QUADIFYRC Quadcopter reviews

The Happymodel Crux3 is an ultralight 3 inch micro quadcopter capable of running 2s and 1s batteries. It ships with multiple on board and external receiver options including FRSKY, DSM and now TBS crossfire as well. 

Happymodel have been quiet recently with their own brand so it is good to see them with a release again in a evolution of the ultralight micro class. This started with the Sailfly-x and Larva-x which were both in the 2.5 inch / 65mm class. The Crux3 steps up to a full 3 inch blade and uses all of their past learnings on making things lightweight in what I feel is more of a finished package. 

The Eachine Novice I is a brushless 2s capable ducted micro FPV quadcopter that includes a basic transmitter, FPV goggles and batteries making it a genuine Ready To Fly (RTF) kit option for $145-$165 retail. It is available exclusively from Banggood here. The lightweight ducted frame makes it safe to fly inside and around people but it still has enough power to fly outdoors. Since it can run on 1 battery (1s) or 2 batteries (2s) you can fly it slow or fast. It will compete directly with the Emax Tinyhawk RTF which is 1s capable only and is $156 with only 1 battery. I've reviewed the Emax Tinyhawk here if you wish to compare.

A closer look at the components:
Below are all the components, click through for more details or if you need to purchase spares

The Larva-X is a new lightweight micro FPV quadcopter made by Happymodel, a company who are very well known now to innovate new trends and hype in micro quadcopters. The Larva-x looks to be a more robust and refined evolution of the "toothpick" class of ultra light weight quads, this time with a more robust frame, better receiver options and a better FPV system, which addresses complaints on some of their earlier models.

The Larva-X is available now from many retailers. Below is the link from Banggood who ship internationally from $0 and up. At time of writing (9 September 2019) they have their big anniversary sale on and have the Larva-X on Special for $83 using the code "BGANLX" and this link: Happymodel Larva X 100mm 2-3S 2.5 Inch FPV Racing Drone

Specifcations
100mm carbon fibre frame - Although a spindly design, this is 3mm thick carbon. It feels rigid and very robust, a big improvement on previous frames which were light but prone to breaking.
Happymodel EX1103 7000KV Motor - An extra 1mm stator height gives 50% volume over the 1102 motors found on the sailfly-x. 7000kV is a good rating for 3s primarily or 2s for smaller areas.
Crazybee F4 Pro V3  Flight Controller - V3 of this flight controller no longer requires the additional capacitor as seen on the sailfly-x and eachine red devil
Onboard 10A 4in1 ESC - The extra current overhead (10a vs 6a) and voltage overhead (up to 4s) means that this should be MUCH more reliable on 3s... it is well away from current and voltage limits with 1103 7000kV motors
Multiple receiver options - Have options to choose onboard frsky/flysky/dsmx which have typically poor range but for the first time they are offering discrete receiver options including XM+, R-XSR and even TBS crossfire!
Happymodel Diamond VTX - Not only does this offer 25mw-200mW OSD selectable transmit power but it also includes an onboard DVR for static-free recording.
Runcam NANO2 FPV Camera - Hooray! A better camera. The rancam nano 2 is currentl recognised as the best price per performance nano size cam at present.

Introduction
​I'm a scientist by training so not usually one to use hyperbole (especially where it feels click-baity in titles) but I really do mean it here: This is the best value quad I've reviewed so far this year. It is not the best long range, it is not the best free-style and it is not the best racer. But for those occasions where you are looking to fly in a small to medium park, empty office or commercial area out from your back yard which is 90% of my fling, this is the ideal tool for the job.

The HappyModel Sailfly-x is a "toothpick class" ultralight micro quadcopter. It has an all up weight of 38g without battery and can take 1s, 2s or 3s batteries. It is available with onboard FRSKY, FlySky or DSM reveivers or without a receiver where you can add crossfire or anything else. It is a fairly complete kit (see below) and is available for just $88 at full retail. Availability seems to be somewhat limited to Banggood at time of writing but my guess is that many retailers will pick this one up.

For this review I'll break down what is included, the specs, document differences from the stock betaflight and then cover off in the actual review performance on 2s, 3s, FPV performance and close with a summary and my recommendations. I'll also list spares and upgrade parts as the become available.

