Top mount VS Bottom mount battery +FULL quad giveaway! 

Thanks everyone who commented, I literally went thru every comment below and checked out all the pages. Many deserving guys but only one quad to give out. Congrats to Michael Chambers hope it treats you well!

I’m going to give the video about 1-2 weeks before choosing the winner! I’ll reply to your comment asking for some contact info if you win

Love it, man. Been flying for about two years now, just discovered racing, and was digging through spare parts the other day to do the exact same tests for myself. Keep at it - this is good content.

OK. just got done testing all day between my top and bottom mounted quads. I upped my rc rate and super rates on the bottom mount. I was able to tune my bottom mount quad like my top mount. With all the video's I watched on this, no one mentioned to up the rate of the bottom mount to counter this effect. Thank you so much for this. I am going to stick with bottom mount from now on. Thank you so much for making this video!!!!!

Here’s a novice opinion of what you’ve said. ... The quad flies with less pendulum effect when the battery is at the top. If you’re used to that then it’s more natural and more balanced. Considering the prop is at the top of the motor, and the battery is at the TOP of the TOP plate, if you measured the middle of the battery (ie it’s centre of mass) you’d probably find it’s closer to the prop line than if the battery is at the bottom. The fact that you’re a pro flier and so obviously (and enviously) skilled means the out of balance centre of mass being further below the prop line gives a whip/pendulum effect and you can control that whip effect to propel you round corners like a rally car uses the pendulum effect to get round a bend. For beginners like me, if I tried that I’d probably fly more controlled and therefore less over shoot and faster with a top mount. But I don’t have a TOP and bottom mount option on my drones. I’d love to have one where I could test it. You’d make my day if I won a quad with that option.

This video explains top vs bottom in a amazing way. In the end top vs bottom is different for each person. So this frame offers the great ability that everyone can directly test this. On the same plattform, so its no other distractions. Man I'd love to feel the difference myself.

These little FPV drones have inspired me to shoot for my dreams and become a fighter pilot in the USAF, almost there! Nothing hits my passion like seeing people like you fly them or flying them myself. Coolest stuff ever.

Hey man we met at the International Open when you blew everyone's doors off, so excited I happened upon your channel. Hope to see you there this year!

I believe that if you remotely Mount the batteries individual cells one on each wings arm between the motor and the center of the frame will give you a much better CG flight characteristics input output response by doing this you can also mounted on the bottom side

This is my long awaited comparison about the battery placement which like. I really could benefit from this quad build. I have a dji drone, but people always tell me to get a real racing drone. I joined drone racing Facebook group around me and watching they have a regular meeting for fun each month, I felt like I was left behind.

Awesome info, I just started flying drones and spend a lot of time online researching and trying to learn all I can about the sport. Thank you for the information. Folks like you that are putting out great information online about the sport are helping newbies like my self learn and become passionate about drones. Thank you!

I could not see much difference in the handling but it did seem like you flew faster with the underslung battery. I have found that for freestyle, the top mount is preferred so that you can do things like sliding down a slide at the playground or land on top of a moving vehicle. But for racing I prefer underslung battery config, the quad does tend to land right side up more often in a crash so you can hopefully resume racing and if the battery strap fails, you can continue flying with the battery just dangling from underneath. Additionally the underslung battery does not ever interfere with your props, I have never broken a balance connector or chopped a battery cable when underslung but have done both frequently with top mount unless I use 2 straps.

First time on your channels but not the last. You're so fast I never you will be faster with the bottom mounting.... Keep doing your fantastic.

Great footage to compare! Looks like it flies smooth as well. Your "spare parts" will bring someone's skill to the next level, thanks for the chance!

Really like how you explained the difference in how it felt to have Top Mountain a bottom mount battery I've only flown smaller quads two and a half and 3-inch for about the past 6 months and they've all been bottom mount batteries now that my younger son's getting involved in flying as well I think it's time to hand over my Little King Kong 115 to him and get something a little bit bigger and faster for myself thanks for the information on the video and great flying

Good comparison! I like the simulated crash tests by just tossing it. I've got a couple lower end quads, where personally I prefer to have the bottom mount battery

Great video. I'm still a new pilot and working on what frame setup feels most comfortable. As soon as the weather gets better I am definitely going to try top and bottom mounts. Nice frame by the way

I was waiting for so long for somebody to make a video about this topic. Thanks man!

