Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Manufacturer: | Estes |
Brief:
The Oracle is a large, mostly preassembled model rocked intended for video
capture of launches. The rear looking video unit connects via USB port to
standard PCs. the resulting 30 video clips can be viewed with Windows Media
Player.
Construction:
THe tail is a Plastic one piece unit with four fins and bayonet motor mount
rear retention.
Two coupled 12" body tubes with "Oracle" graphics make up the body tube. The launch lugs are integrated into the tail unit and comes with a styrene tubing coupler
PROs: This unit is almost completely preassembled. The only real assembly is the gluing of the front body tube to the coupler and insertion of the shock cord mount. Assembly of the chute and battery insertion, which requires a small diameter Phillips screwdriver and single AAA battery, completes the assembly. Tie on the nose cone, loop through the nylon high-quality parachute, and you are ready to fly when the glue dries.
CONs: Not for anybody interested in a challenge or in applying their own graphics. Depending on personal choice, one might want to replace the all rubber 1/4 in elastic with other material.
Finishing:
The shiny red-black-silver graphics on the pre-finished rocket are attractive.
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight:
I used a D 12-5, which was the largest motor recommended. We set it off under
conditions of very light winds and got an almost completely straight launch.
The bird rotated about one and half times on the way up.
Note that the video is a mirror image, due to the way the rear looking digital video nose cone is set up. I clearly saw myself and son in the photo although the shadows helped. The D engine and large size of the bird drew some attention from some tennis players about 100 yards away. There was no appreciable weathercocking in the light breeze, which made for better video quality.
Delay was just about perfect with a damage free ejection just a few moments past apogee. The nylon bright orange chute deposited the bird abut 100 feet from the pad.
I had already loaded the software onto my PC and kept the switch in the "on" position until I was able to load the video into my PC.
Editor's Note: The video's are 65Meg in size. Here is a reduced length and size video as an example. In addition, we have provided some screen shots. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO (425K WMV)
Recovery:
Everything worked uneventfully and without damage to body tube, chute, or shock
cord. The unusually well constructed high visibility nylon chute (for Estes
anyway) deployed perfectly. If the impact occurred on tar, it might have
chipped a fin. As it was, there was absolutely no damage of any kind.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
This is a crowd pleaser for several reasons. The video can be replayed at half
or high speed, the D engine makes a loud roar by low power standards, and the
components work together well. Indeed, we got the attention of everybody in the
area.
If you are feeling adventurous, you could easily adapt the nose to any compatible body tube. Remember, however, that you only get about 30 seconds of video. For this rocket, that is more than enough time. The video is better if you can reverse it left to right, via software.
At least one of these should be shot at any rocketry festival. The video is a bit choppy but it is amazing for the price. I got the rocket for just under eighty dollars. In my view, Estes has done all their homework. I got usable video on my first launch and I didn't exactly read every line of the instructions.
But I have to wonder what would happen if I flew it on a 24mm reload? Hmm...
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
This is a 24mm upscale of the (justifiably) insanely popular FlisKits Deuce's Wild! All of the key parts used in this build (the motor mount, body tube, and nose cone) were ordered directly from FlisKits as well. It is built to use all sizes of available and popular 24mm motors. I used the following parts: 1 NCB-70DW balsa nose cone 1 EMK2-24-70C motor mount assembly 1 ...
This is the Estes Oracle Digital Video rocket. It represents multiple firsts not only for Estes but for all of low power rocketry. This rocket uses 24mm D motors and contains a micro digital video camera in the nose cone powered by a single AAA battery. Also, the Oracle uses a quality nylon chute instead of a plastic Estes one. The Oracle kit contains 2 body tubes. The first is already ...
Brief: The Estes Oracle Video Camera Rocket takes captures digital videos that can be downloaded into your Windows computer. It is a pre-built kit that only requires attaching one body tube and installing the shock cord and parachute. Construction: The kit is an E2X style rocket, meaning that everything is already constructed and the decals are attached. There is no painting ...
Estes Industries recently released the first production digital video camera rocket. I had read about the Oracle many months ago on an Internet user forum. The insider information described a low quality, short duration, video camera. I was pleased to learn that Estes had made a couple of upgrades before final release. This easy to build and great looking rocket with respectable digital video ...
A great rocket when it came out but the software won't run on anything higher than Windows XP. I've tried to get it to run on my older laptop with Vista but no go. Same with my new PC with Windows 8.1. Called Estes awhile back but they were no help as it's a discontinued item and they weren't planning on upgrading the software. To Bad. Collecting dust for the last four years now as I no longer have a PC that will run Windows XP.
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J.L. (September 5, 2005)