ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro: A Pure Bred Race-Dedicated Drone

The ImmersionRC Vortex 250, is a purebred drone made with racers in mind, in order to fulfill their dreams. It builds up from its powerful predecessor, Vortex 285, from which this drone got the inspiration for the improvements in the design and performance. The 285 wasn’t built for racing purposes, and it wasn’t competitively resistant to crash like the 250 racing model.

That said, you can use this superior Vortex 250 for fun, for pro racing, or for taking professional aerial images/videos at a much faster pace. Also, it has lots of improvements from its predecessor that make it a powerful drone of any racer’s dreams.

Furthermore, ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro is characterized by sturdy but light frame, that is virtually unbreakable whenever it hits an object on its way. Its predecessor had tubular CF arms that are foldable, whereas this drone’s arms are fixed.

Also worth mentioning is that, as the racer, you have the freedom to add accessories to your liking to customize your drone so that it can remain unique from others, and this model offers you plenty of space for that.

Beware: This Vortex 250 isn’t an RTF (Ready to Fly) model. It is an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) quadcopter and, for this reason, it requires some handling skills, although minimal, to get started. It comes with most of the components fully assembled, with the exclusion of the transmitter, receiver, the display and the battery. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t be stressed because it comes with a user manual to help you through the process to install such.

Of the components that are missing, there are some recommendations to buy compatible ones such as the battery and the GoPro ¾ camera. Just add a compatible R/C Rx (CPPM, Spektrum, S-Bus, XBus, EzUHF) to get going to your race. To guide you about the initial setup, this YouTube video can help you.

Once you’re done assembling your equipment, you will be able to enjoy hovering and rolling it in the sky either for fun or for pro racing. With its RaceBand featured, 8 pilots can be able to race together without any inconvenient radio interference.

The fact that this quadcopter comes with its components needing assembling, makes it quite affordable because, generally, the RTF models are quite expensive. Moreover, in case the drone gets damaged, you can simply purchase the identical part and then reassemble to get going.

The same cannot be said with RTF drones, they may prompt you to purchase expensive parts to replace or to ship them out to a certified service center, which will still cost you quite a penny. The ARF models give you an opportunity to buy the preferred compatible parts for replacement.

The Vortex 250 Pro is, however, a great drone that will not crash easily, even  if it hits against any object because of its 4mmm carbon fiber flat plates. It has been designed to be durable. For these reasons, this drone provides a great value for money.

Another piece of advice: This drone doesn’t come with the included camera, but a camera mount. Furthermore, adhere to the recommendations of purchasing a battery because a heavy battery might compromise the overall weight, and subsequently affects the flight time.

Again, beware of the imitations when purchasing this product. Because of its popularity, it happens often that users are conned with imitated drones that are of lower quality compared to the original. You can contact the manufacturer to verify.

Product specification:

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Build Specifications

Packaging

As highlighted already, the Vortex 250 Pro comes with many components that of high performance from its predecessor. In its packaging, you will find these components:

Design & Durability

ImmersionRc has sought to provide its customers with a sturdy quadcopter made of virtually unbreakable 4mm thick carbon fiber flat plates. Unlike the previous 285, the Vortex 250’s plates are not foldable. They are instead made to withstand any crash and thus continue its race without an ultimate stop.

It also has 12 M3 aluminum spacers that are wrapped in a custom plastic for enhanced durability. The 2mm carbon fiber top-plate adds more durability coupled with 2mm FR4 skid plates for crash resistance.

Camera

The Vortex 250 Pro unfortunately doesn’t come with an included camera, but has a shock absorbing camera mount that is compatible with a GoPro ¾ HD camera or a flight cam. The mount is well placed between the frames and requires no additional accessory to it. You can simply tilt the camera thanks to the adjustable bracket.

On the other hand, the Vortex 250 comes with an on-board NewWaveRF Video transmitter compatible with 5.8 Ghz receivers. Meanwhile the OSD (on screen display) helps you choose video channels directly on the RC transmitter.

The video functions well with a variety of RaceBand channels such as the DJI, Team Black Sheep, FatShhark and Boscam. With the Vortex 250’s RaceBand, 8 pilots can fly together and all its channels are within the US Ham radio bandwith.

To reduce radio interference with other flights, this drone has a dynamic power control as a new interference-reduction feature. The interference is reduced when the drone is ready to fly or disarmed to reduce the risk of radio interference when flying with other pilots.

Battery & Flight Time

The battery has to be bought separately from the package. The manufacturer recommends a 3s or 4s Lithium Polyester battery upon which you can determine the flight time.

Controller

One of the attractive features of Vortex 250 Pro drone is its second Generation Fusion Flight Controller due to its optimal performance. The F1 class processor of the Vortex 285 is improved to the recent state of the art F3 class processor that comes with a 2MB Blackbox log storage embedded in the processor. The port is designed for a serial receiver hookup of 5V and 3.3V supply options.

The Fusion Gen2 Flight Controller comes with a preloaded CleanFlight that is custom built. It enables future updates to keep the drone continuously performing on par.

