SK LIGHTNING 480 Quad-copter Cadre (Kit)

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Jul 12, 2016

Loved the integrated nature of the electronics, but the SK Lightning is a bit fragile and there are NO SPARE PARTS! Broke an arm on the first crash and now I have a useless frame because I can't get a replacement.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Apr 20, 2016

These frames have lots of nice features, but there are some deficiencies.
1. The landing gear legs are VERY fragile. Even a minimally hard landing, especially if the vehicle is drifting at all, they fracture at the notch adjacent to their mounting plate. Fortunately, replacements are available at minimal cost (spare S500 landing gear legs), but they still break too easily. I tried reinforcing the upper surface across the notch by gluing carbon fiber strips with both epoxy and CA, but they didn't stick, even though I roughed up the upper surface of the leg with sandpaper. Plan B is to wrap the upper 4 cm of each leg with 2 oz fiberglass adhered with CA, so I'll see how that works as soon as today's snow melts and the wind dies down.
2. The capacitors on the bottom of the LED and power distribution boards are attached only by their connecting wires, so they dangle below the lower deck. The fix for this is easier with hot melt glue.
3 The translucent covers for the LED strips seem to be pretty brittle. Two of mine fractured. I don't know when it happened, but my quad hasn't had any bad crashes, and they shouldn't break with hard landings or simple tip overs.
Otherwise, the kit goes together well and everything else works

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Mar 03, 2016

I highly recommended this product, you can't go wrong for the price. Overall quality is excellent and the parts should stand up to some abuse. The assembly instructions are easy to follow and everything went together without any problems. The electronic components incorporated in the frame are of high quality and worked as stated. The LED strips in each arm are very bright and are adjustable via a push button.

ONLY CON - I just wish HobbyKing would provide spare parts for this kit , which is a bit of a worry.