I came across this Flex Innovations Cypher VTOL in my search for RTF-ish VTOLs – hoping to find one with AP compatible hardware at a decent price point, still failing at that so far – and while I’m a complete noob as far as VTOLs go, it seemed interesting and the flight demo video is quite impressive, even if it’s flown manually.
Do people have experience with this manufacturer? Would this config be ArduPilot-izable/supported?
There’s also a quick interview video where he talks about the FC but I don’t know enough to know what to make of it.
According to their website, it’s on pre-order for $375, $399 otherwise, expected to ship in July. PNP.
So, more pricey than the E-Flite Convergence, which might be the closest UAV to that one that I know of.
Loic,
The Cypher VTOL is an interesting design. However, like the Convergence, it is meant for the R/C hobbyist market for fun flying and not capable of carrying a significant payload. I would expect to see it sold by Horizon Hobby in the near future. The F3 controller refers to the type of STM32 processor, in this case, and older, less expensive F3 board. APM may be able to run on it. The video pilot, David Ribbe, used to work for Horizon and is a world-class turbine jet pilot so he makes everything look easy. 
Cheers!
Hey Greg – thanks for the insights! And makes sense.
I’m still trying to converge on the closest to RTF VTOL I could procure for ArduPilot-ization, I’ve read through a lot of (your) threads and I like the Mini Talon but the conversion is bit daunting to start out, while the Firefly6 Pro is simply too expensive at the moment, Foxtech Nimbus as well.
Then back to the E-FLITE Convergence even though it won’t carry much or any payload, it seems like a potentially good start – until the VT Bird 1.5 comes out – but I also came across the Ares V hawk X4, would you recommend that plane ?
Cheers.
Hey Loic,
Happy to see you here 
In the end, which VTOL did you choose ?
Hey Aurelien! Great to see you here!
I have not…yet…I had to slow down our UAV activities for another project at the moment but hope to get back to it soon…for now, we’ve only played with quadcopters.
This thread though on the dev of copter tailsitters is mot promising I thing, but it’s very much a development effort of course…I can’t say that I’ve found a vehicle that satisfies all my wants at a low price point, the Nimbus VTOL is probably the closes as afar as readily commercially available vehicles go.
Happy to chat more here or catch up separately on that and other things