Betaflight defaults are AMAZING for most quads, TBH. I think all mine are on the default PIDs and filters and I've just changed the rates and throttle expo.
You're getting pretty good at rants. Been taking lessons from Bruce? 😁 My first bnf was the Eachine Qx65, so much fun. First fpv flight, it failsafed over a pool. Still have it. My first build was the Alienwhoop Zero. Just built the Grinderino 5", now that's a fun kwad. Happy flying everyone. 😎
My first quad was an Eachine Wizard 220 BNF. Everything after that was DIY. Now I’m married and have a daughter, and I’m glad I got through that learning DIY phase when I was single, otherwise I don’t think I’d put up with that headache again today haha. Quad building knowledge is super valuable, it’s worth learning FOR SURE.
I don't have bandos and only freestyle in the woods. So a loud beeper is pretty much mandatory for me. It's really hard finding a drone in bushes, tall grass, or lots of trees. By the way, your videos have always been really fun to watch. I love the old ones and the new ones. If there's anything I can do to help with your bike packing, please let me know. Bama
I say get a bind n fly, break it,learn to build by rebuilding something well built instead of figuring it out. Hard to know what a good quad flies like if your only experience is your first shitty build
100%, its so much easier to deal with a few component at a time from a known good point than doing all at once. Also between upgrades and fixes you'll quickly replace all the components in no time.
I agree, although its different for different people. For some people, the designing and building is the part they relish. My first quad I started with a clean sheet of paper, designed and 3D printed a 10-inch frame and got it to fly. I had a lot of fun doing it. I already knew how to solder and do basic electronics, so none of that was a challenge for me. I learned why frames are usually carbon fiber, and eventually I got fed up breaking arms and bought a BNF. I've since built 3 others from scratch and have plans for a 7-inch and an 8-inch octocopter. One thing I learned along the way is that picking the right set of matched components is hard. I made mistakes and wasted money. One of the reasons I got the BNF was exactly because I wanted a known-good reference model, so I completely agree that is a great way to get started if the objective is to just get flying.
This is my experience, I had to replace a FC on my 3.5" after a tiny bit of metal shorted a component, and replaced it with one from a 2" BNF that I had to swap the motors on. I do plan on building a 5" with the VTC from my 2" eventually, though.
I’m right here too. My first quad sucked balls and eventually I just needed something reliable and got a BnF to have a backup at races. My god the amount I learned by seeing everything actually soldered and mounted nicely was unreal. So many things you just can’t get on RU-vid and frankly most quads I see at races are fucked up enough to not really be great examples either
This is propaganda. Get the BNF with a beeper and a gps. First thing first is swapping the stock gps module to a remote id module w/gps & getting that proud new baby registered. Then if you wanna fly more than 25mw go sign up at your local church/police station for your technicians ham license. And just to be safe only fly at multiGP fria's after graciously donating to the AMA gods.
I agree with you completely. I started with a tiny whoop and i built it myself. I learnt soldering on that one tiny F3 AIO whoop board with trembling hands and coz it’s so tough to solder them I eventually mastered the technique and can now solder anything, even delicate jewelry.
I got a BNF to get into flying, Nazgul 5 V3 6s, which seems like one of the good ones, based on some reviews, but I still want to get into building my own one some day. Putting in work to make something and learn those skills etc is awesome to me.
I thought that was a pretty well-balanced take. There is no FPV "community" where I live, I have taught myself everything from scratch. My first quad was a 10-inch with a 3D printed frame. I learned HEAPS from doing that, and the thrill of having something you designed in cad actually take off and fly was a real buzz, but 30 seconds later it failsafed and fell out of the sky, breaking all 4 arms. I fixed and broke it many times and it became an exercise in frustration. So I bought a HappyModel CRUX35 bnf. That's how I discovered ELRS. However, the CRUX 35 managed a hover test 1m off the ground, then the next time I armed it, it let the smoke out. So I sent that back and got a Diatone Roma F5 PNP (I added the ELRS receiver). I'm still flying that quad today, 4 years later, and it has been through a bunch of arms and motors. I'm an engineer in my day job so fixing a quad is not a challenge for me. In the last 4 years I have built a 65mm whoop and two additional 5-inch quads. I'm at the point now where I have enough building experience that I'm starting to be able to compare and contrast motors and stacks and form opinions about what works for me. Everyone's story is different, just follow what speaks to you. It is OK to buy a BNF or to build your own, just have fun and find your own way.
