Review: RushFPV Blade F722 Digital/Analog Flight Controller V2 | Extreme 60A 4in1 ESC | Cherry V2 Antenna

The RushFPV Blade F722 FC just got an “upgrade” in the V2! The board has a few new design improvements, and they changed the Gyro from MPU6000 to ICM42688-P. Recently a few other FC also use this gyro but didn’t perform very well, so I will test the gyro noise and see how the V2 compares to the V1.

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Where To Buy?

Digital Version:

• AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdcbsMX
• RushFPV: https://rushfpv.net/digital-v2
• GetFPV: Coming soon
• RDQ: Coming soon

Analog Version:

• AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_De3lFDV
• RushFPV: https://rushfpv.net/analog-v2
• GetFPV: Coming soon
• RDQ: Coming soon

There are two versions, one for analog FPV system, the other for digital FPV systems.

The difference is that the Analog version has the Betaflight OSD chip, the Digital version does not. This means you should not buy the Digital version if you plan to use Analog FPV system or you won’t have Betaflight OSD. With the Analog version, there is only a 5V 3A BEC, and you get the cables that connect directly to the analog FPV camera and VTX. If you are using one of the Rush VTX, it’s plug and play, no soldering at all.

If you use DJI, Avatar or HDZero FPV systems, then you should get the digital version. It has both 5V 3A and 10V 3A BEC.

Specs and Features

• STM32F722RET6 Micro Processor
• ICM42688P Gyro
• 8x motor outputs
• 5x UART
• 1x I2C
• BMP280 Barometer
• 16MB Flash Memory for Blackbox
• Input Voltage: 7V to 36V (up to 8S)
• BEC:
  • Digital Version: 5V 3A and 10V 3A
  • Analog Version: 5V 3A
• 30.5×30.5mm mounting holes with rubber grommets for M3 bolts
• Weight: 11.1g
• Dimension: 36.5x37x5.2mm
• BF targets: Rush_Blade_F7 (analog), Rush_Blade_F7_HD (digital)

V2 New Changes

The RushFPV Blade F722 V2 flight controller has the following new changes:

The biggest change is probably the new gyro ICM42688-P. The V1 uses the MPU6000 and it’s one of the best gyro for flight controllers. However for manufacturers, it’s becoming increasingly harder to get and more expensive. Recently the new JHEMCU GHF420AIO also uses the ICM42688-P and gyro noise is terrible on that board. I will test the gyro noise of the new Blade v2 and see how it compares to the previous V1 with MPU6000 in this review.

Blade V1 on the left, Blade V2 on the right

They replaced the micro USB port to a USB-C port. The location of the USB port has been moved from the right side to the left side.

In the V1, they use a metal cover on top of the FC for physical protection, in the V2 they replaced it with translucent plastic, and it’s also easier to remove if you want.

The V1 Digital version was designed specifically for just the DJI FPV System, but in the V2 it’s now also plug and play with other digital FPV systems. In the digital VTX plug, they replaced the GND pin with a TX pin, so now you have two full UART in that plug, which makes it fully compatible with all digital FPV systems including DJI, Avatar and HDZero without the need to solder. However if you are using DJI with SBUS, make sure you don’t connect the GND wire next to SBUS pin.

Here’s the included manual with wiring diagram.

The digital version has a dedicated 10V 3A BEC (alongside a 5V 3A BEC) for powering the Caddx Vista or DJI Air Unit. You also get the cable that connects directly to the Air Unit without soldering anything.

There are now 8 motor outputs available out of the box, great if you want to use this on an octocopter.

A BMP280 Barometer has been added to both Digital and Analog versions (previously only available to the digital version in V1).

I really enjoy using the Blade FC because of the connectors that make it plug and play, but it also has all the solder pads broken out on the bottom side of the board if you prefer to solder. The V2 continues the same idea, except they have optimized the layout and more pads are broken out, the solder pads are well sized and easy to work with.

Overall it’s a well built and well designed FC.

The V2 is 1.5 grams heavier than the V1 (11.1g vs 9.6g)

Betaflight FC target remains the same as before, Rush_Blade_F7 (analog) and Rush_Blade_F7_HD (Digital)

Gyro Noise Testing

Let’s compare the gyro noise between the V1 and V2 of the RushFPV Blade F722 FC. The flights were performed on the same quad back to back (i just swapped out the FC), similar movements and flight duration. Both FC were on Betaflight 4.3.2 (latest stable release) with default filter and PID settings.

So the new ICM42688-P gyro (brown lines) appears to be much noisier at higher frequency (above 250Hz), that means the V2 FC will definitely require more gyro low pass filtering than the V1 with MPU6000 (red lines), having RPM filter enabled will also be tremendously beneficial. Even with the default filter settings, the filtered gyro signal of the V2 shows more noise than the V1, but it’s only around -30dB so should be ok for the most part.

Overall it just means you will have to use more filtering with the V2 FC (in BF4.3 you pretty much have to leave gyro lowpass 1 and 2 both enabled or you might run into issues), which will have more delay and so you won’t be able to push your PID gains as high as the V1. If you prioritise flight performance over the board design improvements, get the V1 while it’s still in stock.

Extreme 60A 4in1 ESC

The specs of the latest RushFPV Extreme 60A 4in1 ESC definitely look to be top notch. You can get it with the Blade F722 FC V2 as a bundle, or separately.

AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmIihPh

The board design looks the same as previous versions (Sports 50A and Super 60A). The top and bottom of the board are protected by aluminium shells from physical damage, which also act as heatsinks for the MOSFET’s.

It comes with 3 high power TVS diodes and a capacitor.

The Specifications:

• Supports 3S – 6S LiPo battery input
• Rated for 60A current per motor output, burst current is 80A
• Faster F4 Processor
• Supports 128KHz Maximum PWM Frequency, higher than the previous Super 60A (96KHz), and Sports 50A (48KHz). The Lowest PWM Frequency it supports is 24KHz
• Runs BLHeli_32 Firmware
• LED Color: Orange
• Weight：16.5g
• Dimension: 45*36.5*7.5mm

There are a few things that I think RushFPV can do better and users should be aware of:

• The ESC to FC cable uses a big connector (10 pins), which is too big for almost all FC out there excepts RushFPV’s FC, they usually only have 8 pins. I don’t know why RushFPV do this, two of the pins (BATT and GND) are duplicates, totally pointless and just makes it more difficult to use this ESC with other FC
• The TVS diodes are pretty pointless in my opinion and not as effective as low ESR capacitors, I would rather see the ESC sold cheaper without it. I personally would not bother using it in my build
• The included capacitor is a bit small, I would love to see a 1000uF cap from RushFPV. I would suggest getting a 1000uF for this ESC if you plan to use 6S

Cherry II Antennas

Rush also sent me their new antenna to try out, the Cherry II!

Get the new Cherry V2 antennas here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlCbzsx

I really like the original Cherry antennas, they were one of my favourite to use with digital FPV system like DJI and Avatar. According to RushFPV, the Cherry II (V2) has the following improvements compared to the previous version:

• new antenna design, results in 30% reduction in size and 20% reduction in weight
• wider operating frequency range results in more consistent performance across all channels
• better efficiency, more energy is converted into signal rather than heat, it helps reduce the heat in your high power VTX
• New antenna mount for UFL version\