The Beta85 Pro 2 is a powerful 2″ micro drone you can safely fly indoor, yet capable of handling breezy conditions outdoor too. I will go through the features and hardware, and explain my experience flying this quad.
The Beta85 Pro 2 whoop is a brand new product, don’t be confused with the Beta85X HD, and Beta85X 4K I previously reviewed. Those models can take 3S and 4S LiPo because they need the extra power to compensate for the heavy HD camera. The Beta85 Pro 2 is designed primarily for fun freestyle flying, although it only takes 2S, because it’s so light, it actually flies better IMO.
Where to Buy?
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2zkkf3o
There are two receiver options, Frsky FCC and Crossfire. Accessories include the following:
- Beta85 Pro 2 Whoop Drone
- 2S 300mAh 45C Lipo with XT30
- Spare camera mount with 25° tilt
There are no spare propellers included, so make sure to grab a few sets just in case.
Beta85 vs. Beta75 – Bigger is Better?
You can see the Beta85 is consierably larger than the Beta75. Is it really better?
Well, I would say it depends on the type of flying.
Even though both quads are powered by 2S battery, the Beta85 has gained more power from the bigger motors and props over the Beta75, it also gained some weight. Thanks to the increase in power you don’t get “yaw wash out”, and it comes out of power loops cleaner as well.
Overall, the 85 is more powerful but also more floaty than the 75. It does feel very predictable and controllable, and easier to pull off acro tricks in the open. However the 75 is more agile and you can probably fly a bit faster in tighter spaces.
One thing you can do with the 75 but not the 85, is you can run a 1S battery if you want to reduce the weight and power further for some precise, controlled and slow flying. With the 85, you can reduce max throttle to achieve similar result, but you are still stuck with the heavy 2S battery.
Beta85 Pro 2 Specs
The Beta85 Pro 2 only weighs 43g without battery, designed for fun FPV freestyle flying and racing. With the provided 2S 300mAh battery I get about 2min 30sec flight time.
- F4 FC with built-in Frsky receiver
- 5A BLHeli_S ESC (6A Burst)
- XT30 Battery connector, takes 2S LiPo Battery
- 1103 11000KV Brushless Motors
- Z02 AIO Camera/VTX
- EMAX AVAN 2 inches 4-Blade Propellers
- SmartAudio – what is that?
- Weight: 43g without battery, 61g including the 2S 300mah battery
Frame
The 85mm ducted frame is quite flexible, but that doesn’t seem to affect its flight performance. The frame can take a beating and still maintain its form, the material is very durable and light weight.
However I find the canopy to be fragile. The plastic is really thin and flexible, and it’s very likely to break in a hard crash on concrete, or against a tree. I guess they went for this design choice for weight saving. One way to make it more robust is covering it with packing tapes, a bit like lamination.
I believe it’s the same canopy used in the Beta65 and Beta75, so spare is widely and cheaply available. You can buy them here: http://bit.ly/328FMsx
I like the fact that they are using a LiPo strap instead of plastic holder for mounting the battery. This allows you to use batteries of different shape. There are a couple of rubber strips to provide more grip so the battery doesn’t slide out in a crash. Nice touch.
FC/ESC
If you own a Beta75 Pro 2, you should be familiar with this FC. It’s an AIO (all in one) brushless whoop FC, with ESC integrated in the same PCB, which is a huge weight saving.
If you are getting the Frsky FCC version, the radio receiver is also built into the FC. FCC means the receiver is loaded with international firmware. If you are an EU-LBT user, see BetaFPV’s guide.
The RX antenna is simply wrapped around the FPV camera. I guess it’s great for durability and it looks neat when it’s hidden under the canopy, but I can’t say the same for range at all.
The FC has an F4 processor, and a MPU6000 Gyro. It supports Betaflight OSD and SmartAudio for VTX control.
It’s a shame the FC is flashed with a really old Betaflight 4.0 beta firmware, dated back in December 2018. The problem with it is, you can’t open the Modes tab and OSD tab in the latest Betaflight Configurator. Here is how to fix it.