Nowadays I feel you should get a true 65mm whoop bnf to start. But build as much as you can after that. Tye first whoops weren't really Bnf. We still had to take the inductrix and figure a way out to mount a aio cam and solder that on, or use a clean flight micro brushless fc on an inductrix frame for us frsky users. But overall I think the joy of the hobby is finding the parts you like and getting comfy with them and tearing it up.
soldering tip(s): clean your iron every time you pick it up, and leave the tip loaded with solder when you set it down/turn it off, it'll keep your tip from oxidizing as fast also: get some tip restorer(it's mildly corrosive so use it sparingly, but its still better than sand paper), and never try to clean your iron with flux also also: get a flux pen, it might not be as "professional" as a puck of flux, but at least you'll end up using it also III revenge of the also: don't use steel wool to clean your iron, the tip of your iron is plated in a thin coat of steel, and steel is as hard as steel, use brass wool it is soft, and doesn't hold onto solder as well as copper, and thus will clog up slower, wet sponges are also an option a l s o: get a ts101, or a pinecil, or some other small high powered soldering pen with the 2 buttons and tiny screen they all seem to have, they are leagues better than the heated sticks they sell at hardware stores, and they heat up faster, and have more watts than that one outdated hakko soldering station everybody seems to love for some reason
I don’t have gps on my 5” quads but I am a big fan of the Vifly or Flywoo self powered beepers. Comes in handy when you slam into a tree and eject your battery. Save me a couple times.
My first qwad was a Astro X with a custom 3D printed canopy, betaflight F3 FC and cobra esc with cobra 2205/2600kv running xm frsky. It was a beast for the day but so out dated now but she still gets a bit of air time. Learn to build its worth it and its rewarding.
I recommend Tiny Whoops even to beginners who have a 5 inch because of one reason that seams to be forgotten most of the times: You can fly a whoop whenever, where ever. You waiting on a call? Whoop! You're having your lunch break? Whoop! You on your dog walk? Whoop! You get so much more stick time with a whoop instead of having to pack your bag, take the car, go to a bandy or flied, hope there arent any Karens around and so on.
Tinywhoops also mean that you can fly almost anywhere and not really bother anyone. My Fractal 65 build has taken a lot of bashes and mostly just needed a prop replaced. My Grinderino build survived an accidental disarm fall straight flat down on to concrete and flipped. Quick checks and flying again. Also a smack into a goal post top bar. I flew it back to me.
I've done both! Started building etc.. b n f's have come along way! But building Is a good thing to learn! Now I just wanna get a quad/drone and go fly! Fly what u love! Love what u fly!
Just from the start. I was 14 when I built my first 5", I did it myself without the help of anyone except the internet (and I also didn't really ask people online, I was just doing my own research (it was 5 years ago)) I don't get why anyone would start with BNF, its just so annoying, that people are asking how to solder their receivers when this information can be acquired in seconds from a quick google search (or whatever search engine you are using). What I want to say, is that fpv is not only about flying, but you should also know your shit.
I can solder and would love to build my own quad, but couldn't argue with the price and specs of a popular bind and fly. I've been upgrading it slowly and it's been great. As soon as I have some spare cash I'll build a kick ass DIY.
I have to agree with you, it sucked when i had to repair my BNF drone, because i had no idea what im doing and fortunatelly i didnt burn anything. But i have to say, my first drone (Nazghul5 V2) survived some nasty crashed and i still fly with it to this day, i have it for over 4 years and i replaced 1 motor and a reciever.
Hey Bot, just wanted to give you a big thanks bro. Big inspiration. But I definitely agree. Grabbed a grinderino and demibot and built them up and realized i got in over my head. Grabbed a mob7 when i realized i could kill someone or myself, and now im ripping everyday with my 3.5 and 5". Ive only been at this shit since July.
