This review is for the Fullspeed Toothpick Pro, the more robust 4s-capable micro quadcopter made by Full Speed RC. It is available from the following retailers that will ship internationally with options for FRSKY, Flysky, Spectrum and now TBS Crossfire as well:

• Fullspeed Toothpick Pro direct from FullspeedRC.com Update 4 July: Use code FSD12 to get 12% off everything on the FullspeedRC.com site - brings the price to $111. 
• Fullspeed Toothpick Pro from Banggood.com Update 3 July: Use code BGToothpick to get 12% off here - brings the price to $111. Code can only be used 20 times (5 already gone)

If you are looking for the the standard 2-3s Fullspeed toothpick, the full review of that can be found here and is available below:

• Fullspeed Toothpick direct from FullspeedRC.com
• Fullspeed Toothpick from Banggood.com

Fullspeed RC were the first to market with a bind and fly quad inspired by Bob Roogi's "toothpick"design - an ultralightweight quad based on small motors and 65mm props suitable for park flying. This was a very good park flyer - quiet and well built with good performance on 2s or 3s. It does have a full micro camera and VTX meaning it has a very nice FPV feed but is slightly on the heavy side. This model has obvioulsly been successful for them so they have quickly followed up with the Fullspeed Toothpick PRO. Specs compared with the standard toothpick below which I will discuss further:

Introduction
As much as we spend time looking at our quadcopter builds, it's the goggles that link us visually to a quadcopter (or anything FPV for that matter) and so are commonly the spot where we spend the most. Aomway released the Commander V1 in 2017 and they have been my firm favourite since then and I wrote about my experience in my review.

Many similar looking binocular goggles have been released since then in a similar price bracket but there have been more misses than hits with goggles like the topsky being firmly in the 'miss' column. Even Aomway itself released a version 2 that had a larger field of view and better antennas but unfortunately had poor lenses and a high price tag meaning it never reached the same level of success as the V1. In fact it is no longer available for sale...

In this time the Commander V1 has steadily gone about its business and racked up sales and has many happy customers and so Aomway have updated the V1 to the V1s rather than basing development off the V2

Very little has changed! The Aomway Commander V1s is a very minor upgrade to the V1 and for the purposes of comparison here are the difference of the between the 2 as quoted in an email from Sean @ Aomway:

Not mentioned here is also the fact that the number of channels that can be received has been expanded from 48 to 64, This is not a whole lot of use because the extra 24 channels are largely illegal to transmit on in most countries. There is talk that the received may have also been "improved" but this is not the case. There were also rumours that DVR has been improved to 60fps (which would have been an awesome feature) but this is also not the case. Speaking of case, the case is larger than the V1 - now you can fit the goggles, battery and antennas rather than just the goggle unit themselves

Review of the Aomway Commander V1s
Since they are so similar to the V1 I'll base my review on these since I have been using them several times a week for nearly 2 years and I feel I am in an extremely strong position to be able to talk all the benefits and challenges.

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.

I have decided to piece together a bang for your buck freestyle build to coincide with the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. My objective for this build was not to build the cheapest quad but the best value. This means parts will be from recognised brands with a good track record of performance and reliability with a good degree of future proofing. To be clear, this is not a $99 build, it is more like $150-$170 but will be more reliable AND outperform any pre-built quad and will easily hold it's own against something double or triple the price - I like to think of it as the Sweet Spot.

This Sweet Spot Quad will be split into 3 parts:

1. Component Choice (this article) 
2. The Build
3. The Review and Recommendations. Update: now completed

I've chosen to build this as a 6s but going 4s is simply a case of choosing the higher kV motor variant and retaining the overhead if you decide to upgrade to 6s in future.

For each key component I'll show you what I chose, a cheaper option and a more premium option with price indication and justification. Let's get straight into it!!

The Hobbymate Asteroid is a new 3 inch quadcopter that is available in kit, BNF or PNF formats that is available with motors and electronics suitable for 4s or 6s (!) operation. Following on from the awesome Hobbymate Comet (built here and reviewed here) this is another premium set of components at a spectacular price. It is available exclusively from HobbyCool.com here:
​​
http://hobbycool.com/asteroid-3-mini-fpv-racing-drone-kit/

In part 1 of this blog here I looked at the build and betaflight setup process in full. In this part 2 I'm taking a closer look at the components and review in general.

