In this review, I’ll be taking a close look at the BetaFPV Air75, a 75mm tiny whoop that promises lightweight and impressive flight capabilities. I’ll share my personal experiences with this quad, highlighting its strengths, areas for improvement, and how it stacks up against the popular Mobula7.
New to Tiny Whoop? Don’t miss out on my accessories recommendations: https://oscarliang.com/best-tiny-whoop/
Table of Contents
Where to Buy?
Get the BetaFPV Air 75 whoop from these vendors:
- AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dl1bHzv
- BetaFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-a1dy
- FPV24: https://oscarliang.com/product-5ref
- GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-e3nk
Batteries are not included, get them here:
- 1S 450mAh: https://oscarliang.com/product-lhzj
- 1S 550mAh: https://oscarliang.com/product-i67i
Get some spare props here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DB5XEVH
Specifications
- Frame: Air75
- Canopy: Air Canopy
- FC & ESC: Air 4in1 Flight Controller
- Video Transmitter: Onboard 5.8G 25mw~400mw VTX
- FPV Camera: C03 Camera
- Motors: 0802SE 23000KV
- Props: Gemfan 40mm 2-Blade
- Battery Connector: BT2.0 U Pigtail
- RX Options: ELRS 2.4G or TBS Crossfire
- Weight: 21g
- Recommended Battery: LAVA 1S 450mAh 75C
First Impressions
For $95, the hardware quality and value of the BetaFPV Air75 are impressive.
The Air75 is basically a bigger version of the Air65 we recently reviews, with larger props and motors: https://oscarliang.com/betafpv-air65/. However the flight characteristics are very different.
The BetaFPV Air75 weighs just 21g, nearly 4 grams lighter than its predecessor, the Meteor75. With a 1S 450mAh LiPo, the weight comes to 33.5g, and with a 1S 550mAh battery, it’s 35.2g. For comparison, the Mobula7 1S Tiny Whoop weighs 24g without battery.
It’s incredibly light—about the same as a 65mm whoop from two years ago. Don’t underestimate the difference a few grams can make; it significantly impacts efficiency and flight characteristics for small quads in this weight class.
This weight savings mainly comes from the upgraded 75mm frame, which shares the same design as the Air65 but is slightly larger to accommodate the 40mm bi-blade propellers from Gemfan and the 0802 23000KV motors.
The rest of the electronics are identical to the Air65, including the 4in1 Air AIO FC, an external ExpressLRS receiver, and the C03 FPV camera. The camera even includes a piece of black tape on the back of the PCB to prevent light leakage.
The U shape battery connector is such as nice touch, no more struggling when connecting the battery.
Motor and Canopy Design
The Air75 features powerful 23000KV motors, which are incredibly powerful for this build. The reduced weight not only enhances maneuverability but also minimizes impact during crashes, leading to increased durability.
However, similar to the Air65, the camera tilt angle is a tad too high for indoor flying, even at its lowest setting. I wish BetaFPV had included more adjustment points for the camera angle on the canopy. The current angle is adjustable between 25 and 35 degrees, which is fine for outdoor flying, but for indoor use, it’s a bit too much—15 degrees would be ideal, especially for beginners.
You can, however, use the same modification I did with the Air65 to lower the tilt angle.
Image and VTX Performance
The camera in the Air75 delivers superior image quality compared to the Mobula7. The footage below speaks for itself.
The VTX performance is another highlight. At 100mW, it provided consistent performance, even when flying outdoors within 100 meters through trees and bushes. For indoor use, 25mW was more than enough. I didn’t need to use the maximum 400mW power setting during my testing. This reliable video signal is crucial for an enjoyable FPV experience.
However, note that the 25mW setting on the VTX outputs more than 25mW, which could be an issue for tiny whoop racing events with strict rules about power output. BetaFPV has acknowledged this and promised to address it in future batches. They will send me a new FC this month to confirm if they’ve fixed the VTX output issue.
Connecting to Betaflight requires the USB adapter which is provided.
