The E-Sky Honeybee FP. (Fixed Pitch)

A package came in. Yeah my new helicopter has arrived.

Let's see what's in this box. Some spare parts and a training set.

Nice picture on the box. Would the content of the box be as good ?

Flying manual + Simulator software + List of all parts used in the Honeybee FP.

That looks great !!!

It came with a lipo battery. I ordered an other type of battery at the same time but I can't charge that one. I've got no charger. It also came without an adapter for the lipo charger. I had one for the E-Sky Dauphin.

Posing while it's still undamaged ;-))

With the training set installed. Ready for its maiden flight.

That didn't end up well !

The Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T - Part 5 (final part) - Pros and Cons

After having worn the watch for some time, I made a list with pros and cons :

PROs

1. Very clear readable (BIG) digits for the time and other main fuctions.
2. Versatile watch. I don't think there's another watch at this moment that is packed whith so many features.
3. Once you've done the initial settings, the watch is easy in its use.
4. Price versus quality = good
5. Easy to use (big) push buttons.
6. Atomic timekeeping
7. Tough Solar - Your battery won't die on a trip !
8. The atmospheric tendency graph is useful to "more or less" forecast the weather.
9. It's a very lightweight watch.

CONs

1. The sound of the alarm and countdown timer is too faint.
2. The plastic case degrades the watch - certainly in combination with the titanium bracelet.
3. When on your wrist (and that's where it is supposed to be), the watches' temperature reading is influenced by your body warmth and therefore useless.
4. Since the altimeter uses barometric pressure to calculate altitude, its reading is incorrect when there's a sudden change in atmospheric pressure not due to your ascent or descent. So you're never sure if the altitude reading is correct.
5. You can't see the transmitter from witch the watch picks up the time calibration signal. (some G-shock do show the transmitter) (There are parts of the world where you can't receive any transmitter.)

If you're planning to buy the Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T, I hope this review has helped you somehow in making a decision.

I certainly love wearing this unique timepiece !

The Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T - Part 4 - Altimeter-Barometer-Compass

1. Compass.

When you push the compass button, this is the kind of reading you get :

In this example the 12 'oclock position points almost south (175 degrees) . The small black rectangles point to the main directions.

North is indicated by 3 rectangles.

The compass points to the magnetic north. At some places on earth you might need to correct the reading in order to be accurate. You can perform a magnetic declination corretction with the watch.

The compass updates its compass reading every second but after 20 seconds it stops. You will have to press the compass button again for another reading.

2. Barometer + Thermometer.

The barometer reads atmospheric pressure.

(hPa = Hecto Pascal)

There's also a tendency graph. It shows previous measurements for up to 20 hours.

The thermometer reads in Celcius or Farenheit. When you wear the watch, the temperature reading is influenced by your body heat.

The black rectangle in the picture above shows the difference between the actual barometric pressure reading and the last stored reading. Here it's +1 hPa since last stored reading.

3. Altimeter.

The altimeter gives an indication of your altitude. It uses air pressure and goes up or down with an inclination of 5 metres. You will need to calibrate it first or you can set the altitude to zero.

Then you can hold track of your ascent and descent.

It has a graph.

I will do one more post on the Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T .

After having the watch for some time now, I will make a list of its pros and cons.

Small technical update - Esky Dauphin

Spare parts came in. A new inner shaft + new fly bar (stabilizer) + new gear for the upper blades.

The disassembled Dauphin.

The new wheel fits perfectly.

The assembled Dauphin. It didn't come of the ground :-((

I reversed the blades. A-blades should be the upper blades. B-blades the lower blades.

It flies much better and smoother. I have right yaw again. Though the nose still tends to go left and the trim is in its extreme right position.

This must be due to a difference in power between both motors but I can control the helicopter perfectly.

Oh, Yes, I ordered my second electric RC helicopter yesterday. A small step up the ladder in rc helicopter flying...

I'm sure I'm gonna post pictures !

The Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T - Part 3 - Going trough the different modes

You rotate trough the following modes by pushing the mode button :

(notice that some of the crystals in the pictures turn blue. In reality they're all black. I believe it has to do with some kind of polarization in the photo lens)

1. TIDE & MOON DATA Mode.

When you enter the tide/moon data mode, you always get the tide at 6:00 of the current day.