On the bench
From a specs standpoint this is a pretty special kit but that only tells half the story. I'll walk through the components and talk about their strong and or weak points

This is a review for the Fullspeed Toothpick, an ultralight fully featured micro quadcopter that is 2s and 3s capable. It is available from the following retailers:

• FullSpeed direct
• Banggood​

Introduction
The toothpick is the latest release from Fullspeed, the company that bought you the Leader 120, the Leader 2.5 and 3.0 as well as the Tiny Leader. In a departure from the naming system their newest micro qudcopter is called the FullSpeed toothpick as a nod to the motor/prop combination that has been extensively test by Bob @ kababfpv.com (with his blessing). The outcome of using this mix of components is meant to be efficiency, control, surprisingly good power and safety. More on this in the review that follows.

Component overview
I'll give my quick thoughts on the components below and will point something unique out with this build compared to others in the class - it has indivual components rather that a range of all in one gear we've become so familiar with on the Mobula7, Tinyhawk, Trashcan and even the new Sailfly-X. This means you can replace or upgrade component by component as required.

The Hobbymate Asteroid is a new 3 inch quadcopter that is available in kit, BNF or PNF formats that is available with motors and electronics suitable for 4s or 6s (!) operation. Following on from the awesome Hobbymate Comet (built here and reviewed here) this is another premium set of components at a spectacular price. It is available exclusively from HobbyCool.com here:

http://hobbycool.com/asteroid-3-mini-fpv-racing-drone-kit/

The purpose of this blog is to show how I have built in close detail and how I have set up betaflight software for optimal performance. Note you can spend an extra $30 to have this build with a FRSKY receiver but I always like to tinker and optimise my build which is why I have chosen this path. Update: review now completed here

I like to take my time on a build and ensure I have a clean well lit area. Makes things easier when I inevitably drop screws or small parts on the floor. My recommended list of budget tools is here.

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

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.

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.

Now that the weather is starting to warm up and the days are getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere, my guess is the hype around brushless whoops like the Mobula7, Tinyhawk, TinyLeader and Trashcan will die back and out attention will return to larger quads. Typically these are 5" quads that suit racing and freestyle but also the larger quads like 6 and 7" that are better suited to long range. It's not the newest kid on the block but the Skystars G730L 7" quadcopter was released a few months back and I've had a chance to review over the length of the NZ summer. It was the first mainstream 7" quadcopter that was available at a reasonable price. Up until then all 7" builds were custom made like the Diatone GT-M7 I built in the long range section.

Introduction
The Emax Tinyhawk is the latest in the line of ready to fly quadcopters from Emax USA which started with the BabyHawk R and the Hawk 5 both of which have been reviewed here at QuadifyRC. Both had good gear on board but were excellent when considered as a package because unlike any other model available these have been full set up and tuned. The new Emax Tinyhawk follows in the same vein albeit in a much smaller 1s brushless whoop form factor. This review will cover the setup out of the box as well as flight and video performance.

After quite a bit of teasing on their site, Banggood have released the Eachine VRD3 goggles for sale. These are a well-specced low cost 5.8GHz Goggle with DVR aimed at beginners or as a backup pair. On to discussion of the specifications below and what it included

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 Fullspeed Tiny Leader is a new sub-micro class quadcopter from FullSpeedRC.com  that is ducted and competes in the now popular and increasingly competitive brushless whoop market. Full Speed is a now well known and respected producer of micro brushless quadcopters including the original Leader 120 (review here) and more recent Leader 2.5 (review here) and Leader 3 (review here). Below I will outline the published specs and what sets this apart from other brushless whoops - good, bad or indifferent. To clarify there are 2 current Full Speed Tiny Leader models: The TinyLeader Regular and TinyLeader HD with onboard HD recording. This review is for the TinyLeader regular

Introduction
The Diatone 2019 GT R249+ is one of the newest series of micro quadctopers from Diatone that is built around the Mamba mini f4 stack.

The full range from smallest to largest includes:

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.

The Leader 2.5 is a recent release from FullspeedRC and as well as being available on their own website, is also available from Banggood and Gearbest. If you do decide to purchase, Fullspeed over many more customisations and offer free shipping till Jan 2019. The Leader 2.5 follows the recent Leader 3 but is limited to 2.5 inch rather than 3 inch propellers. My objective for this blog is not to write a tradtional review due to the similarities to the Leader 3 but to cover the keys settings and physical changes I'd strongly recommend to enjoy this quadcopter.

