BetaFPV Meteor65 Review (Why I Returned It)

My flight times barely clocked 1 min, 30 seconds before low battery warnings at 3.3v kicked in... Rough handling with the flight tune and "incorrect" settings. Mine was set to DShot600 and needed to be put on Dshot300 to resolve "snaps" and "jerks", with 8k/2k PID loop.

BetaFPV initially offered me the 19500kv motors to get better flight time. Later, they had me check the ESC settings to make sure they were configured right. Then they stated the problem was believed to be the batteries. They also wanted send me a newer FC with JazzESC firmware so that I could service it/replace it.

I turned it down and decided to return it in the end. I lost interest in this model, and didn't want to have to debug or repair it myself. Perhaps better luck next time.

[josephbove]

Great job on the review John. I went with the tiny Hawk 2. I was so happy with it I bought more than one! It's got great features and it's flight characteristics are exceptional. It flies with laser-guided precision! :) I appreciate the honesty. I've seen other reviews on this quad and each time I was unimpressed with its performance. I just want to clarify the reviews were all done well. It was just the quad I had a problem with. Thanks again and I love the channel.

[DJSOULFORCE]

I was going to ask "from whom did you buy it that allowed you to return it?" Then I saw it was Amazon to the rescue!!! Awesome, honest review buddy, THANKS 👍👍(two thumbs up)!!!

[gbro]

Great job as always. This video is why John's channel is at the top of my list. Thank you John.

[PERTHWESTOZRC]

Great video John, I know well the problems you faced and the disappointment you had trying to get this whoop to fly correctly. Those flight times for a start are terrible and that wonky flight characteristics seemed really off as well when I saw those clips like you shown in this video around Xmas time. This video will save a few people the same disappointment by watching this review..well done👍

[BrandonBeans]

Ha. I returned mine (and all accessories) too as it was literally unflyable (I'm no novice) there was crazy drift on the gyro. Came with jazz esc firmware loaded already and rpm filtering setup. I sent it to RDQ after BetaFPV support ghosted me.
The Mobula 6 rocks in comparison. I saw on rcgroups that you flashed 48khz and didn't retune. From experience with larger motor sizes, I know that esc switching at 48khz vs 24khz tends to mess the PID tune. Did it feel any looser or less locked after the jesc 48khz firmware?

[ttFPV]

Really weird that you got this flight time because even with default firmware I was getting more ... And it was correctly tuned

[klsn]

I really, really appreciate your effort on this. Just wanna say this type of video, the editing, the explanation, and the honesty is awesome and I think going forward you should continue this format, style, etc. Was really cool to watch and I could imagine other product review videos like this being unique John Cuppi style vids that folks look forward to. Was just a little different than your other vids I guess and I noticed that. ☮️ Wheelchair John in Idaho 😎

[IdahoQuadcopter]

Great review John. You'll save some folks a lot of grief.

[GeezerGramps]

John I agree with your review 100% I got one on a Black Friday deal after about a week I sold it. I had the 19500kv motors & it still flew like crap. I think it needs a major tune & I too wasn’t willing to put the time into it to get to fly right. After watching John’s review I know it wasn’t just me being nit picky he had the same experience as me. For the money it should have flown out of the box, my Tinyhawk S did still flying it on the stock tune. I do like the BT2.0 connectors & are using them on a couple of my whoops. I modified my UP-S6AC 1s charger to charge them, can’t charg3 jst batteries without an adapter but that’s ok by me.

[jimawhitaker]

Myself I flash all whoops with jesc firmware right out of the box. As a matter of fact my nanohawk was already flashed with 48khz firmware. I might buy this and flash esc firmware and emuflight. Nice video thanks.

[BillMRC]

Hi John, good man saying at it is :-) Did you record and save which betaflight target version you got?

[EntropiaBCG]

That sucks you had a bad time with the meteor65...the firmware is a huge help...i also buy batteries with leads and change the connector out myself but im a tinkerer so enjoy doing that stuff..it is a beastly whoop when running right.

[CoasttoCoastDrones]

HOLY COW DUDE ... it's just keeps going downhill ... I hope the suspense will last !!

[DroneOn]

This was a great review. I like this style.
I wish I had something to add. But I don't. Great flying the tune appears loosey goosey.
I have been using Jesc with good results on other micros. I'm working on a 2s whoop tune now on emu with 48khz.
The price of entry was an awesome way to sum it up.
Thanks for the honest review.

[glytch]

I ended up with the HD version. Indoors I get 2.5 minutes, outdoors 2 minutes. Mine came with props. My biggest gripe is the range is absolutely horrendous. Its like 30 to 40 yards tops in open air with both the literadio 2se and the 3. I am going to try playing with the Dshot... One thing that REALLY changed the flight characteristics oddly enough was binding it in D16 LBT as opposed to D8. D16 appeared to have less latency or something going on.

[RonaldBrown]

I'm sorry this one didn't work for you, but it seemed to have to many issues. Great review.

[JMathieson]

John, both flights had about 2 minutes

[RDsRCReviews]

Excellent video John. What a pitiful flight time which is unacceptable. Sucks they wanted you to do a bunch of tinkering with this drone just to get it to fly as should have out of the box. What a shame they force you to use their proprietary connector despite the fact it is a good connector but no one else uses it It isn't worth it having to invest in special batteries and adapters for your charger. This drone is a hard pass at this price range when there are others out there that are better.

[EthanMitchell_YouTube]

Thanks for this John!! I was actually thinking about getting this! Think i will pass. Maybe I will build a DJI Whoop! LOL

[JMathieson]

Recenlty picked one of these had two flghts on before it just failed to keep a bind. Dicking around with Betaflight and settings did nothing so it is on its way back to Getfpv. Very disappointed