You can now check hour by hour the evolution of the tides.
You can also check the tide on a different day. (future or past)


The tides are set in the factory and may be different from your local situation.
It's important to determine your "Home City" when you first get the watch .


I looked up the tides on the Internet for the river that runs trough Antwerp : "The Schelde".
After you have determined when high tide occurs on a certain day, you store that data in the watch . Then the tide graph will always show the correct tides. I check it whenever possible and I must say it runs smoothly.

Here's how to read the tide graph :



This is the moon phase indicator. It takes 29,53 days for the moon to complete a full cycle. It's full moon in the picture below.

Depending on where you are on the earth the bright and dark part of the moon may be inverted. You can easily invert this on the watch too.

2. COUNT DOWN TIMER Mode.

Personally I find this a practical feature. The last 10 seconds of the countdown the watch beeps every second. Letting you know the preset time is coming to an end.
When I put a pizza in the oven for 13 minutes. I set the count down timer of the watch on 13 minutes and then I go mostly in the garden. I will now know when the pizza is ready without constantly having to look at the watch.

3. STOPWATCH Mode 24 hour stopwatch with capability of 1 split time.

4. WORLD TIME Mode

Displays the current time in 33 cities (29 time zones) around the world.

London time in the picture above and the time in Sydney at the same moment below.

5. ALARM Mode.
If you want the watch to give a short beep on top of every hour, you can put the hourly signal on and a small chime symbol appears. (it is part of the alarm mode)

You can set 5 alarms a day. (this is alarm 1 - it is off)

Alarm 5 is also off.

When one or more alarms are set, the symbol you see underneath the chime appears. Those 2 symbols are also visible in time keeping mode.

6. DATA RECALL Mode.

It shows the altitude record. (the maximum value or the highest altitude reading) It gives date and time of the maximum reading. You can easily reset it. To me this feature is a bit misleading because the altitude readings are based on barometric pressure. So it is possible that even if you don't move the watch you get a new highest altitude because of dropping barometric pressure.

More on that in the next post when I cover the barometer feature.

7. RECEIVE Mode.

Radio-controlled Atomic Timekeeping is something great. Most digital watches have a 15-20 secs deviation a month. This watch keeps the correct time when it is able to receive the time calibration signal.

My watch is set to automatically receive the signal.

The display shows the time and the date of the last successful time calibration.
It doesn't show from witch transmitter it received the signal. (some G-Shocks do). I know that for Belgium it is the German transmitter in Mainflingen.

This concludes a quick run trough the different modes.

My next post will cover the ALTImeter - BAROmeter - COMPass.

The Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 T - Part 2 - The main display (time keeping mode)

This is the main display. Let's have a look on what it shows.

• it's Monday the 6Th of July - 14 h. 12 min. 30 sec.
• it's full moon
  

In this display you can toggle between the day of the week and a barometric pressure graph (tendency graph).

Simply by pushing the adjust button 1 time. I check the graph regularly. It gives an indication of the upcoming weather conditions.

Some other information you can retrieve from this display :

• The power level of the battery is H(igh) - there are 3 indications for the power level of the battery : H(igh) - M(medium) - L(ow). The battery is charged by solar energy.
• P(ower) S(aving) is on. This watch has a clever way of using power and it turns off certain functions when there falls no light on the watch.

• Currently we are in D(aylight) S(aving) T(ime) = Summer Time (in British English)
• Change between summer and winter time can be performed automatically by the watch. (Auto DST)

The small black rectangle moves along the ring like the second hand of an analog watch.

• The tide is rising towards high tide. The difference in water levels between high and low tide is big.
  

• When this arrow is displayed, it means that the watch has calibrated successfully.

You can set the watch to automatically receive the calibration signal. You can also manually receive the signal.

• The hourly time signal is on.

Some features that are turned off in this example :

• Auto illumination is off
• No alarm has been set

This concludes a short overview of display in Timekeeping Mode. In the next post we will be going through the other modes of the watch.