The ESC is BLHeli_S, rated for 5A, 6A burst. Since it supports DShot600, you can use turtle mode and ESC beacon (using motor beeping as buzzer). Factory firmware is S_H_50_REV16_7.HEX
You can access the USB port of the FC from the bottom.
FPV Setup
Here is the specs of the Z02 AIO FPV camera and VTX:
- NTSC
- FOV: 120°
- Tilt angle 25° or 35° (depends on the camera mount you use)
- Switchable VTX output power: 0mW, 25mW and 200mW
- 5.8GHz 48 channels including Raceband
- Supports SmartAudio – you can change VTX settings via Betaflight OSD
Image quality is not bad for a tiny little CMOS AIO camera. However the fixed camera angle is not very user friendly. True, you can swap out the camera holder of less angle and yet you only have 25° and 35° options.
The camera can slide out of the mount when you remove the canopy, that’s just how loose it is. I suggest putting some blue-tac or double sided tape on the sides of the camera to help hold it more securely. This will also reduce the amount of jello in your FPV feed.
The VTX rests on top of the FC, with a piece of foam in between as insulation. It’s literally only held in place by the canopy. I think it would be better to replace the piece of foam with double sided foam tape, so it can’t wiggle around which might give you vibration during flight.
There is a push button on the VTX for changing VTX settings, but it’s hidden inside the canopy anyway, so I suppose you would have to use SmartAudio most of the times.
It’s a shame that BetaFPV still hasn’t addressed the same VTX antenna issue we had with the Beta75 Pro 2. It’s resting freely between the two rear props, if it moves left or right during flight it will hit the spinning props. I think you should glue it down to the frame, or tie it down with floss/thin wires.
Motors & Props
In the Beta85 Pro 2, we have BetaFPV branded 1103 11000KV motors with connectors at the end that fit nicely on the FC – solder free and easy for repairing. These motors can handle up to 2S LiPo batteries.
The motors appear to be high quality, with curved magnets and tight air gaps. The motor bell is held by an tiny E-clip. The open-bottom design helps cooling but debris can get stuck more easily.
As you can see, the motor directions are reversed by default. This is preferred on tiny whoops as it mitigates the “yaw wash out” problem, and improves corner handling.
The Emax Avan 2″ 4-blade props are press-fit onto the 1.5mm motor shaft without mounting screws due to the fact that the motors don’t actually have these screw holes. As a result, the fit is not very tight, I don’t see them falling off in flight, but they might become loose over time. Inserting a piece of floss in the prop hole when installing them might help.
LiPo Batteries and Spare Parts
I think 2S 300mAh, 350mAh and 450mAh batteries are great. See my Tiny Whoop LiPo battery shootout for recommendations.
If you need spare parts, you can get them from here:
- FC: F4 2S AIO FC No RX – https://amzn.to/2HqExgp
- Motor: 1103 11000KV motor – https://amzn.to/3255Ww9
- Camera: Z02 AIO Camera – https://amzn.to/2KWTAR7
- Frame: Beta85X Frame – https://amzn.to/33YWXyk
- Props: EMAX AVAN 2 inch 4-Blade Props – https://amzn.to/342k6jA
- BetaFPV 300mAh 2S Lipo – https://amzn.to/2KTTnhf
- BetaFPV 350mAh 2S Lipo – https://amzn.to/2Hqcaii
How to Setup Beta85 Pro 2 for First Flight?
If you have Betaflight Configurator 10.5.1 or newer, it’s probably best to update Betaflight firmware on the quad, otherwise you won’t be able to access the modes tab (as mentioned in the review why). Before updating Betaflight, make sure you backup settings first.
If you have an older version Configurator, and you can access the Modes tab without problems, then you don’t have to update. I personally wouldn’t because I hate reprogramming everything again, but that’s entirely up to you.
The first thing you want to do is to bind the quad to the Taranis. Make sure to bind in Frsky_D and D8 mode:
- Connect the FC to computer, open Betaflight Configurator
- In Configuration Tab, Under Receiver, Change Frsky_X to Frsky D
- Go to the CLI tab, enter this command to force FC into bind mode:
bind_rx_spi
- On your Taranis, set Internal RF to D8 Mode, then activate the bind option
- Wait a few seconds, then stop the bind function on the radio
- Reboot FC, done!
