QUADIFYRC MODS AND REVIEWS
  • RC Cars
  • Car of the Month
  • Quad Reviews
  • Quad Mods
  • COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS
  • Long Range
  • About & Contact

QUADIFYRC Quadcopter reviews

Eachine Lal5 5" 4K HD REview Part 1: Specs and BEtaflight RPM filter setup

24/10/2019

14 Comments

 
Picture
PictureEachine Lal 5 FPV quad
Introduction and spec

The Eachine Lal5 is a new 5" freestyle quadcopter from Eachine. It's most notable features are the new Caddx Tarsier V2 camera system that offers a high quality analogue feed and up to 4k HD recording. Also worth pointing out is the impressively specced powertrain - high quality 2507 1850kV motors that look like they are made by the same OEM as flywoo. These are the biggest motors I've seen on a 5 inch quad before. Further details on specs:
  • 225mm true x frame with 5mm thick arms
  • 2507 1850kv motors (1750g max thrust)
  • F4 flight controller with bluetooth control, 6 UARTs, barometer, 5V and 10V BEC
  • 50A BLHeli_32 ESC 3-6s
  • Caddx Tarsier V2 cam with 4k HD recording and ND8 filter
  • Eachine TX805 25-800mw VTX
  • RHCP antenna
  • Dalprop T5046c v2 cyclone props

Update: See the unofficial part 2 of the review here with low cost and effective upgrades
Build quality and component choice discussion

Electronics: Looking more closely at the electronics build it seems to be fairly well thought out. The primary stack contains the 50A BLHeli_32 esc, f4 flight controller and the TX805 VTX (my favourite budget vtx as reviewed here). Looking a little closer at the flight controller it actually has a barometer (for accurate altitude readings and bluetooth for connection via speedybee app. It also has a 10v rail for super clean video much life the Airbot Omibus F4 V6 which I love. Behind this there is a separate 20mm stack that holds the 2 boards that run the Caddx Tarsier v2. Aluminium standoffs are 30mm high so definitely not a low rider but the advantage is plenty of room to fit the stack with good spacing. The ESC has a 35v 470microfarad capacitor that should help manage voltage spikes and keep video clean and up front is the dual lens tarsier camera unit. Included is their ND8 filter which is a nice touch. The TPU 3d printed camera mount does a good job of bringing the camera forward to minimise props in view but still protects that camera well. Print quality is the best I have ever seen. Antenna is well integrated with the TPU mount but I fear signal will be blocked by the battery when flying towards myself - something I must test for sure. There is no receiver included but there is a loom pre-wired to 5v, ground and sbus for a frsky receiver. All pictures below can be embiggened
Picture
Main 30.5mm stack with ESC, F4 flight controller and TX805 VTX
Picture
Rear 20mm stack with the Caddx Tarsier V2 boards
Picture
Plenty of room in this stack with 30mm standoffs

Read More
14 Comments

Runcam 5 Review: My first proper FPV HD Cam

7/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Runcam 5 is the latest HD cam suitable for FPV quadcopters released by renowned FPV camera manufacturer Runcam. It is a cube form factor following on from the shape made popular by the now discontinued GoPro Session 4 and Session 5 cameras. It measures 38mm x 38mm x 36mm which is nearly identical to the Session meaning it fits easily in to the commonly available 'GoPro' mounts. My Runcam 5 was ordered from Banggood and can be found at the link here: RunCam 5 12MP 56g Smallest 4K Cam HD Recording. It retails for $99 and can be had on special for a little as $87 - see my coupons page for up to date discount codes. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
RunCam 5 12MP 56g  4K Cam HD Recording 145 Degree NTSC/PAL 16:9/4:3 Switchable FPV Action Camera Bulit-in Battery for RC Racing Drone
History
Runcam have been making HD cams specifically for RC for sometime now. The runcam 1 and 2 are both in the matchstick-box style form factor and although well liked never really took off for FPV drones. The runcam 3 "took inspiration" from the GoPro session series which have become the most popular form factor for FPV drones given there small size, light weight and robustness. Because of the strict patents on the session cameras Runcam had to pull the runcam 3 from the market in North America and ultimately worldwide which was a shame - it was a good camera at a much more competitive price than the higher specced GoPro sessions. Runcam then went away and came back with the runcam 3s - same form factor but with larger dimensions which meant it wouldn't fit the raft of mounts that are out there in the wild for the session cameras. A lot of reviews also stated inferior lens performance to the deleted runcam 3 and so it was not successful to runcam.

The Runcam 4 was released in the same form factor as the 1 and 2 mainly but predominantly for airsoft guns and was not widely promoted for FPV due to the smaller lens angle. Runcam have done their homework with the Runcam 5 and although it is essentially the same dimensions as the GoPro session series, they have not run foul of the patented design aspects of the session that they ran into trouble with on the Runcam 3.

