In today’s review, we are looking at the BetaFPV Meteor75 Pro Tiny Whoop analog edition. The Meteor75 Pro boasts a slightly bigger frame than its predecessor which makes bigger props and motors possible for more power and speed. I’ll take you through everything you need to know about this quad, from its design to its flight performance.
For Tiny whoop accessories, check out this post: https://oscarliang.com/best-tiny-whoop/#Essential-Accessories-and-Parts
Table of Contents
Where to Buy and Unboxing
You can find the Meteor75 Pro Analog Edition from these vendors:
- BetaFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-l5z4
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/3BwAQS0
- Aliexpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdvPnnx
- RDQ: https://oscarliang.com/product-ghtu
Inside the box, you’ll find the Meteor75 Pro, and the following accessories:
- 2x BT2.0 1S 550mAh Batteries
- 1x USB-C Cable (for the charger)
- 1x BT2.0 Battery Charger and Voltage Tester
- 4x 45mm 3-Blade Props (1.5mm Shaft)
- 1x Mini Philips Screwdriver
- 1x extra mounting screws
- 1x Canopy Decoration
Grab spare batteries here: https://oscarliang.com/product-zzj8
Get spare Gemfan 45mm tri-blade propellers with 1.5mm shaft here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DC7ERtr
Specifications
- Motors: 1102 22000KV Motor
- Battery Connector: BT2.0
- Frame: Meteor75 Pro Brushless Whoop Frame
- Propellers: Gemfan 45mm 3-Blade Propellers
- Camera: C03 FPV Camera
- FC&ESC: F4 1S 5A FC (Serial ELRS 2.4G) V2.0/F4 1S 5A FC (SPI Frsky) V3.0
- Receiver Option: ELRS2.4G, Frsky, PNP, TBS Crossfire
- VTX: M03 25-350mW Video Transmitter
- Recommended Battery: 1S 550mAh Battery
- Weight without battery: 31.1g
- Weight with 1S 550mAh: 45.3g
Build and Design
Various Canopy Color Options
The drone come with a white canopy. However, BetaFPV provides a multitude of additional color options (white, black, yellow, orange, red, blue, cyan) that you can purchase separately to customize your drone: https://oscarliang.com/product-mt9z
Not a 75mm Whoop
The Meteor75 Pro, contrary to its name, is no longer strictly a 75mm tiny whoop like its predecessor, the original Meteor75. The Pro version has expanded its wheelbase to 80mm. As you can see the side by side size comparison to the Mobula7 below.
This seemingly modest increment of 5mm brings about significant difference in numerous aspects such as weight, prop size, and performance.
Moreover, this newly designed frame mirrors the color versatility of the canopy, available in a wide array of hues that you can choose from: https://oscarliang.com/product-8l62
Larger Motors and Props
The enlarged frame of the Meteor75 Pro creates room for substantially larger 45mm props compared to the 75mm counterparts. To drive these larger props, BetaFPV used larger and more powerful 1102 22000KV motors that you don’t usually see on 1S quads.
This larger motor and propeller combo delivers enhanced thrust and power, and are capable of supporting a bigger battery, potentially extending your flight time. This makes it one of the fastest whoop I’ve flown, and ideal for outdoor flying.
Weight Consideration
The bigger frame, propellers, motors, and battery inevitably contribute to an increased overall weight. At approximately 31 grams, the BetaFPV Meteor75 Pro is somewhat heavier than your typical tiny whoop (for reference, the Mobula7 weighs in at just 24 grams). However, the enhanced power output manages to counterbalance some of this extra weight, it actually feels more stable and faster when flying outdoor.
Camera and VTX
The camera tilt angle is fixed, but it can be adjusted between 20° and 30° by disassembling the canopy. While this adjustment is not as flexible as I’d like, I found the default angle it arrived with to be perfectly satisfactory. The camera also produce pretty decent image quality.
The Video Transmitter (VTX) power is switchable from 25mW to 400 mW. However, it’s worth noting that according to BetaFPV, the maximum output is actually 350mW. This suggests that the 400mW option displayed in the OSD is likely a labeling error.
Flight Controller
The flight controller in the Meteor75 Pro, the F4 5A AIO FC FC, has been upgraded as well. One key enhancement is the integration of a serial version of the ExpressLRS receiver. This improvement means that you’re no longer dependent on Betaflight firmware when you need to update the receiver (RX) firmware.
It has a BMI270 Gyro, and 8MB flash memory for Blackbox.
Battery and Charging
The Meteor75 Pro is equipped with 1S 550mAh batteries, which are slightly larger than the typical 450mAh batteries found on a 75mm tiny whoop. The batteries feature a BT2.0 connector, widely recognized as one of the most efficient and powerful connectors for tiny whoops. This connector type offers relatively low resistance, ensuring robust power delivery, reduced voltage sag, and potentially longer flight times.
It comes with a USB-C charger for charging the included batteries, which doubles as a voltage checker.
Flight Performance
When it comes to indoor flights, the BetaFPV Meteor75 Pro is impressively speedy, even a bit too powerful for my taste, or maybe I just have a too small house :) Despite a few high-speed encounters with my walls, the drone demonstrated remarkable durability and held up well. If you’re someone who likes to push their skills and fly faster, this drone could be a good fit.
Yet, the Meteor75 Pro truly excels in larger spaces. It handles well outdoor in calm conditions (I was flying in 10MPH wind). This combination of indoor and outdoor versatility makes it a reliable and adaptable drone for a variety of flight environments.
