Budget Cinewhoop from Tyro79 / CLOUD 149 Build, TUNE and Review:

The Eachine Tyro79 is a low cost FPV drone with 3 inch propellers which is sold in kit form to be made up by the user. The price point and decent performance has meant this has been very popular, my Tyro79 build, setup, review article and subsequent ultimate upgrade guide have been some of my most popular articles to date. Ever since the craze of cinewhoop 3 inch ducted quadcopters had started though (like the Eachine CVATAR I reviewed here) I've thought the Tyro79 would make a great donor for a budget build, but I wasn't expecting the result to be quite so good. Spoiler: It flies better than the much more expensive Eachine Cvatar

Build Components

Eachine Tyro79 Kit

 So the goal here was to create a cheap and easily accessible cinewhoop. Rather than going piece by piece I instead decided to use the Eachine Tyro79 kit as a starting point because is so cheap. I strictly remembered the included 1607 2800kv motors being oversized and under kv'd from my first tyro79 build so thought they would be perfect for a cinewhoop build. Avoiding the tyro79 frame is not a bad move either 😅. They Tyro79 can typically be had for $70-$85 UPDATE: I have a working coupon code at time of writing: BGAFF10OFF to get it for $73

Reptile Cloud 149 Frame

For the frame I've chosen the classic Reptile Cloud 149 because I really like that the ducts are injection moulded rather than printed which should make for better efficiency. The Cloud 149 frame typically goes for $25-$30. Note I've avoided the Full Reptile Cloud 149 BNF because I don't rate the motor spec (1407 4000kv) for a cinewhoop. UPDATE: I've been given an exclusive discount code for this: BG149FRAME to get it for $28

Foxeer Razer Micro Cam

This means that all up $95-$115 will be enough to get you cinewhooping however I'd probably recommend a camera upgrade to something cheap like the Foxeer Razer Micro at $17 because the stock camera is STILL awful in anything but perfect conditions.

Let's get on to the build! Click to embiggen pics for more detail

Open all the boxes! Both are well packed and protected

The Tyro79 frame is functional but I'm happy to ditch it here

The tyro79 now comes with these racerstar triblade props which are actually rebranded HQ duct props. Couldn't have asked for better for a cinewhoop build.

The Cloud149 frame come prebuilt. Motors screwed on here

Frame is a 2mm thick so use 4mm long motor screws

Frame has a 19mm mount so the stock camera or any micro cam will fit. I strongly recommend a better cam

I shortened the legs of my capacitor to allow it to fit better but this is optional

ESC tinned and ready to go. Underneath the ESC are the nylon standoffs

Motor wires taped to the arms before I trim and solder so I get the length just right. This Emax tape is the very best stuff to use

Flight controller mounted on the rubber standoffs and camera plugged in. Note the correct plug as wiring diagram is non-existent

Another view. I like clean wiring because it has less chance of coming loose or being damaged in a crash

VTX on now. Here I've switched the stock linear whip VTX antenna for a micro speedybee LHCP antenna for better reception

Trusty FRSKY XM+ receivers never let me down. Wired in to SBUS and heat shrinked down

One receiver antenna pointing up ish and one at 90degrees to that for best reception.

VTX antenna going straight up to clear the battery. Remember most of the time you will be at a flat angle rather than flippy flopping around like a freestyle quad

Last stage ducts on. Very secure here with injection moulded ducts and pressed threaded inserts. A very light, strong and well designed frame.

I should have gotten the black ducts as the orange motors clash terribly with the red!

In hindsight I should have gone with XT60. Not because it is a current hog but you tend to use larger batteries on cinewhoops.

Betaflight and BLHeli setup
For the ESC I wanted to run 48KHz for smoothness and efficiency so used the below Jazz Maverick 48kHz firmware (ver 16.77 48k G H 15). This firmware also allowed RPM filtering VIA bidirectional d-shot. Before you blindly upload this firmware please confirm your ESC version has the same letter and numbers as the one I used

g_h_15_48_rev16_77.hex
File Size:	17 kb
File Type:	hex

Download File

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For Betaflight definitely wanted to run RPM filtering for which the settings are below. The rest of the tune I've kept fairly stock except for the key screens below. I'm very pleased with flight performance so happy to recommend these settings. Interesting to note that the betaflight target is different to the MATEK411 target from my first Tyro79. This new target has a faster F405 processor and more UARTs for expansion. My personal settings are below as a diff all file or as screen grabs if you want to do it yourself. Really pleased with this tune. Also below is the VTX table so you don't need to do the work

tyro79_cine_4.2.0_quadifyrc.txt
File Size:	2 kb
File Type:	txt

Download File

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eachine-tyro79-stock-vtx-qrc.json
File Size:	2 kb
File Type:	json

