I built a 3/4s quad using spare parts of a larva x HD and the hx115 LR frame. When you price everything out, it came out so much more expensive then the baby ape. The fact that Darwin can put out decent quads for cheap is great, especially with today's chip shortages. Not all of us can afford this hobby, I'm glad there are options.
Surprised nobody has said anything… those new pink little pop up “Tips” things are such a great addition to your videos!!! Please put them in all your videos from now on! Though I know most of the info already and it’s basic stuff, that kinda stuff is what really helps beginners get over the wall of jargon and the differences between the so many options (top vs bottom mount battery) without dragging on every video having to explain everything. Those pop ups just brought your video quality up ten fold👏 Oh, the quad was cool too;)
Tyro 79 is my favorite for the sub 250 it flys good and holds a lot when you crash. Also it is not so expensive. Even when you need maybe a new camera. And there are lots of parts you can upgrade. But especailly for your first copter project it fits very well :)
Yeah I got a tyro for my younger brother as his first FPV quad overt a year ago and it has held up really well to the constant abuse he gives that thing he has replaced camera and esc and broken a motor in a crash apart from that super good quad for the money
In 2017 i bought the fullspeed leader 120. Something similar and after so many iterations of quads „we had to buy“ again a very lite and reasonable sized quad. Back then they said the 1104s are to small had too high kv and the quad is to light with 450mAh 2S. Fly what you love and enjoy the time in the air.
Just wanted to say that I like the Pop Up Video style info boxes you added to the video. Non invasive for the veteran people but informative for those new to the hobby.
Gotta say, I'm happy with mine. I've flown indoors for years, and decided to try outdoor flying. I'm on a tight budget, so when I saw this, I took a chance. Was not disappointed with the build quality - it's a tidy unit. Wish it had metal standoffs, tho'. Gonna hafta order some. I went with an ELRS receiver [thanks for the setup viddie, JB], and I'm using 2S, 450 mAh LiHV packs that I only charge to 4.2v per cell, and getting around 4 minutes flight time, landing when my average volts are around 3.7v. [conservative, but I find it helps extend the life of the packs; I've got a set that's run almost two hundred cycles so far with no puffy ones in the lot, and no saggers yet] It will do for now, as I have no idea how to get the most out of it yet. I've got to give it a proper tuning in BetaFlight so it suits me, but so far it shows lots of promise.
hey man, same for me but the problem is that i have way to much vibrations with this quad... have you succeeded to tune it and upgrade its flying ? thanks man !
the shouldn't brake probably will mine did when I hit the inside of a pickup bed near full speed🤣😬 broke an arm and motor, other than that I love it. I'm running spectrum🤔
Love all your videos dude, so informative. Flying your back garden in Liftoff is also fun, if youre friendly with the devs tell them they forgot to add the dirt road you sometimes fly and the level could do with some scaling, feels squashed together haha
You know, Joshua... I got and reviewed the Eachine Twig, a good while ago... Everybody trashed it at the time because it came with 1105 motors (instead of the 1204s or 1303s)... But I love it! I still do and could never bring myself to change them! 😂 Anyway, fantastic flying and review!!! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
When Mr know it all calls a tp3 an og toothpick. lol. For real though, HD Zero whoop vtx would be nice to see. Might buy one myself if it works out well. The ant camera plug is probably hitting the front flight controller hardware.
I saw this quad months ago and couldn't believe it I was scared too lol but now....I am getting it before it goes up in price even more I did know the camera sucked lol so glad for this update J👍✌
@@SPotter1973 man I got into this hobby last year and it seems like they're coming out with so many types of quads and companies are competing I am going nuts trying to decide on what I want lol thanks to JB I have learned so much and honestly I base what I get off of his reviews lol so this is going into my arsenal 👍✌
Bro, the "Pro" camera is as SUCKIER" or worse than the regular camera? It's HORRIBLE! Don't buy this junk - It costs you soooo much more than the initial price trying to keep it in the air because these cheap ASS parts fail, burn out, break, etc. all the time. :(
@@scu-dub Sco0t is wrong. A blind man would be able to see that the pro camera is better than the initial one. The quad flies great, is made of cheap components and so is easy to repair. We're all adults, at most if you don't like it the quad is only $90. Worth a buy in my op.
I bought a baby ape pro and tore it apart. It now has custom frame standoffs to fit a walksnail avatar vtx with a a nano camera, a new jhemcu 2-6s f411, a spectrum srxlv2, and FT gremlin 1106 6000kv motors, and dual foxeer antenna and dual antenna for the spectrum. there is literally no space in the frame for any of its internals.
The lktr120 and lktr90 were probably the first toothpicks. Because I was building them before toothpicks were even named toothpicks. But finding small formfactor flight controllers and esc were a big problem not to mention a camera vtx package. The good old days. Also the hermit was a good small frame set for the era.
HD Zero all the things! Definitely stuff a VTX in there and let's see how it does. I'm just waiting for them to release a VRX (hopefully at a better price point than the Sharkbyte one was) and I'll be making the jump.