Y'know, i agree with 99% of this. Well done! I started out with a goddamn 3d printed 5" haha! I would urge everyone to know what goes into their quad (tuning wise) though, as you can easily unlock a WAY better flying quad with just a few settings! :)
When i first started. I immediatly got a fatshark HDO2 and a taranis with crossfire. found a 5" full build kit on getfpv, and a friend who introduced me to the hobby. Then found the newbeedrone when the first went to brushless motors, that's now my daily qwad. In short... Find yourself a friend nearby in the hobby. You expand your flight arsenal by alot when you use the same gear 😅 But yes, sim and tinywhoop are cheapest ways in, and making it easy for beginers to forum or bardwell their upgrades and fixes
I agree with Bot, here. You can overcome a lot of bad traits that your quad may be exhibiting, such as bounce back on snap rolls, by simply lessoning your defection on the stick at the end of a flip, then increasing it at the very end. That will make your motors have to change speeds and get you more in sync with the timing of your video and quad. I never do more than a basic tune on my quads and I never fool with the filters because I know I'm a "cheap bastard" and I HATE spending money when I don't absolutely need to. My motors are dinged up to hell and most of my props are missing the tips. But I refuse to get rid of the props because that's 4 bucks that I could spend elsewhere, like light bills, and house notes. You can look at most of my videos, only a small portion use HD footage with smoothing. The rest are raw DVR because I like to save weight by eliminating the HD cam. Analytics, show that most people watch my videos on their phone, so the extra resolution means Jack and shit, and jack left the building. While there are flight "flaws" in my footage, the rest of the footage is not smooth because of a superior tune, but pure pilot skills because I've been flying the same setup for two or more years straight without a single unnecessary change.
100% agree, just get out there and fly, starting to see heaps of new channels with "you should fpv this" then they cut to their flying... and it's shit 😢. Love your work Bot
The ability to fix what I break is 110% responsible for my willing to "go balls out". I'm unstoppable on my nazgul frame (with every component replaced over time)... On my mavic I'm still positive I'm always just about to lose $500.
I will say my nazgul has lasted me years and for the majority of that time it started as a bind and fly so at least with my experience it has been a good one to go to if any bnf
all good points except for the recommendation to avoid getting a gps on 5 inch freestyle quads. they can save your drone from falling out of the sky and into a tree due to rx loss, small cost for a big save
I have a flywoo aio on my grinderino and if it sets for one minute it starts using the esc as a beeper, with the led on the motor wires that means I have lights and sounds to find my baby on the roof.
The joint went well :D Solid material for newbies ;) No point in going the beaten path. Let's check what works for us. And as you say. Let's not listen to influencers who only fly over clearings ;) Unless someone likes flying that way :D Tear it up!!!
It was easier for me to get a crappie bnf than I learned how to repair it. It was easier for me to be able to see where everything went. If I take something apart, it's easier for me. I did get an awful bnf that drone camps suggested said it was the best. 😆
i have the Nazgulv2 and is solid. I run a 45 degree angle, that means crashing is hard, i break an arm every six months and the ESC has been with me for one year and eight months. Some BNF can be bashers.
Great vid bro!! I wish I would have had someone give me this speech when I started cause damn I had to learn everything the hard way which transitions to $ but either way I found my own way to flow I guess... 🤔🙃🤣
Dude.. i'll be short.... Do what you love to do! We'll support you in the way we can! Here is one "like" for you ;) PS: I start watching your chanell when you have 6k subcribers, now you have 50k. BRAVO
I am getting bs in CompSci. Building my own drone got me interested in Computer Engineering, embedded systems, microcontrollers, etc., so that's what I'll do for my master's. I have 6 customs and 4 BnFs. But the BnFs are pretty much frankenstein'd so they're pretty much customs too. I went into the hobby not knowing how to repair. Bought a evoque like most people and crashed it into a snow bank. One of the motors was cooked and I tried to repair it myself and screwed it all up. Learning to build your own is very important and can save you 100s of dollars
I had nobody to help me and had to learn completely from RU-vid in a city full of people who fly. Anybody who I reached out to, wanted to charge me money to teach me/fly with me/just give some irl pointers… Now that I’ve learned how to fly pretty ok… and offer to teach other people for free, nobody ever wants to learn. (probably because of my creepy little eyes) There’s were so many nights where the simplest problems kept me awake. I didn’t know the difference between my receiver and my VTX in the beginning. But it was all worth it. If you really want this, it’s all worth it.
