Today we will be reviewing something very special, it’s our first 180mm Mini Quad Frame from XElitesDrones.com! 180 class mini quad are tiny yet can be pretty powerful, which are good for outdoor and indoor flying. This review is just a sneak peek of the XElites 180. The frame is not on the market yet.
This page is written by a group member who entered our build log contest. We are sharing the info hope it would be useful to someone.
Hi all – here’s my entry for the build contest log; my first 250 size racing quad! I’ve been watching videos of 250 FPV racing, rolling and flipping thinking that I really need to try this! I spent far too long looking at options and finally settled for the kit at 4 props. The value for money is fantastic, I was worried it was too cheap but the reviews for the frame have been good, it’s a solid piece of kit (so far!). I was considering 4S but 3S seems pretty zippy for a first 250 build, especially if you have a high C rating. An important part of the build for me was to make sure it looked tidy, so the ESCs are hidden underneath. I was also keen to try out a Naze32 and cleanflight as I had read good things.
ImmersionRC is about to release the Vorex! It’s a RTF (ready to fly) Racing Quadcopter, and it looks like a normal 250 mini quad for FPV but with a few tweaks, explained by Co-founder of ImmersionRC Anthony Cake in his recently interview with Tested.
I have been using SimonK firmware on my Mini Quad Blue Series 12A ESC, they perform really well and I can’t complain. But recently Oneshot and Active Braking (damping light) has been popular and I have been hearing all sorts of good things, but they are only supported in BLHeli (V13.0) at the moment. So I decided to flash the latest verison of BLHeli firmware on my Hobbyking BS ESC.
Oneshot125 is a new ESC protocol to replace standard PWM signal. In this post we will explain what Oneshot is, and the new BLheli feature – Active Braking (damping light) that improves throttle responsiveness.
In the first build, we used the TX5823 and 1g camera. The result was okay, it was really small and light weight, my mini quad was able to carry it and still had good flight time. However the noise caused by the motors really upset this FPV setup.
BrainFPV (A.K.A the Brain) is a new flight controller that is designed for FPV flying. It’s the same size as the Naze32 and CC3D (36mmx36mm square), with impressive amount of components built into it given the small form factor and light weight.
It has the standard Gyro sensor, Accelerometer, Magnetometer and Barometer. The reason I said it’s designed for FPV pilot is the integrated full graphic OSD. The OSD is highly customizable and configurable, and you can even switch between OSD displays with your radio transmitter or flight modes.
The developer of this board said:
We spent a lot of time cramming everything imaginable into the popular 36x36mm form factor. The result is a kick-ass flight controller running a fast CPU (STM32f4, 168MHz) that is also used to render a full-graphic on-screen display showing flight information and maps with waypoints etc. We only use the highest quality components and do all the PCB production and assembly in the United States.
Micro Quadcopters (with brushed motors) are probably the first flying experience for many RC hobbyists, it’s affordable, resistant to crashes and great fun flying it indoor. By adding FPV capability to it, it makes it an excellent FPV trainer, and it’s extremely addictive.
Micro Quadcopters like the Hubsan X4 has limited lifting capability, so the FPV gear must be as light weight as possible and also capable of running off 1S LiPo. There are currently a few Transmitters / FPV combo (camera + VTX) that I found suitable for this task. If you find any other options and alternatives please let me know.
More than a year ago, I made an attempt to build a DIY light weight FPV combo, consists of a FPV camera, video transmitter and antenna. I had comments saying it could have been lighter if there weren’t so many extra components. They were right, and as part of the FPV micro quadcopter project, I decided to re-build this mini video transmitter camera combo, and really try hard to keep the weight and size down.
Received this “RunCam SKY2 800TVL FPV Camera 1/3” SONY 960H Effio-V” from securitycamera2000.com. I was really excited to test it on my mini quad, only realized it’s too big to fit (Dimension: 38mm x 38mm). Anyway I made a comparison video with the Sony Super HAD 600TVL camera I have been using.
I am very impressed by how well 60fps recording works in Youtube and Vimeo, a increasingly popular feature that comes with the new GoPro Hero 4 cameras and GoPro Hero 3+ Black edition. You can tell straight away it’s 60fps and not 30fps when watching in HD, it’s a lot smoother. In this post, I will show you how to convert 30fps footage into “real” 60fps. By “real” I mean not only the increase in frame rate number, but you will also notice the improvement in video quality. Read More