The best 3" motor no-one has heard of... 1404 Motor Testing! 

I'd love to see Flywoo NIN 1404 added to the list!

I would really loved to see rcinpower 1404 3850kv in this list too. Thank you for your great work again.

Great testing as always. The only thing I missed was for you to recommend using a lower pitch prop with the higher kV motors to reduce the flattening of the thrust curve. I think the HQ T3x2.5x3 could be a better fit for some of the motors.

I'm surprised to NOT have seen a Rcinpower, Mamba or Flywoo motor inclused in the test while some really obscure brands I never heard of were... Also, I take it as a 1404 class test rather than 3-inch motor test. 1404 (not to mention 1504 or1505) in my experience is way, way too heavy for a 3-inch build. I use 1404s on my 3.5 builds (130g dry weight digital toothpick) and I use 1204 or 1304 motors on my 3-inch analog toothpick builds (60 - 70g dry weight). Anyway - I hope this was a prelude to you, Chris, releasing your own 1404, which I very much look forward to - it will most likely be a replacement for my current Rcinpower on 3.5-inch builds, so long as you make it both a 4s (around 3800 - 4000kV) and a 3s (5000kV). 5000kV is a very interesting option, because, in my experience it performes phenomenally well both wit 3s and 4s (75 - 80% motor output)

Great Info. I really liked the summaries you added through out and at the end. For past videos all the info was there but when coming to my own conclusions I worried I could have missed something. Your additional thoughts were reassuring, and appreciated.

Keep up the great work really gives us great info and i think due to everyone want more and more info on certain fpv subjects these videos are invaluable

Brilliant review, thank you! Hope we get to see your motors and rcinpower sometime.

Thanks! Nice work

Great work there..Thank you!

Danke! you make always super content

Excellent testing and comparison, Chris! Thanks!!! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

as usual, GREAT job! :)

Great content as always. Cant wait for a whoop motor test.

I'm taking this advice and running with it. Skystars 1404 3800kv set just ordered for my upcoming Quadmula Djinn F25 build.

Great video! It would be cool to see torque curves comparison for the 5'' or 7'' motors.

Great video and very insightful content as always. Which motor would you recommend for your AOS 3.5 freestyle build? Do these findings change anything from your recommendations on your website?

The Tmotor F1404 4600kv is crazy. You are spot on. You need to tame this motor at low throttle.

This is gonna be INTERESTING

Man Chris. I wish I could hire you and a bunch of other RU-vidrs and YT Pilots for some R&D ideas. Great info. Thanks!

Hah MEPS... I am really happy you included those motors in this test.

Your review is on point, I was just looking for 1404 motor for my 3.5 build!) Two questions thou: 1. Since you make Supernovas with RCinpower, why haven't you included their 1404 SmooX motors in the test? 2. I need 3800kv for my build, should I get T-Motors with 4600kv and cap them, or should I simply get the 3800 version? Thanks!)

Great review. Recently all cheap options outperform top brands. Happymodel motors are cheap and I have been enjoying flying with them.

3:26 How can you precisely measure thrust, when ~50% of the area behind the propeller is blocked ? I can image it distorting results quite significantly, especially at higher throttle. Also I've tested most of available 3" propellers and the HQ 3x3x3 is one of the least efficient ones, tested on various motor sizes, KVs and AUWs.

Great test, I wished you would have testes one motor with a 4 inch prop. Like a few manufactures are doing, are they cutting corners to save weight (sub250g)?

Foxeer Datura 1404 is pretty okay too. Worth testing.

Xing2 1404 4600kv is great, would like to see in comparison to Tmotors.

Great. Test the 5 inch ultra light. Try rcinpower 2104 m2, it seems the best performance/efficiency on paper

After I crashed my 4 Diatone L4 last week it damaged 2 of the motors They are the Mamba1404. Trying to get replacements impossible. I came across this video and I can see how much time you have taken . I decided to go with the Happy model 1404 motors as I want longer flights and these seemed to be best choice. After taken delivery today from Hobbyrc, I am puzzled at there size. They are a lot smaller and my concerns after paying for these, they might struggle to fly my drone. The stators are a lot smaller and unless they have a more powerful magnets. Do i put these on my drone?

please test the newbeedrone flow motors! they got the 1404 too

in general id like to see you test out and try the XNova motors. The 1408 is great for 3.5 but my favorite is the 2808 for 7"

Would have liked so see the Flywoo NIN 1404. It has a decent flux ring. It reminded me of the AOS motor as a result. Thank you for testing on behalf of the community.

I've always had great results with t-motor.

You don't speak about it but for all high Kv motors that are flattening, shouldn't we select a more suitable prop (reduced pitch for example ?) Kv selection is not the only parameter. ENGINEERING QUESTION (good idea for testing/video?) Pursuing the goal of long range/best efficiency/lower power draw, is it better to : 1 - 4S battery, full throttle. 2 - 6S battery, same propeller, reduced throttle 3 - 4S battery, bigger diameter prop, reduced throttle. Motor/esc stay the same. Prop is chosen low pitch & have the best efficiency in 1rst case. Throttle is managed to get EXACTLY the same traction in the other cases. Interresting to know if esc frequency can change the result and maybe other parameters I don't see ? Many thanks in advance.

