Horizon Hobby Blade 350 QX2 RTF First Flight with the GB200 Brushless Gimbal Upgrade (Sunset Video Test)

My road to finally getting a Blade 350 QX (and then QX2) up in the air with a GB200 Gimbal is a long one. From small delays, such as having to send back a defective gimbal, to major setbacks, like when the first 350 QX I bought glitched mid-flight and flew off over the ocean never to be seen again, I have seen and experienced almost everything that could go wrong. Along the way, Horizon Hobby customer service has been pretty amazing. In the case of the runaway drone, while they weren't able to refund me on my lost GoPro 3+ or replace my drone (which I had bought at a local hobby store and not directly from them), they were willing to give me 60% off of a new drone. For the gimbal, they sent me a new one, no questions asked, and even paid for the return shipping.

So finally, this past weekend, after nearly three months since I originally purchased my first Blade 350 QX quadcopter along with the GB200 Gimbal, I finally made my first flight. It was glorious, regardless of the long and windy road I took to get there, but the fact that the wait was so long just made it all the sweeter. The sun was setting, my quad was finally ready, my new GoPro 3+ was recording and seated in the gimbal, and with a slow and almost nervous push of the throttle stick, I lifted off into the sky.

Here's the video from that evening. Please enjoy it all the more now that you have the entire backstory.