As the name suggest, the Happymodel Mobula6 HDZero is basically our favourite 65mm tiny whoop with upgraded FPV system. It’s the smallest 1S FPV drone with digital FPV system (HDZero) on the market.
Update (2024): There’s a new version, the Mobula 6 2024 Edition: https://oscarliang.com/happymodel-mobula6-2024/
Table of Contents
Where to Buy?
Receiver options: 2.4GHz ELRS or Frsky D8/D16 (both SPI). I am reviewing the ELRS version.
- Banggood: https://oscarliang.com/product-evin
- GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-fdlt
- RDQ: https://oscarliang.com/product-l7ai
Batteries are not included, get some here:
Tattu 1S 300mAh
NewBeeDrone Nitro Nectar Gold 1S 300mAh
- GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-jcny
- NewBeeDrone: https://oscarliang.com/product-7ih4
- RDQ: https://oscarliang.com/product-qrnp
It come with the following accessories:
- 1x Spare Canopy
- 1x Screw driver
- 1x Propeller disassemble tool
- some spare screws
Specifications
- SuperBeeF4Lite Flight Controller:
- Onboard Receiver options: SPI ELRS 2.4GHz OR SPI FRSKY 2.4GHz
- ELRS Firmware Target: CrazybeeF4SX1280
- FRSKY Firmware target: CrazybeeF4FR
- MCU:STM32F411CEU6 (100MHz, 512K FLASH)
- Gyro Sensor: BMI270 (SPI connection)
- Built-in 4in1 5A (burst 6A) BLheli_S 4in1 ESC (firmware O_H_5_REV16_8.HEX)
- Built-in Betaflight OSD
- Built-in 5V 1A BEC
- Mobula6 Frame (65mm wheelbase)
- EX0802 19000KV Motors (12 poles, 1mm shaft)
- Propellers: Gemfan 1210 Bi-blades (1mm shaft holes) “original specs says 1219 which is wrong”
- HDZero Whoop Lite VTX
- HDZero Nano Lite Camera
- Input Voltage: 1S LiPo or LiHV battery
- Battery connector: PH2.0
- Size: 80mm*80mm*50mm
- Weight: 23.8g without LiPo, 31.5g with 1S 300mAh
Closer Look at the Mobula6 HDZero
From the outside it looks similar to the original Mobula6, using the same frame but the canopy has been redesigned for the HDZero Nano camera.
Looking from the bottom you will find there are two boards in the FC stack.
The bottom board is an AIO (all in one) flight controller which does almost everything. It has onboard radio receiver, 4in1 ESC and OSD.
Sitting on top is the new HDZero Whoop Lite VTX that has the same 25.5×25.5mm mounting holes as the FC . Together with the ultra light HDZero Nano Lite Camera, is the latest combo designed for light weight 1S drones.
The Whoop Lite VTX is smaller than the Race VTX and yet it can be powered by 1S only, output up to 200mW and also supports SmartAudio for changing VTX settings. The VTX came with heatsink on both sides to keep it cool but it seems Happymodel removed it in the Mobula6, my guess is to reduce weight.
Some glue would be nice for securing the VTX antenna UFL connector in place, if that comes loose, the VTX will likely to overheat and get damaged. The VTX is the most expensive component in the drone!
Also I wish they could have secured the MIPI cable better (between camera and VTX), it might be quite unlikely, but still a possibility to come loose in a big crash.
The motors are EX802 19000KV paired with Gemfan 1210 two-blade propellers. Motors are soldered directly to the FC, I like it a lot as it saves a lot of weight on a whoop that is already too heavy. But some people might hate it as it makes it harder to replace/upgrade the motors.
The Mobula6 HDZero comes with a PH2.0 battery connector, the battery holder fits 1S 300mAh LiPo/LiHV battery perfectly.
However I find the battery lead is too short and very hard to plug/unplug battery, eventually I just gave up using my Nitro Nectar Gold and switched to the GNB for this model.
There’s a workaround however, you could make a cut in the heatshrink so you can wrap around the connector easier.
Flight performance
Although the Mobula6 HDZero is the lightest setup for a digital FPV system, it’s still quite a bit heavier than the analogue counterpart. The Mobula6 platform is powerful enough to carry it but you can feel the difference in flight performance.
I don’t recommend flying it outdoor as it feels underpowered, it can’t handle wind very well and doesn’t have much control and hard to recover from big dive and tend to wiggle. It’s really designed for indoor cruising.
I am getting around 2:45 flight time on a 1S 300mAh.
Video image quality is just awesome! You can hardly see any breakup or static when flying inside the house and you can see a lot of detail in the video compared to the analogue version, makes it more fun to fly and explore places.
I think this setup would perform better in the Mobula7 platform with slightly bigger motors. It would make more sense than the Mobula6. I might give that a try when I have time. There is an HDZero Whoop in 75mm size, but that’s for 2S. So right now the the Mobula6 HDZero is the smallest and only 1S HDZero whoop.
It doesn’t fly as well as the analogue version, but if you are not trying to race other people, but purely just want better image quality I think it’s worth considering.
How to Setup Mobula6 HDZero
Bind ELRS receiver (In Betaflight Configurator, Receiver tab, click the Bind Receiver button to put the whoop in Bind mode), the receiver supports V2 ELRS firmware.
On the same tab, change channel map to default, and enable Telemetry.
Go to the Configuration tab, enable Dshot beacon as it doesn’t have a physical buzzer.
In the Modes tab, setup switches for arm, angle, beeper, flip over after crash.
Rearrange OSD elements and enable warning! Not sure why they didn’t enable that one.
In the Power tab, change voltage numbers:
- max 4.4
- warning 3.3
- lowest 3.2
That’s it you are ready for first flight!
5 comments
My Mob6 HDZero has suddenly decided to invert the video. Great image, upside down. Camera Menu onscreen menu to flip it has no option stated to allow change.
Ideas??
is the OSD inverted too? can’t you just flip the camera?
This has a known issue where the FC factory resets if your battery gets too low. Any way you could post either the default Betaflight settings or a CLI dump?
Hi, can 1219 be a typo? I believe that the actual prop size is 1210 and that there is a typo that is being copied over and over again. Could you please check?
You are right they are 1210