Flight Performance
The BetaFPV Air75 is hands down the best 75mm tiny whoop I’ve flown so far. It flies impressively well right out of the box. Although the PID/filter tuning still has room for improvement, as with the Air65, it’s quite good overall.
Not only is it powerful, but it’s also incredibly nimble. Flying the Air75 and Mobula7 back to back, the difference in flight characteristics is noticeable, and it makes you appreciate the weight reduction. With a 1S 450mAh battery, the Air75 hovers at 31% throttle (fully charged), and with a 1S 550mAh battery, it hovers at 33% throttle. You barely need more than 50-55% throttle when flying indoors—it zooms around like a rocket.
Another standout feature is the impressive flight time. On a 1S 450mAh battery, I consistently got about 5:30 to 6 minutes of flight time, while on a 1S 550mAh battery, I was getting almost 7 minutes! For comparison, the Mobula7 only gives me about 4:30. This is largely due to the lightweight design, which significantly improves efficiency.
Initially, I had concerns about the 23000KV motors, given that its predecessor used 19000KV motors. However, these motors performed admirably, providing plenty of power and responsiveness without sacrificing flight time.
Air65 or Air75?
The decision is simple: If you primarily fly indoors, go for the Air65. If you mostly fly outdoors, the Air75 is the better choice.
The larger 75mm whoop is more stable outdoors and handles breezes better. The increased platform size and momentum also make it more fun to fly in freestyle and acro mode. However, it’s so fast that it’s harder to control precisely in tight spaces compared to the Air65.
How to Setup
The FC comes with Betaflight 4.5.0, and the FC target is BETAFPVG473. You can find the default CLI diff here.
Firstly, bind the receiver,
Receiver firmware target is BETAFPV 2.4GHz Lite RX. Follow this guide if you don’t know how: https://oscarliang.com/bind-expresslrs-receivers/
For maiden flight, here are the Betaflight configurations:
- Load ExpressLRS Preset
- Set Your Rates
- Enable Telemetry
- Set Arm switch, angle mode switch, turtle mode switch
- Set OSD (disable “Core Temperature” under warnings)
- In Power & Battery, set Minimum Cell Voltage to 3.0V, Warning Cell Voltage to 3.2V. Set Scale from 750 to 720 under Amperage Meter.
See this post for the best settings and tips to enhance your Tiny Whoop experience: https://oscarliang.com/best-tinywhoop-settings/
Conclusion
Overall, the BetaFPV Air75 is an outstanding 75mm BNF tiny whoop. Its lightweight design, impressive flight time, and robust performance make it a top choice for both beginners and experienced pilots. For $95, it’s hard to find a better option in this category, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a 1S 75mm whoop.
Get the BetaFPV Air 75 whoop from these vendors:
- AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dl1bHzv
- BetaFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-a1dy
- FPV24: https://oscarliang.com/product-5ref
- GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-e3nk
Batteries are not included, get them here:
- 1S 450mAh: https://oscarliang.com/product-lhzj
- 1S 550mAh: https://oscarliang.com/product-i67i
Get some spare props here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DB5XEVH
17 comments
Hello, Oscar!
Thanks to your review I bought this model, I am looking forward to an unforgettable experience! At the end of the article you write “In Power & Battery, set Minimum Cell Voltage to 3.0V, Warning Cell Voltage to 3.2V. “. But according to the documentation LiHV batteries are recommended to be discharged to 3.4V. Maybe you mean voltage sag, and 3.0 on OSD would be acceptable for the battery? Thanks for the reply!
The recommendation of 3.4V as the minimum voltage ensure your LiHV battery last as long as possible. However you don’t get that much flight time out of those tiny 1S batteries, you want to get as much flight time out of the battery as possible, and batteries are consumables in FPV so most people rather get the most flight time out of their packs and replace them regularly.
And yes, when you see voltage is reaching 3.1V or 3.0V you should land.
Thank you, I’m helpful for your text. I have a one question. Does it have a microphone?
No it does not.
Hi Oscar, I’m interested in this drone, I was wondering as to whether or not it has a built in microphone as the vid you had did not have audio.
