Hi everyone!
As the title says, I just finished the shopping list for my first quad build and gear (heard about FPV one week ago) and would like to know what you think of it, and whether I'm making any mistakes in my component choices. I apologize in advance, this will be quite a wall of text, as I'll try to explain why I chose each of these components.
The main goal of this build is to provide me with a decent learning quad at a budget price. Unfortunately I'm low on $$$, and the lowest the price is, the sooner I can get flying, and upgrade components progressively later on. Other goals of this build are: being a good learning quad obviously, so not overly powerful, a good efficiency (for now I favor flight time over performance I won't be able to harness), low weight (for more efficiency and weight room for batteries, and less crash impact), good crash resistance, some nice features (I'm a geek at heart) and finally, good upgradability to follow me along as I progress. And I think I got it nailed down! So here it is:
- Frame: Lisam LS-210. It's dirt cheap (14.99 USD), not overly heavy (100g), and should be reasonably crash-resistant with its 3mm CF bottom plate.
- FC: Omnibus F4 Pro V2. I didn't cheap out too much on this one. What a nice FC to start with. It has an F4, built-in barometer, OSD, 5V/3A BEC with LC filter, SD card slot for blackbox, current sensor... And for 22.20 USD on gearbest, who can complain? I'm pairing it with 5V FPV components (camera and VTX) to take advantage of the LC filter, and as an added bonus: I don't need a PDB \o/
- ESC: Racerstar 20A 4 in 1. Seems lighter (25g including cables) and cheaper (24.99 USD) than 4 separate 20A ESCs, it handles 4S, supports Dshot300, and should provide plenty of amp room with my motor/prop combo. Seems like an overall good beginner ESC.
- Motors: Racerstar BR2205 2300KV. Definitely not the best, but they're cheap (29.99 USD for the set of 4), and should produce enough power for a beginner. They go up to 4S.
- Props: Dalprop 5045 V2 Bullnose dual blade. Triple blades seem to be all the hype, but I'm really favoring efficiency and crash resistance over performance here. These props are 1.99 USD per set.
- Radio: iRangeX iRX-i6X with iR-A8S receiver (woohoo I wrote it correctly!) Less than 40 USD for a transmitter & receiver set! This clone of the FlySky FS-i6X supports up to 10 channels, has a gimbal resolution of 4096, and the receiver supports PPM & i-BUS and only weights 1.2 freaking grams! The only downside that I can see from my beginner's point of view is that the receiver only has one antenna. But it's cheap to replace once I've got the $$$.
- FPV camera: a cheap no-name 600TVL CMOS 170-degree 5V camera with builtin microphone. Yeah, I want sound with my FPV :-) It's dirt cheap (5.90 USD), super small and light, and will do the job until I buy a Runcam Split, which I can't reasonably afford right now. Oh and I seem to prefer wide angle cams, and this one is.
- VTX: Eachine ATX03. A 5V, 72-channel, switchable 0/25/50/200mW transmitter with audio input. It's 11.99 USD and weights only 3.5g. The provided antenna seems to be crap though, I'll probably have to replace it with a cloverleaf quite soon.
- FPV goggles: LS-008D. 40 channels, has DVR and dual antenna (don't know if it's real antenna diversity) for... 39.99 USD on gearbest! Can't beat that to get flying for cheap. It's only a 480x272 screen, but for this price, who cares? :-D
- Battery: ZOP Power 1800mAh 3S 65C (set of 2). Probably not 65C, probably not 1800mAh, but 26.99 USD for 2 batteries... You got a deal. I'm just hoping they won't burst into flames.
- Misc stuff: buzzer, XT60 connector with 12AWG wire, 2205 motor protections, 1000uF low-ESR 35V capacitor (to be soldered onto the ESC power input to reduce FPV interference and voltage spikes), a battery straps, battery anti-slip mat, 2-3-4S battery charger, anti-vibration screws for the FC and ESC, and some heatshrink and zip ties.
And... that's it! Thanks for reading it all :-)
According to my estimations, I should be up and flying for around 250 USD all-inclusive, around 135 USD for the quad alone (excluding radio RX & TX, batteries, battery charger and goggles), and the quad should weight around 440 grams with battery / 300 grams without battery. With all the features that the F4 Pro FC brings, I think it's a steal.
