Aug 22, 2021
When I first saw the Baby Nazgul, I knew I had to try it. I am a big fan of the iFlight Alpha A65 and I have heard people raving so much about the 5” Nazgul, that the Baby Nazgul just has to be awesome - right,… right?
Let’s first address the elephant in the room - quite literally: This micro copter weighs in at 29.1g with CRSF receiver, if you add a 300mAh GNB battery the weight adds up to 37g. Without the CRSF receiver it weighs in at 26.9g - still 3.1g more than its whoop counter-part the iFlight Alpha A65 which weighs in at 23.8g without a battery.
Read More
Aug 16, 2021
Happymodel was the first manufacturer to seize the opportunity for a quick buck and produce ELRS hardware. ELRS is an open source control link and I am pretty sure you have heard about it by now. I am a big fan of ELRS - been watching them basically since the beginning.
I am super stoked seeing more and more manufacturers implementing this Open Source hardware and I am confident that sooner or later it will replace FrSky D8 compatible SPI receivers on AIO boards.
Read More
Aug 8, 2021
After Happymodel, BetaFPV is the second company jumping on the hype train and releasing ELRS hardware. I am pretty stoked seeing more companies releasing hardware based on an open source project, so I am excited to showcase some of the new hardware.
I am a huge fan of ELRS - an open source control link for radio controlled models. I have followed the project since pretty early on and even built a DIY transmitter module and receivers. I never had it in production use since it was simply to cumbersome for me to DIY the receivers and I was hoping that some day, some manufacturer will pick this system up commercially - which is happening now.
Read More
Jun 29, 2021
The Eachine US65 Pro has some sentimental value for me, since the first article I wrote on this blog over three years ago was about the Eachine US65. A lot has happened since then and I was super excited when Banggood offered to send me one for review - unfortunately at this point I am already a bit late to the party since this copter has been released in late 2020. If it is still a good choice in 2021 you will find out here.
The Eachine US65, is a 65mm, 2S whoop set - it comes with the copter, batteries, charger, props and a nice carrying case.
Read More
Apr 28, 2021
Thinking about building a 1S brushless whoop and you are not sure which AIO flight controller to use? I want to show you a couple FC’s which I think are viable choices and explain what I am looking for in my 1S flight controllers.
Obviously there is no ONE perfect flight controller, otherwise this article would be pretty short. It depends on what you are looking for, and this might be different for everyone. I will show you what I look for and how my decision process looks like.
Read More
Mar 10, 2021
The HappyModel Cine 8 is - as the name suggests - a 85mm cine whoop with which you can carry a Insta360 Go. This copter - similar to the UZ85 - comes as a kit which you have to assemble yourself - and there is no soldering required.
I really like the concept of having to put it together yourself. Everything is plug and play, meaning that all the wires come with plugs and you just plug them in and you are set. The assembly can easily be done in under an hour.
Read More
Jan 27, 2021
In this article we will take a closer look at the T-Lite - Radiomasters first contribution to the niche of gamepad shaped radios.
As the name suggests it is a direct competitor to FrSky’s X-Lite but obviously also competes with other gamepad shaped controllers. I will compare it to the X-Lite and the BetaFPV Lite radio which I have been using for quite some time.
Read More
Jan 17, 2021
I was intrigued when I first saw Nvision Junior Racer75 - I am a sucker for the color purple, so this one instantly won my heart. I have never heard of Nvision before, but the copter seemed super sturdy and I needed to try it out.
This is a whoop sized, 75mm quadcopter - but this one is intended to be flown with 2-3S - and I really recommend 3S for this one, but more on this later. Let’s first address the elephant in the room - this thing weighs in at a whopping 55g without a battery. This is pretty substantial - especially since there are whoops in this size class that weigh less than half of that.
Read More
Dec 26, 2020
The EMAX Nano Hawk is EMAX’ first attempt at a 65mm indoor brushless whoop - they advertise it as a “Beginner Indoor Nano Racing Drone” - at least that is, what the package states. Let’s see how true this is.
This is one class smaller than their super successful 75mm Tinyhawk series, which was - and still is - one of my favorite entry level whoops.
The Nano Hawk weighs in at just 20g without the battery, which is rather on the light weight side when compared to other “BNF” (Bind and Fly) whoops of its size.
Read More
Nov 23, 2020
The Happymodel Crux 3 is a super light weight 3” toothpick based on Happymodels CrazybeeX all in one board. And light weight is not just a buzzword in this case - the model weighs in at just under 42g without a battery (just 70g with a 2S 450mAh GNB battery).
Read More