While the 180 mini quad is booming, FPVModel also released their ZMR180 mini quad frame.
ZMR250 has been one of the most popular mini quad frames – it’s cheap and solid that many of us used as a first frame for stepping into this hobby. And finally here is the scaled down version of ZMR, the ZMR180!
As a long time ZMR pilot I was very curious about this tiny copter frame. In the end I pulled the trigger and purchased it from FPVModel for £24, free postage.
This review is written by Artur Banach.
There are two version of ZMR180:
- for 1806 motors with M2 mounting holes
- for 2204/2206 motors with M3 mounting holes
Reviewed frame is for 2204/2206 motors
ZMR180 Unboxing
Frames package includes:
- bottom unibody plate
- top plate
- camera plate
- MATEK Mini Power Hub (PDB)
- bolts
- aluminium red standoffs (ZMR trademark :) )
- nylon spaces for mini PDB
- instructions for PDB
- Power distribution board
Supplied Power Distribution Board has:
- Regulated 5V and 12V outputs (not sure if filtered for FPV gear though, most likely not)
- Camera and VTX voltage bridge
- ESC voltage input pads.
At closer look
The design has a lot of similarities to the bigger 250 version. Top plate looks pretty much like ZMR250 with similar cutouts but is only 130mm long. It has the same width as 250 which is 50mm in the middle. Same 35mm aluminium standoffs are used here, but there are only 6 of them instead of 8 in a bigger version.
Bottom plate is unique and there is only a few cutouts with biggest one under the FC location.
Top plate is 1.5mm thick and bottom unibody plate is 3mm thick. Diagonal distance between motors shafts is exactly 180mm. Bottom plate is very stiff, I couldn’t find any flex at all. Very well done. Total frame weight including standoffs is 75g – very light.
FPV Camera plate is tilted by design and it is good to see this feature here. In order to fly fast, 180 frame require a lot of pitch tilt.
Compared to a typical 250 mini quad sized frame, this 180 frame looks absolutely tiny. Despite the small size, it will allow for great acro performance and superb agility. I am looking forward to building this ZMR as a side winter project :)
Bottom line
Positive things about ZMR180:
- Price
- Quality of carbon fibre
- Simplicity of design
- Supplied Power Distribution Board
- Did I mention the price ? :)
Negative things about ZMR180:
- No supplied HD flight camera plate (like the one form the bigger 250 version)
- SMA antenna hole in the top plate may require adjusting in order to fit the plug
- Supplied PDB most likely hasn’t got built in LC filter.
I was really impressed by this frame. Simplicity is its beauty here and the fact that it comes with a PDB makes is so easy to build, even as a first FPV frame.
10 comments
Thank you for your posting.
I bought this 180 just few days ago. I have 5v camera and 12v VTX. With micro minim osd, I wonder 5V from PDB is enough power? Anyway I will try.
@Arakon
Does this pose a problem for 5v power to the fcb, or is it just the vtx equipment that is adversely affected?
Also, what would the solution be to the 12v noise problem -my fpv equipment takes a range of voltages from 2s to more than 4s compatible?
Would I be better off using a different, basic pdb along with a separate ubec to provide 5v for the fcb and a low pass filter for the fpv equipment running the full 4a lips voltage supply to these?
I was looking forward to not needing a separate ubec with the supplied pdb, but if I cannot power my fpv equipment via this board, what’s the point!
Could I not take the full voltage to supply my fpv equipment (as my cam and vtx accept 3s and 4a voltages readily) and avoid the noise issues by not using the 12v output (and obviously, hoping the 5v output is good for the fcb)?
Instead of using this supplied PDB, another solution could be to use different mini PDB. There is many options on the market. Unfortunately, their price can be pretty much as much as the whole ZMR180…..
Adding LC filters and BEC would make the build quite messy and would add the weight. I cannot confirm any of the questions yet because unfortunately I won’t be able to build this frame just yet.
Personally I don’t think that output would be that noisy. Would use PDB to supplied 5V to FC and simply tried LC filter to see how well it performs.
Thanks for the review Oscar. Are you planning on building and flying this? Curious to see how it comes out, and would like to see how the supplied PDB works. I think the reason there is no HD camera plate is probably due to space. Most put the lipo on the top plate, which leaves little room for anything else.
Also curious if 1806 motors would fit on the 2204 version frame?
Mike, when buying this frame you choose the arms for whatever motors you like. I guess it would be possible to fit 1806 with some sort of washers. At the moment I won’t be building this frame since I got few other multi rotor projects I will be working on but who knows :) Looks like there are holes on the top for dampening balls but why the cam plate wasn’t added I have no idea. Piece of foam could be put there to install GoPro or Yi cam. Mobius might be too big for that build due to its shape.
Supplied PDB has no filtering, I am curious myself how would it perform. For just a little bit more money it is possible to get PDB with filtering.
There’s actually 2 options for this frame, M2 and M3 main frame. M3 accepts the 22XX motors while M2 is for smaller ones.
Sorry Mike, this frame review was written by Artur, i don’t have this frame.
Hi Oscar and Arthur
I can tell you that the outputs are not filtered.. in fact, the 12v output on those boards is usually so noisy, it’s unusable for the FPV equipment even with filters.