Rare Top Mounted Micro Drone // $129 // DarWinFPV TinyApe 

Lol. as soon as I said it. I thought "have I been for getting to measure mtm"?

Im interested in the Baby Ape frame for a custom build. Was it the Caddx Ant camera with which you managed to get the tilt adjusted to the higher angle?

@@yohfpv I used the included Runcam camera but rearranged the wires behind it to get fully adjustable tilt. Nothing complicated, they just did a crap job with the camera wiring. All else is jam up.

While not a good experience. I appreciate you taking the time to leave your experience and thoughts as well. Valuable information for those willing to do read. About the only way to really turn off the vtx is to put it into pit mode, if the vtx has pit mode as not all do. We can assign that to a switch in the modes tab. Otherwise we can put it in low power disarm which is on the vtx tab of betaflight app. This doesn't turn it off but keep it at low power until we arm. The next alternative is to de solder power from the board, which is a pain and a bit of an extreme step.

@@NickBurnsFPV The real question is who makes the best 1103 8000kv replacement motors as far as durability goes. I really like the quad otherwise. It seems to fly similar to the TH2 with the Avian Rush props and a little throttle limiting for my younger daughter, older daughter prefers the more slippery feel of the Gemfans.

@@halledwardb That is a good question. For durability I would suggest brotherhobby or rcinpower. I would start with rcinpower.

Maybe try naked on the hd components?

@@NickBurnsFPV yah haven’t on the vista yet. I fly this style too hard the crashes into the top of trees makes me a bit nervous. The runcam split hd lite gets close but it reduces durability too much. I’ll get there i’m sure eventually.

Nick I don't know if this is on of those scam responses, plus I win nothing lol

Interesting that they show the board alone with ELRS v2. Maybe they have updated since mine was sent out. I have had it for a good while.

@@NickBurnsFPV good point nick maybe so because I really like these little quads they really rip and it looks like the power to weight ratio is pretty good I didn't see any issues when you were ripping ✌🏽

They've updated it by now. It ships with BF4.3 and ELRS2.0.

@@FerralVideo man my mobula7 1s gyro was bricked I'm scared to mess with another aio elrs board lol

That’s exactly why I’m giving them a shot. Same thing happened to my TH2FS.

Those TH2FS are tough. My daughter FPVed one almost full throttle in the grass, no damage, from 30 feet up. It had rained a day ago so it was somewhat soft. She got up a bit high, and got caught in the wind.

Elrs, price, vtx are all enough for me to give this a try. China, ship my zorro someday. Please soon now thanks!

I pulled the trigger. Pretty excited.

@@halledwardb I found the frame quite robust, but the fc is kinda flimsy. And with it being proprietary, it’s a pain to replace.

oh shoot. Maybe it will reveal itself one day. From time to time we hear about long lost drones being found.

But with that they state the motors will burn on 3s.

sorry can you clarify which you upgraded?

@@NickBurnsFPV I upgraded the flight controller aio on rhe tinyhawk to a happymodel x12 elrs aio that supports 2s, it had an integrated 400mW vtx. Had to do a bit of drilling on rhe frame ro make it fit tho.

@@leonardterlevic4765 ah I understand better now. Thank you

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

@@ricardoferreira2811 Cheers my friend!

I find that if I high volt charge multi cell batteries they don’t last as long. And when they hit that mark they fall off dramatically.

That’s pretty good shipping all things considered

I'm just trying to make sure I send this to the right place is it on RU-vid here or do I need to email you

that is a biggie. Let me know how it goes when it arrives.

Isn’t that only in bf 4.3? We will hopefully see the 4.3 final

@@NickBurnsFPV I've been using it on older BF firmware for a while - at least a year or so. Under the PID tuning tab, and Rate Profiles tab, there's a Throttle Limit box, I choose 'SCALE'; a Throttle Limit, up to 100%; a Throttle MID; and a Throttle Expo. Right now those last three numbers are set at 50% Limit, 76% MID, and 100% Expo, and my transmitter's throttle has a 90% Expo on _it._ Altogether this gives me a *huge* sweet spot mid-throttle when flying in Angle mode, with the added benefit of being very forgiving and smooth when ascending or descending.

