Buy a Hubsan X4. Fly it. Crash it. Repeat. Do this until you feel comfortable in the air.
- 250/450/etch - This refers to the size of the quad, specifically the motor-to-motor distance in millimeters. 250 is the standard FPV race quad size.
- FPV - First Person View
- LOS - Line Of Sight, basically standard non-FPV flight
- FC - Flight Controller - The brain of the quad, these vary from super-simple to ultra-complicated. Common models include KK, CC3D, Naze32, Acro Naze, MultiWii, APM, Pixhawk
- ESC - Electronic Speed Controller - Controls the power send to the motors, dictated by the FC.
- TX - Transmitter, the thing with the two sticks in your hands.
- RX - Receiver, the bit on the quad that accepts the input from your radio TX.
- PDB - Power Distribution Board/Lead, a board or squid of wires that distributes power from the battery to the ESCs
- 5x3 or 5030 - Refers to a proppeller where the numbers describe the pitch angle
- 1806 2300kv - Motor size, 18 refers to the motor diameter, 06 refers to the stack/windings within the motor, and 2300kv refers to how fast the motor rotates, smaller motors tend to be much faster
Flight Controller - For a first time build, I whole-heartedly suggest the KK board. It just feels easier to set up and get started. There's no connecting it to the computer and configuring software. Everything's on the board. It has 4 buttons and a small lcd display which makes it super easy to make adjustments out in the field. This is what I used in my first 2 quads, and it was nearly plug-n-play.
Motors / ESCs - When building a mini quad (250-sized) you want motors in 18-22mm diameter range, and with a kv rating of at least 2000. So you'll usually see 1804 2300kv, 1806 2400kv, or 2204 2100kv, something along those lines. You need to pair your motors with ESCs that are appropriately sized, but for mini quads a 12A (A is for amp) ESC should do fine, 20A at most but only for really strong motors. Another thing to look at with ESCs is whether or not they have a BEC (or UBEC). This a is bit of circuitry on the ESC that allows it to also power the flight controller, eliminating the need for a dedicated FC-to-battery power line. Most ESCs have a BEC, but some do not.
Batteries - The variety in sizes and types of batteries is bonkers. Thankfully for mini quads it's pretty simple. RC batteries generally consist of 1-6 cells wired together and shrink-wrapped. For quads you'll primarily use 3 cells (3S) sometimes for more powerful setups 4 cells (4S). The number of mah (milliamps) is basically a balance of how long you want to be able to fly vs how much weight you're willing to put on your quad. A 2200mah battery will let your quad go for quite a while, but it won't be very fast. I tend to prefer 1500mah as it usually gives me a good 6 minutes of aggresive flight time. The last thing is C-rating, usually a number between 25 and 70. This represents the max rate that a battery can discharge power. Strong motors can draw a lot of power, but if the battery can't give it to them, then you can only go but so fast.
Propellers - For mini quads you'll go with either 5" or 6" props, either 2 or 3 bladed. You'll probably want 5" props, as 6's are for stronger setups with slight larger frames. Many 230/250 frames can't even fit a 6" prop. 2 blades vs 3 as far as I can tell is just a matter of opinion. I started with 3 blade props but now primarily use 2 blades. Also carbon fiber vs nylon/plastic -- if you crash a lot, which you will in the beginning, stick to the plastic props. They're like crumple zones in cars. They break, absorbing the impact, so you motor doesn't. CF props in my opinion make a quad much more responsive, as they're much less flexible, but in a crash you're more likely to damage motor.
- (rcgroups.com) A popular forum
- FPV Facebook Group This has made Facebook much more useful and enjoyable for me
- As always, YouTube is your friend
- (http://www.modifiedrc.com/miniquads-how-can-i-get-flying-on-the-cheap/) A good blog post on getting started on the cheap
- zmr250 Frame - $33 A carbon fiber mini quad frame. Some alternatives this, this, or this
- motor - $12 You'll need 4 of them
- esc - $9 Again, you'll need 4 of them. Really any 12A esc should work, just make sure it has a BEC to power the flight controller.
