FrSkyG-RX8 Receiver Designed to be Used for the Gliders

This was one of the few R/C items that I have that was really pain-free to set up. The vario is awesome. I have it on a HobbyKing Paramotor model so I can tell when it's rising and, you know, crashing.

I am a freshly retired electrical engineer with a Masters from Purdue University. About six years ago I dipped my toes into RC Gliders and after some research decided that FrSky was the way to go. That was then. Bruce over at RCModelReviews on youtube warned me about the current state of FrSky but since I have two 2015 Taranis Plus I thought I'd give it a go. The G-RX8 arrived promptly in excellent condition from Amazon. The outside of the receiver says ACCST but the manual supplied says ACCESS so that causes confusion. I went to the FrSky website and downloaded the ACCST manual. Its all of two pages and nearly useless. I tried to bind it but no joy. Since the manual is so brief I tried to find out more information via YouTube. There is lots of bits and pieces of information out there but you would think that the manufacturer is your best bet. I'm really disappointed at how bad the documentation is or how difficult it is to find complete documentation. My next step will be to try and load different F/W versions on the receiver and transmitter to see if I can get it to work. Would be nice if there was a good compatibility chart to help in troubleshooting. I'll update this review if I can make progress or FrSky is any help. When you go to the FrSky store on Amazon there is no contact the seller option otherwise I would.

I have an early FrSky Taranis ACCST radio - the one with 6 menu buttons (3 on each side). This is an FRSky radio, but it will not bind with the G-RX8. I can't see giving any stars to a Rx that does not work with the company's own Tx.Update: After doing the study to determine how to upload ACCST (non-FrSky-proprietary) firmware onto this Rx, I am able to get it working with variometer and altitude telemetry and 8 channels. I have it set up for analog servos, but with 1&2 jumpered during binding digital servos are supposed to work best. But this was a major pain brought on by FrSky. People who are saying "works fine for me" are either using FrSky radios with proprietary "Access" protocol, or are savvy enough to do find the information to update the Rx firmware. FrSky had a good thing going, but now purposely build products that are incompatible with earlier products.

The only downside is that the pins stick out and have gotten bent on hard landings. Plan on some additional length inside your R/C model to add a foam crash protection block in front of it (push the foam down onto the pins). The paper wrapping comes off easily and then will NOT go back on without considerable fiddling. Be careful.