For this reason, it is now associated with lower loop times and enhanced performance than the predecessor, and this makes it perform twice as faster than the previous F1 class processor. It is also easy to use the menus and PIDS are adjusted and configurable on-screen.

Flight Performance

This quadcopter can perform amazingly if you have a technical-know-how potential to fly it. For a novice user it can be challenging to control it and leverage its superb features. Nevertheless, the manufacturer has provided the user manual to get used to the flight modes and the OSD. To help you understand how to fly this powerful racing drone, check this YouTube video.

Once you understand how to use the OSD to set up your drone, you will be to enjoy hovering around with it and controlling it to any direction of your liking.

Value for Money & Guarantee

The Vortex 250 Pro comes with two options of buying the foam packaging for $479 or the zipper case at $499. This price is inclusive of all other components like the flight controller except the compatible receivers, GoPro ¾ camera and the battery that have to be purchased separately.

This means your costs could range between $479 and $1000, depending on the option you opt for when buying this quadcopter. The company has not mentioned anything about the guarantee of the product. The only guarantee we know is the crash resistant enabled by the sturdy 4mm carbon fiber plates designed.

Unique Features

Vortex 250 Pro comes with a set of 8 24-bit RGB LEDs on its tail and put between the upper and lower frames for security. They are controlled by the 32-bit ARM processor. You can display anything with these lights including as indicators to either left or right direction when racing with other pilots.

Each arm of this drone has its own dedicated function. For instance, there is an arm dedicated for the functions of the flight controller, the other for LEDS, another for the custom ESCs and the last for a full-graphic on-screen display with EzOSD pedigree.

With the full graphic OSD, you can view the critical parameters that need updating, so that your drone continues performing without any hidden faults. The menu helps you program the options in the field using the R/C Tx, LCD screen or the goggles.

Meanwhile the real-time interface featured, coupled with the Fusion Flight controller allows the artificial horizons, exchange of flight parameters and the F-18 style displays.

What makes the Vortex 250 Pro extra special is its durable design that has emerged to be crash resistant regardless of what objects got hit. It comes with 4mm sturdy CF plates and a 2mm CF top-plate. These features make it a reliable and strong drone to use. Check this video to see a durability test for this powerful machine.

Similar Models

ARRIS X-Speed 250B  Quadcopter

This is the same sized quadcopter as the Vortex 250 Pro, and it is also dedicated to racing. It is, however, a relatively cheaper drone and also a Ready to Fly version. The Radiolink AT9 transmitter and the RD9 receiver in ARRIS X-Speed are included and fully assembled. You do not need to buy any other component other than the battery and the goggles when needed, unlike the Vortex 250 model.

The powerful F3 flight controller is also used in this quadcopter on which the racers can simply adjust the flight’s parameters to their needs. The drone provides you great and quality videos enabled by its vibrating plate which also reduces the damage to the frame. The drone is also characterized by high performing motors, 2205 and 2300KV and BLHeli 20A ESC.

Be advised that this drone is meant for racing and thus cannot fulfill your wishes if you were looking for a stable fly. It cannot be compared to drones such as the Vortex 285 and DJI for its stable fly even when using GPS.

Well the Vortex 250 Pro outperforms this racing drone with the included BlackBox flash memory of 2MB, which justifies the higher price you will need to pay for it.

LHI 250 FPV Racing Drone

This LHI 250 FPV Racing Drone is yet another RTF (Ready to Fly) racing drone that can be an alternative to the Vortex 250 Pro. It is relatively inexpensive with a cost lower than $200. Its components have been fully assembled and ready to fly once done with the installation of the included propellers and the battery. The drone is light weight making it to fly speedily.

It supports the HD Camera to take HD aerial images. It also supports image transmission and other replacement parts that the user can easily change if damaged or worn out. The AT9 remote controller is included with this model.

Nonetheless, the Vortex 250 Pro, despite it being too expensive in relation to this competitor, outperforms the competitor Quadcopter with its superior features like the advanced and constantly improved processor as well as the 2MB Blackbox included.

WST QAV 280 Racing Drone

The WST QAV 280 Racing Drone is more expensive compared to the Vortex 250 Pro from ImmersionRC. It comes with a built-in camera of Gimbal for scenic and elegant aerial photos. The amazing features of this drone include:

• High-speed crossing 9 channel radio
• Compatibility with 5.8 Ghz image transmission receiver
• Included FPV Video goggles
• Built-in receiver monitor

It is furthermore huge in size compared to the Vortex 250.

Overview

The Vortex 250 Pro Quadcopter was specifically engineered for racing enthusiasts. It comes with a broad range of features that are rarely found in ordinary drones such as the Vortex 285 and DJI F450. It comes with a powerful F3 class processor and Generation 2 Fusion Flight controller that will certainly make you a winner in racings.

With the perfectly secured camera mount, you can be able to capture great aerial images and record HD videos using the recommended GoPro ¾ camera.

Here is small review of ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro.

If you are into high performing racing drones, the Vortex 250 Pro will certainly be a best fit for you. It has all the features on the go.