Starting new build, want opinions on frame & esc's

Jadams453

Jadams453

Well-Known Member
Hey there
I'm still pretty new to the world of fpv and mini quads, but I've already gotten hooked on the hobby. Any opinions on which 5" frame is the best in the $60 and under range, secondly which esc's are the "best" on the market these days? I decided to build my first quad from scratch instead of buying a rtf (which btw is much more satisfying when you finally get to fly it knowing you built it part by part) the physical process of soldering & assembling components went very smoothly after watching a couple tutorial videos on YouTube, I have a history as an Automotive tech that came in handy for the build. One thing I'm not good at though is computers, as in I don't know squat about them. So configuring the FC, esc's, receiver, transmitter etc..was quite a royal pain in the rear, only taking about a month and a half to complete. I got it flashed to betaflight and have been flying it for about a month ready to start my second build. Lastly can any one point me in the right direction for a good tutorial on quad tuning. Gotta figure out how to tune the first one I built. Thanks
 
QAV250 frame on E-bay. Can pick them up for about 15 dollars. Enough real estate to make building painless and not limiting what equipment you use and light enough to race. Plenty of 3d printed parts made specifically for that frame too. Very common.

Flycolor Raptor-s tower. Power distribution board, 4 in 1 30a esc with BLheli firmware, and F3 flight controller with integrated OSD all in one. Less than 80 dollars. Easy set up. All you have to solder is the motor wires to the ESC board and the t-60 battery connector. Done. Nothing left but the video equipment and receiver.

After that, all you need is motors, Receiver, Camera and Video Transmitter.

motors - I recommend the Emax 2305 rs series motors, about 40 bucks a set and not going to get anything more powerful without spending twice as much for a little bit more.

Camera - If you are going to race, a light 600tvl. No point in spending more and very few have better latency. If general flying, try the runcam owl. Fantastic for flying in the sun or low light conditions(night flying. Yes you can. They rock.) 40 bucks for the owl, 25 for the 600tvl.

Video transmitter. If you are going to race, 40 channel and 25mw power. For general flying, something in the 200mw range. For both, get a switchable power transmitter. keep it light and small. Bigger does not mean better or longer range. It is just bigger.

Receiver. Again, bigger does not mean better. Most of your flying will be within a 100 yards so do not need super duper long range extra expensive receiver. Get something small and PPM capable. One wire is better than 8. Frsky, because fatuba and spectrum don't have custom water transfer graphics. Not as cool. It is all about image.

Long range. Get a EZ-UHF module for your frsky radio and go 2.4 on the video then do not bring this machine to race meets. I can sit in my living room on the couch and fly my quad around the outside of the house. Oh yea, i am that lazy.
 
Go with a 220 frame with 5" props.
Qav-r 220
Qav charpu 220
Pocket rocket 20amp esc
Or littlebee 20a
I find on a 250 frame there is excess space in the body and a 220 body is just right for the kit I use. It's outdated but it works & keeps me up in the air.
 
I went with the qav-r 220 frame, I'll be using the SP F3 FC out of an older wrecker quad..I'm not sure if it has OSD or not, is there any way to look at it and know if it does? And my radio setup is a Flysky fs-ia6b receiver running ppm. I'm currently running a runcam swift mini on my 250 frame but I think I'm going to go with the owl on this new build just to check it out. As far as motors..I'm not too much into racing, more into the freestyle/pleasure flying. Iive in northern Mississippi and most of the people around here are still a bit sketchy about "the little pissed off bumle bee things" flying around at 75 mph so I don't have anyone to fly with. From what I've gathered in different reviews Dshot seems to be the favorite esc protocol these day..is this correct?
 
If it has OSD It will have connections for the camera and video transmitter. If it doesn't, i recommend the Furious FPV Piggy osd. Can stick it on the back of your camera with some tape. almost no footprint. Will need some soldering skills. Can pick one up in a video transmitter or PDB too. PDB is your best bet considering the space limitations on the 220 frame. OSD tends to come on larger than average VTX's. Or spring for the flycolor raptor S all in one. Has everything. Would be perfect for a tight build on a 220.
 
Exactly the same setup as me.
IMG_20170514_184346331-1024x575.jpg IMG_20170512_204609427_HDR-1024x575.jpg IMG_20170512_224005057-1024x575.jpg IMG_20170512_224005057-1024x575.jpg IMG_20170512_224016736_HDR-1024x575.jpg there is littlebee 20amp pro on this one but I usually use the pocket rocket.
But these won't die, so I can recommend these also.
 
For quad tuning & rates expo.
Project Blue falcon on YouTube has recently done a few easy to understand videos. Or if you want to get deep then try Joshua Bardwell. But I'd Say sort your rates & expo, out first which is the speed of your flips n rolls before you mess with the pids.
 
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