Emax tiny hawk: upgrading the props

Tinyhawk fitted with the new 4-bladed props

Introduction
The Emax Tinyhawk is a 1s brushless whoop-style quadcopter that has steadily grown on me since I first reviewed it here. It's certainly not the fastest but is probably the most well designed ducted quad available at present. It comes stock with very good 3-bladed emax props that perform well except that lack thrust when running in reverse meaning "turtle mode" does not work. I've installed and reviewed their new 4-bladed props where turtle mode works and how they perform in general.

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Why are there so few prop options?
Due to the motors being set up pointing down (pusher) rather than up as most traditional quads it means that, at this stage, you are limited to Emax tinyhawk props only. It's not bad news though, both the original and new props are light, well designed and balance and made of VERY durable material. 

Prop removal and installation
Installation can be challenging and rather than paraphrasing I'd recommend watching MuteFPV's excellent video to the right. Check out his other vids too, great content and production quality.

Weight Comparison
Before I get into the flight performance, you can see below that the weight is very similar for the props meaning the sum total difference for all for props is just 0.3g. Now I'm a stickler for weight, especially on micros but 0.3g just doesn't factor for me.

Flight review
Performance is similar but I get more response down low which is consistent with having an extra blade. What was unexpected though was that I felt I had more thrust at the top end. My best guess this this has something to do with the different blade design and is a welcome feature. In term of efficiency I think I had a little less flight time, perhaps 10% when flying in the same location. Across 4 flight I averaged out at 190 seconds (3:10) on the 4-bladed props and about 208 seconds (3:28) on the 3 bladed props on the stock emax 450mah batteries.

Turtle mode?
Yes. It works. To embelish on this the reason this is so crucial is that it can can sit on your lazy arse if you are flying around home but more crucially you can get back in the air and racing if you crash to the ground. You may not win but you also won't get a DNF placing. This is well worth noting because tinyhawk spec racing classes are becoming more and more popular since the tinyhawk is well designed, relatively inexpensive, extremely durable and is also available as a cost-effective ready-to-flykit with goggles and transmitter.

Conclusions
Just get them and give them a try. They're only $2 for a set and given the durability of the frame and the props themselves they will last you a very long time. In new news I see emax have just launched in smokey grey. Beyond performance improvements I love the idea of customisation and think these would look great with the new black frame.

Emax tinyhawk 4-bladed turtle mode props (red)

Emax tinyhawk 4-bladed turtle mode props (black)

Emax Tinyhawk black frame

2x 450mah batts here for under $7 at writing

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