Introduction​
Boldclash have recently released a new all in one plug and play fpv solution for brushed and brushless whoops called the F02H PRO following on from the F02H which I reviewed here.  This includes:

• ​CMOS split camera (NTSC)
• 1.9g Injection mouldedcanopy with 10° camera mount
• All new VTX with pit-25mW-100mW-200mW adjustable power and smart audio

​The complete unit weights 5.9g

To briefly cover some old ground, the Hobbymate comet 5" racing drone is a 4s/6s lightweight 5 inch quadcopter with premium components sold exclusively at HobbyCool.com It is available from $180 as a kit up to $210 pre-assembled and tuned with a frsky receiver. After seeing the high quality components used in the build and finding how easy it was to tune in the betaflight setup I have been really looking forward to flying this and I have not been disappointed.

The next key component in the FPV system was a complete unknown to me - the Iflight Force VTX that looks like it is made by PandaRC. It is well specced with a microphone, 0, 25, 100, 200, 400, 600mW, tramp OSD control, MMCX connector but none of this matters if it performs it's core task poorly. The good news it that it performs it's core task very well. This is the cleanest FPV link I've ever had. In fairness though you could pop practically any VTX in between that clean power supply and the excellend Foxeer Lollipop antenna and I think it would perform well. Speaking of the foxeer lollipop antenna it is compact, seemingly robust and performed well with the other components. The image always looked clean and clear in my Aomway Commander Goggles, even on high throttle with 6s drawing 105A (equivaent power to over 155A on 4s). I have included DVR below but for some reason all Commander goggles (V1 and V2) have DVR issues when diversity switches between channels - none of this showed in my gogges during flight.

The Tune and the motors
Although I covered off the tune in the previous blog, I didn't say how I arrived where I did. Previously when I have run a stock betaflight 3.5 tune on a 6s quadcopter (this one) it had terrible oscillations and I had to lower p-gain and d-gain significantly. It was therefore a pleasant suprise to see that the stock tune on betaflight 3.5.1 was perfectly fine on the Hobbymate comet. Never being satisfied I turned on i-term relax, boosted i-gain 50% on pitch and roll, 100% on yaw as per the betaflight 3.5 tuning guide. Still no sign of oscillation so I then narrowed the dynamic filter range. Still no oscillations and motors and barely ​warm. I've left it there though and now have the most locked in quad I've felt - better than the pro-tuned Emax Hawk 5 which was my previous best tuned quad. This ease of tuning is largely due to the smoothness of the motors and from what I can see seems to be the way to go. All out power is great but if it means you need to run a 'looser' tune you will struggle more in the tune with more lag in the system as the result of more filtering for gyro noise etc. To a lesser extent the stiff frame will also have helped as will a reliable gyro (MPU6000) on the FC.

A full set of screenshots for the specific tune and a CLI diff file can be found in the tuning blog here. To me this quad + tune feels like it can turn on a dime with the least prop-wash I've ever had.

Power, Performance and Prop Choice
Straight up these motors are not as powerful as the Hobbymate 2207 motors (rebadged returner R3). They are however much easier to tune as I mentioned above. kV is relatively high for a 6s motor: 1800kV is the equivalent of 2700kV on 4s is is higher than the 1700/2500kV I typically run on 6s/4s respectively. This means props have to be chosen carefully. I started with the HQ 5x4.8x3 V1s but found peak current draw to be too high at 105A (power equivalent of nearly 160A on 4s!). HQ 5x4.3x3 V1s were a minor improvement at 90A so I'll probably stick with these until I get some of the new 5.1x3.1x3 V1s. It felt like the top end of the throttle was less about delivering additional thrust and more about drawing current which makes sense with a 2305 where the wider, lower stator favours torque at a lower RPM at the expense of efficiency at higher rpm. For this reason I placed a 15% scaled throttle limit on rate profile 2 in my betaflight setup section as I wrote about in the betaflight throttle scaling blog.

The Frame
The HobbyCool comet 5" frame is fairly simple. Strong, chamfered 5mm separate arms in a stretch-x layout with a sandwich lower deck and single top deck. Weight is 85g which is typical for race frames now since they have increased in weight and durabiity again since the original floss, 2.0 floss and v1 mode 2 ghost which tended to break realtively frequently. Rather than go into detail I'll sum up what I like and didn't like about the frame.

