The Eachine RedDevil micro quad is basically the Sailfly with some improvements. I believe it’s also made by Happymodel, and rebranded by Eachine. Is it worth the extra over the Sailfly? Let’s find out.
Where to Buy?
Banggood: http://bit.ly/reddevil-quad
RedDevil vs. Sailfly
At first glance, you might be wondering, isn’t that the Sailfly from Happymodel?
The Eachine RedDevil does resemble the Sailfly, in fact there are even some similarities in terms of hardware.
Since the Sailfly has been one of my favourite “ultra-light” micro quads, I will be comparing these two and tell you which is better.
Left – RedDevil; Right: Sailfly
So What Are the Differences?
In summary, the differences between the Sailfly and RedDevil are:
- Better packaging and case
- Canopy
- Slightly redesigned frame (bottom CF plate)
- Motor KV
- FPV Setup (camera, VTX and antenna)
A Closer Look at the RedDevil
The Eachine RedDevil comes in a nice carrying case, but perhaps unnecessary. I would rather save a few bucks and get a cardboard box instead. Better for the environment anyway.
It comes with the following accessories:
- 3S 300mAh LiPo
- Instruction manual
- screw driver
- prop remover (useless – too soft, doesn’t work)
- 2 sets of spare propellers
- 2 zipties
- screws and nuts
- foam tape for battery
In some way, I do like the new canopy design. For starter, you can now adjust camera angle! The canopy is injection molded plastic instead of 3D printed TPU. It’s slightly lighter, but certainly not as tough. They are still using plastic screws for the canopy, which is probably not that strong against crashes.
These 1102 motors look identical to those of the Sailfly, except the KV rating is slightly increased from 8000KV to 8700KV.
They upgraded the FPV camera to a Caddx EOS2. Yea, the light handling (WDR) is better now, but it has other downsides as well. For example, the vertical FOV of this camera is a bit narrow due to the 16:9 aspect ratio, resolution is also quite low, and somehow jello is really bad with this camera. I wish they used the Runcam Racer nano instead.
However, the VTX is pretty cool. It’s a tiny square board sitting on a piece of foam on top of the FC. And it’s a 25mW / 200mW switchable VTX with a UFL antenna connector. That means you can upgrade your VTX antenna if you want.
You can even buy this VTX separately for your DIY builds: http://bit.ly/2JTiOOo
Same as the Sailfly, they are still using a similar AIO FC board (flight controller with ESC and RX integrated). The FC now has a connector for the FPV setup, so no need to solder wires when repairing.
They also made a few tweaks on the frame, and flipped the FC over, so the USB connector is now facing down. One downside is that you can’t have your battery mounted while connecting the USB cable as it gets in the way. The foam pad for the LiPo is a nice touch as it prevents the battery from sliding out mid flight, and getting punctured by the screws.
There is a 100uF 16V capacitor soldered to the XT30 lead to prevent voltage spikes when you plug in the battery, which could burn out your FC (especially on higher voltage). The same is done in the Sailfly.
How to Setup
It comes with a really good manual, so just follow the instructions to get setup.
The steps are similar to the Sailfly, see my review..
Conclusion
The Reddevil is about the same weight as the Sailfly at 38g without LiPo.
Flight performance is really similar to the Sailfly, it’s just tons of fun flying this little beast around. Micro quads had always lacked the control feel of a 5″ racing quad, until this new class of quad came out. I feel so much more connected to the quad and I can pull off acro moves that I thought I could only do on a powerful 5″, and more!
Range is still lacking like the Sailfly, at about 150 meters before you get a failsafe (binding the receiver in D8 mode gives best result). I might do a tutorial how you can improve range slightly in the near future.
So would I recommend the RedDevil over the Sailfly?
I guess the answer depends on how much you value the upgraded FPV camera and VTX. If you like the EOS2 camera, then you’d be happy with the RedDevil. The 200mW VTX doesn’t do much really, as a 25mW VTX can almost out-range the built-in radio receiver anyway. But it’s a good part you can re-use on a more powerful quad in the future.
If none of these matters to you, then you should save $14 and get the Sailfly, since they almost fly the same.
The differences between the RedDevil and Sailfly are not really critical to the flight performance or reliability really, on the most part these are just improvements on user experience – like the better carrying case and image quality…
- Buy the RedDevil here: http://bit.ly/reddevil-quad
- See my review of the Sailfly here.
The 3S 300mAh LiPo battery that it comes with is almost identical to the Sailfly one, just rebranded I guess. Overall it’s a decent battery, but one pack is not going to be enough, you’ll need more :)
Buy more 3S 300mAh LiPo: https://amzn.to/2GnWhbu
This quad flies well on 2S too if you want to be less annoying in the park. With the following batteries your quad flies a little bit slower, but makes less noise and flight time is about the same.
Buy 2S 450mAh LiPo: https://amzn.to/2LYAaMy
3 comments
I’ve some issues with mine. Just arrived few days ago. Feels like control is bit of “binary”, all axes do not react smooth, as I`m used to, but some kind of hacky, stepwise, if you know, what I mean.
It came with BF 4.0.0, I just flashed BF 4.1.7 with no differences (all stock in BF 4.1.7, except my rates).
It is bound in D16 with my Taranis X9d.
I did try to disable ANTI_GRAVITY and DYNAMIC_NOTCHFILTER, cause both were disabled in BF4.0.0. And I tried DShot 300 instead of 600, nothing changed.
Any hint?
Now I think you should have a look at the Humquad hx100. Seems to tick all your boxes.
It’s on the way here :)