The reason for binding in D8 mode is because there is still a bug with D16 mode and Frsky SPI receivers. Basically it can cause your flight controller to randomly lock up. With D8 mode, you will lose Telemetry but it’s more reliable (for now). You don’t really need Telemetry anyway, since you have Betaflight OSD to monitor voltage.
After binding, check if the receiver channels are responding correctly to your stick movement. If not it’s probably just the wrong channel map.
Setup ESC Beacon, make sure you disable RX_LOST.
Setup your OSD elements, make sure to select NTSC format so your elements don’t get cut off.
Finally, in Modes tab, assign switches for arming, angle/horizon mode, and beeper.
Happy flying!
11 comments
I cannot bind a Beta85 Pro 2 for 2S (Frsky) to my Taranis X9D. I’m running BF Configurator 10.7.0 with BTFL 4.2.0.
If the quad, as delivered has a bind button, I cannot find it. All the images I can find (mostly from 2 years ago) show a button. I suspect that the board has changed.
So, I then tried to bind by using the CLI in Betaflight.
When I entered the command bind_rx_spi (As you suggested in Review: BetaFPV Beta85 Pro 2 Tiny Whoop
Published: 26th August 2019 Last Updated on 3rd June 2021) in the CLI, I get an error message. However, the command line will take: bind_rx. When entered, I get: “Binding…”.
Then I went to Bind in the Taranis, got it blinking and hit enter. No binding took place
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I like your work.
And forget how to set vtx settings in bf 4.0. Why can’t they get more current with what they use. It’s being lazy. Can’t update it either I just overspins motors and shuts down before off the ground. BF guys need to stop changing shit too so we can’t take tunes to newer updates that’s just annoying as hell that they’ve now pulled that twice.
Just wanted to comment I had the RX loss issue as well. Replacing the “antenna” with another piece of wire fixed it for a couple weeks before the entire RX died. Per rcgroups forums, the AIO F4 board in these are not at all reliable. Replace with another brand (I found an iFlight on RDQ).
Hi Oscar, I likes BetaFPV 85x frame but I want to replace FC with Crazybee F4. Can I install FC Crazybee F4 v3 on this frame? Is it the same size with BetaFPV FC?
Hi Oscar, I know this is an older post, but I purchased this a week ago and I’m getting terrible failsafes due to RX loss and very low RSSI numbers, even close to the whoop. Is there anything I can do to increase the range of the receiver other than moving the antenna outside the canopy?
how far did you get failsafe? Make sure the antenna is properly connected to the receiver? Sometimes it can come loose.
If you are using the T16, you probably need to fine tune frequency first.
The antenna connection seems to be solid, but I could try to add a bit of solder possibly.
I’ll see failsafes happen around 25-35 yards away from me going around a corner of my house. For contrast, my Eachine Trashcan had no problems going all the way around my property.
I’m using a Taranis X-Lite for my transmitter.
Hey Oscar,
What do you think about replacing my close-to-death Trashcan with this one? Is it an improvement? I fly really aggresive with my whoops. Both indoors (larger area) and outdoors.
Cheers!
I think so! the Beta85 pro 2 is quite a bit larger though, if you don’t mind it.
Hi Oscar, nice article. I’ve recently been reading most of your articles on drones and all. I have a question. I recently built a tricopter and I would like it to not fly as fast as it does now. Currently, I am using 5×4.5HQ props, on Emax RS2205 2300kv motors, with Aikon 35A Escs on 3S. Before now, I was using 4s with 6×4.5 props. I stepped it down because I want a slower drone as I am flying indoors and want to use it for research. Could you please suggest some motors that I can use with 5×45 or 6×4.5 props to produce max thrust of about 300g. I know that would be lower Kv motors. I’ve tried to search but i’m not finding anything. Thank you.
You don’t have to change any hardware to slow your drone down. Just put a cap on maximum throttle as suggested in this tutorial.