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

Eachine 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

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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

Main 30.5mm stack with ESC, F4 flight controller and TX805 VTX

Rear 20mm stack with the Caddx Tarsier V2 boards

Plenty of room in this stack with 30mm standoffs

Caddx Tarsier V2 double cam front unit. 3d printed mount is really nice

VTX antenna mount looks great but the top mounted battery may block the signal

Nice long receiver wire will be easy to connect to. This is wire for SBUS (inverted tx UART)

Motors: These are massive, a 2507 is by far the largest I've seen on a 5 inch quad and I'd typically reserve a motor this size for a 7 inch or powerful 6 inch quad. Motor kV is 1850 meaning 6s is your target cell count. Consider a throttle cap through because this relatively high kv in this size will eat all the batteries if you are not careful Build quality is excellent with massive bearings - I think they may be 10mm?! Should make for smoothness and durability. Windings are single strands and look very tight. Magnets are curved and the stator gap is very small. Shafts are hollow, can't tell if steel or titanium. An M3 screw holds the bell on securely. These looks like the same design as the new racestar SIC 2207 motors but with a beautiful gold finish similar to the flywoo motors. Motor wires are heat-shrinked to the arms which is a nice touch because it takes forward planning. ESc soldering is clean but no extra wire was left which is a shame - I would think 6 inch arms would be a nice upgrade here and if made available it would require lengthening of wires to reach. A small quibble though. Motors are well protected by the arm design and also a tpu protector that also doubles as a landing pad.

Motors are massive. Be aware top of bell is flat like the racer star SIC so some props (like emax avans) may not fit

Tight single strand windings, hollow shaft and very large bearings - might be 10mm

Motor bumpers act as landing gear to for you weirdos who like to land right side up.

Heat shrink holding motor wires to arm is a tidy, well thought out touch

A shame more wire was left here as I think a 6" arm upgrade would be awesome for this quad

CW and CCW nuts?! Why?! It's 2019, is popo too much to ask?

​Frame and other stuff: Frame itself is a true-x sandwich plate design with 10mm wide 5mm thick arms. Carbon has been cut in the correct direction and so there is little flex in the frame. Top, bottom and sandwich plates are all 2mm thick which is fine for this style. Included is a nice material (kevlar?) reinforced strap with a spare in the pack. Adhesive custom cut rubber battery pad is there too with a spare in the box. Overall the frame looks like a nice design, similar to the cockroach v2 that I was always fond of. Props included are the classic Dal Cyclone T5046 v2. These are very durable which is great but the heavy pitch and weight will make a hungry set of motors even hungrier. One thing I noticed on my props in particular was the air bubbles in the prop mould by the hub. Although they shouldn't affect balance much I'm worried about the impact on hub strength. Props are consumables anyway so might start with something lighter and more efficient like the Gemfan 5146.6.

True-x 225mm design

Nice battery strap (2 included) might be kevlar? can't tell

Lightweight custom battery pad. Spare included as well

Lightweight sandwich plate design. Arms don't meet so may flex after time

See the voids in the prop hub near where the shaft goes through? Looks a bit like a defect to me

Betaflight RPM filter setup
At the time of writing betaflight 4.1 has just been released. This is the first full release with the groundbreaking new RPM filters that more accurately filter out excessive motor noise that anything before. The results is a much better filter system meaning you have a very much broader tuning window - in simple terms: a fantastic tune for your quad. Below I've detailed the key steps in achieving this specifically for the Eachine Lal 5 although this can be applied to any quad with a BLHeli_32 esc. I haven't included screens of my rates and OSD settings as I figured you'd want to use your own anyway.

First make sure you have configurator 10.6 at least and download betaflight 4.1 release for the Matek F405 target as shown here

Update BlHeli_32 firmware on your ESCs to 32.7 or later

In Betaflight increase pid loop to 8k, set at dshot 600 and enable Bidirectional Dshot. 14 magnet poles is correct for these motors

RPM filtering should be on as default and reduce the filter as circled

Here is the correct VTX table which I've customised specifically for this VTX. download code at the link below

Custom VTX table for Eachine Lal TX805:

btfl_vtxtable_quadifyrc_lal5_20191025_090211.json
File Size:	2 kb
File Type:	json

Download File

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Complete QuadifyRC diff all (settings I run)

lal5_beta_4.1_quadifyrc.txt
File Size:	2 kb
File Type:	txt

Download File

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This concludes my discussion of spec and bench review. As I write this I'm presently flying and will report back on flight, FPV and HD performance in part 2 as well as comparison to a more traditional gopro-based freestyle quad like my sweet spot build with runcam 5 hd cam. My early take is that without a large HD cam there is flexibility and weight to carry a larger battery which is good because the motors are very thirsty when you open them up. RPM filtering makes for a nice tune so I'm very glad for this have a 32bit esc. I'm fond of the FPV image of the tarsier v2 and so far the HD image is looking nice too. The V2 seems to have fixed some of the issues of the V1 tarsier as well.

Look out for the part 2 flight review coming very shortly.

Update: See the unofficial part 2 of the review here with low cost and effective upgrades

Although this quad is looking really promising I'd probably wait till I've reviewed in flight to be sure. I you can't wait however the code BGLAL5 will get you 10% off here.

​Thanks for reading, if you found this article useful please feel free to like or share, the facebook links below directly link/like this article. Links are affiliated and help me buy the bits I need to produce this type of content. If you are looking for quads or parts check out my coupons and discounts page which I keep updated with only the parts and quads I like at a proper discount.

Big battery? no problem :)