Review: Flywoo Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro FPV Drone (2S)

by Oscar
Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone

The Flywoo Firefly Nano Baby 20 is a micro FPV drone that runs 2S Lipo and 2″ propellers. It’s the first BNF that is available in all digital FPV systems as well as analogue.

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Where to Buy?

It will be available in Analog, DJI, Avatar and HDZero FPV systems! I will be checking out the analog version with ExpressLRS receiver in this review.

Analog:

DJI

HDZero

Grab some spare propellers here (Gemfan 2015 2-Blade 1.5mm hole):

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Unbox Accessories

In the box comes the following accessories:

  • 2 x set of 2015-2 props (8 in total)
  • 1x spare screw pack
  • 2x battery holders (for different size lipo)
  • 4x Prop guards (Flywoo sent me extra prop guards and canopy, color available in red, green and black)
  • batteries are not included, you can purchase them on Flywoo’s site

Batteries are not included and need to be purchased separately.

Specifications

  • FC/ESC: GOKU Versatile F405 2S 12A AIO board
    • 6 UART’s
    • build-in ELRS 2.4g RX (via UART, not SPI!)
    • MPU6000 Gyro
    • Blackbox 8MB
    • Barometer BMP280
    • BEC: 5V 2A
    • Current Sensor
    • 2*WS2812 RGB LED onboard
    • 4in1 12A BLHeli_S ESC
    • 4.1g weight
  • Frame: Firefly 2S Nnano Baby 20 ANALOG Frame kit
  • Motors: Flywoo ROBO 1002 15500KV (1.5mm shaft)
  • Props: Gemfan 2015 2 blade (1.5mm hole)
  • VTX: GOKU VTX625 V2 450mW
  • FPV Camera: (Not specified but looks like the Runcam Nano with a wider FOV lens?)
  • Weight: 33.8g 34.9g without battery, 56.9g with 2S 420mAh, 70.5g with 2S 750mah

Closer Look at the Flywoo Firefly Nano Baby 20

The frame reminds me of the Diatone Cube, which didn’t fly well and I had a nightmare tuning. However I don’t have such issue with the Flywoo frame. It’s a pretty durable and light weight design. Frame thickness (carbon fibre) is about 1.5mm.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Frame Bottom

The canopy is 3D printed in TPU, there are multiple color options. It’s quite a beefy and sturdy design and I think Flywoo could have shaved at least a gram off it if they wanted to.

On top of the canopy, is a mounting hole for one of the 3D printed TPU camera mounts for the Thumb Pro, Peanut, GO2 Thumb. You can purchase these mounts on Flywoo’s site, unfortunately I didn’t get one with the review sample so I didn’t test with HD camera. But yea, the Firefly Baby 20 has enough lift to carry a light weight HD cam.

Camera angle is fixed and cannot be adjusted which is a shame, but the default angle works fine for me.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Fpv Camera

It can be purchased with prop guard, but if you are flying it outdoor I prefer not to use them. They actually make your quad noticeably slower and less agile. The prop guards are made of plastic, they are not super strong, might not survive high drops, but the quad is relatively light so they should hold up fine in small collisions.

The battery holders are 3D printed in flexible TPU. There are two holder sizes designed specifically for Flywoo’s own batteries, and they can be easily swapped out. However, if you want to use other battery sizes you might have to get creative how to mount it. The battery connector is XT30.

One thing that could be done better is the battery lead. It should be strapped to the frame with a zip tie to stress-relieve those solder pads on the FC. If those pads are pulled off, the FC becomes useless and it’s very expensive the replace.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Lipo Battery Tpu Mount Xt30

The VTX board sits on top of the FC and offers up to 450mW output power. Very clear image and great signal in my testing. Settings/channel/power can be adjusted via SmartAudio which is handy (VTX product page: https://oscarliang.com/product-kz76). VTX Antenna is RHCP.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Vtx Antenna Canopy

However I was having issue with selecting channel. Somehow it got stuck on random channel regardless what channel I choose in the OSD menu. Eventually it would broadcast on the correct channel if I power cycle the drone enough times. Very strange issue, maybe just a faulty VTX.

Update (29 Sep 2022): Turns out the VTX came “locked” – some of the channels are disabled to comply with the laws in some countries. That’s why when you select certain channels, such as R8, it won’t work. To unlock the VTX, simply hold down the button on the VTX for 12-15 seconds until all 3 LED’s on the VTX light up, release the button, unplug battery, and try again.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Vtx Wrong Channel Smartaudio

Those tiny 1002 motors are very high KV for 2S even using two-blade props, so tri-blade are surely too heavy and not recommended. Probably due to the size and weight considerations, there are no prop screw holes on the motor bell, the props are mounted on by frictions so if you have loose props, you might need to resort to new props or glue. So far they stay on really well for me.

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Motor Prop

The flight controller is probably one of the most powerful and feature-rich AIO board for 2S micro drones.

The onboard ExpressLRS receiver (built into the FC) comes with ELRS V2 firmware, and it’s connected to the FC via UART, not SPI, so you can flash the RX firmware independently. It’s good to know because ExpressLRS project is planning to phase out SPI based receivers in the future.