Why the big spiel? The Runcam 5 can be used in the now ubiquitous session mounts and has a video quality comparable to the earlier session cameras but at a much more palatable price. Besides the GoPro sessions have been retired and the struggling GoPro does not look interested in resurrecting this form factor - the Runcam 5 looks like the most robust and particularly beginner friendly HD cam to have at this point in time.
Picture
Runcam (1) HD
Picture
Runcam 2
Picture
Runcam 3 - pulled from market
Picture
Runcam 3s
Picture
Runcam 4

Read More
0 Comments

Hawkeye Firefly Micro Cam 2 Review: Budget HD Footage for your Quadcopter

23/4/2019

5 Comments

 
Picture
Introduction
This is a review for the Hawkeye Firefly 2 Micro Action Cam specifically used for recording HD footage on FPV quadcopters

The ability to capture high definition footage for your own use or sharing with others is a key part of the FPV hobby. GoPro have had this market stitched up but are expensive especially now that the session series have been discontinued. The Runcam split, Caddx Turtle and now Foxeer Mix series have been great especially for smaller light quads but your HD recording is then fixed to a specific quad. Last year the Hawkeye Firely Micro Cam was released and had it's niche as a lightweight self-powered transfereable action came but it was forgettable with poor bitrate on 1080p footage which typically looked worse than 720p.

Well the makers from this camera have made real improvements for version 2 which offers the specs below, key of which for me is 1080p @ 60fps (spoiler: it's pretty good) and 2.5k @ 30fps all with its own battery that will power all 31g of it for about 60 minutes.
  • Resolutions: 2.5K 30FPS/1080P 60/30FPS/720P 60FPS
  • AV: PAL/NTSC
  • Micro SD card: Class 10
  • SD card supported: 8-64G
  • Weight: 31 gram
  • Battery: 600mAH
  • Working time: About 60 minutes
  • Charging time: About 2-3 Hours
  • File format: MOV
  • Lens: F/2.8, 6 glasses
  • Angle: Diagonal 160 degrees
  • Voltage: 5V
  • Current: 400mA
This is the new Hawkeye Firefly 2 Micro action cam that was released April 2019
Getting started
The camera itself is small and feels solid but is definitetly not water resistant in it's own right. Water resistance is achieved using the included silicon 'condom' which securely fit on the camera covering potential ingress points: button holes, LED hold, SD card. Only the sealed lens and sealed rear of the camera are exposed. Buttons are easily accesible with recessed button markings in the silicon skin that align perfectly with the actual buttons on the camera. Another thing, with the silicon skin on it actually weights 43g. Regardless I'll only be flying with this on, it offers good physical and protection and some basic water resistance.
Picture
Imprints for buttons that align with those on the camera
Picture
Silicon skin adds 12g of weight but importantly brings water resistance and shock protection

Read More
5 Comments

    Quick Access Menu

    All
    1103
    1104
    1105
    1106
    1204
    120rs
    1505
    20mm
    2207.5
    2508
    2.5 Inch
    2 Inch
    2s Whoop
    3 Inch
    4s Micro
    5 Inch
    6s
    7500kv
    7 Inch
    Action Cam
    Adapter
    AIO
    AirA
    Antenna
    Aomway Commander
    Ascent
    Asteroid
    Babyhawk R
    Battery
    Beebee 66
    Beeper
    Bench Review
    BNF
    Boldclash
    Bolt
    Brushless Whoop
    Budget
    Build
    Canopy
    Charging
    Christmas
    Cinewhoop
    Cloud 149
    CM275T
    Cobra
    Comet
    Crossfire
    Crux3
    Diatone
    Drone
    Dvr
    DYS
    Eachine
    Eachine Cvatar Cinewhoop
    Eachine Shadow Fiend
    Eachine Tyro79
    Eachine Vrd3
    Emax
    ESC
    F02h
    F3
    Fatshark
    Fatshark Attitude V5
    First Flight
    FlexRC
    Flight Controller
    Flyfox 110
    Fpv
    Frame
    Freestyle
    FRSKY
    FRSKY X-lite
    Ft5
    Full Speed
    FUS Spartan
    FUS X111 Pro
    Gemfan 2540
    Goggles
    Goggle Strap
    Happymodel
    Hawk 5
    Hawkeye Firefly 2
    HB64
    HD Footage
    HGLRC
    Hobbycool
    HobbyCool.com
    Iflight
    Isdt
    JHEMCU
    Jr Port
    Jumper T8SG
    Komori
    Lal5
    Larva-x
    Leader 120
    Leader 2.5
    Leader 3
    LED
    Long Range
    LST S2
    Micro Quad
    Mobula
    Mobula7
    Motors
    Namelessrc
    Novice-i
    Oled
    ORT Dual Shield
    PIDs
    Pnp
    Portable
    Propellers
    R249+
    Racerstar
    Radiomaster TX16s
    Ready To Fly
    Red Devil
    Review
    Roma F4
    Roma F5
    Runcam
    Runcam 5
    Rush
    Sailfly X
    Sailfly-x
    Shootout
    SKY03O
    Skystars
    Skyzone
    Smart Audio
    Snapper7
    Sweet Spot
    Taranis
    TBS Tango2
    Tinyleader
    Tiny Tank
    Tmotor
    T-motor
    Toothpick
    Toothpick Pro
    TP3
    Transmitter
    Trashcan
    Tutorial
    Twig
    TX01
    Upgrade
    V1s
    Vtx
    Whoop
    X120
    X Lite
    X-lite
    ZJWRC 115X

Thanks for visiting QuadifyRC.com Follow us on facebook below to get all the latest updates
  • RC Cars
  • Car of the Month
  • Quad Reviews
  • Quad Mods
  • COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS
  • Long Range
  • About & Contact