Thanks interesting test, also of interest to compare the internal resistance of the motors. I am pleased you added the efficiency of the motors at 50%. Interesting motors would also be the Sparkhobby Xspeed 1303.5 and the Geprc Speedx2 1303.5 3800kv, which both show high efficiency nrs. Personally I like to fly the less powerfull motors, on 4s light toothpicks, with light bi-blades prop. the HQ prop on my toothpick are absolutely inefficient. Gemfan hurican bi blade and 3 blade are much much better on light 3inch builds. Which is totalally different usage than on heavy racer or cinewhoop. So to pick the right motor for the application is still not obvious, there is a lot more constraints. So the happy model most efficient motor could be the best choice for the light tooth pick and driven with light gemfan bi-blade.

can you do one for 2inch cinewhoop motors? like 1204, 1303.5

Would love to see an updated 5" motor test. Curious to see how the Supernovas stand up to some other 2207. Please include Quadifier 2207 2111kv 6S motor. No one has any info on them. No specs to be found.

WHY WHY do you not go over durability and construction of the motor??? this is all great for people who are chasing 5% - 10% additional performance but the reality durability is a lot more important for 2024 its not 2016 any more shaft diameter is an extremely important spec specially on 1404, motor materials and construction, bearings, and motor weight, a super light weight motor while very good, can also mean it won't last beyond a single crash.

The skystars so cheap but shocking perfomance!!!! Bought immediately after this video

I like to see the 533 tiny trainer motors next time thanks.

The happymodel sounds awesome for flowy freestyle, isn’t it?

Chris, have the Crux35, 1404 / 3500 Kv motors light Weight very efficient, Q, about Crux35 3.5” Shit frame. this is the 3rd frame I broke on grass crashes. Can you recommend a lightweight durable 3 or 4” 4/5 Mm frame that’s better than the Crux35 Frame and can use the Crux35 20 x 20 stack / 1404 M etc. any ideas Bro?

Where can you find the sky stars in the US? All the USA based sites don’t sell them.

Perhaps I make a mistake but iflight xing 1504 3900kv doesn’t exist… 1504 is 3100kv.

Im n9t sure but some of those braking up are single bearing?

If you had to run a 50g naked gopro (flywoo v2.0) on a sub 250g freestyle quad, what would be your ideal setup? What motor, prop and battery size? I´d propably design my own frame:)

I have Mambe 1408is this some equivalent of t-motor ?

I wonder what the Diatone Mamba 1408 4100kv motor would look like in this chart. It's a crazy size for a 3" motor but it's what they had in the excellent GTR349 racing quad and I've been using motors that size for 3" racers ever since

I wonder when are we getting the supernova motor in this category

The further you go down in weight, the less these numbers really seem applicable. The 3” class flies so much better around 100g-150g as an ultralight platform.

Id loved to see t-motor 1604 motor. Wanted for 4" long range

Do these results vary depending on the ESC the motor is mated with?

How do the lower torque motors behave with a lesser aggressive people like a 3x1.8x3? Does the Power curve still bend down? How does one low torque motor behave with different props from 3x1.5x3 up to 3x4x3 ? Where is the sweet spot?

Would these motors so be suitable for a 3.5" sub250? Maybe the lower kv versions? Thanks

Skystars 1404 and it iss very good motors for my 3inch and 3.5inch Voladors

next 2inch motor 🎸

1:30 If I may suggest to sort the motors by kv error in order to emphasize which manufacturer is being honest and which one is going for the BS marketing

I luv my Skystar motors! I have almost every size and they are all some of the best economical motors you can get, i always wanted them in the other tests, Glad to see they did pretty well, i knew they would, i just wish the Motors were actually Matched up more, like why put 3800kv against a 3800kv, t-motor makes a 3800kv but chris uses a 4600kv... just Not really a fair match up, like the low kv are for a biblade 4inch or 6s... Why is everything all over the place?? might as well put a skystars koko 1505 3400kv in there on 6s that's going to destroy all those, lol

That's the prop i use. Damn not me running RCinPower 1207 5000kV on 3" 😂 🤣 🤣 🤣

That was a great test. But no RCinpower? These are usually regarded as one of the best.

Rcinpower do a good 1404 6s motor

What about 1604, 1804 or 2004?

Rcinpower?

Really sucks the xing 1504 was discontinued long ago...

Very nice in depth testing. Thank you so much! I am actually moving away from 1404 for 3”. I’m down to 1303.5 now. The lighter motor combined with almost the same power makes a good pop when you throttle up and a good amount of control. Obviously that would not be as good for cruising.

No foxeer datura?

I'm a little confused why two 4500KV motors are considered "too high KV" but then the highest recommended one is 4600KV, did I miss something?

Hate T mount… 😢 3.’mm shaft… 😊

Everything points towards the T-Motor F1404 3800KV to be a great motor, if you ever decide to add more it should definitely be on that list to compare 2 different KV of a motor. Also sad that the P1604 didn't make the slightly-larger list, it seems to be the perfect compromise for 250g AUW freestyle if you take care to save some weight in other places.

Why test most motors at 3500ish kv but then test t-motors and others at 4500ish?

i have a boxset of 1404 tmotor i was gonna give away in a give away

Conspicuously missing is the Flywoo NIN 1404? It would be one of the most popular motors out there since it comes on the Explorer? How is it possible that this test would not include that motor??

Emax 1404’s are pitiful. I have 1507’s now.

Chris, stop using similar shade colours for a graph! Use numbers or vastly different color shades.

betafpv 1404 has crap bearings. like most 1404 cause of size constraints and weight imperative