Like:

• Very stiff frame with the sandwich plate which aids tunability
• Frame is thus far is very durable
• Stretched-x is most popular layout at present for racing
• Replaceable arms are identical (available here)

Dislike

• SMA antenna mount comes out of top deck - upsidedown landing will have greater chance of damaging antenna or frame.
• Although there is an allowance in the design I think that in practice the ESC/FC/VTX stack will have to be removed if replacing an arm.
• Frame 'looks' boring (personal preference)
• I don't like the light green standoff colours (personal preference)

Conclusions
When I started this build I noted the quality of the components but I've seen many quads before that have used good components and have been overly expensive or haven't taken advantage of them (or both). I'm pleased to say that the Comet is very sharly priced at $180 for the kit AND brings these elements together for a fast, well balanced and easy to tune racing quadcopter. There will be obvious comparisons to other well prepared 5" racing quads like the Emax Hawk 5 (review here) and HGLRC Batman but these are significantly more expensive: $230-250 and $280-300 respectively. Additionally they do not support 6s out of the box either. There are a few minor cosmetic issues I have with the frame as above but outside of that, I'd recommend this as the best value racing quad presently available for beginner tomoderate/advanced pilots. Note the kit (build it yourself) is $180 or you can buy preassembled without a receiver for $200, with an XM+ receiver for $210 or with an r-xsr receiver for $220.

This is the second part of my coverage of the Hobbymate Comet 5" quadcopter. The first part (parts overview and build walkthrough) can be found here and the third part (review) can be found here. If you are here for the PIDs scroll directly to the bottom but would recommend you read through as tuning in betaflight 5 is more than just the PIDs.

Betaflight setup on this quadcopter is the same as any other but because of the telemetry, VTX OSD control, resource mapping for an ESC that is rotated it is fairly involved. For that reason I have created a betaflight 3.5.1 diff file which can be downloaded below. If you built the way that I did feel free to just load this CLI diff. If you want to read on to see what I changed specifically it's all documented in screenshots and text below.  I'll assume a moderate level of betaflight understanding from the audience but happy to point out more information if needed.

Resource mapping
this diff will change the motor output to be correct assuming you have mounted your ESC with the connector at the back (which I recommend as per build walkthrough)

BLHeli32 settings
These are best described by the screengrab below. Changes from stock are PWM rate increase to 48kHz for smoothness, motor direction adjusted for reverse prop direction (you will need you own values here), Auto motor timing, quiet dshot start up tone, loud shot beeper, min and max throttle adjusted for max resolution and most importantly I've used +25% to calibrate the ESC current meters correctly and have validated this number on my setup. 

The Hobbymate comet is a 5" quadcopter that is sold in kit, or ready to fly forms and surpasses the Emax Hawk 5 and HGLRC Batman in specs and performance, especially running 6s natively. Better yet it is priced much more sharply. It is available exclusively from HobbyCool.com. My final review is now complete and can be found here

I'll cover this quad over 3 blogs. This first part will cover the build walkthrough, the second the software (betaflight/blheli32) setup here and the last part the flight review. 

The Hobbymate Comet Kit is a premium 5" quadcopter that is currently available as a kit for $180 but will soon be available as a bind and fly version. Update: it is now available as a pre-build pnp or bnf with xm+ or r-xsr receivers. In the days since the Holybro Kopis 1 was released there have been some excellent ready to fly models (along with some not-so-great models) available including the Emax Hawk 5 (review here) and the HGLRC Batman (build here) which have been standouts because they have been well balanced, well built and good value for money overall. Since this is a kit, this particular blog is to walk you through the build and then software setup including a betaflight 3.5.1 cli diff.

The Hobbymate Comet from HobbyCool.com (or Amazon) is a kit the consists of higher quality parts than even the HGLRC Batman at only a fraction of the cost. Infact when bought on their own the parts come to $257 which is clearly much more than the $180 the kit costs (or even the $200 PNP kit). The Electronics are rated 6s from the factory (unlike the Hawk 5) and come with motors suited for either 4s/5s operation (2500kV) or 6s operation (1800kV). I'm especially excited that this include a genuine airbot ESC and flight controller. More details on the parts below:

Extra parts and recommended for the build
Firstly you will need extra parts for this build. I've used the following with links to Hobbycool as they tend to have the sharpest price:

• Frsky XM+ receiver
• m3 nylon nut assortment
• m3 Nylon spacers
• Heatshrink pack
• cable ties

And tools/sundry items:

• Soldering iron
• Hex driver set
• Loctite or similar threadlock
• Wiring loom tape
• Side cutters​

On with the build
Captioned images below should walk you through the build process and I've noted anything tricky as I've gone through. Click on images to zoom.