@@billmcdonald4335 ah I must be mistaken. Kinda normal. Its nice the betaflight devs thought to include that as an easy option for us.

@@NickBurnsFPV I'm using 4.2.9, ATM. Started on 3.0.whatever. The devs have done wonders over the years. I fly a four-year-old platform, and I've got it handling like a modern-day cinewhoop. Smooth like buttah, thanks to the devs - and some great tuning advice from Chris Rosser, and Mark Spatz. And actually, your review of the OG KingKong ET100 is one of the reviews that sold me on it, so thanks, Nick! That's what I still fly - tho' it's the V2.

Yep that is what I am hearing a lot in this video 😁

Nice. Good information there, thank you

I think this might have gotten posted twice. Did I respond?

No, not in my opinion. The rocket race is a fair bit lighter, has better power to weight ratio

oh nice your kids fly. In house flying buddies.

I have not. I might be able to get it out this weekend if we get a break from the rains.

rotorbuilds build 28764

Yes, even DarwinFPV has had to raise prices, seems nothing can escape it these days.

howd it go? I plan to buy that same board for a 1s toothpick

@@sticky_ricebowl I thought I didnt care, but it turns out that I do.. the SPI based elrs is a pain now that 3.0 is out. Also, spi based elrs on this AIO is not compatible with vtx admin, the spi receiver restarts each time it connects until you arm because of the vtxAdmin sending change channel requests which write to the eeprom. It was also not a great choice for the AOS T3 frame with the usb port in a poor location. The quad doesnt fly great, not sure if its my poor tuning skills or the gyro. Also, cant use dynamic idle because the f411 processor isnt fast enough. Though maybe Im asking too much from a cheap AIO board like this?

This is the battery www.amazon.com/GAONENG-Battery-Doinker-Moskito-Quadcopter/dp/B098364VVM My primary charger is no longer sold. This is my secondary charger www.banggood.com/HTRC-T240-DUO-AC-150W-DC-240W-10A-Touch-Screen-Dual-Channel-Battery-Balance-Charger-Discharger-p-1669367.html?p=RZ29002443189201508J&cur_warehouse=CN&ID=47184

I don't believe so. I can look at it again. they show the board alone on the website as ELRS2. So maybe they have updated it now.

screw holes for the motors were to small? That is pretty strange, maybe we can ream the hole out with a carbon fiber or even just screw the screw through the carbon to ream it out a touch. 9mm x 9mm motor mounting should all use m2 screws. Hopefully the previous ideas help

@@NickBurnsFPV Screws are 1.5mm on this and the Baby Ape. Thanks

the baby ape pro has a better camera than this? neither are great cameras. Elrs is part of the AIO

@@NickBurnsFPV thx, i mixed the baby ape versions with the tinyape. If i order the tinyape elrs to austria, which link would be a better choice to prevent long shipping times....?

@@dsphotos If you have ordered from aliexpress before and are comfortable with that option, I would do that. I hear darwinfpv and banggood shipping is about the same to the US, 2-3 weeks. I find aliexpress orders arrive faster to me than banggood.

@@NickBurnsFPV thx a lot and congrats to the pool 😎👍

Ray I suspect the new quad is on elrs version 2 as they updated shortly after early shipments. Yes and kind of to your question. We should verify the Rx is set to crsfr on the configuration page of betaflight, and disable the spi Rx. I don’t recall what we have to do to disable the onboard spi Rx. Otherwise yes wire to Rx and tx pads and turn on that uart.

@@NickBurnsFPV Nick thanks for the quick reply. I did check the product page after posting that question and sure enough they did upgrade to ELRS V2. Do you have a video that has been done showing how to upgrade both the TX module and RX to the newer version. I was trying to avoid it due to the fact that like a dummy I installed V1 on between 6-8 new quads using the EP2 receivers. I have EdgeTX on a Jumper T18 Pro V2 radio and a Happy Model ES24TX module. I just purchased all of these sinc Christmas and am not looking forward to upgrading all of these quads. Oh well! Will I have to upgrade Betaflight on the FC as well?