- props - $2 Get at least 5 sets, if not 10. They'll break when you crash, and you WILL crash, so having lots of backups is good.
- flight controller - There are other options, but I think the kk board is easiest to get started with
- servo leads - $2 Connects the radio receiver to the flight controller
- radio - $25 It's cheap but does the job
- battery - $14 Get at least 2 to start, each should give you 5-7 minutes of flight time
- charger - $13 It doesn't come with power adapter, but chances are you have one laying around
- voltage alarm - $4 Warns you when you're battery is nearly dead
- pdb - $3 There's a lot of options here, so you may need to do some research and figure out what you're comfortable with. You could use something like this or solder up your own wire harness with an XT60 connector some bullet connectors and wire
- Odds and ends - wire, heat shrink, nylon/metal fasteners... this all kinda depends on your build
- Motor/ESC/prop Set from banggood
- ARF Kit a nearly complete kit from banggood that uses the CC3D flight controller
- ARF Kit this one also uses the CC3D flight controller
Inevitably, you'll have to order shit from a bunch of different places. Lots of stuff is available from China, but generally this will take a lot longer, like 10-20 days. There's a bunch of good US online retails, but their stuff goes in and out of stock all the time so you have to do a lot of shopping around. Here's a list of retailers that I've found to be pretty good:
- getfpv.com
- hobbyking.com (try to order from one of the US warehouses)
- ubuyadrone.com
- massiverc.com
- buddyrc.com
- multirotorsuperstore.com
- modifiedrc.com
- multirotorbuilders.com
- banggood.com (again, try to order from the US warehouse)
- Some things can be found on amazon, but it's kind of hit or miss
There's a lot of fun to be had flying line-of-sight, but we all know it's that first person view in those YouTube videos that really got you excited...
A FPV setup generally consists of three parts:
- Camera
- Transmitter
- Receiver/Display
Most of the video that you see on YouTube or wherever is not from a FPV camera. Generally people will use two cameras, an FPV camera for real-time flight visuals, and an HD camera of some sort for playback. The HD camera is usually ether a GoPro or a Mobius, and the FPV is usually a small CCD board camera like this or this. It is possible to use your HD cam as your FPV cam, but they tend to have a bit of latency, and that's not good when you're flying.
You'll generally hear about three different frequencies in regards to FPV. 5.8Ghz, 2.4Ghz and 1.2Ghz. 5.8 is usally what people start with. It provides good range, antennas are smaller, equipment in on the cheaper side. The downside is that the signal is fairly weak, meaning it has low penetration. Get a wall or a building in between you and your quad, it's lights out. 2.4 and 1.2Ghz on the other hand have a stronger penetration, but the antennas are much larger, and the equipment is less common and more expensive.
I'm not sure why, but 5.8Ghz systems usually come with shitty, whip antennas. Ask anyone and they'll tell you to upgrade to circular polarized antennas, either cloverleaf or mushroom. These both provide stronger signals and longer ranges than the standard whip antennas.
You basically have three options here...
- Goggles with built-in receiver
- Mask-mounted screen with external receiver
- Stand-alone screen with external receiver
I immediately went for the goggles. I wanted the fully-immersive experience. The say with screens, people have a tendency to look up, away from the screen and fly line-of-sight.
The goggles come in range of prices, usually somewhere between $200 and $500. There are a few common brands, but you mostly hear about FatSharks. I have the FatShark Teleporter V3, basically their entry level kit. The more expensive models have larger, higher density screens, and other features like add on modules for different frequencies or head-tracking -- how cool is that, you look around, it detects your movement and mimicks it via a pan/tilt camera mechanism on the quad.
The masks are basically a small (~7") screen at the end of a box strapped to your face, like this. Video is supplied via a/v cables from an external receiver.
Stand alone screens are similar to the masks but with larger screens, mounted usually on a tripod.