Today I introduce the VIFLYFinder 2 to you. With this little helper it is almost impossible to lose your quad.

But why does a quad get lost? This can have the following reasons.

1. There was no buzzer installed
2. The buzzer (motorbuzzer) is too quiet
3. The LiPo flew away on impact
4. The quad is too far away from the starting point

For scenario 1-3 the VIFLY Finder 2 is perfect and you should definitely find your quad again, because the VIFLY Finder 2 has built in rechargeable battery (1S LiPo) and a very loud buzzer.
In addition, the Finder 2 also has a bright LED installed, which makes it easy to find the quad at dusk and night.

 

Where to buy

• China
• Europa

Whats in the box

The VIFLY Finder 2 comes safely packed in a plastic box. This is important because there is a LiPo installed. Other NoName manufacturers ship such Buzzer unprotected in plastic bags. There could be a fire, when the LiPo gets damaged during the shipping.

Included is:

• VIFLY Finder 2
• cable
• Cable ties for fastening
• Manual

Technical details

• Size: 24 × 13 × 16 mm
• Weight: 5 g
• Volume: 105 dB
• Operating time: 30 hours
• Charging time: 1.5 hours
• LiPo capacity: 80 mAh
• Input voltage: 4.5 to 8.5V

Functions and operation

The VIFLY Finder 2 can be activated (armed) and disabled (disarmed). This is done via the external power supply and the installed button.

activate Finder 2

To activate the Finder, only the main battery needs to be connected. Now you can go fly!

trigger Alarm

As soon as the main battery has been separated from the quad from a crash, the finder starts to work. With help of a light sensor, an LED only lights up in the darkness.

Alarm Pattern

• in the first 30 seconds, the Finder 2 beeps at low volume (about 96 dB)
• in the period of 30 seconds and 2 hours, the Finder 2 beeps at full volume every 4 seconds (about 105 dB)
• after 2 hours until the battery is empty, the Finder 2 beeps at full volume every 10 seconds (about 105 dB)

VIFLY advertises that the buzzer does not beep at night and goes into sleep mode to not to disturb „the neighbors“. This feature does not make sense to me. So if you fly in the evening or at dusk and lose the quad, you can not search for it until the next day. In the meantime, it could rain and the quad could be damaged. It makes sense, of course, if you want to protect the wildlife at night.

deactivate Finder 2

The finder is deactivated by removing the main battery and holding the button for 1 to 5 seconds and then releasing it. Alternatively, if the buzzer is unreachable, you can disable it by disconnecting the main battery and then re-connectf or 3 to 6 seconds and disconnec it again .

Once successfully disarmed, it beeps three times briefly.

Comparison to other buzzers

Wiring

The Finder 2 can be connected in various ways.

1. Connection to a conventional flight control over the buzzer port. To do this, connect the 5 V cable to the buzzer + port. The GND connection goes to a GND port of the flight control. BZ Port is connected to the Buzzzer port of the flight control. If you only have a buzzer pad on the flight control this would have to be the buzzer pad, it will be connected to the Finder via BZ. For the power supply (5 V / GND) you just take a free 5 V source of your FC. You can also trigger the VIFLY Buzzer via your radio.
2. If you do not want to use flight control but just a receiver, you simply connect the finder’s BZ port to a PWM channel. For the power supply (5 V / GND) you simply take a free 5 V source.

Conclusion

If you like to fly over fields / forests or long range, you should seriously consider to equip your quad with such a buzzer. If you lose the battery or discharge it too deeply in a crash can find the quad really fast, which could take hours without buzzer or even lead to total loss.

The VIFLY Buzzer is bigger and heavier than a Hellgate Buzzer, but it is also a lot louder and cheaper. The beep sequence and volume is specially chosen so that the quad can be found again as fast as possible. The runtime of a Hellgate Buzzers, however, is much longer.

In the end, it does not matter which buzzer you choose, because they all have the unique advantage of having a separate power supply and protect you from the loss of the entire quad in case of a crash far away. For longrange or freestyle quads the VIFLY Finder 2 is perfect, as there is usually more space for installation.

What is your experience with these buzzers? Which model do you use and did you have to use it before? Just comment under this post!