The FC also has two onboard RGB LED you can program in Betaflight.

Product page of the FC: https://oscarliang.com/product-4o6k

Firefly Nano Baby 20 Micro Drone Front Rgb Led

How to Setup

Original CLI can be found here: https://intofpv.com/t-cli-dump-for-flywoo-firefly-baby-20-original

It comes with Betaflight 4.2.8 firmware, Board target: FLYWOOF405S_AIO.

First of all, I flashed the receiver to a newer firmware with binding phrase, RX firmware: Flywoo EL24P 2400 RX. You can skip the flashing and just bind it to your radio (how to) if the RF module also has V2 ELRS firmware.

Then I did the following config in Betaflight:

Configuration Tab:

  • Enable DShot Beacon
  • Set Arming angle to 180

Receiver:

  • Enable Telemetry
  • Disable RSSI_ADC

Modes:

  • Arm
  • Beeper
  • Flip after crash

OSD:

  • Disable Core Temp (and disable Core Temp in Warnings, not useful)
  • Disable Timer 1 and just leave Timer 2
  • Upload bold font for better readability

The ESC comes with BLHeli_S 16.7 firmware (Z_H_30). I kind of wanted to flash Bluejay to it and enable RPM filter, but since it’s already tuned so I won’t touch it for now. Just know that the option is there.

Flight Performance

As expected from Flywoo, their BNF are usually pretty well tuned out of the box, the Firefly Baby Nano 20 is no exception. Very locked in and stable even in breezy weather. I love the small form factor, it’s a perfect flyer for those who want to stay low key flying in small parks and still get decent acrobatic performance and fun time. Noise is low, you can barely hear it 15 meters away.

When it comes to flight time, I get almost 4 mins on 2S 420mah, and 8 mins on 2S 750mAh. Very impressive efficiency. Between the two battery sizes, if you want more agility, go for 2S 420mAh. If you want to mostly just cruising and longer flight time go for 2S 750mAh. You can still perform acrobatics with the heavier lipo, but you get more prop wash and instability with extreme manoeuvre. The flight time is amazing though.

Compared to the Sub250 Nanofly16 (1S 1.6-inch) which I also fly a lot with in the park, the Baby 20 is way more powerful and so it can handle the wind better, but slightly noisier as expected from the higher input voltage. Equally fun, but the Nanofly16 seems to be more stealthy and more suitable for busy park flying, and the Baby 20 needs a bit more space to truly enjoy its faster speed.

I really want to try one of the HD versions, I think that’s where the Baby 20 shines. It has plenty of power so the extra weight shouldn’t be a problem at all, and because it’s 2S it’s much easier to power those HD VTX.

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26 comments

Helirotor 2nd September 2023 - 4:20 am

Love the quad. Was wanting to upgrade firmware. When plugged in, after 60 sec. it goes into WiFi mode with rapidly blinking light. Problem is it’s not visible as a wifi AP on my laptop or iphone. Other 2.4 Ghz ELRS receivers work fine and are visible in wifi mode on laptop and iphone. Any ideas?

Reply
Matthias 29th August 2023 - 11:38 pm

Hi Oscar I have the Firefly Nano Baby 2s HD DJI version with caddx but mine came with all pid tunes in default (middle) do you have some pid tune I can copy? Thanks

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Lennin T 23rd August 2023 - 1:19 am

Thanks for this review Oscar! I got myself one of these, and I love it. One quick question though… how can I change the aspect ratio to 16:9?
I have the one with the Caddx Vista & Nebula Pro Nano camera with ELRS.

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Oscar 27th August 2023 - 2:59 pm

Inside goggles settings, go to “camera”, and change “ratio” to 16:9.

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JAK 10th May 2023 - 1:31 pm

Any idea how to make it work with DJI controller? It has bound but i’m getting nothing in betaflight???

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Ibrahim 20th May 2023 - 6:10 pm

It means you enabled wrong urt for dji , try one by one till you get the correct urt or just look where you are connected the vista

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Steven 18th December 2022 - 3:59 pm

Thanks for what you do Oscar!! New to the hobby and have learned so much from here, would love to hear your thoughts on the DJI version of this drone!!!

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Chris 6th December 2022 - 1:03 am

I got the DJI HD version last week and on about the 10th flight one of my motors died. I was all focused on the Vista overheating and it turns out a motor goes instead. I thought it was the ESC at first but after swapping motors it’s looking like the motor took it’s own life. No short to ground/positive on ESCs either. I don’t think it was getting hot and I was just hovering indoors. Went to order a replacement motor from getfpv and that’s when I noticed a lot of places are out of stock. I took apart the motor and didn’t see any burned areas but it did look like maybe the windings coating had melted on a few poles but that might have just been glue. Kind of wishing I had just got the T-Motor Tron 80 and removed the Vista casing. I know it’s about 20-30g heavier so not really comparable but it’s got a thicker frame and likely more durable while still being small plus a lot cheaper.

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Irek Romaniuk 5th December 2022 - 10:12 pm

How do I connect Flywoo Firefly Nano Baby 2S to USB ? there is no cable provided …

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Oscar 6th December 2022 - 10:41 am

You will need to get a Micro USB cable which is not included. Most flight controllers and BNF don’t come with USB cables.

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Daniel 8th November 2022 - 6:53 pm

Hey Oscar, thanks for the page.
If I connect a TBS receiver, do I need to disable the built-in ELRS? And remove the antenna?
Thanks

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Oscar 9th November 2022 - 11:39 am

I think you should get the version that doesn’t come with built-in receiver if you plan to use an external RX. But yes, just disable Serial_RX on UART1 and enable Serial_RX on another UART that you connected the Crossfire receiver to. You can leave the antenna on.

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David 28th October 2022 - 11:58 pm

Hey man nice review! I bought the DJI version and I love it except that I’m getting sub 3min flight time on 520mah batteries… any ideas on how to improve the efficiency?

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Oscar 29th October 2022 - 10:27 am

The DJI version is over 30% heavier than the analog version, flight time will therefore take a massive hit.
Not much you can do really except using a bigger battery if you want longer flight time. Avoid using the prop guards if possible.

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Mauro 1st October 2022 - 1:00 am

Hey Oscar, was wondering how does this quad perform compared to the Flywoo Baby 1.6″?

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Oscar 1st October 2022 - 1:11 am

They are not in the same class really, the bigger and higher voltage Baby 20 flies much better of course.
Think of the Baby 1.6″ as the Nanofly16, they have quite similar specs, I compare it to the Nano 20 (see my conclusion). Actually the Baby 1.6 doesn’t even fly as well as the Nanofly16. So if you are considering the Baby1.6 you might as well get the Nanofly16.

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Chris H 29th September 2022 - 7:04 pm

Just received mine and having the same VTX issue as you saw. It is random channels despite setting it to R8 in betaflight. It was barely working, extreme flickering, all blue, shifted screen, etc on E5 then R1 then E4 then F7 but only if I put the goggles 6 inches away, and just snow any futher away until I pushed the button on the top board (presume the vtx board?) and then it settled on R5. Betaflight is set to R8, the OSD in goggles says R8, but goggles have to be on R5. Good times.
I have reset it about 12 to 15 times so far and now finally I have a clear screen and can fly it so hopefully it will eventually switch over to R8 at some point.

Thanks for the great review and tips!

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Oscar 29th September 2022 - 8:42 pm

Turns out the VTX came “locked” – some of the channels are disabled to comply with the laws in some countries. That’s why when you select certain channels, such as R8, it won’t work. To unlock the VTX, simply hold down the button on the VTX for 12-15 seconds until all 3 LED’s on the VTX light up, release the button, unplug battery, and try again.

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Chris H 30th September 2022 - 7:14 pm

OMG, this is perfect and timely and thank you so much for following up and fixing this frustrating issue for us.I finally got it paired to the radio and took it out for a maiden voyage today and love it. So much more power than my mobula 7 and a lot of fun to fly. Now to just figure out why the motor beepers aren’t working :)

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cliff 2nd July 2023 - 7:25 pm

Hey thanks for the tip! I tried doing this 10 times on the field and it just wouldn’t unlock. Do I need to unplug the battery while holding the button down? It shows three lights I let go unplug and replying and nothings changed. Is it because it’s on tramp not smart audio? It was set up as tramp when I recieved it

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Oscar 3rd July 2023 - 4:22 pm

No, you can release the button as long as all 3 LED lights up, which indicating the VTX is unlocked. You can then unplug battery. Also Make sure you have the correct VTX table loaded in Betaflight.

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Jeff 25th September 2022 - 5:17 pm

Hi Oscar
I just received my analog Firefly 2S Nano Baby an I’m setting it up. ExpressLRS Configurator doesn’t show a TX device option for Flywoo 2.4 GHz. What TX are you using for your receiver? Thanks so much for the great review! I’m really anxious to try mine out.

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Oscar 25th September 2022 - 5:27 pm

If you are flashing the receiver, you should be searching for Fylwoo 2.4GHz RX, not TX?

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Jeff 25th September 2022 - 6:41 pm

Sorry, I garbled that. I meant to say that I flashed the receiver with Flywoo 2.4GHz RX. Same as you did. So now I’m wondering what to flash to my TX16s transmitter? As I understand it, I would normally build a companion file for the TX16s, such as a Flywoo 2.4GHz TX. But there are no TX devices under Flywoo. Thanks again for your help!

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Oscar 25th September 2022 - 9:16 pm

No you don’t need to flash your TX if the transmitter module has already got 2.X firmware on it, has it not?
Has your transmitter ever worked with another ExpressLRS receiver before? or this is the first one? If so What expressLRS TX are you using with the TX16S?

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Jeff 25th September 2022 - 11:26 pm

Aha! You led me to it! So when I flashed the receiver, I used ExpressLRS 3.0. So I needed to update the TX16S firmware to 2.7, in order to be able to update the ExpressLRS internal module transmitter to 3.0. And now it works. Thanks you so much! Next I will make your recommended changes from your review and I’m ready for a test flight.