Great video. Never really thought about the effects of different battery mounting before.

I think it’s Awesome that your helping alot of us pilots who are starting out not many give out info but thank you I was struggling on top or bottom mounting thank you 😊

Good stuff. Basically listed all the reasons like top mount for freestyle. I really dislike the quad getting pulled around when a snap a turn. Most of my turns are smooth, so when then batteries pulls the quad around if I need to be snappy it's just not something i'm used to. Top mount keeps me from bottoming out on my battery and keeps things smooooooooooth. but there are so many cool frames out there for bottom mount!

I started flying top mount batteries with my freestyle frames, then when I started racing I tried to switch to a bottom mount battery and it was way too foreign to me, it was that sling shot feeling that I couldn't get used to, so this year I'm sticking to top mount

Thanks for your video. I think it comes down to personal preference, go for whatever feels right on the sticks or gives you faster times. Of course, not many frames allow for testing both, top and bottom mount. To get fast consistency in setup is the key for me.

This is awesome! Finally a video that talks thoroughly about top or bottom mounted batteries. Looking to get a racing frame or even a racing drone! This would be cool to try out if I won!

Gotta love science! Good video, I never really thought about the physical difference there might be between the two. The more you know. I would love to try a top mount (and bottom) with that quad!

Thanks for this video. It just popped up in my feed and I really liked the comparison, as this is something I've been wondering about. I am just getting started with a cheap bottom mount quad and it's interesting to see these differences and how it effects flight. Thanks for a unique video!

Thanks for the opinion, I might try too mount someday :) . A quad like this would be nice, you always need an extra backup in a race ;)

That is a very interesting video. I have been flying both bottom and top mount on my floss 2. But im not experienced enough to feel the difference. Nice to hear some one who knows what they are talking about on the subject

I tried top and bottom mount on the Floss2 and whilst I think it flew slightly better (smoother) with the top mounted battery I settled on bottom mounted because I damaged too many batteries no matter how hard I tried not to. I now fly the Merica and couldn't be happier

I am practicing some racing and I wish I could have that kind of a light quad to rip on the track.. Never had a light quad and usually fly bottom mount for better recovery on tall grasses.. Good Luck for the Lucky winner..

Always interested in what you bring to video for us Gabby! As far as battery placement goes, IMO, I agree with what you said "freestyle-top, race-bottom". We gave you a shout out in the Deadband Network live build;)

Good info. Been trying to decide on top or bottom. I'm not too experienced, worried that bottom mounted would beat up my batteries.

Loved the test.. I'm still very new at this, I mainly fly freestyle (because I was really bad at hitting gates) but I'm getting very excited lately with all the racing experience! I'll need a race quad since I only have a "freestyle" one.. cheers mate keep at it! And I'm waiting to see you racing and winning!

I thought the best part of the video was how cool those motors looked, that is until I saw you fly. As I read why others would want the giveaway I realized it would be more important to them than me. if it's a random pick then count me in please!

I've never had a racequad, since I come from more freestyle background, but would love this rig to add to my collection and perhaps rip some tracks on it. Great vid overall! The physics with the "sling" effect on bottom mounted battery comes from the momentum of the battery as you said, basically when you have bottom mounted it, you pull it in corners as where in top mounted battery is in the inner circle and you push the battery so to speak. I can explain further if you want, but there's a quickie if you can catch the drift

Thanks for making this video, I prefer top mount myself, turns on a dime. Bottom mount tends to slide more. That frame is too fragile. I can't believe how good you got in such a short amount of time.

I like the bottom mount...it just looks better in my eyes. I think either way it just needs to be center to keep that ballance. I could use this Quad reason is I am just getting into racing and learning the sticks...I love to hit the gates at speed and turn on a dime. I usually use pods on the quads but this one looks great the way it sits.

I've been looking for someone doing a video on this. Trying to get into flying something off of the simulator but been having a big issue deciding on a frame. Trying to hit the gap between a racer and a freestyle quad. And the largest thing I've been looking at is the battery placement as I don't want to be slamming packs into the ground as I start flying. Definitely a great video and really good insight!