If it doesn’t how would I go about adding a mic to it? would the steps in your guide https://oscarliang.com/microphone-fpv/
be relevant with the VTX in this drone?
Thanks
Thank you for the review! I am trying to find out if the antenna included is RHCP or LHCP. I am very unclear on the antennas I need to buy to use this with hdzero goggles and I cannot find out which polarization the air75 has.
@CHRISTIAN: Most analog systems are RHCP.
@IDROOS: The VTX of the air75 is integrated on the main board, even if the chip would have the requirements (I haven’t checked), BETAFPV did not design the required infrastructure on the board to easily solder an audio input to it.
Hi Oscar, been trying to contact you via FB messenger.
I’m having trouble binding my Air75 to my LiteRadio3 that came with my Cetus X.
I followed the Bind Phrase via BetaFPV configurator and then copying the line of text to CLI on BetaFlight but it shows up an error ‘invalid name/command’ but I don’t get this problem binding Cetus X.
Also tried clicking the ‘bind receiver’ on receiver tab of BetaFlight and pushing bind button on radio but no joy either…
What is it I’m doing wrong?? I hope you can help.
Many thanks
I believe the LiteRadio 3 comes with ExpressLRS V2 firmware
The Air75 comes with ExpressLRS V3 firmware, so they won’t bind. You either have to upgrade the LiteRadio 3 firmware to V3, or downgrade the Air75 receiver firmware to V2 for them to bind.
Do you know once the 5in1 flight is available, the air75 will be equipped with it? Or one needs to buy it separately and desolder/solder away?
Still waiting for confirmation from them. I don’t see why not unless they have too many nano ELRS receivers that they don’t sell well :) Give it a month or two and check again maybe if you don’t mind waiting.
You didn’t mention the durability of the frame, motors, and FC. A light weight frame may be nimble but how well does it fly after a few crashe? My experience is usually not very well. I would like to see that covered as well in your review.
Been crashing a lot in the last week of testing, it hasn’t been any issue otherwise I would have voiced it in the review.
I forgot to add that I’m certain that the flexibility and ‘weakpoints’ of the frame and canopy are by design. It is well designed to flex and cushion impact to protect the AIO FC. If it was stiff, the force of the impact would travel to a weaker point, most likely damaging the weak FC. With this design, the FC is protected from all directions with either flexible polypropylene or a lithium safety pillow! (the battery)
I bought this drone to get more confident when ‘threading the needle’ and crashed it a lot as a result. From my experience the design protects the vitals of the drone well. I’ve had some rough crashes, like a split s straight down into concrete or full throttle into a wall or steel wire. So far I have consumed 2 camera canopies (3D printed models available) and the current frame is slightly deformed and weakened on the joints. Additionally there’s some small chips out of the propellers.
With all that in mind, and no real noticeable difference in flight performance with the damage, I would say the durability is outstanding. All the polypropylene parts are widely and cheaply available or could be 3D printed, and provide excellent protection of both the AIO FC, motors & camera.
I bought this drone to get more confident when ‘threading the needle’ and crashed it a lot as a result. From my experience the design protects the vitals of the drone well. I’ve had some rough crashes, like a split s straight down into concrete or full throttle into a wall or steel wire. So far I have consumed 2 camera canopies (3D printed models available) and the current frame is slightly deformed and weakened on the joints. Additionally there’s some small chips out of the propellers.
With all that in mind, and no real noticeable difference in flight performance with the damage, I would say the durability is outstanding. All the polypropylene parts are widely and cheaply available or could be 3D printed, and provide excellent protection of both the AIO FC, motors & camera.
I’m certain that the flexibility and ‘weakpoints’ of the frame and canopy are by design. It is well designed to flex and cushion impact to protect the AIO FC. If it was stiff, the force of the impact would travel to a weaker point, most likely damaging the weak FC. With this design, the FC is protected from all directions with either flexible polypropylene or a lithium safety pillow! (the battery)
Did you do anything with the tune you’d like to :share?