As you probably know, Happymodel's most successful launches have been based around the all in one crazybee board: the snapper7 (reviewed here), mobula7 (reviewed here), eachine trashcan (reviewed here) and the mobula7HD. The Sailfly-X is a departure from the ducted design in response to the massive performance gains shown by Kabab as above. Lets have a look at the specs below and I'll give you my thoughts and a conclusion based on the entire package.

Introduction
In the world of brushless ducted quadcopters (whoops) I have been lucky enough to review most of the big hype products - Happymodel Snapper7 and upgrades, Happymodel Mobula 7, Full Speed TinyLeader and now the Eachine Trashcan. Clearly it is a silly but memorable name and it will surely be easy to search for online. 

Introduction
The Mobula7 is made by Happymodel who also released the popular Snapper7 which I reviewed here. Like the Snapper 7 it is a 75mm brushless whoop but it is lighter and more importantly, designed for 2s batteries. The Mobula 7 is not the first ready to fly 2s brushless whoop to the market but it is by far and away the lightest at just 28g without battery. That means the small and light 0802 16000kV motors are able to reach their power potential even on the small 260mah batteries included in the kit and make this quadcopter move very quickly with extremely nimble handling.

What is included?
The standard version is $10 more than the basic version and simply speaking offers superior value for money. Included is:

• The Bind and fly brushless quadcopter itself
• 3 x 450mah 1s LiHV 4.35v batteries
• 6 channel charger
• Spare set of 40mm propellers
• screw driver, prop removal tool and screws 

As you can probably see above the standard version includes 3 batteries instead of 1 and a 6 channel charger instead of a single USB charger. Because I was so impressed by the charger, I'll call out here the details of what made it so special:

• 6 independent charging channels. This is not a parallel charge meaning you can plug in out batteries of varying voltage at any time
• LED readout that cycles through the voltage of each channel, input power supply and USB output voltage
• Wide 6-24v DC 5.5mm barrel or XT60 power supply. This means you can use practically any 'wall wart' power adapter you have lying around or more interestingly any 2-5s Xt60 lipo making for a very nice portable charging unit. The LED readout for input power detailed above mean you can ensure your charge lipo is not over-discharged. Nice.
• Output voltage for each cannel can be switch between 4.20v and 4.35v meaning you can charge any combination of standard or high voltage lipos on the 6 output channels.
• Output current can be switched between 0.2A or 0.5A per channel for slow or fast charge.
  
• Choice of JST connectors, PH 2.0 and small (sorry I cant remember the pin pitch! Will update if I remember)

Quad specs and discussion
Key specifications of the quad are:

• Crazybee F3 flight controller with SPI integrated FRSKY or Flysky receiver and 5a BLHeli_S ESC (more discussion below)
• AIO 700TVL CMOS cam with 5.8GHz 40ch 25mW vtx
• 0703 19000kV motors
• 450mah 1s HV battery
• Aluminium/carbon 75mm frame with canopy
• 28.2g without battery, 41.8g with
• Soft mounted flight controller

The real innovation and star of the show is the integrated flight control/ESC/receiver. The flight control and BLHeli_S ESC on the same board is nice and a useful step forward from spearate boards as on the BeeBee 66 that mean it is more compact and weighs less (4.3g for this board). We've seen integrated receivers before but not with an SPI interface as this one has. In theory the SPI interface is much faster than the SBUS interface (gyro is connected via SPI) but for practical results this frees up a spare UART and ensures you get FULL telemetry (confirmed on my Taranis Q-X7s). Addionally it means that rather than choosing a serial receiver in betaflight, you choose a dedicated SPI receiver and can choose between D8 or D16 for FRSKY or AFDHS or AFDHS2a for FRSKY. Lastly binding is easy! you no longer need to use 3 hands to hold the tiny button down while binding - power on and then hold the bind button down for 2 seconds. Bliss!! The Crazybee F3/ESC/RX is available separately in FRSKY and FLYSKY versions

Nothing much to note about the AIO camera from spec perspective, nor the motors - the real test will be in flight. The frame however is intersting. The rings around the props look like ducts but are actually just protectors meaning you should expect flight performance more like a typical guard-less quadcopter rather than a ducted whoop. Guards look to be cast from 7075 aluminium and are integral to the frame, i.e. cannot be removed.