Great video, I’ve gone back and forth on my floss V2 but I finally settled on bottom mount w/canopy. For guys like myself just getting into racing, your giveaway quad will give whoever wins something they can really go for it with during practice without risking their only quad setup for racing. That’s what I would do anyway.

I agree with your take on too vs bottom, I prefer bottom for the consistency about top mount feels much smoother. I've been wanting to try those Hypetrain for a while now. I have a Merica but I would like to try this one for the lower camera position. I tried the eagle pod for the Merica but couldn't handle the props in view. Great vid Thanks!

Top mounted battery tends to react better to acro flying and bottom mounted tends to be more self levelling flying. Also bottom mounted seems to have more drag. Also the flight characteristics depends on the position of the gyro, not entirely on the level of propellers.

I've always been curious about top bottom mount. Thanks for the video and the giveaway!

I have used a top mount battery i just started about 2 months ago mostly interested in freestyle for now but very cool! Thanks for the vid

Hey! Awesome video ;) I think you performed way better with the bottom mount. Good luck to everyone for the giveaway!

I like the bottom mount myself. I’ve been freestyling for 2 years but have never raced. I’m very interested in getting started and I think this would be a great quad to race. Nice give away thanks for your content!! 👍👁👍

Very good video! I've been wondering for awhile about top vs. bottom mount battery. The frame is also pretty nice and sleek. It would be cool to have that build. ;) Keep up the good work!

I've been flying bottom mounted batteries for a long time now, I stopped flying top mount after one too many batteries that ejected into the props. I'm not sure really if it's a performance improvement, but I do know that I haven't killed any batteries after bottom mounting

Interesting video ! Good points - pretty much aligns with my understanding/feeling when flying top mount vs bot mount. Would be awesome to win that Quad!

Very interesting findings. I’ve always wondered what the difference was between top and bottom mounted batteries. I fly bottom mounted so I guess I chose correctly since I crash a lot.

Personally I like how the top mount feels in comparison to bottom mount, but both my rigs are down for the count while trying to really push my skills and trying to get more precise flying so I can start doing races. good luck to everyone though !

Great video! I guess we might see frame experiments with centralised batteries in the future as well, moving the lighter electronics up, down or outboard.

I have my first race this weekend, will see how i do with all my cheap and second hand bits, great vid have been wondering if i should stick with top mount or switch to bottom mount

My one 5 inch quad is a top mount freestyle so I can't comment which is better for racing but on my 3 inch I tried both top and bottom mount and I feel the same "slingshot" effect when the battery is mounted on the bottom and on that frame, it just felt better to me. If I won the Win5 I'd join the local MultiGP chapter and take a stab at racing now that I feel my skill is (maybe) good enough to not get laughed at off the field. :)

Were you racing at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Il last Sunday?

I really enjoyed that. I love watching ya'll figure out how to tweak and maximize your drone collections. I'm returning to RC, after a 30-year hiatus, with my 13 y/o daughter in tow, and we're both showing huge interest in drone and wing racing. We own no FPV gear yet, although I did just get a Nano Goblin, so I could start learning VTX gear. Your drone, should you choose to award it to us, will be well loved, and used to transition us from the X-Vert. I saw a wishbone arm design on one guy's site today, using 5mm arms. Maybe food for thought? It was certainly tougher than most of the single arm designs I've seen. Thanks!

excellent!, eye opener, always was confused about top and bottom mounting, and by the way amazing flying!!!

Yo cannonball, good video man. Really like those drib motors. I prefer top mounted, I just like the feel better when cornering. Would love to win the quad. Thanks for the opportunity and good luck to everyone else

Very good approach to the subject! I'm just begining with this hobby and I have already seen many "religious" top/ bottom discusion. You on the other hand give a good approach related with the consistency for improving. Good. The frame would be excellent for practicing.

great video. I have only flown bottom mounted batteries. I need to try a top mounted one to feel the difference

Dude... Le Drib Motors! If I win, I might have to steal them to put on my remix... Luckily with the remix, Tommy designed it with CG in mind, so unless you're running some out of this world setup, the CG is perfect.

You are driving crazy;). I'm definitely for the battery below, lower center of gravity and more safety.

I'm just starting to fly with race drones and bottom mounted battery seems to be better. It should flip right side up after crash as you shown at beggining and I think it is protected a bit better on the bottom.