I don’t have a video specific to elrs v2. The flashing process is pretty much the same but there are different options with v2. We will need to update the elrs app if we haven’t. If you use a binding phase that will eliminate the need to rebind on each of the quads you have but still gives us the option to bind to a Rx without a binding phrase

I am pretty sure it will not. there isn't space for the board and the camera won't fit either.

@@NickBurnsFPV ok thanks a lot for your attention...

the usb port is for connecting the flight controller to a computer. Then on the computer we use the configuration application called betaflight to do any needed setup, like binding, setting the radio switches to the quad flight modes as well as the rates we like to use or try.

@@NickBurnsFPV thank you, idk why I didn’t connect the dots

Yes the esc will handle that fine. I run that setup on 5amp esc all the time

This didn't come with a receiver, so if we get a receiver that is compatible with the lite 2 SE radio, yes.

No I don’t see it as a “fact” we can’t freestyle a bottom mount battery. I think in most cases we are freestyling. I would only declare anything other than freestyle when the object of the flight is to go through gates in a timed manner. I think freestyle most accurately describes a type of frame where the battery is on top. For the top 1% it likely matters if the battery is on top or bottom for their particular goals of flight but for most of us either is good.

@@NickBurnsFPV thanks Nick. I tried to fly both mounts. There's actually no difference. I do understand that for a 5" setup the bottom mount battery can be squeezed or clipped. For micros it's less of a risk.

@@jeffclassics There is a different flight feel, but for most of us its so minor it doesn't really matter. I am sure the pros would argue there is a huge difference, but thats the top 1% :)

In my orders and from what I have heard from others most aliexpress orders arrive in about 2-3 weeks. Also aliexpress seems to be less impacted by covid lockdowns than ordering from places like banggood or darwinfpv.com

It has the wobble out of the box or after some flights it developed the wobbles?

@@NickBurnsFPV both the ananalog, and walksnail were unstable

@@andreastornesel8404 I see you have a video on the tinyape walksnail on your channel. I do see a bit of a bobble. Was there much wind? What size of battery. Also check that the receiver values in betaflight are steady and not bouncing around.

@@NickBurnsFPV I fly both 450mAh and 550mAh, it is a bit better with 450.i need to learn betaflight and some basic tuning. Both my alnalog and Walksnail version behaves the same and I have changed the settings, I don't think it's beacuse i'm a beginner and doesn't fly well

@@andreastornesel8404 maybe turn the master slider down a notch and test it again. I say this as if its better with a smaller battery then the P is likely a touch high for the overal weight.

Several have made a similar comparison

Damnit.

It’s €190,- with the Runcam Thumb included. €129,- without the Thumb

yes, seems as though banggood is only carrying the quad with the thumb camera. We can get the quad alone from darwinfpv.com or aliexpress.com

@@bertbeinaaf8314 yes thank you! I am happy again.

Cheers, I should have read the whole page! The link opened straight to the $190 version.

Was that shipping time to the US? From banggood or Darwinfpv? Have a chance to fly it?

@@NickBurnsFPV Yeah it was from the the US, Darwin. Haven't had a chance to fly it yet but will do so this week end. Will report when I do.

Don't we all, when we are just out having fun? Kinda poking fun at "freestyle" meaning top mount battery. :)

Yes. To update we have to flash betaflight to a more recent version. The elrs version firmware is baked into betaflight.

@@NickBurnsFPV cool i can't wait for them to arrive i have the tiny ape and i love it. I'm a micro drone flyer myself. Sub 3in

@@devilsreject78 It may already have elrs v2 on it. I see on their website the stand alone AIO they show version 2 on it. Fingers crossed. If you do have to update betaflight to get elrs v2 take a cli diff and dump backup.

be carefull on 3s. I worry the motors won't hold out. Aren't the lock downs city by city?

@@NickBurnsFPV that could be the case. Well, if it ever comes in, I'll post if and when I fry those motors haha.

@@yarbsfpv I will keep my fingers crossed for you :)

Wow, that is a really bad experience. By chance did you by direct from Darwinfpv and make contact with their support on these issues?