What do you think?
As the title says, I just finished the shopping list for my first quad build and gear (heard about FPV one week ago) and would like to know what you think of it, and whether I'm making any mistakes in my component choices. I apologize in advance, this will be quite a wall of text, as I'll try to explain why I chose each of these components.
The main goal of this build is to provide me with a decent learning quad at a budget price. Unfortunately I'm low on $$$, and the lowest the price is, the sooner I can get flying, and upgrade components progressively later on. Other goals of this build are: being a good learning quad obviously, so not overly powerful, a good efficiency (for now I favor flight time over performance I won't be able to harness), low weight (for more efficiency and weight room for batteries, and less crash impact), good crash resistance, some nice features (I'm a geek at heart) and finally, good upgradability to follow me along as I progress. And I think I got it nailed down! So here it is:
- Frame: Lisam LS-210. It's dirt cheap (14.99 USD), not overly heavy (100g), and should be reasonably crash-resistant with its 3mm CF bottom plate.
- FC: Omnibus F4 Pro V2. I didn't cheap out too much on this one. What a nice FC to start with. It has an F4, built-in barometer, OSD, 5V/3A BEC with LC filter, SD card slot for blackbox, current sensor... And for 22.20 USD on gearbest, who can complain? I'm pairing it with 5V FPV components (camera and VTX) to take advantage of the LC filter, and as an added bonus: I don't need a PDB \o/
- ESC: Racerstar 20A 4 in 1. Seems lighter (25g including cables) and cheaper (24.99 USD) than 4 separate 20A ESCs, it handles 4S, supports Dshot300, and should provide plenty of amp room with my motor/prop combo. Seems like an overall good beginner ESC.
- Motors: Racerstar BR2205 2300KV. Definitely not the best, but they're cheap (29.99 USD for the set of 4), and should produce enough power for a beginner. They go up to 4S.
- Props: Dalprop 5045 V2 Bullnose dual blade. Triple blades seem to be all the hype, but I'm really favoring efficiency and crash resistance over performance here. These props are 1.99 USD per set.
- Radio: iRangeX iRX-i6X with iR-A8S receiver (woohoo I wrote it correctly!) Less than 40 USD for a transmitter & receiver set! This clone of the FlySky FS-i6X supports up to 10 channels, has a gimbal resolution of 4096, and the receiver supports PPM & i-BUS and only weights 1.2 freaking grams! The only downside that I can see from my beginner's point of view is that the receiver only has one antenna. But it's cheap to replace once I've got the $$$.
- FPV camera: a cheap no-name 600TVL CMOS 170-degree 5V camera with builtin microphone. Yeah, I want sound with my FPV :-) It's dirt cheap (5.90 USD), super small and light, and will do the job until I buy a Runcam Split, which I can't reasonably afford right now. Oh and I seem to prefer wide angle cams, and this one is.
- VTX: Eachine ATX03. A 5V, 72-channel, switchable 0/25/50/200mW transmitter with audio input. It's 11.99 USD and weights only 3.5g. The provided antenna seems to be crap though, I'll probably have to replace it with a cloverleaf quite soon.
- FPV goggles: LS-008D. 40 channels, has DVR and dual antenna (don't know if it's real antenna diversity) for... 39.99 USD on gearbest! Can't beat that to get flying for cheap. It's only a 480x272 screen, but for this price, who cares? :-D
- Battery: ZOP Power 1800mAh 3S 65C (set of 2). Probably not 65C, probably not 1800mAh, but 26.99 USD for 2 batteries... You got a deal. I'm just hoping they won't burst into flames.
- Misc stuff: buzzer, XT60 connector with 12AWG wire, 2205 motor protections, 1000uF low-ESR 35V capacitor (to be soldered onto the ESC power input to reduce FPV interference and voltage spikes), a battery straps, battery anti-slip mat, 2-3-4S battery charger, anti-vibration screws for the FC and ESC, and some heatshrink and zip ties.
And... that's it! Thanks for reading it all :-)
According to my estimations, I should be up and flying for around 250 USD all-inclusive, around 135 USD for the quad alone (excluding radio RX & TX, batteries, battery charger and goggles), and the quad should weight around 440 grams with battery / 300 grams without battery. With all the features that the F4 Pro FC brings, I think it's a steal.
What do you think?