3.5' is the best sub-250g FPV freestyle platform | GEPRC Smart35

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The new class of 3.5" freestyle quads might just be the perfect size for sub-250g freestyle (without a GoPro). Leaving off the GoPro means you can just have fun and focus on your flying instead of thinking about your footage. And 3.5" is the biggest prop size you can easily build out to sub-250g without giving up too much performance.

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--- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---

0:00 - Intro and commercial disclosure
0:45 - 3.5" is the ideal size for sub-250g freestyle
2:47 - The Nebula Nano is just bad
5:49 - Is the frame durable enough?
6:42 - Solid bottom plate. Too much vibration and "jello"?
7:49 - How much does it weigh? Under 250g?
9:00 - 1404 motors. Are they big enough for this prop and weight?
9:44 - Vista mounted to top plate not FC stack. Very clever!
10:21 - All in one FC and ESC. Durability remains to be seen.

12:43 - 2nd flight test (more aggressive flying)
13:09 - Prop selection for 3.5"
14:00 - Conclusion: should you buy it?

[steveguacamole]

Finally a video to convince my wife that 3.5" is perfect.

[sugasheeze]

I remember a year ago when Kabob came out and said he was primarily flying 3 inch quads because they were the best all-around for freestyle at parks and stuff. Glad to see we're furthering refining it. Next year we're going to be saying 3.762 inches is optimal.

[vapgames]

Emax babyhawk 3.5 is my favorite quad right now. So precise and efficient.

[Twizztify]

I finally got a chance to fly my smart 35 today! It was a blast! Feels very light weight and super peppy. I almost wrecked it a few times because it’s also very responsive compared to a heavy 5 inch. Looks like this is going to be the future of the hobby, so may as well get used to it regardless.

[vonhovian]

Love the straitforward tutorial. No time wasted. Thanks

[SirWrender]

The Babyhawk II is easily my favorite drone right now. SO dang nimble and has enough power to satisfy me while flying around my backyard. I've been getting great shots on the Insta360 Go2 strapped to it as well.

[rdfish]

4" is quite easy to get under 250g imo... I run the BQE Pickpocket frame, xnova 1804 3100kv, 4024 props, ghf405 pro aio 25A, Nano400 VTX with EMAX Nano antenna, ELRS EP1, Toothless 2 Nano. The quad weighs 122g without the battery, and with a 650mah 4s pack it weighs 202g, giving ample room for a naked GoPro under 250g. This setup flies for a good 6-7 minutes, even with aggressive flying, on that small of a battery, and the battery voltage barely sags at all. Overall it behaves really nicely.

[chrisg_fpv]

From all of us viewers/supporters, thank you again Josh! And for YOU viewers, if you order from GEPRC with a FrSky R-XSR receiver, most likely you will have to update the firmware on it before you can bind.

[TheChickenLoop]

The Babyhawk II HD has a Nebula Pro so it doesn't compromise on the image quality. Mine has a similar issue with propwash and I haven't been able to tune it out yet. However it is a very quiet build - I'm running Chris Rosser's filter settings for a clean build and have the D gain up to 55 with very cool running motors. The delta frame design is great for minimizing resonance.

[patteus]

I would love too see you test Emax babyhawk 2 HD

[HotboiEngineering]

Patiently waiting for Chris Rosser to drop his 3.5" frame lol...

[davidfelcan]

I've been enjoying flying the Happy Model Crux 3.5", same class. Very agile! Got the ELRS and Caddx VTX, probably overkill rangewise. Would love to see a JB review of it!

[cmtetaboaco]

Had it and BabyHawk 2 HD is the best by far!

[Rcschim]

I flew this thing a lot over the last month. In my review I even show a calendar view of how often actually ;) took it with me on vacation and it's been so much fun to fly it anywhere without any concerns. Yes, now that I'm back and I tried the smo 4K on it, I wished my vacation video was highdef and not just dvr, but at least I've swapped the cam to normal DJI and applied a superview effect in premiere.

[Mr.Freestyle.]

Get the babyhawk 2 hd. It's a proper little ripper.

[Gosuminer]

Selecting prop size by AUW makes a lot of sense and if your AUW needs to be 250g the 3.5" class looks awesome. Personally, I prefer using an air unit to have at least 1080p footage and there is no 250g air unit setup I would be happy with so I go with boring 4" and 5".

[albie]

This drone is awesome - incredibly stable for such a light weight! I used 450mAh batteries and it shot around like a robotic bee!
However, I discovered that the bottom-plate is INCREDIBLY fragile - especially where the motors attach!!! Due to how fragile it is, I can't recommend buying it

[grasshopper]

I just got this quad. I've flown micros in the house. Pretty good at it.. tried to fly l.o.s. glad I did cause it's way harder than expected. Flew it into a fence at like 30mph..took it like a champ! I've crashed it every time I fly it...bent a prop, that's it. Things definitely a beating....in conclusion I'm going to practice on velocidrone a little bit before I fly again. It's definitely a ripper. It is very responsive and zippy. I don't know why it's so hard for me to fly. Horizon mode is hard. When I turn I have to adjust throttle or it looses alt..thought Horizon mode would help a little more...super cool hobby with a steep learning curve. My wife is going to be pissed on the $ I spend on "toys" lol

[johncarold]

Hi Josh As you know I love Micros. I have 18 different sizes and shapes of quads. There are 3-5in and 2- 4in and 1-DJI Mini and the rest are 3in. Now I have 3in in 3s up to 6s. But my best and lightweight is my 4in 6s SKYHOPPER, it came in at 182gm with 6s 450ma lipo. And YES it's FUN !!! But it is very easy to break. The arms are thin and I'm running a 16X16 flight stack. But it just seems to work. I just would not be able to do what I could do with that frame and electronics. Thanks again for the video and information.

[iknomorethanu]

now review the Babyhawk 2 HD and compare :-)