Setup
The instructions that come with this model are succinct, well written and complete. It goes into detail with receiver choice in betaflight and binding procedure due to the SPI interface. As mentioned above: Easier to bind and choose the correct recevier. For flysky users it is particularly useful that you can choose between AFDHS and AFDHS2a. You'll be pleased to know that betaflight has been full set up from factory for all the elements that are unique to this quad althought the PIDs are stock (yet run fine). Please see below for stock betaflight setup and my comments in the gallery below:

It's worth noting that since this runs BLHeli_S, all of the latest Dshot commands are available including motor beep and anti-turtle mode aka 'flip over after' crash. Both work very well :)

Flying
I've seen a number of brushless whoops that have looked great on paper but none yet have actually bettered the flight experience by a simple brushed whoop like my santa whoop (part 1 and part 2 reviews here). That's because until now the brushless motors haven't scaled down well and offered poor power and efficiency. This meant they had no better thrust than a good brushed whoop and much worse battery life.

I'm really pleased to say that this model is different. Yes I know it has a 10mm larger frame and a 450mah battery but performance is superior to even a heavily modded whoop. What does this mean? It can better recover from manouvers and it is a more viable outdoor flier on still days. Punch outs are surprisingly good! As you can see from the video it will happily navigate a playground and trees. The flight characteristics are really interesting. I'd liken it more to a micro burshless than a whoop because of the extra power and lack of full ducts. This means I can be more aggresive with cornering using more roll rather than the yaw-heavy flying I do with whoops. Further to this it makes me more confident in acro mode whereas I find a whoop in acro mode really foreign. In tight spaces and obstacles and at lower speed (e.g. indoors) I still feel more comfortable in angle mode, just like a brushless whoop.

For flight time I got about 3 minutes when charged to 4.2v or 3.5 minutes when charged to 4.35v. Open field flying dropped battery life to about 2 minutes but this is not typical flight with a micro like this. This tells me these motors are most efficient in the 30-80% throttle range which is where most tighter flying is done - like the playground, indoors or around small trees. Nice to know the power is there if needed though. I'm not a fan of brushless motors smaller than 1102 but think these 0703s are actually pretty good - particularly with this combination of components. Furthermore they are the quietest sub-1102 motor I have heard. Spares are available here: https://www.gearbest.com/motor/pp_1717534.html

I was really pleased with the image out of the little AIO cam - it was as crisp as I've seen with as good a colour handling as you can expect for this type of camera. The camera angle adjustment was really nice and with the power this offered a well thought out capability. Video signal was very good even around trees and I started to drop RSSI on the control link well before video deteriotation before travelling out on an open field. I think the receiver antenna location could be optimised (below) but think you'll struggle to get the 300m claimed range...​ <Quick update> I've since routed the antenna up through the canopy rather than underneath. I think the reception may be marginally better but certainly no more than 100m in line of sight conditions.

Conclusion
The HappyModel Snapper7 is an excellent supermicro brushless whoop-style quadcopter that is available in a great value 'standard' pack which includes 3 batteries and and versatile charger. For it's size it is very light weight thanks to the heavily integrated FC/receiver/ESC board that includes the very latest receiver interface that makes setup extremely simple. By combining this with well made  19000kV motors and a suprisingly good AIO camera they have created a brushless tiny whoop that lives up to what we've wanted - a familiar whoop style quad that is suitable for indoors with a level of power and response that micro brushed quads just cannot achieve. Furthermore it feels much more at home in rate mode (acro) flight compared to a ducted whoop. Unlike earlier brushless models this does not come at the cost of battery life where 3-3.5 minutes flight time is realistic. Only time will tell how the motors and aluminium prop guards will hold up but with 20 or so packs through I've not caused any permanent damage plus the motors are still running quietly.

The Happymodel Snapper7 is available in a basic bind and fly package with 1 battery and a simple charger for just $85 in flysky or frsky versions but I'd recommend instead going for the $95 standard package which includes 3 batteries and an excellent 6 port charger.