Way to psy-op EVERY thought in my head… as I stare at the bind and fly still with its shiny stickers on the arms… too afraid to charge the 6S and see it fail… fail… fukc it this is encouragement… Thanks Bot, though agreed Botgrinder is a cop. Influx of gear supported by the “Benevolence Fund For a Sunnier Philadelphia”
Great advice, but I have one thing I disagree with, I do like having a GPS on my freestyle! but I don't do it the normal way, I like having the coordinates going across the top of my screen just in case I got to go looking and i always put a beeper by camera so i can beep at people when flying by, but the gps is mainly cuz I like having the speedometer just cuz it's cool imo. The way I mount my GPS is that I put it on top the arm out near the motor. I first wrap the arm and motor wires with copper guitar sheilding tape to prevent interference, then i use a piece of nano to stick tape the gps on top that adds some shock dampening so you dont crack the ceramic antenna, i place about 3/4 of an inch away from the motor where the prop won't hit it when it gets bent over. Then I wrap the arm up in my bright colored hockey stick tape which us super abrasion resistant. By the way before hand I also wrap the GPS wires with the shielding tape and then shrink tube over that to keep the motor wires from causing interference. If you do it right you can actually push the motor wires towards the front of the arm so the GPS sits at an angle facing slightly to the back so it faces up while cruzing and it works perfectly there! Been doing that for several years now. modern 10 gps work better then the old 8s for sure, I busted Demibots all the time due to the badly designed rear plate and lack if standoffs that flexes the rear plate and destroys your vtx, ummagawd acknowledged the issue but never made a simple fix which is why I buy the clone frame and use real Demibot arms and front bottom olate, doing this is far more durable!!!... and I've never damaged a gps having it on an arm like that!!! The original one I put on my first Demi bot is still working and that went through several rear plates before I figure it out how to do a better frame! And my favorite gps is a BZ-121 for $9, I believe it's the same Nano GPS that several other companies sell for $20
By the way Grinder, you really should buy one of the clone frames and compare the design, they made improvements in the design but the carbon fiber is no where near as good! Umma really needs to clone their clone and fix his design flaws!!! It's been over a year and he hasn't done it.... Crossing my fingers for a v2
Kinda like how itsfpv has made a better apex, 😂, you might want to add a front pod like that out the front for a moonlight so there is no need to smash GoPros, especially if you can do a moonlight GT kit!!!! We need a real basher frame for that! It would be a game changer! Id guess the Roto-Rooter guys are probably working on a tanker version of that now.....
My ultimate frame would be a demibot cuz i love the center key system, with the fpvcycle style peice sign arm tips instead if the crown, 1mm wider arms, a thicker narrowed itsfpv era front end for the pod that takes the moonlight camera that gets a bit out front if the props so you don't have to have that heavy ass gopro, the weight will be lower without it even though the frame is around 200g. Then the back needs to accommodate the GT kit that has the fan possibly even accommodate the new crazy akk vtxs, I think having a camera out the front a little more will even out the weight of a bigger VTX system. But if you have seen the it's fpv era frame in person that camera pod is insane!!! All these basher frames need to incorporate that right now!!!
Sorry I know you get upset do to the clone issue and you're stuck on the Hdzero, butt walksnail is the future as if now, it's so much better than anything else overall due to the versatility. It's the only 2.5 Watt system, the latency is in the Middle, but offers the option of race mode, probably has the best fpv recorded video quality. And it has smaller VTX options. Just the best all around option 100%. Hdzero sucks because because they don't record on board recording so footage is useless to the photography guys, I went with walksnail although I still fly analog more than anything, my original Demibot that has the original arms and original front plate and original atack, rx, and camera is analog. Unfortunately I've gone through several VTX and frame parts due to the major design flaw. The Demi bot will break the rear plate even if you don't crash it eventually because of the weight of the battery flexes the rear plate constantly since the top plate isn't supported properly.....
You're not going to last long in the hobby unless you learn to repair or have extremely deep pockets. However, building is quite a time commitment so I'd understand there are people who just want to buy BNFs and do the odd bit of repair work. Personally, I enjoy the building as much as the flying. I get a real buzz out of flying something I put together myself.