So that is it for the physical build. Not a difficult build at all in the scheme of things - components fit easily with plent of room to work. Part 2 (software setup) is here and part 3 (flight review) here.

T-mount propellers are those that are based on a 1.5mm diameter centre shaft secured by a 2mm screw either side. They have been the only mounting option for 2-2.5 inch props but are now becoming more popular for 3" due to the weight they save over a 5mm single shaft prop mount. There are only 4 different types of t-mount 3" prop currently available so I've compared them all plus the new HQ 2 blade which is due for imminent release plus a darkhorse prop in a smaller size to make up the numbers. Please note this is a subjective comparison based on my opinion but my help as a startpoint for your decision. This is based on real world feel, light time and bitter experience with motors I've burnt out.

Emax Avan 3 inch tri-blade
This is the first modern design 3 inch prop designed for a t-mount which was released with the 3" Babyhawk R (reviewed here).

• Weight and Response: 1.27g This is very light for  tri-blade and mass is concentrated near the hub meaning response is very good for a triblade of this pitch.
• Pitch: Mid-range. This is well suited to 3s on an 1106 4500kV and will manage a 4s as well but is reasonably amp-hungry. Make sure your motors are not hot.
• Balance: Very good, typical of modern tri-blade
• Durability: Low-medium. Less material on the outer part of the blades means they bend/break easily, especially towards the edge of the blade
• Other notes: warning: given the unique design of the blade near the hub, this is unlikely to fit any motor with a stator size larger than 11mm. Update: confirmed these fit successfully without modification on the RCX 1304. New RCX 1306 unconfirmed.
• Recommendations: Excellent on 3s but be cautious on 4s considering this is limited to 13mm stator size
• Available from: Banggood, Hobbycool

Dark horse to consider...

Others:
Please note the King Kong 2840 propeller was not included here because I found the Gemfan 2540 superior in every way. Also I have not include the Rotor X 3044 because it is difficult to source where I am based. The feedback that I have had is that it is more aggressive in pitch than any of the above props and probably only suitable for for stator sizes 13xx and up.​

I've had the Taranis X-Lite controller for 2 months now and in that time many reviews have been published, each adding to the information available in the public space. I have made sure I've spent a decent amount of time with this controller before writing my review and as a sneak preview I've sold my Taranis QX7s such is my impression of this controller. I've found that the universal comments that resonate with me are:

• Build quality is top notch
• Gimbals feel great but are smaller than the X9D or QX7 but similar in size to FRSKY, Jumper Series.
• Auxilliary switches are smaller and stiffer
• Menus are easy to navigate
• Standard JR modules such as crossfire that physically fit the X9D and QX7 do not fit the X-Lite although a specific multiprotocol and long range R9M module does

Open TX is the operating software
The Taranis X-Lite runs open TX which is the most common transmitter software in FPV (The Flysky Nirvana and new Jumper Radios use open TX too). The X-lite runs the latest version 2.2.2 and find navigating easier than on the X9d or QX7 with the new 'nub' control. I won't cover Open TX here but for those familiar with the system there are no surprises here. The latest version of Open TX for the X-Lite can be found here

I now have a better appreciation for the battery size
When the X-lite was first released everyone was upset about it using 18500 batteries instead of the more commonly available 18650. 18500 batteries were not as common but have now popped up in most stores like Gearbest, Banggood, Piroflip etc. Since battery shipping is still dicey I found an option to use "AA" sized 16500 batteries in my X-lite in this blog. I can now appreciate FRSKY's no compromise approach to choosing the 18500 over the 18650 - it is much more compact especially when considering the batteries used in the QX7 and X9D. Below is a picture of how the X-lite would have looked if they'd gone with 18650 batteries - awkward. Here is the link to thingiverse however if you wish to print.

It is so portable!
Unfortunately the thumbing/pinching has dominated discussion on this transmitter (at least in reviews) that many tend to gloss over what I believe is the strongpoint that sets it aside from most controllers out there - it is very small and very portable. My last controller was a Taranis QX7s which is up until recently has been the most popular transmitter, particularly in the cheaper QX7 form. Although it is an excellent controller, it is large in size (especially if you fly mostly micros!) and it is not especially robust, particularly the auxilliary switches. Really it needs to go in a protective case first and then in your backpack where it tends to take up most of the room. In contrast the X-Lite is small and even if you use the protective case it still doesn't take up much room. Furthermore the Aux switches are smaller, stiffer and overall stronger meaning if you can find a way of protecting gimabls and the screen you could chuck this straight in your backpack without any other protection. Gimbal protection is included but these are loose and would easily come off if the controller was placed directly in your bag. I've recently ordered the "Realacc Stick Rocker Protector & Screen Guard For FrSky Taranis X-Lite" from Banggood which is a 3d printed minimalist gimbal - screen - joystick protecter that *should* allow me to place this directly on the bag and leave a helluva lot more room.

