I went with the harbor freight special and stopped at micheals craft store and picked up a vinyl sticker and a thin piece of foam and 3M sprayed it to the foam to stop it from falling apart. Looks nice but needs some trimming for easier taking a few things in and out.
Kept some extra storage...
I am also having same issue, weak transmission signal a few minutes into a flight and approximate 150 ft up and within 150ft radius. Only thing I have in common is over water on a sunny day, both over my flooded back yard and ocean