Thanks Joshua, great review as always. This one made me go back and re-watch the HX115 review you did and I ended up buying that instead, because well it's a bit of an easier sell for me. I already have a bunch of those 450mah batteries and this saves me having to solder! Did it via your affiliate link and picked up a couple things as well as I do quite appreciate the work you do. Still new in the hobby, and you've definitely been a go to as far as expanding my knowledge.
Ive actually been waiting for you to drop this review. I had already bought the quad when you did the ELRS Darwin BabyApe video a while ago. I have to say I was shocked by the performance, it flew really really well in my opinion. For about 5 packs. Then the AIO caught on fire. I did go down in the snow though but I've done that so many times with other AIO boards. Anyways probably my fault, but I did notice a few others complaining about their AIO board lighting on fire in the reviews on their website. I actually ordered a new 12A AIO from Darwin fpv, at $40 I couldnt pass it up. Now if THIS one catches on fire too.. I'll be sure to get a different brand of board xD
Soooooper-Dooooper review! I've had my eye on this little quad for a while but it's not for me. I'm ONLY concerned with ONE flight capability these days....Will it lift a sausage? 😁
If the price difference between the standard and pro is ~$12 and you could get the ant for ~$10 it would be worth it to buy the standard and a new cam to swap in because then you'd have a backup for when you ran into too many brick walls.
My only experience with Darwin fpv is ordering a flight controller straight from them. It arrived defective, I checked resources cli’s and the software they provided as well as examining my soldering, I couldn’t find anything wrong on my end but controlling motor 2or 3 in betaflight would spin both. I’ve tried contacting all of Darwin fpvs email addresses but they have never responded. Never had an issue like this until Darwin FPV
I know you wouldn't be able to build an equivalent quad for that price, so bang for the buck it fires on all cylinders. I would say get the lower priced version and put your own camera in it. There are better analog cams the the Caddx ant, like say the Runcam Phoenix 2 JB Edition. What was the average flight time you got on it with the 450mah 3s?
The camera angle not being able to go any higher is due to the bottom edge of the camera coming into contact with the bottom plate, if you were to take it apart and change the uptilt before putting it back together you can get an absurd uptilt. Basically there is a small range of angle where you can't fit the camera into.
Mine just arrived here in the UK, all i can say is for the money, wow. other then the camera its bloody brilliant. And the packaging is anything but cheap
I just reviewed this drone with the stock camera and the Ant camera and got the same impression. I was thinking I would have another bad drone to pilot, specially when I saw the motors, plastic spacers,... But I found a good drone to flight! Of course the Pro version that has the Caddx camera. I think it is a good drone to start with. Compared to the Beta for a bit more... I don´t know, but in case you can not or do not want to spend more, for 100$ or 80€ this is a great option. Good to see that the Great Joshua thinks the same way!
I just helped my friend set up this quad for my friends son. I was surprised after seeing. 👍🏼👍🏼 I don’t think much is out there for this price range. I always like 👍🏼
I personally like mounting the VTX to the top plate. I have many sub 250's done this way (some with naked vista, some with HDZero). It's not ideal in that it's a little bit extra work if you need to take it apart for maintenance, but ... I don't like the VTX to be mounted on top of the soft mounted FC adding more weight that can potentially sway with the FC.
I'm so glad you reviewed and like this quad. I got it when it first came out and they didn't have the better camera option and it was called something like Darwin 69 or Baby Ape 69 because it was $69. Before I even received it, I already had a Baby Ratel 2 waiting to put in it because I already knew. Never even tried the original camera one time. In addition, I've made other additions / modifications like swapped the standoffs for taller ones to increase camera angle, so of course I had to 3D print spacers for the carbon camera plates. Also added a better VTX antenna, a buzzer and some little LEDs that show through the bottom and I printed like "walls" (for lack of a better word) that are similar to ones on the Roma frame. When I first got it, this was a big upgrade for me in size and performance because I was used to 2.5" quads. Since then, I have built a 3.5" that is beast thanks to FPV Crate but that's a whole other story. I really just wanted to share what all I've done so people can know that even though it's the cheapest possible quad in 2022, a lot can be done with it and in my opinion it's definitely worth it. Oh yeah, I've already broken an arm and got replacements which is a nice feature that I didn't have before, replaceable arms. Spare motors can be found SUPER CHEAP on AliExpress (like less than $3 each) so I grabbed like 10 of them. You are The Man Joshua! Keep up the good work.
Still love flying mine. The low weight and the fact it's not super noisy, makes it easy to fly "low-key". Been flying it with 2s 550mah but just ordered some 3s 550mah so keen to see the difference.
I was thinking the same thing, except those were 1104-5250. I still think you’re mostly right though, someone needs to try to old Babyhawk props on it.
I have orderd one with the ant cam i will install a ep2 reciever with your help :). I would like to see a build video with Shark Bite! And now i have seen your whole video iam happy i bought it 30 degrees is enough for good freestyle.Thanks for the review!