During my testing, I managed to fly this drone within a range of 200-300 meters without any issues. While the drone can potentially fly further, I refrained from pushing its maximum range, because it’s really hard to find it in tall grass after you crash due to the drone’s lack of an onboard buzzer and quiet motors.
Regarding battery life, on a 1S 550mAh battery, I achieved roughly four minutes of outdoor flight, with a mix of high-speed maneuvers and relaxed cruising. However, when flying indoor without wind, and not too aggressively, you can expect a flight time of around five minutes. Of course, remember that your specific flight time will vary depending on your individual flying conditions and style.
For longer flight time, consider changing out the triblade to these two-blade: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DFpm3wZ
Analog vs Digital
The Meteor75 Pro comes in two versions: Analog and HD (digital), the latter offers Walksnail and HDZero FPV setups.
The HD edition flies totally different, so I decided to make a separate review for that: https://oscarliang.com/betafpv-meteor75-pro-hd-whoop-walksnail/. Without giving too much away, I can say that the Walksnail version impresses with superior image quality and range, making it an excellent choice for cinematic cruising and exploring. However, it doesn’t quite match the power and flight performance of the Analog version.
What sets the Analog Edition apart is its weight. At a mere 31 grams without the battery, it’s more than 10% lighter than the Walksnail version. This significant weight reduction makes a profound impact on flight performance, rendering it an ideal candidate for freestyle flying, aggressive maneuvers, and racing.
The lighter weight of the Analog Edition also improves its wind handling capabilities and precision when executing tricks. Nevertheless, while it’s capable of performing some impressive acrobatics, don’t anticipate pulling off complex acro tricks – remember, it’s still a 1S drone. That said, its agility allows for aggressive flying, though doing so will inevitably shorten your flight time.
How to Setup
The flight controller comes preloaded with Betaflight 4.4.0 firmware. FC Board Target: BETAFPVF411. Stock CLI diff can be found here.
I did the following before the first flight:
- Setup arm switch in Modes tab
- Enable Telemetry in Receiver tab
- Load ExpressLRS 500hz preset in the Preset tab
- Bind radio (by flashing receiver with bind phrase, the receiver device is BetaFPV 2.4GHz AIO RX)
- Lower voltage warning in Power tab – minimal voltage 3.2V, warning 3.3V
Final Thoughts
I appreciate BetaFPV’s interesting changes in their latest Meteor 65 and 75 Pro lineups.
The Meteor75 Pro is a swift, powerful whoop, capable of both indoor and outdoor flights. Its outdoor capabilities are particularly notable. For indoor use, however, I’d advise scaling down the motor output by about 10-20% to better manage its speed. However, its increased weight compared to standard 65mm or 75mm tiny whoops can affect control precision, making its lighter counterparts more suitable for purely indoor flights.
Having said that, the Meteor75 Pro shines in outdoor settings and larger indoor spaces. If you’re considering upgrading your 65mm whoop to something with more power, the BetaFPV Meteor75 Pro Analog Edition presents a compelling option, especially for those committed to analog FPV.
10 comments
I am having a difficult time configuring my TX12 ELRS. It binds but will not arm. Would it be better to use a different controller, like the LiteRadio 3?
The fact that it binds but not arming, suggests it’s not a radio issue but something not right with your configurations.
Have you verified the receiver is working? You can verify it in the Receiver tab in Betaflight, when you move the sticks on the radio, the channels should move accordingly. Also make sure the end points of the throttle is set correctly at 1000-2000.
Make sure you use correct profile (model) at your TX. Eg copy from default TX specific model (TX12 model for TX12 radio). If you create new empty model it won’t have any switches mapped to channels, including AUX1 (it won’t have internal elrs radio turned on either though).
I wonder if a 2s whoop can be built on the base of Meteor75 Pro frame with something like HM EX1102 13500 KV motors and using a battery strap instead of the default battery tray?
Sure, I don’t see why not.
I’m curious about proper current scale value for Meteor75 Pro FC (target BETAFPVF411RX). Under BF 4.4.2 Default current scale 179 produce idle power draw value over 24A which as I believe is way too much. I dialed scale up to 1800 thus reduced idle current display value to 2.5A which seems about right. Still would like to know the proper scale.
That’s seems interesting!
I just got myself a mobula 7 1s for indoor flying, and to complete my eachine trashcan, which I upgraded to 1102 13500kv and an x12 FC, running on two 1s batteries. Old style :/
Compared to it, the mobula 7 feels quite anemic. (The mobula hovers at 50%, the trashcan at 30% throttle).
I wonder how this meteor pro would compare ! Also having a serial Rx and black box is a big plus of course.
That being said, I managed to plug a openlagger to both the trashcan and the mobula to tune them, and for now betaflight supports elrs 3.x in spi. And the x12 handle 2s, so more power :)
BetaFPV also make a micro canopy lite that allows for any angle adjustment which is mainly for the HD version, but I wonder if there is a way to get it to work for the analogue camera version?
betafpv.com/products/micro-canopy-lite
Which one would you suggest between this one and Mobula 7? I’m more towards this one because Mobula 7 has SPI ELRS.
Do you fly outdoor much? For outdoor I’d get the Meteor75. For indoor I’d probably stick with the Mobula7, but change its battery connector to BT2.0 if you can, performance improves drastically.