I bought a tinyhawk 2 freestyle bnf to start out with because I bought a broke tinyhawk 2 from someone with a good controller and goggles. I'm having vtx issues though. I've tried everything. When I first turn it on the video feed shows till it fully powers up then it flickers real fast.
I don't find it a binary decision. I build and buy bind and fly's. If I see a BnF I like, I buy it. It sits right next to the BotGrinder grinderino I'm taking forever to build, and the JB 5" DIY kit "mostly done" :)
I started with bind and fly, and glad I did, it allow me to find out I really enjoy FPV. I would hate to build an 5” FPV and then find out flying board me. My buddy purchased tons of FPV shit and found flying was not for him, good for me got some great deals. Soldering guns frames motors escs on and on. 2k of stuff for 400 bucks. Point being FPV will have different effect on each other.
soldering isnt hard. if your solder doesnt melt quickly, its not hot enough and iron needs replaced. put a little solder on the pad and the wire tip, touch them together then add heat, when it melts remove heat, give it 5 or 6 seconds to cool down then tug the wire, if its ok leave it. learn the little trick of swiping a few pads, when youve put too much solder on the pad and it spreads to the ones near it? just swipe across, the solder will stay or move to the pads and split up naturally. thee end. well, use needle nose pliers to hold the wire, its gonna be hot and its best to have the wire soldered in the angle or direction its gonna be staying in. oh and silicone conformal caot all of your solder work lightly.
Good video, I would just add this. Rather than be a hacker you need to be more of a troubleshooter and pay close attention to detail, I think its important to understand why things work the way they do. This requires some homework, you need to read up on your components and learn/relearn why components do what they do. Here is an example of what I mean. A few weeks back I was building a simple Tiny Whoop with HD Zero. I had mistakenly soldered the HD Zero connections to the wrong UART, in this case UART 1. I thought I had soldered it to UART 2. UART 1 was being used by the flight controller. So when I plugged into Betaflight ran my setup everything seemed fine until I plugged the battery in. This caused the RX-Failsafe flag, however I didn't notice the flag because I would leave the battery unplugged through out the setup until the Motors tab, because I didn't want things to get to hot. Hmm why wont my quad arm? After some troubleshooting, I found that it was the fact that I soldered HD Zero to the wrong UART by mistake causing a conflict. Just my 2 cents that is all.
I've been flying for about two weeks, started with a sim and a BetaFPV Air65, and I'm loving it. I'm building my next drone and torn between a 3/3.5” and a 5”. I can already do basic tricks and have good throttle control, but 5” might be too fast. Then again, 5” seems to be the most versatile platform no contest. If I build a 5”, I’m using the Demigod and your motors because you’re not full of shit and you’re right- it needs to take hits and have some survivability. Is the Grinderino as strong for 3" as the Demigod is for 5"?
Build my first 5 inch, got a solo max vtx thats too huge for the frame, the fc (was used) didnt worked now i soldered the new vtx to 9v instead of 5v.. now the esc dont work.. my fc dont get power now.. aaaaah 😂 i build this thing since nearly 1 year so the soldering goes from "never soldered before" to perfect.. I never buy used stuff again 😂 but i love building.. now im flying my cinebot 30 and my selfmade babytooth :D but damn i want my 5inch flying😂😂
I really don't care if people learn how to do their own stuff cuz I would rather them come to me and pay me to do it for them. Possibly start a gang, ya dig
A better way to not lose your quad than a beeper: KNOW WHERE YOUR QUAD IS FLYING AT ALL TIMES. This doesn't mean you have to have intimate knowledge of the exact spot your quad is in for every single second you are flying. It means that if you know the part of the area you're currently flying in, your search area is much more limited. Also, using goggle dvr is another layer of protection to help you identify the area you went down in. Using these 2 methods alone, I have not lost 1 quad in almost 10 years of flying at every different environment fpv pilots are known for flying. I have flown everything from tiny whoops to x class racers. Common sense is an fpv pilot's best friend.
Best advice ever!!! Don't buy a Walmart skate board!! Words I preached to my kids!! Even if you suck get decent stuff... it makes life easier. Right tools for the right job!
