My trusty Futaba T18SZ is getting older and has had many hours of flight time – without any issues. As I don’t want to change to another system (Futaba never failed me, I have loads of receivers and I’m too lazy to re-program all my gliders on a new system) I was keen to try out the newly released Futaba T26SZ. As soon as one popped up in the inventory of one of my local model shops yesterday afternoon I rushed out and got it.

This afternoon I had my first flights with the new transmitter. Here are my first impressions.

First the good things:

• One of the reasons that I always liked my T18SZ is the low weight. The T26SZ is 5 grammes lighter (922gr), very easy to handle and much lighter than some of the other brands.
• The sticks feel great, very similar to what I was used to on the T18SZ. “Potless” sticks have been the rage over the last few years and are now standard on the T26SZ (although I’ve yet to meet anybody who had issues with the sticks on the standard T18SZ).
• The operating system of the T26SZ is essentially that of the T18SZ, with a few extra “gimmicks”. That makes it easy to dive straight into. I was particularly pleased that the T26SZ did not build upon that of the T32MZ, which, in my view, is over-engineered and a pain to use. The model picture on the display as well as the possibility to assign sounds to switches are a nice new addition. Many will also appreciate the elaborate sequencing options.
• A great plus is the 2^nd screen at the top of the transmitter. It’s very easy to read and “always on”, providing the option to show either telemetry data or the timers (I’ve chosen the latter, as my telemetrics come via headphone). Another benefit is the new antenna, which is much less vulnerable and exposed than that on the T18SZ (I’ve seen them broken off on multiple occasions).
• Transferring the first few models from my T18SZ to the T26SZ was a breeze, using a micro-SD card with a converter to a standard SD card. When copying the models from the card onto the T26SZ it automatically and instantly converts them to the new transmitter. All that remains is binding the receiver(s) as well as installing telemetry. Easy. I’ve not found any conversion errors so far.

There are a few things that I’m not so satisfied with. Some of them I hope will be addressed in future software updates or as I explore the transmitter’s possibilities:

• My main issue is with the sliders at the lower right and left of the T26SZ. As a glider pilot I use the lower left slider for the motor and the lower right glider to switch between different positive camber positions (I usually have three). The new sliders are much smaller, do not have much resistance (move too easily) and do not feel very precise. Whereas that’s simply annoying with the camber positions, it can be dangerous with the motor. Even though I use a safety switch for the motor on the transmitter, it’s (too) easy to touch the slider and engage (or disengage) the motor. Probably much of this just takes getting used to. I do however want to check if there’s a way to give the sliders a bit more resistance. I’ve yet to make up my mind if I like the fact that there are now two sliders on each side rather than the single slider on the T18SZ. On the left side I will probably tape over the outer slider.
• A real pain is that the number of models that can be stored on the transmitter itself remains limited to 30 and you cannot operate a model from the SD Card. I had hoped that this number would have been increased. I’m about to hit the 30 limit on my T18SZ and dislike having to copy models from/to the SD Card (yes, I fly all my models, I’ve sold the ones I don’t fly).
• Much less important, but still annoying, is the positioning of the micro-SD card. Getting the card it in and out is finnicky. Especially in the beginning I had to move the card it back and forth very often to get the hang of transferring the models and the model pictures onto the T26SZ. Once all my models are converted it should however be fine.
• The model pictures option is fun, but requires some work as all pictures need to be exactly 160×80 pixels, in a 24bit BMP file and with maximum 8 characters in the file name. Do one thing wrong and it’s not recognized by the system. No mercy.
• Even though there is a whole range of pre-defined sounds, there are some that I would have liked that are missing (camber settings) and all of them are in English only. I’ve not found a possibility to add new or custom sounds.
• Can I please rename my telemetry sensors? I mostly use my SM Modellbau GPS Logger 3 and find the “borrowing” of wrong sensor names simply annoying.
• The two functions that I missed most when I transferred from my T14SG to my T18SZ have not been brought back: autolock of the screen/menus (after x seconds) and the ability to adjust the telemetry volume through one of the dials on top of the transmitter. While that’s not a disadvantage compared to the T18SZ, it is a missed opportunity for the T26SZ. I spend much of my time on the slope and would like to be able to turn up the volume in strong winds/gusts. The manual is also very explicit about the need to lock the touch-screen, so an autolock really would make sense.

One final point to raise is that I’ve not yet been able to get my SM Modellbau GPS Logger 3 to work on the new transmitter. For some reason it gives weird values for the GPS sensor (multiplied by 256 and a minimum speed of 64kmh). There’s probably an easy fix for this, but I’ve yet to find it. [EDIT 30.9.2024: the new software update v.1.2 for the T26SZ remedies this problem – with many thanks to Arwico and Futaba for correcting this bug so quickly]

All in all my first impression is moderately positive, but I really need to use it more to form a definite opinion. So far, I find the transmitter an interesting evolution compared to the T18SZ, certainly not a revolution, that provides a number of improvements over the T18SZ, but also misses a few obvious chances. I was certainly not looking for a revolution in the new T26SZ, and am happy that it builds so much on the T18SZ. I do hope that the list of issues that I’m not too happy with will be reduced as I get to know the transmitter better and as Futaba comes with the inevitable software updates in the next few months.