Not sure what “gtb229” means, but basically this is another “toothpick” class ultra-light micro drone. What I have here is a prototype, so if you have any ideas please let them know in the comment below to help shape this product.
Where to Buy
- Banggood: http://bit.ly/diatone-gtb229
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/31XIpgG
The Diatone Cube offers two different KV motors, 8500KV and 10000KV. Since this quad is only rated for 2S, I personally would go for the 10000KV for the extra power. I am still trying to confirm with Diatone if the 8500KV can actually support 3S or not since the ESC is rated for 4S.
Accessories including:
- 5 zip-ties
- spare female cable for connecting different radio receiver
- a spare battery strap
- various spare screws
- buzzer & cable
Specifications
The one I have is a prototype, but I’ve updated the specs below to the production version. Not much has changed except the better FPV camera and new canopy.
- Mamba F411 16×16mm Nano Flight Controller Stack
- 12A 4in1 ESC
- Mamba 1103 10000KV Motors (1.5mm motor shaft with two screw holes)
- HQ 65mm Bi-blade Props
- Runcam Nano 2 FPV Camera
- 200mW TBS Unify Pro 32 Nano VTX
The quad weighs at around 43g without LiPo battery. The Cube is one of the most compact micro quads running 65mm props I’ve reviewed so far.
Frame
If you’ve been reading my reviews long enough, you know I am not a big fan of this “box” style frames because pn a bigger drone like the 5″, they tend to be too heavy and not very aerodynamic. But Diatone managed to create a unique “box” frame for this little beast that is very strong and light weight, and it’s very stiff too.
This is nothing like a typical toothpick frame I have been flying. The black canopy appears to be injection molded, but it looks like the production version will have a 3D printed TPU canopy.
This is one compact frame, with a wheelbase of 105mm (motor to motor distance). The struts (arms) are 3mm thick (height) and 1.5mm wide.
I really like the battery straps provided. Those are proper straps with a metal buckles unlike those crappy ones you see from other models. They should put some foam tape at the bottom of the frame though to help hold the battery in place. And also I find the strap is slightly too long, it would be nice if it’s 1-2cm shorter.
Motor
Here are some closeup shots of the motor. Motors are soldered to the ESC directly – great to see it’s not using small connectors which create bottlenecks for performance.
Two options available, 8500KV and 10000KV. However both versions are rated for 2S LiPo only (at the time of publish).
FC Stack
The Mamba F411 Nano is a 16x16mm FC/ESC stack that hasn’t been released separately, so I don’t have the full specs yet. But we know that the ESC’s are BLHeli_S, 12A 4in1 ESC.
Here is a more indepth overview of this FC stack.
They used a bunch of tiny o-rings for soft mounting the FC and ESC, which are nice for dampening vibration. But it can be quite messy when you take the FC stack apart and you can lose them easily. I wish they used something that is one piece for soft mounting.
Note that the Cube didn’t come with a radio receiver. I confirmed with Diatone and they won’t offer BNF (bind and fly) option to avoid “unexpected problems”. That means you’d have to install your own receiver. If you are using Frsky, the popular options would be R-XSR (with telemetry) and XM+ (no telemetry).
The USB connector is facing forward, which is a bit unusual. Not sure how well that’s going to handle sand and grass juicy getting in there…
FPV Setup
The FPV setup is one expensive combo – Runcam Nano 2 with TBS Nano Unify Pro. VTX antenna is just a dipole.
I wish camera angle is adjustable, and they also need to mount the VTX antenna better, it’s dangling a bit in the canopy. Edit: looks like they addressed both of these issues in the production version with the new canopy.
Other Remarks
Stock PID tune definitely needs some work, it oscillates quite badly with high throttle. Although the frame is stiff and FC is soft mounted, it’s harder to tune that I expected.
XT30 battery lead is 20AWG wires, there is no external capacitors attached to it.
It comes with a micro buzzer. It’s not much smaller than the buzzer we normally use on 5″ quad, but it has a flat surface which is easier for mounting.
I will take this quad apart and make a separate review of the nano stack shortly.
10 comments
Having absolutely no tuning luck with this. Can’t even take off without a ramp out/disarm. Know it’s prob gonna be crap but gonna see if tinawhoop pids/rate/filter and cutting back on power up will get this thing going. This was bought bnf right from diatone and won’t even take off. There’s no cli s3ction on there website. Thinking this company is just trash. Think by putting out a gazillion products is great try just a few with quality.
No wonder they tossed this nano stack out of production thing is a pain in the ‘bottom’ to tune. GivIng up and throwing in a whoop board, maybe even give falcoX on the diatone whoop 411 a try. Should have known when they go thru three versions on a stack in one year then dump it altogether that something was up.
Does anyone have a CLI dump for the 339 with the 16*16 stack, not the newer AIO. Having bitch on the tuning. Also what’s the target mamba411 4.1.1 legacy or is it okay for newest BF versions.
Oscar, I have the 239 cube and having problems with pids. Could you recommend something from the setup below? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!
Diatone Cube 239
JMT F411 F4 2-4S BLHeli_S AIO Brushless 20A Flight Control.
Happymodel Whoop VTX 5.8G 40ch 25mw-200mw Switchable.
HQ Prop Micro Prop 65mm Bi-Blade 2.5″ Prop 1.5mm Shaft Propellers.
NR502T-F2 Frsky compatible.
Emax Rs1106 6000Kv 2s-3s.
HQ Prop Micro Prop 65mm Bi-Blade 2.5″ Prop 1.5mm Shaft Propeller.
Capped Xt30 connector + beeper.
Getting almost 6 min mixed flying after BF4.1 and bidirectional 48kz dshot!!
WIll I be able to use a Spektrum DSMX SRXL2 Serial Micro Receiver (SPM4650) on this quad? I know the SPM4650 RX needs to be connected to a UART TX pin. Will that be possible on this flight controller?
Have u solve that high throttle isolation prob?? Been tuning it qnd update new fw.. no difference
FYI – depending on which version you have (I go the v1.1) there are no mappings for tbs crossfire receiver. I ended up contacting Diatone, they are very helpful and provided me some steps to remap the PPM to get the TX and RX.
So just going to share what they have sent me, there are two options:
First open Your Betaflight CLI command,Enter Resource
* Check F411 PPM Port Resource
Mamba F411 Nano Stack to have a full UART (for RX/TX for Crossfire Telemetry) or an inverted SoftSerial (for FrSky S.Port Telemetry) then You can remap the unused PPM Port via Betaflight CLI. Just copy & paste & save to the CLI and solder your S.Port Cable or CRSF RX to PPM Solder Pad.
For Softserial1 on PPM (activate Telemetry, SoftSerial and Smartport):
resource PPM 1 NONE
resource ESCSERIAL 1 NONE
resource SERIAL_TX 11 B09
resource SERIAL_RX 11 B09
save
For full UART1, TX1 on PPM (activate Telemetry):
resource PPM 1 NONE
resource ESCSERIAL 1 NONE
resource SERIAL_TX 1 NONE
resource SERIAL_TX 1 B09
Save
Oscar – did you find if this model has a current sensor?
no it doesn’t