Geelang Anger 85X 4K HD Review
• Chris
The Geelang Anger 85X 4k caught my eye, not only for the 4K recording. Also I liked the previous Geelang product I reviewed - the Geelang Wasp 85X quite a lot - currently my favorite toothpick sized quadcopter - so I had very high hopes for this one.
As the name suggests, this is a 85mm sized whoop, very similar to the iFlight Alpha A85, with one major difference - it can record in up to 4K to the onboard DVR.
Banggood was kind enough to send me one for review.
It weighs in at 78g without a battery (the exact weight will depend on the chosen receiver).
Camera caddx-loris.jpg
The camera used is the Caddx Loris, an all in one camera that is DVR and FPV camera in one small package. The DVR is a separate board that is mounted into the stack, allowing for the footage to be recorded onto an SD card.
The Loris allows to record in up to 4k, but is set to 2.7k per default. As with most of the HD recording and FPV camera combos you can definitely feel the lag in the FPV feed. It is not too bad when you are just cruising, but in every other case, you will have to get used to it. For me, who mostly uses “regular” FPV cameras, I always need a couple of packs to adjust to the higher latency.
This all changes when setting the camera to 4k which makes the lag so high, that is completely un-flyable for me. So, yeah - the 4k looks nice on paper, but that is about it, which is really a bummer.
One very cool thing in my opinion is the included ND filter - you can just pop it onto the camera and thus reduce if not eliminate the Jello in bright environments.
This model comes with the joystick to adjust the settings, which is really nice, since the defaults are not the best. I would highly recommend to disable all OSD elements that the camera has enabled by default, since you get all this information from the Betaflight OSD anyway.
Electronics
The flight controller is of the 20mm form factor and is mounted onto a carrier board which in turn mounts to the frame. The ESC is a 4 in 1 ESC and is mounted beneath the flight controller. I am not quite sure why they did not go with an AIO board, there are plenty that would meet the requirements of this whoop and could have saved quite some weight.
The ESC is capable of continuously pushing 12A and 15A burst.
The quadcopter comes with a LED strip at the back, although this is nice if you are into follow footage, but it is something that is not necessary at all and again could have saved some weight if omitted.
Video Transmitter
The video transmitter seems to be the same one that also comes with the Wasp85X. You can adjust the video transmitter settings via Betaflight OSD using the IRC Tramp protocol. The output power is switchable between 25, 100 and 200mW.
A right hand circular polarized lolipop antenna is included. It plugs into the VTX via IPEX connector. I really appreciate that they bothered to add a circular polarized antenna.
Motors
The motors are Geelang branded 1204, 5000KV motors. They have a 4 hole mounting pattern and are mounted via M2 screws. Not the smoothest motor I have ever seen, but seems pretty solid in general.
The included props are 2” HQ T2x2x4. They are pretty durable and are the same ones that the A85 comes with. But you can basically run any 2” prop with t-hub style mounting.
Receiver
The Anger 85X comes with different receiver options: FrSky XM+, Flysky, TBS Crossfire or even without receiver if you want to run your own. I went with the Frsky XM+ version.
The antennas run out the back of the frame without any support - I am not a big fan of that and would highly recommend to runt tham instead out of the top of the canopy and mount them to some zip ties using heat-shrink to keep them out of the props, especially in the case of a crash.
At least with the FrSky XM+ version, the receiver is sandwiched between flight-controller and bottom carbon plate and the bind button is easily accessible.
CAUTION: When plugged in, the copter gets super hot. I would highly recommend to let a fan blow on the copter while you do your settings on the bench.
Firmware
Version 4.2.0 of Betaflight is flashed by default and RPM filtering is enabled thanks to the Jazz Maverick BLHELI_S firmware. Airmode is disabled by default and only enabled via a switch, this is something I changed immediately. I also disabled most of the Buzzer alarms, I only really want the buzzer to go off, when I set it via remote or when the receiver loses connection to the transmitter.
Although not being the most current version of Betaflight, I like the fact that RPM filtering is pre-configured.
The settings are decent, not something that made me go “Wow!”, especially not after flying the iFlight Alpha A85.
Batteries
The Anger 85x is advertised as 3 to 4S whoop. Since I do not yet have any matching 4S batteries, I have been using my GNB 450mAh 3S batteries for initial testing. With those I get about 3:30 of flight time and the quadcopter feels really heavy.
I also tried 2S, 450mAh batteries, but similar to the iFlight Alpha A85 this is not much fun, which I totally expected after running the 3S batteries.
Frame & Canopy
The frame of the Anger 85X, is the first frame that I see, that actually has cable management for the motor wires - I quite like that. On the back of the frame there seems to have been some kind of holder provisioned, but has obviously been removed last minute - you can see the snip marks. I am not sure what this is about, but the spare frame has the same marking. I think that that might have been some kind of antenna mount for a different model.
The frame is stabilized by a carbon base plate on the bottom. This is also where the rubber band to hold the battery is mounted to.
The Canopy is the same that also came with the Wasp 85X, this is pretty amazing since you can use the same spare parts for both copters, which I quite like. The canopy is definitely not the most durable one, but since you are going to rather cruise with this copter, the canopies should hold up for quite some time.
Accessories
What I quite like about the Geelang products is, that they always seem to provide a lot of spare parts from the get go. In this case you get a spare frame, a spare rubber band for attaching the batteries, a spare canopy and a spare set of props.
A small screw driver and an allen key are also included, those are all the tools to take the Anger 85x apart. They also provide a fabric to clean the lens and the ND filter.
You will also get a joystick needed to adjust the settings on the Caddx camera - I quite like, that Geelang adds this Joystick, since not all manufacturers do.
Further you will get a micro USB cable to attach the copter to your computer.
The copter comes in a nice carrying case which fits the whole, assembled quadcopter.
When it comes to accessories and spare parts, I think this is the best example I have ever seen. I am not sure how they could improve on this, they give us more than what I would ask for.
Conclusion
It seems, that Geelang took the iFlight Alpha A85 as an inspiration for the Anger 85X but tried to one up them in every possible way - unfortunately this did not work out.
The Anger 85x brings some interesting things to the table: all the spare parts it comes with, the ND filter and the higher resolution camera. Unfortunately it does not even come close to the experience of the iFlight Alpha A85.
With a price tag of around $200 on banggood it is more expensive than the A85, which is OK considering, that you get quite some spare parts.
The only reason why you want to get this one over the iFlight version is, if you really want to have the possibility of recording in up to 4k, although realistically you will only fly in 2.7k mode due to the massive lag on 4k.
Chris is a Vienna based software developer. In his spare time he enjoys reviewing tech gear, ripping quads of all sizes and making stuff.
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