@@NickBurnsFPV no I bought them when they first came out and they sat for a year before I tried to use them.

@@luvmyhondasi oh okay. Thanks for that detail

dang, maybe it will arrive very soon. I hear most saying 2-3weeks from darwinfpv

@@NickBurnsFPV thank again eh buddy

throttle expo can soften the response of the throttle stick, but doesn't reduce the max throttle which is what we need when flying this on 3s.

@@NickBurnsFPV I have been watching Bardwells Betaflight tutorials...I think I figured it out, thx bro!

@@1stsquadrone810 He's got us covered doesn't he :) Big reason why I don't do to many tutorials. :)

Its a bit more fast and aggressive

A bit longer than what I have heard so far. Was this shipped to the US?

I have this board and 4.3.0 rc4 makes 2motors spin when controlling one in betaflight

The stock target on my board shows BETAFPVF4SX1280 in betaflight.

@@NickBurnsFPV I did find online one place where Matek was the target but I think that was previous, is yours the rc3 version?

I found a cli for this quad you are supposed to do after the update I will try it a report if it works!

It didn’t work! Not rc1-5, motors 2 and 3 still spin together when controlling either in betaflight. I’m kind of losing hope for this board so far it’s a disappointment!

I wonder if both issues are caused by a faulty esc. Either way it stinks to not get to enjoy our purchase.

@@NickBurnsFPV yeah I don't know, it's intermittent so I can't trust it ever

I haven’t looked at the larva recently. Has the price stayed down on that one?

@@NickBurnsFPV yeah it has mate, but they have made improvements over the years.

Yes pretty close to the phantom

@@NickBurnsFPV great to see you answering those comments! Keep up the great work Nick 👍🏻

@@pxsaber2177 Thank you. I do try and actually enjoy the commenting back and forth a great deal. I wish I had time to live stream so we could have more "conversations", work, and family keeps my hobby time to those gaps in the day or late at night when everyone else is asleep :)

The GNB 450s are very very similar sized. Also labeled HV

Yes we don’t want to abuse our batteries to much or their life is short

Looks like banggood is only carrying the package deal with the thumb camera. Darwinfpv.com has it without the thumb camera.

@@NickBurnsFPV thanks bud! Love your channel. Thanks for taking the time.

@@jmcintyre1202 Sure thing. I should have made mention of that in the video, but didn't know until after the video was recorded and edited. I appreciate the kind words. Thank you

@@NickBurnsFPV ordered from their website. Scored an ELRS AIO while I was at it!!

We used to several years ago

second time on this video I have had a similar comment about previous comment missing. I really can't say. I only remove spam/scam comments and those with cursing.

@@NickBurnsFPV never mind you know me as Jeremy De Ath my friend

@@MrDeathFPV ah, so many things to keep track of.

Just change the props and screws then you nerd. Tri props are great for performance.

What don't you like about tri blades? To me they feel more "grippy" in turns and they seem to have more grunt down low with less scream up top which suits my style.

@@fbfk997.2 they snap, said that already... Lol

@@american7169 lol yes but it made no sense as the brand would matter more than 2 or 3 blades would. I’ve got a box of older dal t5045c cyclone tri blades that refuse to break. I literally chop through the small tree branches that used to make me crash.

I think there is a fair bit of assumption here. The claim I deleted your previous comment. I don't expect you to know, but the only comments I remove on this channel are the spam/scammers and those that curse. With that, I worked an overnight at my job last night and was sleeping when this video went live, and continued to be asleep up to two hours ago when two of our kids came home from school. No, I didn't delete your comment or any comments today. What may have happened is RU-vid and it processes removed your comment on submission. Maybe your comments have been flagged by other channels or RU-vid itself, or the language used automatically got the comment removed. You might be aware that all social media has been under pressure to control and or remove various negative activity. I did check the section RU-vid has for comments that are "held for review", which I didn't find a comment from this account in. I can't begin to know how one would think I am arrogant, I suspect that is an outlier as its probably the third time I have heard that or similar stated stated about me in the last five years. I don't hold any such comment against anyone, we all have moments, and we all have lives we are trying to live as best as we can.

