A First Look At The FlySky i18 - 18 Channels Radio Control System

It's almost 2015 now and if you were in the market to buy a new top-of-the-line radio, you should definitely be looking at the new 18 channel radios available. These amazing radios allow plenty of room to grow for whatever model may come along.

According to FlySky, the i18 is designed mainly for fixed-wings, gliders, and helicopters. Just like the FlySky i10, this new radio also uses the latest digital 2.4 GHz AFHDS 2A system. AFHDS, short for automatic frequency hopping digital system, is essentially the same thing with FHSS. Speaking of the system, there are two basic kinds of aftermarket radio systems - FHSS and DSM. FHSS is short for frequency hopping spread spectrum. The transmitter hops around on different frequencies, trying to avoid a frequency that has interference. DSM is short direct sequence spread spectrum, which usually directly hits every one of the frequencies. DSM tends to have more problems with interference though. So if you are considering getting a radio with the most ranges, you should definitely go with FHSS ones, let alone the AFHDS 2A, which is an upgraded version.

FlySky has added a low voltage warning function (when lower than 3.7V) and online software update function to the new radio. They use a micro-USD PPM for its DSC port. It's also been featured with a WQGA 4.3 inch TFT color capacitive touch screen and LCD white backlight. The battery setting hasn't been decided yet but it should be lithium batteries that come with the i18. Headphone connector is available so you can use it freely in noisy environments.

More specs of the radio:

Radio frequency Range: 2.4055-2.475GHz
Bandwidth: 500KHz
RF Channel: 140
RF Power: Less than 20dBm
Modulation Type: GFSK
Sticks resolution: 4096
Charger port: yes
ANT length: 26mm*2
Power: 3.7V 2100mAh
Display mode: WQGA 4.3 inch TFT color screen (262K 80*800 dot matrix)
Size: 197*83*220mm
Weight: 790g