Hey, Psychprof here. I like your approach to determine what's best, regardless of usual practice. I am trying to learn to fly racers because it looks so exciting. But I'm an old guy and it's a new skill. I'd love to have your experiment to learn about builds and to practice. I don't have anything like this at this time. I have a Hubsan 502s and a Furibee f36 and they have just made me want to learn to go FPV.

I like it on top better. Great test. Thanks for doing this.

Hey just starting in the hobby I built my first quad from scratch for the last two months and been flying for the last week or so, so awesome flying and I’m definitely hooked into FPV!

Interesting video, I wonder if it has something to do with the difference between the centre of mass and the centre of thrust - with the top mount its like the battery is pushing into the props on the corners and bottom mount is pulling them. Would love to see a test done with a split 4s pack so theres a 2s pack on top and a 2s pack on the bottom, just to see if there's any difference.

I got two quads, a micro 90mm and a mid-sized 220mm. The micro has its battery mounted on the bottom while the larger one has it on top. Though both of them are FPV quads, I prefer to fly them line-of-sight in acro mode. I've only now started to get the hang of this mode of flying after breaking several sets of prop guards on the micro, but the larger quad still scares me, at least until recently after I 3D printed a set of prop guards for it. Now I enjoy the larger quad much more than the tiny whoop. It seems the larger quad is much more responsive. I wonder if the battery mount locations have anything to do with it, or maybe the rate differences between them? Now that I'm thinking about it, I'll have to compare their rates to see if I can figure out something. And how am I going to try to top mount the tiny whoop... By the way, your FPV flying is great. I can't even fly a few feet when I put on the googles. Maybe if I invest in a better set of googles with diopters that can adjust to my eyes I might try FPV flying again.

Love what you are doing here and benefitting the community with your videos and especially giving someone in need this quad. Those drib motors are so clean! I have had my eye on them for a long time but haven’t had the funds to get into them. Still running budget racerstar motors but they get the job done. Would love to have an opportunity at this kwad! Keep up the great work!

Nice work on the video, I mount mine on the top just cause I don’t like the quad balancing on top of the battery before I take off and land. Cheers!

That quad would be great for my twin brother. He really could use a solid race quad to practice with. He's just as fast as me, but only has a cheap build that doesn't cut it.

Great video GC 🤘🤙👍. I tried racing with my martian II and found it heaps of fun but really challenging with that quad. I've been looking at a racing quad but Im still new and am not sure what to get. Guess more practice is in order 😎

I'm still struggling with the same question, which is better top or bottom mount. But I do think the bottom mount will right itself better in a crash. The rest indeed seems like a personal preference. What you are used to usually feels better ;). Thanks for the giveaway.

Thumbing skills and top battery mount! Lovely. This summer I'll try racing since I'm an all freestyle type. But, you have to try to know

Thanks for posting this, as I was curious to top vs bottom mounted batteries. I'd love to win that quad. I'm training on a little Hubsan H107D but I'm definitely looking to move up.

I've tried both bottom and top mount and I've noticed a difference. I'm thinking can we compare it to a rear wheel and front wheel drive? One setup pushes and one setup pulls the weight of the vehicle.... Just another viewpoint.

i fly top mounted battery i find it more convenient when I land since i usually fly in places with concrete and i dont want to damage my batteries but i think the part you said about freestyle top mounted and racing bottom mount is true because i gives them more snappier inputs

Great channel you have! Just got into racing quads thanks for all the helpful videos!

Awesome dude! I think top mount is best suited for fpv freestyle and bottom mount more for fpv racing...keep up the good work :)

Science! Amazing to see how much you've progressed over the last year, keep killing it! I could definitely use this and as many spares as possible for Buffalo Bando this year.

I would love an extra quad(thats more stable then what I'm used to haha)! Only tried top mount so far, curious about the difference in feel. awesome flying there, makes me want to try out racing instead of always (trying to) freestyle

I think both have there Pro's and Con's - I really think it comes down to the actual design of the frame as well as its intended use. Some frames are better suited for top mounting the battery (e.g a freestyle frame such as the Armattan Chameleon TI, has a small stack only 20mm high and then comfortably fits a battery top mounted which creates a lower center of gravity which is closer to the center of thrust, it also helps off set or balance out the weight of the HD camera or GO-PRO). It just so happens that many racing frames are ultra-lights which have a lighter and more compact design, combined with a 3D racing canopy , generally they don't have the capability to even top mount a battery or an HD camera. This means the battery is further away from the center of thrust and will probably experience greater rotational inertia ( Not so worrying as you are not doing flips and rolls when racing) . Bottom line is it personal preference that is ultimately limited by the frame design.