Download File

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Confirmed this is the correct port setup for SBUS receiver and stock VTX

Running RPM filtering as you can see here with 8k/8k and dshot600 thanks to the F405 processor upgrade. Not shown is airmode turned OFF

Stock PIDS are fine

I turned super rate to 0.5 across the board to lessen rates and improve the smooth

VTX tables. Actual file is above

This is how I like my OSD

FPV performance
​Straight up the camera on the Tyro79 is the same crappy unit that there as always been and it's the first part I'd upgrade. It works in good light but light-dark transition is slow as is low light performance. It will get you in the air though. With that said, even $17 will get you a decent upgrade cam like the Foxeer Razer now. I changed to a simple Runcam nano 2 because I had one lying around but needed a nano to micro adapter which I also had lying around. Even this $15 camera is vastly superior.

The good news though is that along with props and flight controller, the VTX has been updated as well. It only goes to a maximum 300w but reception is clear for my use.

The Cloud 149 is a great little frame but in order to make this price point it doesn't include a gopro mount which I am completely ok with. I used this wedge style mount for my Runcam 5. A fully enclosed HD cam is unnecessary because you won't be putting the HD cam in as much danger as a freestyle quad.

​Flight performance
After my experience with the Eachine CVATAR, which is a well specced cinewhoop, I had come to accept the cinewhoops are loud, inefficient and slow. Even the smaller FUS X111Pro (reviewed here) was rather loud when the little 2.5 inch props were loaded up. Well then I was genuinely blown away by how well the Tyro79-cloud149 I built here performed. Even on the stock bullnose props it was very quiet, almost as quiet as a regular quad and NOTHING near as loud as the CVATAR.

Power was on a different planet too - this custom quad can punch out with authority even if it isn't really the point of a cinewhoop. In fact from this perspective it is very similar to the regular tyro79 - the ducts don't seem to be slowing the punch out at all. Don't forget this is a ducted cinewhoop though so what it means in actual use is that it is more confident in a breeze than other cinewhoops I've flown. The lighter, lower profile frame also helps in this respect too.

And as you can probably guess efficiency was well up too. You can see in the flight below that I got in excess of 7 minutes with a very old 4s 1300mah battery. On a 4s 1000mah battery I got about 6 minutes and on a 4s 650mah around 4 minutes. Even though I don't specifically need the flight time the 1300mah pack felt the best - cinewhoops need a heavier battery to dull down throttle response which makes for smoother flight. You can of course fix this through tune and rates with a smaller battery but I thought this bigger battery was probably the most simple approach. As mentioned in the guide I'd recommend switch the XT30 connector out for an XT60 because 1000mah and up batteries will typically use these. Lastly, 4s batteries are perfect, I wouldn't bother with 3s and obviously this ESC won't handle 5s or up. Good news is 4s 1300mah are CHEAP!

Just a quick note that for the first time in my life I've preferred Air Mode OFF here for 2 reasons - 1) I won't be diving, power looping or general flippy flopping so it's not needed and 2) it allows me to bump or nidge into things with the ducts without the PID loop making the motors go crazy. I'd recommend this for any ducted quad.

Conclusion
Either by good luck or good planning, I fell I've landed on an awesome combination for this cinewhoop: it is quiet, efficient, powerful and cheap - none of which I thought I was ever realistically going to achieve with this type of quad. Sure the something like the Eachine Cvatar is capable of running 6s, can fit the air unit and has more modern gear in general but the actual performance does not hold a candle to the quad I've made here, it is simply night and day. It's not that the Cvatar is a terrrible quad, in fact it's build style and weight is typical of the premium offerings like the Diatone Taycan, iFlight Green Hornet, Flywoo Chasers etc. It's just that this custom cinewhoop performs better in all the areas I feel matter. Even though the Tyro79 is a budget setup the components have been reliable and so I think it makes for a good low cost setup when used in conjunction with the Cloud149 frame. 

Diatone MXC Taycan

iFlight Green Hornet

Flywoo Chasers

These are all very well equipped Cinewhoops but even without considering the price tag that is only half, the Tyro79 - Cloud149 as below just performs better.

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