1650×1050 on the Beautiful settings.

21-05-2016 First Flight:

Holy mother of all.. I flew a lot of DJI drones and some custom build but this ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro is a Beast! The immense power available when opening the throttle will take your breath away the first time. I flew the first time without the FPV goggles and in horizontal mode just to see how it handles. I would recommend anyone who is going into the FPV, do a few flights in Horizontal mode without FPV so you get the hang of the controls and use the simulator before you go FPV in ACRO mode.
This is also not a beginners race drone, so you want to get some experience flying drones. Even the Hubsan X4 are a nice and affordable drone to get started.

26-05-2016 Second Flight:

Getting more used to the FPV part. When you are doing it for the first few time, grab a chair! You might find it a strange sensation seeing the birds eye view and not normal eye contact. It’s awesome to fly FPV and i’m getting more used to it. Acro mode is on when i’m a little more settled with the FPV part.

So that’s it’s for now, have any question just mail me via the form or to info@vdr.one.
Pro tuning the Vortex will be added later on.
Thanks to Jasper at toemen.nl for supplying this awesome machine and the great support afterwards.
Was unfortunate to have a defective Spektrum receiver (Shit happens) but this was swapped out for a new one within a day! So great support at Toemen in the Netherlands!