It's to do with (cubic) disk loading. To "fly like a 5 inch" in a scale sense doesn't mean doing 5" speeds & being able to throw it just as far, a scaled speed should be more relative to airframe size, 10 airframes per second etc. When disk or wing loading is calculated correctly & weight targets are met the scaled model will dynamically fly correctly, the only difference is air pressure & density (physics) not scaling with the model, also having to provide similar thrust to weight ratios & scaled prop pitch speeds. These are some of the fundamental principles in scale modelling whether rotorcraft or fixed wing, when getting these factors right a model plane will have similar (scaled) stall speeds & stall characteristics as full scale, and appear likewise in the sky but shrunken down & flying in a smaller area.
Got mine some weeks ago and flew it 2-3 times now. Ordered just for let it in the car with some 800d and a literadio2 elrs ^^ it's ok put a caddxpeanut on it and a 3s850mah .. I know lot of Extra weight but ok for edc
I used mine with crossfire 55, crashed it alot, lost it on a swamp and recovered a week after, crashed, water, I mean, all possible bad things I have done with it and it still works so fine with me. I only lost sound recording on the vtx and the motor power just went a littke weaker
Am I the only one who thinks the first camera looks better? I'd take a slightly dimmer, blurrier image, and worse shadows over the heavy mosquito noise of the ant. Even distant obstacles are shimmering with noise. Maybe there is a sharpness adjustment on it? FWIW, for those interested, they now sell the Baby Ape Pro that comes with the Ant, while the standard version has the "DarwinFPV" camera reviewed here. Also I have a question. Is this Assembled, PNP, I'd just have to add a receiver?
@@JoshuaBardwell Fair enough. The colorized background noise in the example is really distracting to my eye. If it's not there in the goggles, then I would agree, it is a more detailed image. Both the standard and pro being nearly half the price of a tinyhawk, they are a steal, either way.
I just got this brand-new in a big fpv lot that I just purchased the other day I just put the receiver in it and need motors are identical to the original baby hawk Motors the original baby hawk was one of the best flying drones in my opinion John Furey this one is going to be amazing from what I heard I'm hoping to made mine in the a.m. it defies anything anything like the original baby hawk I'm going to order a bunch more I've got like nine original baby heart and all the sudden none of them work anymore I also need a super old version betaflight to even connect to the old F3 boards
that would be something super fun to fly if you threw in the HD. I hope u solder it up cus thAT WOULD BE A A GLOVE BOX DAILY DRIVER . good idea. id think i would be in line for the preorder
YES!!! Please put Shark Byte (HD Zero) on this thing and make a video. I was thinking of doing that for my backyard. Hell do a HD Zero (shark byte) tutorial video for adding it to an existing quad. Please.
Pretty close in design and possibly better are stuff like TCMMRC UR26 Mermaid 220,or TCMMRC Overfrequency 2.0, or many similar. I wonder how they compare and would probably spend quite some time looking at specks of these. They are in the same price range but bigger, so generally I'd expect them to fly better.
Yes I like your video. It's always good to get your advice in every video you post! Thank you! By the way. That hoodie I want one. Can't find it in Rotor Riot website. Does express LRS in the drone that you mentioned work with Taranis Q X7 ?
Hi! I have a problem with my quad, I have changed the fc 3 times and the esc one time, at first the quad wasn't flying correctly, then I replaced the fc and it got better, but it's behavior wasn't normal, so I decided to change the stack, now the quad flies super good, the blackboc log is pretty clean, but, when I do a hover test for 6 minutes approximately, the motors get a bit hot to touch, I can leave my hand as long as I want, but it hurts a little bit, I don't know why, I have been living with problems with this quad for so long, I'm frustrated. Here's my setup: Xing 2208 1800kv Mamba f722 mk3 fc Mamba f50_bl32 5×4.8×3 props (Maybe the pitch is too high, but I live at 2640 meters above sea level) Lumenier QAV-S jhonny fpv edition All up weight: 640 grams When I do a bench spin up, I tested them at 1300 throttle for 30 seconds, they get a bit warm, almost cold, so I don't think it's a hardware issue (I hope)
It sounds like things are not really messed up at all. Flying for 6 minutes and the motors get a bit warm but not hot.... it could be totally normal. If the quad is flying fine then just fly it :-)
I own both the new darwin drones and I'm putting hdzero into my baby ape... I thought of it on my own and then I was watching this video recently and I saw you said that and I'm like wow I was already planning to do that since I'm running an sbus receiver in mine I have the extra RX pads for canvas mode
I remember when I first saw a Darwin quad. It looked very cheap. As a TOOTHPICK it's not. A toothpick is a 1s quad up to 2in props maybe 3in. Anything else is a micro. But that's my opinion. This one to me is more a micro. I think that Darwin is making some decent quads. I think I might just get one. Thanks again for the video and information.
This is not a toothpick, but a micro. Also toothpicks are micros, but a kind of micro. Two aspects: weight and form factor. A toothpick is named like that because of the frame. Also, as per Kabab's formula, should stay within 70-80g including the battery.
Can you do a little ping sound or something when the boxes pop up? Sometimes I background the video and get on with other things but would be good to know if I am missing out on one of your context boxes.
My biggest complaint with this quad is the battery connection. The pig tail is so long and the top deck is so close to the props I haven’t found a way to secure the battery that I don’t feel uneasy about, especially using the equipped rubber bands.
I live the way this thing flies.. my problem with it is the screws they used and how damn hard it is to get the props off.. I literally bent 2 motor shafts trying to change props. I also lost 2 motor screws off each motor….. really Annoying bc standard m2 screws r too big and won’t fit..
I still think this is the best possible deal for new-to-the-hobby guys like me. So much so, I bought it! I know I'm a year late to the party. Still makes sense to me in January 2023.
Oh yea 5 inch all the way only now I love 3 inch quads . Going to get a Baby Ape though I am a little worried over push fit props but the weight is so small maybe ok . Off subject anyone notice how much a F7 is being pushed running 4.3 over 4.2.
Hey ypu didn't say anything about the osd part. Where ypu go into the screen to change things. I have that aio fc on another quad, well I have 2 of them boards on 2 different quads. But I wish they made the screen faster when trying to change the pids, it comes up sooooooooo slow on mine, and then I heats up my vtx fast, then I just say f it and go inside to tune the pids. Other then that it's a great fc.
Hi Joshua, can you give me some advice regarding maximum size, dimension and capacity of battery for Baby Ape pro ? 2S or 3S ? 300, 450, 550 or ? how much big battery can be put when you have RunCam Thumb Pro (60mm lenght or )? Thanks ! Best Regards from Slovenia ;)
EXACTLY! It's hideous! I still have barf in my mouth from BOTH cameras! And, the funny thing is you can go from HORRIBLE Ant camera to BEST ANALOG HAS camera - the Baby Ratel, for about $10 whole dollars! LOL
Thanks for the review. Trying to decide between the Darwing Baby Ape 3 inch RTF vs. the Rekon3 Nano RTF kits(in my budget and Canadian 250g's requirements). I don't want to spend a lot of time assembling, just want to get into the hobby and maybe build later. My use would be for long range(?) in forested parks and areas(1-2km range would be good). Longer flight time and quieter operation would be favourable as I want to observe wildlife, but not disturb them. Your videos have been great but don't focus on casual flying and both Rekon and Darwin don't say much on their website for my application and use. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on these 2 quads? I've never flown, so I want to spend my limited time practicing rather than studying and building. Thx.
Can someone please let me know what else I need to buy other than the Baby Ape pro to get started? None of the sites make it easy to understand. If there was a starter kit I'd be interested
I built a 3/4s quad using spare parts of a larva x HD and the hx115 LR frame. When you price everything out, it came out so much more expensive then the baby ape. The fact that Darwin can put out decent quads for cheap is great, especially with today's chip shortages. Not all of us can afford this hobby, I'm glad there are options.
Surprised nobody has said anything… those new pink little pop up “Tips” things are such a great addition to your videos!!! Please put them in all your videos from now on! Though I know most of the info already and it’s basic stuff, that kinda stuff is what really helps beginners get over the wall of jargon and the differences between the so many options (top vs bottom mount battery) without dragging on every video having to explain everything. Those pop ups just brought your video quality up ten fold👏
Oh, the quad was cool too;)
Agree! I had to pause the read the full text at first and I was very impressed with the idea..! Very useful.
I'd love to see a video for upgrading this quad with HDZero.
Forget the whole video (which was great!) but I'm loving the little tidbits on the bottom left of the screen for extra info. Thanks Joshua!
Tyro 79 is my favorite for the sub 250 it flys good and holds a lot when you crash. Also it is not so expensive. Even when you need maybe a new camera. And there are lots of parts you can upgrade. But especailly for your first copter project it fits very well :)
Yeah I got a tyro for my younger brother as his first FPV quad overt a year ago and it has held up really well to the constant abuse he gives that thing he has replaced camera and esc and broken a motor in a crash apart from that super good quad for the money
Your production quality is just getting better and better, we notice and appreciate it👍
In 2017 i bought the fullspeed leader 120. Something similar and after so many iterations of quads „we had to buy“ again a very lite and reasonable sized quad. Back then they said the 1104s are to small had too high kv and the quad is to light with 450mAh 2S.
Fly what you love and enjoy the time in the air.
Just wanted to say that I like the Pop Up Video style info boxes you added to the video. Non invasive for the veteran people but informative for those new to the hobby.
Gotta say, I'm happy with mine. I've flown indoors for years, and decided to try outdoor flying. I'm on a tight budget, so when I saw this, I took a chance. Was not disappointed with the build quality - it's a tidy unit. Wish it had metal standoffs, tho'. Gonna hafta order some. I went with an ELRS receiver [thanks for the setup viddie, JB], and I'm using 2S, 450 mAh LiHV packs that I only charge to 4.2v per cell, and getting around 4 minutes flight time, landing when my average volts are around 3.7v. [conservative, but I find it helps extend the life of the packs; I've got a set that's run almost two hundred cycles so far with no puffy ones in the lot, and no saggers yet] It will do for now, as I have no idea how to get the most out of it yet. I've got to give it a proper tuning in BetaFlight so it suits me, but so far it shows lots of promise.
hey man, same for me but the problem is that i have way to much vibrations with this quad... have you succeeded to tune it and upgrade its flying ? thanks man !
the shouldn't brake probably will mine did when I hit the inside of a pickup bed near full speed🤣😬 broke an arm and motor, other than that I love it. I'm running spectrum🤔
Hello, how did you wire up the reciever and what one did you use? Thank you
I used a SRXL2 receiver and just soldered it on to the 4.5v + - and the S on the receiver to the tx1 on the flight controller
@@safarydecker7424 and it works well?
11:25 min - skip end screen OSD -> pitch up or roll forward (move the stick)
Yes, definitely put an HDzero VTX on this quad,👍
Love all your videos dude, so informative. Flying your back garden in Liftoff is also fun, if youre friendly with the devs tell them they forgot to add the dirt road you sometimes fly and the level could do with some scaling, feels squashed together haha
You know, Joshua... I got and reviewed the Eachine Twig, a good while ago... Everybody trashed it at the time because it came with 1105 motors (instead of the 1204s or 1303s)... But I love it! I still do and could never bring myself to change them! 😂
Anyway, fantastic flying and review!!!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Great quad , very decent & durable quad . The caddx camera on the pro version is definitely worth the money..
@@j-rodfpv1137 That's exactly the one. 😊
I absolutely love the baby ape its got a great tune out the box. “beginner ripper”
Love the new little windows that come up that explain something you said that people might not know
Thanks for the review, I'm taking my maiden flight with it today. Any of you nerds in the comments have recommendations for battery cable management?
When Mr know it all calls a tp3 an og toothpick. lol. For real though, HD Zero whoop vtx would be nice to see. Might buy one myself if it works out well. The ant camera plug is probably hitting the front flight controller hardware.
I saw this quad months ago and couldn't believe it I was scared too lol but now....I am getting it before it goes up in price even more I did know the camera sucked lol so glad for this update J👍✌
@@SPotter1973 man I got into this hobby last year and it seems like they're coming out with so many types of quads and companies are competing I am going nuts trying to decide on what I want lol thanks to JB I have learned so much and honestly I base what I get off of his reviews lol so this is going into my arsenal 👍✌
I am that pesky Marco reviews and I’m ready to learn something! Thanks 🙏 for making this video!
Bro, the "Pro" camera is as SUCKIER" or worse than the regular camera? It's HORRIBLE! Don't buy this junk - It costs you soooo much more than the initial price trying to keep it in the air because these cheap ASS parts fail, burn out, break, etc. all the time. :(
@@KOrnhOliO1 thanks man! That great to know because I was definitely gonna grab one just to spank the heck out of it lol
@@scu-dub Sco0t is wrong. A blind man would be able to see that the pro camera is better than the initial one. The quad flies great, is made of cheap components and so is easy to repair. We're all adults, at most if you don't like it the quad is only $90. Worth a buy in my op.
I bought a baby ape pro and tore it apart. It now has custom frame standoffs to fit a walksnail avatar vtx with a a nano camera, a new jhemcu 2-6s f411, a spectrum srxlv2, and FT gremlin 1106 6000kv motors, and dual foxeer antenna and dual antenna for the spectrum. there is literally no space in the frame for any of its internals.
The lktr120 and lktr90 were probably the first toothpicks. Because I was building them before toothpicks were even named toothpicks. But finding small formfactor flight controllers and esc were a big problem not to mention a camera vtx package. The good old days. Also the hermit was a good small frame set for the era.
HD Zero all the things! Definitely stuff a VTX in there and let's see how it does. I'm just waiting for them to release a VRX (hopefully at a better price point than the Sharkbyte one was) and I'll be making the jump.
I’ve done many repairs to my baby ape (after user error) and flown many times, it’s a great quad.
Thanks Joshua, great review as always. This one made me go back and re-watch the HX115 review you did and I ended up buying that instead, because well it's a bit of an easier sell for me. I already have a bunch of those 450mah batteries and this saves me having to solder! Did it via your affiliate link and picked up a couple things as well as I do quite appreciate the work you do. Still new in the hobby, and you've definitely been a go to as far as expanding my knowledge.
Ive actually been waiting for you to drop this review. I had already bought the quad when you did the ELRS Darwin BabyApe video a while ago. I have to say I was shocked by the performance, it flew really really well in my opinion. For about 5 packs. Then the AIO caught on fire. I did go down in the snow though but I've done that so many times with other AIO boards. Anyways probably my fault, but I did notice a few others complaining about their AIO board lighting on fire in the reviews on their website.
I actually ordered a new 12A AIO from Darwin fpv, at $40 I couldnt pass it up. Now if THIS one catches on fire too.. I'll be sure to get a different brand of board xD
not your fault it happened to me to read my comment i just put up on hear
call darwin and get a 50% off there is something wrong with there aio's
Soooooper-Dooooper review! I've had my eye on this little quad for a while but it's not for me. I'm ONLY concerned with ONE flight capability these days....Will it lift a sausage? 😁
If the price difference between the standard and pro is ~$12 and you could get the ant for ~$10 it would be worth it to buy the standard and a new cam to swap in because then you'd have a backup for when you ran into too many brick walls.
If your buying online, you gotta remember shipping.
Those motors look like the ones flight test used to use on the gremlin kits and the emax baby hawk. Almost completely identical.
My only experience with Darwin fpv is ordering a flight controller straight from them. It arrived defective, I checked resources cli’s and the software they provided as well as examining my soldering, I couldn’t find anything wrong on my end but controlling motor 2or 3 in betaflight would spin both. I’ve tried contacting all of Darwin fpvs email addresses but they have never responded. Never had an issue like this until Darwin FPV
I know you wouldn't be able to build an equivalent quad for that price, so bang for the buck it fires on all cylinders. I would say get the lower priced version and put your own camera in it. There are better analog cams the the Caddx ant, like say the Runcam Phoenix 2 JB Edition.
What was the average flight time you got on it with the 450mah 3s?
The camera angle not being able to go any higher is due to the bottom edge of the camera coming into contact with the bottom plate, if you were to take it apart and change the uptilt before putting it back together you can get an absurd uptilt. Basically there is a small range of angle where you can't fit the camera into.
Would love to see you review the analog Crux35 - only $140!. Best under 150??
I think putting HDzero on this thing would be awesome would be cool to see a super budget HD build
You tried on a new hoodie and you got lint stuck to your head stubble. I get the same thing a couple days after i shave my head
THIS IS THE RIGHT ANSWER.
Still amazing, I'm just modding my second one!
Lost my first, so my new one has gotten a GPS allready!
Great video! where did you get that t-shirt from?
That is legitimately the crunchiest FPV camera I have ever seen lmao
You're telling me there's an even WORSE option?
Mine just arrived here in the UK, all i can say is for the money, wow. other then the camera its bloody brilliant. And the packaging is anything but cheap
I thought about HDZERO on it before you said that. Great quad for that.
I just reviewed this drone with the stock camera and the Ant camera and got the same impression.
I was thinking I would have another bad drone to pilot, specially when I saw the motors, plastic spacers,... But I found a good drone to flight! Of course the Pro version that has the Caddx camera. I think it is a good drone to start with.
Compared to the Beta for a bit more... I don´t know, but in case you can not or do not want to spend more, for 100$ or 80€ this is a great option.
Good to see that the Great Joshua thinks the same way!
I just helped my friend set up this quad for my friends son. I was surprised after seeing. 👍🏼👍🏼 I don’t think much is out there for this price range. I always like 👍🏼
I personally like mounting the VTX to the top plate. I have many sub 250's done this way (some with naked vista, some with HDZero). It's not ideal in that it's a little bit extra work if you need to take it apart for maintenance, but ... I don't like the VTX to be mounted on top of the soft mounted FC adding more weight that can potentially sway with the FC.
Love the little info cards. So nice for new pilots who don't know all the lingo yet!
I'm so glad you reviewed and like this quad. I got it when it first came out and they didn't have the better camera option and it was called something like Darwin 69 or Baby Ape 69 because it was $69. Before I even received it, I already had a Baby Ratel 2 waiting to put in it because I already knew. Never even tried the original camera one time. In addition, I've made other additions / modifications like swapped the standoffs for taller ones to increase camera angle, so of course I had to 3D print spacers for the carbon camera plates. Also added a better VTX antenna, a buzzer and some little LEDs that show through the bottom and I printed like "walls" (for lack of a better word) that are similar to ones on the Roma frame. When I first got it, this was a big upgrade for me in size and performance because I was used to 2.5" quads. Since then, I have built a 3.5" that is beast thanks to FPV Crate but that's a whole other story. I really just wanted to share what all I've done so people can know that even though it's the cheapest possible quad in 2022, a lot can be done with it and in my opinion it's definitely worth it. Oh yeah, I've already broken an arm and got replacements which is a nice feature that I didn't have before, replaceable arms. Spare motors can be found SUPER CHEAP on AliExpress (like less than $3 each) so I grabbed like 10 of them. You are The Man Joshua! Keep up the good work.
Still love flying mine. The low weight and the fact it's not super noisy, makes it easy to fly "low-key". Been flying it with 2s 550mah but just ordered some 3s 550mah so keen to see the difference.
Those 1104 motors are actually very OLD. They come from the original "Babyhawk" (the one that came in a white plastic frame) if I am not mistaken.
I was thinking the same thing, except those were 1104-5250. I still think you’re mostly right though, someone needs to try to old Babyhawk props on it.
I have orderd one with the ant cam i will install a ep2 reciever with your help :). I would like to see a build video with Shark Bite! And now i have seen your whole video iam happy i bought it 30 degrees is enough for good freestyle.Thanks for the review!
Ooh, a drone I be able to get for my kids to practice. We have been waiting part by part HOPEFULLY we win those goggles!! Wooo
I like the baby ape, from what I see. I have the iflight turbobee 136rs, very similar but runs 4s. Absolutely love it.
It's to do with (cubic) disk loading. To "fly like a 5 inch" in a scale sense doesn't mean doing 5" speeds & being able to throw it just as far, a scaled speed should be more relative to airframe size, 10 airframes per second etc. When disk or wing loading is calculated correctly & weight targets are met the scaled model will dynamically fly correctly, the only difference is air pressure & density (physics) not scaling with the model, also having to provide similar thrust to weight ratios & scaled prop pitch speeds.
These are some of the fundamental principles in scale modelling whether rotorcraft or fixed wing, when getting these factors right a model plane will have similar (scaled) stall speeds & stall characteristics as full scale, and appear likewise in the sky but shrunken down & flying in a smaller area.
This needs converting to hdzero using the new whoop board and new super light camera!!
Concerning your question: I think it's the fabric of your headphones that it's worn out and pieces of it stick to your head. Nice video as always!
Got mine some weeks ago and flew it 2-3 times now. Ordered just for let it in the car with some 800d and a literadio2 elrs ^^ it's ok put a caddxpeanut on it and a 3s850mah .. I know lot of Extra weight but ok for edc
I decided to order one of these today, luckily I remembered this time to use the affiliate link!
I used mine with crossfire 55, crashed it alot, lost it on a swamp and recovered a week after, crashed, water, I mean, all possible bad things I have done with it and it still works so fine with me. I only lost sound recording on the vtx and the motor power just went a littke weaker
I always hit trees when I fly your property on Liftoff. Either I have to try harder or you need to chop some trees down!
Am I the only one who thinks the first camera looks better? I'd take a slightly dimmer, blurrier image, and worse shadows over the heavy mosquito noise of the ant. Even distant obstacles are shimmering with noise. Maybe there is a sharpness adjustment on it? FWIW, for those interested, they now sell the Baby Ape Pro that comes with the Ant, while the standard version has the "DarwinFPV" camera reviewed here.
Also I have a question. Is this Assembled, PNP, I'd just have to add a receiver?
It's tough here because the DVR struggles a bit with the sharpened view of the Ant. But to my eye, in the goggles, the Ant is vastly superior.
@@JoshuaBardwell Fair enough. The colorized background noise in the example is really distracting to my eye. If it's not there in the goggles, then I would agree, it is a more detailed image. Both the standard and pro being nearly half the price of a tinyhawk, they are a steal, either way.
@@JoshuaBardwellThe word "vastly" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that comment though the Ant is definitely better.🤔
@@JoshuaBardwell Lots of BARF in my mouth from all of those red sparklies, fuzz, and constant flickering from the Ant camera - It's HORRIBLE! :(
@@sumdood2035 I agree, that ANT is AWFUL! :(
Love that you used it as an vlog camera:)
I just got this brand-new in a big fpv lot that I just purchased the other day I just put the receiver in it and need motors are identical to the original baby hawk Motors the original baby hawk was one of the best flying drones in my opinion John Furey this one is going to be amazing from what I heard I'm hoping to made mine in the a.m. it defies anything anything like the original baby hawk I'm going to order a bunch more I've got like nine original baby heart and all the sudden none of them work anymore I also need a super old version betaflight to even connect to the old F3 boards
that would be something super fun to fly if you threw in the HD. I hope u solder it up cus thAT WOULD BE A A GLOVE BOX DAILY DRIVER . good idea. id think i would be in line for the preorder
YES!!! Please put Shark Byte (HD Zero) on this thing and make a video. I was thinking of doing that for my backyard. Hell do a HD Zero (shark byte) tutorial video for adding it to an existing quad. Please.
Still worth is a week ago. Best deal for a beginner hands down. Babyape Pro, Fatshark Scout,Zorro. Cant go wrong.
Those are the motor that came with the original tiny hawk, I still have a set. Screw holes gave it away! Lol
Babyhawk
@@rockman49er yeah what you said! Lol thanks
Stock cam wasn’t bad at all. Only complaint I have is it looked too zoomed in. Other than that. Looked pretty good.
I would love to see you make a toothpick long range, plzzzzz!!!
Pretty close in design and possibly better are stuff like TCMMRC UR26 Mermaid 220,or TCMMRC Overfrequency 2.0, or many similar. I wonder how they compare and would probably spend quite some time looking at specks of these. They are in the same price range but bigger, so generally I'd expect them to fly better.
Would love to see the HDzero build i just bought a V2 Pro
It's HD zero lol but would be cool to see you convert it.
Yes I like your video. It's always good to get your advice in every video you post! Thank you! By the way. That hoodie I want one. Can't find it in Rotor Riot website. Does express LRS in the drone that you mentioned work with Taranis Q X7 ?
Awesome review. Love the editing in this one especially with the extra knowledge tid bits. You have a new video editor? Regardless, I like this style.
Hi!
I have a problem with my quad, I have changed the fc 3 times and the esc one time, at first the quad wasn't flying correctly, then I replaced the fc and it got better, but it's behavior wasn't normal, so I decided to change the stack, now the quad flies super good, the blackboc log is pretty clean, but, when I do a hover test for 6 minutes approximately, the motors get a bit hot to touch, I can leave my hand as long as I want, but it hurts a little bit, I don't know why, I have been living with problems with this quad for so long, I'm frustrated.
Here's my setup:
Xing 2208 1800kv
Mamba f722 mk3 fc
Mamba f50_bl32
5×4.8×3 props (Maybe the pitch is too high, but I live at 2640 meters above sea level)
Lumenier QAV-S jhonny fpv edition
All up weight: 640 grams
When I do a bench spin up, I tested them at 1300 throttle for 30 seconds, they get a bit warm, almost cold, so I don't think it's a hardware issue (I hope)
It sounds like things are not really messed up at all. Flying for 6 minutes and the motors get a bit warm but not hot.... it could be totally normal. If the quad is flying fine then just fly it :-)
I own both the new darwin drones and I'm putting hdzero into my baby ape...
I thought of it on my own and then I was watching this video recently and I saw you said that and I'm like wow I was already planning to do that since I'm running an sbus receiver in mine I have the extra RX pads for canvas mode
I remember when I first saw a Darwin quad. It looked very cheap. As a TOOTHPICK it's not. A toothpick is a 1s quad up to 2in props maybe 3in. Anything else is a micro. But that's my opinion. This one to me is more a micro. I think that Darwin is making some decent quads. I think I might just get one. Thanks again for the video and information.
I stopped calling my 2.5 and 3 inch micros 'toothpicks', LOL. They look more like that one.
This is not a toothpick, but a micro. Also toothpicks are micros, but a kind of micro. Two aspects: weight and form factor.
A toothpick is named like that because of the frame. Also, as per Kabab's formula, should stay within 70-80g including the battery.
Can you do a little ping sound or something when the boxes pop up? Sometimes I background the video and get on with other things but would be good to know if I am missing out on one of your context boxes.
My biggest complaint with this quad is the battery connection. The pig tail is so long and the top deck is so close to the props I haven’t found a way to secure the battery that I don’t feel uneasy about, especially using the equipped rubber bands.
...well, Joshua, since you mention slapping a hdzero on the ape: Would the mounting-holes from the original vtx fit the hdzero?
I live the way this thing flies.. my problem with it is the screws they used and how damn hard it is to get the props off.. I literally bent 2 motor shafts trying to change props. I also lost 2 motor screws off each motor….. really Annoying bc standard m2 screws r too big and won’t fit..
So the motors are from the original baby hawk branded by emax and they make props for them.
I still think this is the best possible deal for new-to-the-hobby guys like me. So much so, I bought it! I know I'm a year late to the party. Still makes sense to me in January 2023.
Hey Joshua!!! Your videos are awesome!! I'm from Brazil... Do you know if we can instal a runcan link wasp nano for a digital transmission?
Hi Guys, Hi Joshua. i need your help . My flight statistic not appear after disarmed the drone . how to fix this?
Oh yea 5 inch all the way only now I love 3 inch quads . Going to get a Baby Ape though I am a little worried over push fit props but the weight is so small maybe ok . Off subject anyone notice how much a F7 is being pushed running 4.3 over 4.2.
Yes, it would be interesting to see HD Zero on this copter and get your impressions on useable range and reception with the ELRS and HDZ
if you want to lose everything seeing that the aio is known to go boom
vid label for vtx power is 400mw and the vtx is 200 just letting ya know jb
Hey ypu didn't say anything about the osd part. Where ypu go into the screen to change things.
I have that aio fc on another quad, well I have 2 of them boards on 2 different quads.
But I wish they made the screen faster when trying to change the pids, it comes up sooooooooo slow on mine, and then I heats up my vtx fast, then I just say f it and go inside to tune the pids. Other then that it's a great fc.
Hi Joshua, can you give me some advice regarding maximum size, dimension and capacity of battery for Baby Ape pro ? 2S or 3S ? 300, 450, 550 or ? how much big battery can be put when you have RunCam Thumb Pro (60mm lenght or )?
Thanks ! Best Regards from Slovenia ;)
awesome content. So happy I discovered your channel
Can you share PID tune settings here.
I built mine from kit.
Thanks
Can you review the cheapest hd drone? Please?
Great video as always... one question... Where did you get your Cini-Whoop t-shirt? Pretty cool :)
if you think that original camera is bad, you should see the c5810 by mjx.
Would recommend this or the tiny hawk freestyle? I am a beginner to intermediate looking to upgrade from my Cetus lite for freestyle
"This is the upgraded camera"
I lol'd
EXACTLY! It's hideous! I still have barf in my mouth from BOTH cameras! And, the funny thing is you can go from HORRIBLE Ant camera to BEST ANALOG HAS camera - the Baby Ratel, for about $10 whole dollars! LOL
JB, Is it just Me, I Thought the original camera look a little better?
I like the HD zero idea.
Thanks for the review. Trying to decide between the Darwing Baby Ape 3 inch RTF vs. the Rekon3 Nano RTF kits(in my budget and Canadian 250g's requirements). I don't want to spend a lot of time assembling, just want to get into the hobby and maybe build later. My use would be for long range(?) in forested parks and areas(1-2km range would be good). Longer flight time and quieter operation would be favourable as I want to observe wildlife, but not disturb them. Your videos have been great but don't focus on casual flying and both Rekon and Darwin don't say much on their website for my application and use. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on these 2 quads? I've never flown, so I want to spend my limited time practicing rather than studying and building. Thx.
The yellow blinking led on the board is gone and I have no throttle. What is it
I would like to see you put shark bite in it, always love learning from you. 💯👊
would you be able to put a caddx peanut on there or would it be really effected by the weight?
Can someone please let me know what else I need to buy other than the Baby Ape pro to get started? None of the sites make it easy to understand. If there was a starter kit I'd be interested