FrSky X-Lite S first impressions switching from FlySky

[ched]

Well it was nicely presented in a proper case 
It came with 18500 and 18650 end caps which was lucky as I ordered 18650 batts.
I was surprised by how heavy it is with batteries compared to the Evolution.
R-XSR is about 1/3 the size of Flit10 rx!! Stock antennas a bit short.
If you screw the 'mode screw' to disable throttle centering in too much it falls inside!!!!! You then have to take it apart and it's shell is clipped together!!!!!
First thing I did was update the FW until I realised it's running OpenTX 2.3.0 which is newer than OpenTX downloads other than nightly builds!!!
I did update the internal radio.
Downloaded the SD contents and added Amber voice, all OK.
First receiver FW updated and then registered and bound fine. Why doesn't the s.port on the tx provide 5v out so you can bind rx?
Tested on Velocidrone, all worked fine.
Hooked up R-XSR to R349 and soldered s.port to the uninverted pad. Then set BF to be sbus and the stick channels moved but completely wrong order! Eventually realised it needs to be set to JR type in rx tab!!! Seems silly when on tx set to AETR to have to set BF to TAER.
Setting end points was fine, but aux channels not showing.
Realised I needed to assign switches to channels!!

So after an evening it's going OK.

Need to work out if BF should be sending more telemetry, only getting rssi and voltage after discovering sensors.
Default switch positions are opposite to Evolution, need to think about that.
Need to find out if I can display RSSI on tx in number value and how to get BF LUA script working next.

[ched]

Managed to get out an actually fly today 
First thing the gimbal springs are a lot stronger than the Evolution.
Second you must have some tension on the throttle otherwise the silicon wires make the throttle move when you let go of it!
Having RSSI on the OSD is good but I am surprised at how quickly the signal drops. I am sitting at one side of a football field and when the quad gets about 2/3 way across I start getting RSSI low warnings!!! The warnings are still default at 45. I have R-XSR with antennas mounted off back arms pointing forwards.
OK so there are HV pylons going diagonally across the field so that doesn't help. I did a range test on tx and had quad (R349) on canvas chair about 50cm off ground. I managed to walk backwards about 15m away and I had RSSI of about 30. Is that normal? I am using radio to send RSSI back to rx and displaying channel in BF.

So while the quad doesn't drop out of the sky at the far side of the field the RSSI is getting very low and critical alarms are going off. Have I set something up wrong? Scale is set to 100db weight is 100 in inputs, weight = 200, offset = -100 in mixer.

What I don't get is if the FC is passing the RSSI data back via the RX (S.Post) then why can't the FC just use that value for the OSD? Or have I missed something easy?

I do like the smoothness of the gimbals and I was surprised at not having trouble flying same as normal!!! Not that my flying is any good anyway 

I did buy the XSR-Sim from HobbyRC and even though I ordered Friday lunch time it arrived today  It bound to new X-Lite S in D16 mode (all EU-LBT) no problem at all, no flashing to do. Works great with Velocidrone. No cables for the dog to jump on 

[murpia]

What I don't get is if the FC is passing the RSSI data back via the RX (S.Post) then why can't the FC just use that value for the OSD? Or have I missed something easy?

R-XSR is not as easy to get RSSI in OSD as XM+. You might need to swap to FPort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMIExxWUlH4