Yes, we are reviewing yet another cinewhoop. This time it is the HGLRC Talon Pro 3-inch. What makes it different? The camera cage is removable and can be installed on a different quad, so in theory you can share the same camera and air unit across multiple quads and potentially save some money. In this review, we will look at what is special about the Talon Pro and whether it is the right cinewhoop for you.
Learn more about cinewhoop in this buyer’s guide: https://oscarliang.com/cinewhoop/
Table of Contents
Where to Buy
Get your HGLRC Talon Pro cinewhoop from AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c2IzQXwT
It does not come with spare propellers, so make sure you grab some here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3qhynw3
Specifications
Here are the specs provided by HGLRC:
- FC/ESC Board: F722 40A 6S V2 AIO
- FC Dimensions: 175mm × 175mm × 56mm
- Motor: SPECTER 1804 2450KV
- Wheelbase: 116mm
- VTX configuration: Power kit version (no FPV Setup), Draco A1 LITE+Air Unit / Zeus 800mW VTX, HGLRC L2 camera (analog version)
- Receiver: Hglrc ELRS dual-band single antenna receiver
- Flight time: 10 Mins With hglrc 6s 1450 mah 160c battery
- GPS: M100 Mini
- Propeller: 3inch (HQProp DT75MMX3)
- Recommend battery: 6S 850-1450MAH
- Battery connector: XT60
- Drone weight: 233g (HD version) / 218g (analog version) / 198g (power kit version)
Installing DJI O4 Pro
When it comes to FPV camera and VTX options, it seems HGLRC is moving away from DJI. When you order the Talon Pro, the available versions are analog, their own Draco system, or the Power Kit version, which comes without an FPV setup. It does support the DJI O4 Pro Air Unit, but you have to buy and install it yourself.
Personally, I think this might be a mistake. DJI is still by far the most popular FPV system. Realistically, very few people are using HGLRC Draco, which puts their new products into a more niche market. Maybe they are trying to push adoption of their own FPV system, but that is going to be an uphill battle. I think they should improve the system first and grow the user base before trying to force it onto their BNF quads.
I will be using the DJI O4 Pro in this quad for my review.
Note that it does not come with any instructions, manual, or diagram showing how to install the air unit, so it took me a while to figure it out. I am going to show the process here.
It is also missing some screws for mounting the air unit and camera cage, which is slightly annoying, and it does not come with the O4 cable either, so make sure you have those on hand.
Missing screws:
- 8× M2 7mm
- 2× M2.4 7mm
I had spare M2 screws, but no M2.4 screws. For now, I had to “steal” the two M2.4 screws from the frame, use them for the camera cage, and secure the frame with small zip ties instead. And why use M2.4 screws? They are so uncommon that it is honestly puzzling.
Design and Closer Look
The main selling point of this cinewhoop is the modular camera cage design, which means you can share the same camera and air unit across multiple HGLRC quads. Right now, though, there is only one quad that uses this cage, so at the moment there is no real advantage to this modular design. As far as I know, HGLRC is planning to release another cinewhoop in a different size that will also be compatible in the near future.
It has an RGB LED strip around the ducts that shows a rainbow pattern by default, which looks cool at night. Unfortunately, it is not configurable in Betaflight. You can disable it by disconnecting the power plugs inside the quad.
At the rear, the receiver antenna has two elements: the shorter one for 2.4GHz and the longer one for 868MHz/915MHz. Don’t get too excited, it’s just a dual-band single-antenna receiver, which means you can use either 2.4GHz or 900MHz, but not both at the same time. It is also not Gemini-X compatible.
What is Gemini-X? https://oscarliang.com/expresslrs-gemini/#Gemini-Xcrossband-Gemini-X
Flight Controller
The FC is an AIO (all in one – everything is integrated on the same board): HGLRC F722 40A 2–6S BL32 AIO V2. It does not have a dedicated BEC for the air unit, so the O4 is powered directly from the battery. That is not ideal, because voltage spikes are bad for the VTX, but so far in my testing it has held up fine.
The ESC uses BLHeli_32 firmware. That is not really an issue right now, but you should know that BLHeli_32 is effectively discontinued, so you can no longer update the firmware on this ESC: https://oscarliang.com/end-of-blheli_32/
Also note that the FC is mounted upside down, then rotated 45 degrees. That is not a real problem if you plan to fly the quad out of the box, but it can make things more complicated when you decide to flash Betaflight and have to reconfigure everything again.
The board alignment should be set to:
- Roll: 180
- Pitch: 0
- Yaw: -45
I think this is going to catch a lot of beginners off guard. After updating Betaflight, they are going to wonder why the quad flips over the moment they try to take off. If you do not want to deal with that, avoid flashing Betaflight unless necessary.
GPS Module and Rescue Mode
GPS Rescue Mode is a fantastic feature — it’s essentially a return-to-home function that brings your drone back to its takeoff point when you lose signal. It’s especially valuable for beginners and long-range pilots who want peace of mind in case of a failsafe or loss of orientation.
The Talon Pro ships with a GPS module pre installed at the rear, but the location is not ideal. It sits underneath the RX antenna, so the signal is partly blocked and may also suffer from interference.
The GPS module itself is actually quite decent. In my testing, it was able to lock onto 8 satellites in about a minute, but in this quad it took over 2 minutes because of the way it is mounted. See my GPS testing here: https://oscarliang.com/gps-review/#Performance-Testing
That said, it still performed admirably in flight when Rescue Mode was activated. To make sure GPS Rescue works properly, do not forget to tune it for your specific flying environment. Here is my full tutorial: https://oscarliang.com/setup-gps-rescue-mode-betaflight/
Battery and Weight
The manufacturer recommends 6S 850mAh to 1450mAh batteries, which are basically the same sizes commonly used on 5-inch freestyle quads.
The Talon Pro weighs:
- 233.5g without battery (with DJI O4 Pro installed)
- 425.6g with a 6S 1100mAh LiPo
Flight Performance
My first impression: the Talon Pro is extremely loud. It is probably louder than my 5-inch freestyle quads. You can still hear it from 300 to 400 meters away.
The quad hovers at around 36% to 38% throttle, and it feels heavy in the air, which makes sense because it is heavy.
Despite being powered by 6S, the quad is not fast. Top speed is only around 100 to 110km/h.
It is still capable of doing Acro and freestyle moves, but there is some yaw washout when recovering from dives. It becomes unstable and makes a sudden uncontrolled yaw movement. This used to be a very common issue with whoops because of the ducted design, but it has improved a lot over the past year or two because manufacturers have learned how to address it through better tuning and design. It is disappointing that HGLRC did not catch this, and that the Talon Pro still suffers from it.
In calm weather, the Talon Pro 3-inch is mostly stable and smooth. When the wind picks up to around 20MPH+, it may wobble a bit, but you can usually smooth that out in post using Gyroflow.
When it comes to efficiency, I am actually impressed. With a 6S 1100mAh LiPo, I get around 6 to 7 minutes of flight time with a mix of freestyle and cruising. If you stick to gentle cruising, you could probably push that to 7 to 8 minutes.
There is no physical buzzer, so if you crash in tall grass it can be hard to find. The motors are not especially loud either once it is sitting in the grass.
How to Setup
Firmware
- The flight controller (FC) board target is HGLRC_F722_S, and it comes preloaded with Betaflight firmware version 2025.12.1. For stock CLI Diff, see here.
- ESC Firmware: BLHeli_32, Rev. 32.10
- ELRS Receiver Firmware Target: ELRS C3 900/2400 Dual Band Nano RX, firmware 3.6.3
Betaflight Setup
- Bind the ELRS receiver – The best way perhaps is connect USB cable to the FC, wait 60 seconds until the receiver goes into WiFi mode (green LED flashes rapidly). Then connect to the ExpressLRS RX WiFi network, go to 10.0.0.1 in your browser, and enter your Binding Phrase on the webpage. Detail tutorial: https://oscarliang.com/bind-expresslrs-receivers/
- Pair the DJI O4 Pro with your goggles – Guide: https://oscarliang.com/how-to-setup-dji-o4-pro/#Pairing-DJI-Goggles-3-with-O4-Air-Unit-Pro
- Load the ExpressLRS preset according to your packet rate – Instructions: https://oscarliang.com/betaflight-presets/#Loading-RC-Link-Configurations
- Set up custom rates – My Rates: https://oscarliang.com/rates/#My-Rates
- Configure the Modes tab (arm switch, turtle mode, etc.): https://oscarliang.com/betaflight-modes/#How-to-Setup-Arm-Switch
- Set up OSD, you can copy my CLI lines: https://oscarliang.com/betaflight-osd/#My-OSD-Setup-CLI-Commands
- Reduce the current sensor scale by 5 for a more accurate reading
Conclusion
To be honest, I do not think this cinewhoop benefits that much from 6S. I think it would make more sense if it were lighter and ran on 4S instead. Right now it is a bit too heavy and a bit too loud for my taste.
Get your HGLRC Talon Pro cinewhoop from AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c2IzQXwT
The modular camera cage also does not offer much value right now, because no other quad supports it yet. I hope HGLRC follows through and releases more compatible quads soon, ideally not just more cinewhoops, but open prop designs too.
They should also prevent the missing screws issue, and probably stop using uncommon screw sizes.
If you are looking for a 3-inch cinewhoop, the GEPRC Cinelog V3 remains my go-to choice, which offers better flight performance and user experience: https://oscarliang.com/geprc-cinelog30-v3/