​@@NickBurnsFPV Thank you for your reply. And I apologize if my comment was too strong. I too may have acted too quick on impulse, after seeing my comment, which I thought was valid removed. Fair? I am simply too honest when I post, and while I do know that the system does not allow certain language or opinions. I did not insult anyone, since my thoughts were with the use of logic in product design mainly and the name Dar***, but I can see how a comment like that would hit some funny bones depending on the form of reference, audience and agenda. I really do not know you personally, but I have watched your videos with interest and awe in how you have managed to fly inside your home with such precision something that requires a lot of time and skill. But sometimes we give a certain impression in the way we carry ourselves over these mediums, and I mean that both ways. It is a lot different and more realistic dealing with people face to face and I rather do that, but we live in this electronic world also and so it is hard to avoid communication thru it or sharing comments with an open mind and without too much criticism of having a person or platform feel insulted by it. If you honestly did not removed my comment personally, then I will have to simply take your word for it. I did say that I was not in favor of the front mounting of the camera for the reasons I explained, but also the name Dar*** and I gave my reasoning for it so there is no misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Perhaps they have software to detect comments that border on opinions with these names, which are prevalent in the Scientific Royal Academy, for which they hold high pedestals and very few question it, the system does not want others to hear anything but what is is thrown down peoples throats at nauseum, and with respect to this name, I do not believe we come from monkeys, is not an insult to anyone who feels and believes in evolution but an opinion based on tangible measurable data, that suggests that human kind were made by intelligent design form the start and monkeys are perhaps and after effect or manipulation of DNA from a logical point. But I am certain this is not the first time for such topic, so what is the big deal. I also said that the camera mounting on top of a micro quad is not so rare and I pointed to one of my designs as more rare since I designed it with a saddle mount for the batteries to locate on the sides of the quad, perhaps this is the real reason my comment was removed? We live in a world full of manipulative and controlling entities and software, and the things that are important are masked by things that are convenient to the platforms and overall the powers at large, not to mention those who go along supporting these models of operation and communication. All within reason is reasonable, but don't try to mask opinions that allow people to remove a bit of the veil and look at things logically. It was a lot more sincere the time of our parents and their parents when they dealt with people face to face or over the phone where you could at least see it in the eyes, or hear the expression or passion in the person's voic, in real time. I hope the system allows this response. Thank you. MIA

Hey Nick, I hardly ever post comments but reading this forces me to…. Don’t ever let this kind of message get at you… I’m sure you don’t need anybody to tell you (but sometimes it’s good to hear it anyway!), at least the character that I have (as everybody is different) I feel that you are one of the most honest, down to earth and “closest” reviewers/you tubers I have seen or watch regularly. The service you provide to this community is above and beyond and exposing your private life and opening yourself up to people being able to insult you (especially the way you have touched on personal aspects in other videos) I feel is a real sign of exactly the opposite of being arrogant.. you have your opinion which you openly share with us all and which I’m sure that the other 99.9% of us hugely appreciate and as you yourself say, “if we don’t agree we can still agree to be friends….” But people like this obviously don’t understand the extent that you are opening yourself up to criticism nor would they appreciate how much work really goes into making videos like you do so frequently. So, Nick, as I’m sure you do anyway, take no notice, it’s almost imposible to keep 100% of the people happy 100% of the time but it is something we all have to strive for!!!!! I work with the public too and unfortunately you do have to developer a “thick skin” to withstand certain people….. Keep up the good work and know that (almost) everybody does appreciate the time, effort and sacrifice that you put into sharing you opinions with us all (already knowing that not everybody will agree!!!!). To those who don’t agree with other people’s opinions, your opinions are equally as valid until you start insulting others, which is when you show your real worth and expose the fact that your own opinions aren’t really worth listening to anyway…… Sorry I’ve gone on a bit, and I hope I make sense, but I can’t just sit back and let something unfair pass by…. Again, thank you for everything, not just the videos nor your opinions, rather just you being you!!!! All the best, Chris

@@chrisschofield9767 Thank you Chris. I appreciate you taking the time and appreciate the kind words. I am thankful the large majority of my interactions with the community are so positive and fun, or at the very least even handed.