I absolutely loved the Runcam TX200 VTX, and now it’s just got even better! The new TX200U an upgrade with VTX Control feature added. In this review we will take a look at it closely.
The TX200U VTX is available from Banggood | GetFPV | Amazon. See my review of the TX200.
Further Reading: How to choose a VTX for mini quad
The reason I like the TX200 so much is because I can mount it directly on the back of my micro FPV cameras. It makes a really compact FPV solution, especially useful for tight builds. And it’s super light weight too.
TX200U VTX on the back of the Micro Swift 3 FPV camera
TX200 VTX in a tight ultralight racing drone
Signal quality is decent for racing in short distances and it has been reliable for me when flying together with 2 to 3 other pilots.
TX200U VTX Spec
- Frequency & Channels: 5.8G 48CH
- Output Power: 25mW / 200mW
- Input Voltage: 3.5V – 5.5V (or 1S LiPo)
- Output Voltage (BEC): 5V/250mA max
- VTX Operation Current: 5V/150mA
- Weight: 2.5g (with antenna)
- PCB Size: 19mm*19mm
- Price: $18
Close Look at the TX200U
The Runcam TX200U VTX comes with a spare 3-pin cable, 3 screws and standoffs for mounting the VTX on the back of a Micro FPV camera (one spare each).
It comes with a 2dB Omni-directional antenna with U.FL connector. You can change it out for other types of antennas of your choice, such as the Trident (http://bit.ly/2J1sy7a).
The cables are pre-soldered on the VTX with connectors, you can just cut them off if you want to direct solder to your FC.
There is a button for changing channels, bands and power of your VTX, and an array of LED’s to indicate your current VTX settings.
The mounting hole pattern of the VTX is designed specifically for Runcam’s own micro cameras. I tried the TX200U on some Foxeer’s camera and found the holes don’t match perfectly. It might fit if you push and tilt the standoffs slightly outwards.
You might ask, isn’t the wiring going get messy if we want to use Betaflight OSD and have to connect both the camera and VTX to the flight controller?
It would give you the cleanest wiring if you connect the TX200U directly to the FPV camera. But I don’t think it makes it any messier than using any other standalone VTX.
Unlocking
Same as the previous version, the Runcam TX200U video transmitter has lock mode enabled by default. The output power is limited to 25mW, and the available channels are all within the spectrum between 5725MHz and 5875MHz.
As shown in the following diagram, the orange channels are NOT available in lock mode.
However you can “unlock” it if you wish, this will enable 200mW and all the channels in the 6 supported bands.
Further Reading: Here is some more information about the channels in 5.8GHz for FPV
How to tell which mode I am in?
- Lock mode – the red LED flashes
- Unlock mode – the red LED stays on
How to unlock TX200U?
You can switch between the two modes by holding down the button for 10 seconds.
TX200U VTX Control
You can connect the TX200U video transmitter to your transmitter, and change VTX settings in Betaflight OSD or via LUA script, such as channels and power.
Further Reading: You can learn more about VTX control in this tutorial
The TX200U uses Tramp Telemetry (NOT Smart Audio), so make sure you select the correct protocol in Betaflight’s Ports tab.
The button on the VTX will also be disabled when you are using VTX Control.
Note that because the TX200U only has 25mW and 200mW, you might be able to select some other power options in the menu, but it won’t actually do anything.
| Betaflight OSD | TX200U |
| 25mW | 25mW |
| 100mW | 25mW |
| 200mW | 200mW |
| 400mW | 200mW |
| 600mW | 200mW |
18 comments
I’m doing my first build and confused about setup on this tx200u and mico swift 3cam, I piggybacked receiver to camera using 3 wire plug from receiver, this leaves 2 empty pins tx and rx , I’ve connected green wire from receiver to tx 1 and getting 5v and ground from uart 1, my question is do I not need rx1 connected and what about 2 empty pins on camera? I’m using f405 wing any help will be appreciated
you can leave those 2 pins unconnected, they are for changing camera settings.
thanks for the review, I bought mine just a few weeks ago and put it on a quad now.
vtx works fine, unlocked and checked if 200mW works no problem but It seems
that I cannot set the channel or power levels from lua scripts or OSD with the taranis.
I can change the settings and when I save, it doesn’t apply. I am able to set everything
with the buttons so far.
No problems with all other vtx’s I got. is this a known problem on the tx200u?
thanks again
You might need to setup VTX table.
Is there a way to set the vtx power using the button?
Seems doing it from OSD does’nt do much and gets “reset” after disconnecting the battery.
Same happens when you set it with set vtx_power=4 in CLI and save. Doesnt seem to apply because in osd you still see 25W.
Is this VTX specific to a video format?
No.
Hi Oscar, thanks for the review. Don’t you think the VTX is gonna heat a lot if fixed like this behind the caméra (which is also getting warm on its own) ?
When you are flying that shouldn’t be a problem.
I love this vtx but I had to move on because of the locked channels. My race group uses 25mw all the time and I have been kicked out of races because I couldn’t use the designated channel. I really don’t know why they would lock those channels it makes no sense to me at all. Oh well other piggyback vtx’s do now so moving on.
There must be a reason they do that though I just don’t know what it is.
You know you can “unlock” it right? see the instruction in the review.
So its possible to be in unlocked mode and at 25mw at the same time?
The manual sugests that its only possible to use unlocked mode with 200mw. But maybe thats only due to the chinese being useless with english ?
Hey Oscar, having an issue with this VTX and was wondering what you think could be the problem. It was working fine at the start, but all of a sudden the VTX does not turn on. I am getting 5v from my Matek F405-CTR so that’s not the problem. Could I have accidentally short circuited it?
It’s hard to say, there are so many ways a VTX can get damaged.
maybe a short circuit, maybe overheat, or even physical damage could have done it.
Would this fit on a Whoop?
probably but even if it does you will need a voltage booster to convert 1S to 5V. Not recommended for Tiny Whoops.
Would it fit on a Runcam Split or split mini?
Not really, but you can use foam tape i guess?