I've been running SimonK esc's this whole time, I've never flown blheli. Just recently did my first lil building dive (on my instagram same as my youtube name). Great info and testing thank you.

I'd prefer a top mount battery for freestyle cause I don't like landing on my batteries, I don't have a racing rig but I think I'd go for bottom mount to protect the batteries from me smashing into gates and I can put some slightly bigger batteries on bottom mount. Thanks for the opportunity. Keep up the great vids

This quad could be better with a 4 in one esc, but these motors, damn i love them so much !!

Wow nice video. I have tried top and bottom mounts on larger builds and i still like bottom mounted batterys but those are not raving quads lol. Would love a shot at owning a race drone. Mine are all 330mm or bigger. Keep the awesome vids coming.

This was interesting! I have only flown with bottom mounted batteries.

Cool bro thanks for the chance I've been trying and tearing up esc's and Motors left and right and a couple games but thanks

Haven't been flying long and mostly fly freestyle, but have met with a few local club racers recently which has got me curious about the racing side of things

I only fly top mount for racing. The difference in feel was enough for me to abandon my bottom mount frames. There are lots of top mount racing frames out there, no reason to use availability as a reason to stick with bottom mount. Fun fact, at my last local race, all 5 pilots in the A-Main were flying with top mount batteries, and only 2 were using the same frame (team mates).

Got an old zmr250 that I keep crushing and fixing. Tried racing it couple o times but that thing is too slow for races.. Be nice to try this frame, and see about bottom batt. Was a cool test thanks

Have you noticed the tuning envelope it much wider with a top mount? I run top mount and i don't care for the battery blocking antennas nor always crashing upside down but i just can;t get over the pendulum effect. But then again i've only been racing for three months.

I started flying top mount battery on the thought that it would be more convenient and be safer for the battery except I have had a prop slice one of my lipos and have yet to be in a crash where I have lander thee right way up. This is why i would like to go bottom mount battery, thoughts?

I just found your channel and love your flying as well as the commentary. Nice job man:)

I've always flown top mount, it just feels better to me, I think you've done a great job on this video though

Some things to think about, objects tend to rotate around the cg. A cg near the prop line may make rolls look better from the outside such as flying line of sight or in a chase. However the cg being below the centers of thrust may provide self leveling that the flight controller has to fight in rate mode. This sort of tension might actually make the flight characteristics smoother. And lastly, the camera has an axis to it, it may be good for fpv quality to have this axis pass near the cg to center the perspective on snap rolls. With your camera placement and angle a bottom battery might be best.

Love your testing vids! I just finished a low kv, high pitch racer, and hope it hits some sweet top speeds. Inspiring!

Awesome flying! I think your conclusion is right. Racer: bottom Acro: top I just have a top mounted qavr (only on Instagram) but I would like to test a bottom mounted quad of course :D

I like battery on the bottom because it seems like I'm more likely to recover right side up. I'm getting much better at throttle control and have made some homemade gates and am practicing on homemade courses. Would love this quad to help me get up to snuff to participate in a real race.

This is exactly the video I was looking for! Since I've been wondering about it if it would fly better if batteries were on top or under slung. Since I wanted to protect the batteries also in hard landings or crashes. In light with this, I did just got a 2nd hand Xhover Win4 for a cheap deal were i will be slowly build it in a few weeks if I had the right parts. :) My main quad for racing is an Armattan Chameleon and it sure is heavy in the corners and that why I wanted to transition to a lighter build. But anyway, in my opinion I think you did pretty well on the top mounted battery. Then again at the end of the day its a matter of personal preference in stick feel.

I personally love topmount and in my experience racing and practice it still lands right side up most of the time and I think this is due to it being wider ,flatter on the bottom and even if it does land on the battery you have the battery lifting the props enough so you can turtle mode over better.