​It's worth noting the space and portability was a big reason I preferred Aomway Commanders over box goggles (blog here) and saving room with transmitter is similarly important now I know firsthand what a benefit this is to me. 

It takes time to adjust but performs really well
It's no lie saying that my flying was significantly worse than usual when I started out with the X-lite because it felt unfamilar. Yes the gimbals are smaller and yes the have shorter throw. What this meant in the first few packs there was a lot of over correction because it makes you feel like you are running higher rates. Don't adjust any settings though because your brain will adjust and correct. Now I genuinely prefer the X-Lite after this adjustment phase becaue I could never reach full deflection comfortably with the QX7s but can with the X-Lite - I get to make use of the entire gimbal. Bottom line - stick with it, it will feel awful at first but you'll soon come right.

And on to the switches - they are bloody brilliant. They have a much more positive 'click' than other taranis radios and much shorter length meaning no accidental switch flicks plus they will be way more robust (I broke several switches on the QX7s). All four are much easier reach from your index fingers. The practical outcome for me is a can disarm just off the ground during landing rather than trying to land, boucing because of airmode and the disarming... a minor quibble no doubt but definitely still an advantage. There are 4 switches in total - top left and right are 3-way and bottom left and right are 2-way. You can swap these out for other variants including momentary switches if you want. Lastly there are 2 slider style potentiometers (pots) for progressive rather than binary control over gimbals, servos and the like. For most FPV quadcopters these will not be used.

It has a proprietary expansion port
Historically most modern radios including the Taranis range (X9D, QX7) have used the JR expansion port for additional functionality. This includes multiprotocol modules such as the MTX9D and IRange-X IRX4 Plus for control over other receivers and the TBS Crossfire module for a long-range 900MHz control link. For reasons that are becoming clearer now this has changed on the X-Lite. The module is smaller in size and profile and is unique to the X-Lite. At this stage only 3 modules fit the X-lite - the Vantax MPM Lite multiprotocol module, the IRange-X IRX4 Lite multiprotocol module and the FRSKY R9M slim long-range 900MHz control link. The TBS crossfire modules do not physically fit BUT since the pin out is the same, some clever cookies have made 3d print designs that allow the crossfire module to connect to the X-Lite ableit a little ungracefully. As a side note I have a $6 multiprotocol module that I will look to adapt to my X-Lite in order to control my NFE silverware bayang protocol micro brushed quads.

It's really easy to recommend this to a thumber
For a long time there was a lot of hype around project dark knight (now FLYSKY Nirvana) which was due to be the spiritual successor to the Turnigy Evolution. However, the Taranis X-Lite has come out of nowhere with a set of features comparable to the best Taranis controllers in a smaller package at an extremely competitive price and so has kind of knocked the stuffing out of the Nirvana launch. It's a simple upgrade for many in the FRSKY ecosystem because we can use the same receivers which on the whole are the smallest, cheapest and best performing - e.g. the XM+ with excellent range at aroung 1g can be had for around $9 at Hobbycool. The controller is so easy to like and obviously a lot of work has been put in by FRSKY to make this an extremely competitive price - it is only $20 more than their entry level QX7 and includes the much more expensive Hall-effect gimbals as standard rather than an upgrade part.

If you are a thumber or are coming from a game controller I would recommend this highly as a first (and last) controller. Likewise I would strongly recommend this as an upgrade from any other controller especially if you are looking for better portability.

Quick note on the FLYSKY Nirvana
This looks like an excellent controller but is $40 to $50 more expensive that the X-Lite. It has support for a standard sized Crossfire module, better grip options for pinchers and a more colourful touch screen display. It is bigger though - closer to the QX7 in size than the X-lite. If these things are important to you, consider the Flysky Nirvana but if they are not (like for me) then go with the X-lite if you are looking for a console controller style of remote. One potential downside of the Nirvana is that is uses flysky receivers by default which have historically been lacking in features (RSSI, Telemetry) and range although this will supposedly be rectified soon. If you have come from FRSKY though it would mean a full set of new receivers rather than just a re-bind.

Note: Any replacement parts can be purchased from HORUSRC.com