FPV Parts review. What have you bought and is it any good?

5.5mm arms
2.5mm plates

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Yeah just taken a look Steve, looks like a good sturdy frame :ok_hand:t2:

Feels really solid when all bolted up.
Has TPU bits for DJI HD but I’ll stick with analogue
The bars on top of the metal cage are same spacings as GoPro mounts so easy to stick an HD cam on the top.
I’ve got a Runcam Split 3 Hybrid in my spares box so thinking of putting that on, keep the weight down :+1:

Plenty of room in there for Shark Byte Steve :wink:

Fuckin dji

Would look great in your Skyzone SkyO4X goggles too :grin:
Talking of which, maybe you could do a review of those here too Steve? I’ve been toying with the idea of upgrading my goggles to the O4X :thinking:

:+1:

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Review: FPVracer NEXT5 Freestyle 5” Quadcopter Frame

Purchased from Unmanned Tech Shop for £39.95

also available from Banggood China warehouse at USD53.99 plus 0.65 carriage

Introduction
This is a freestyle FPV quadcopter frame that uses beefy 5.5mm arms, along with a 7075 Aluminium camera cage. This design allows the fitting of the DJI HD FPV air unit although I’ll be building it with 5G8 analogue video. The camera cage also doubles as an adjustable GoPro mount, a TPU GoPro mount is sold separately if required. Full details are in the links above. I’m not going to duplicate it here.

Quality
I’m very impressed with the parts quality, the carbon pieces have slight chamfered edges so no sharp edges. The camera cage metal parts are also beautifully made.
The whole frame presents a quality ‘feel’
The front edges of the top and bottom plates did need a slight tweak with a needle file to get them to fit the cage parts, only a few minutes so no big deal.
The supplied screws are ‘gold’ coloured with button heads. In my experience button heads have shallower socket for the allen key and can often ‘round off’ if overly tight. You’ll note in the photos below I have replaced the frame assembly screws with cap head which are more durable.

ESC/FC mounting
The arm width does not support separate ESC’s
Stack size is 30.5 x 30.5mm (no provision for 20x20)
The supplied 30mm long M3 screws come up through the bottom plate, pass through slots in the arms (allowing arms to be easily replaced) and through the middle plate. Strangely the holes in the middle plate are larger than M3 clearance and are actually the size for nutserts as used in the arm fixing screws. Pretty blue M3 nyloc nuts are supplied but these are best suited for holding the stack in place. Fortunately I have stock of M3 nutserts (brass) so I fitted four and am now very happy with how it has turned out. If wanting to use standard fasteners then you will need to supply your own M3 plain washer and M3 nut. I’m not sure what the manufacturer intended here as the only instructions are an exploded diagram that is not that intuitive

Value for money?
YES, excellent IMHO, and one of the few parts it seems is best to buy from a UK source.

PROs

  • Good quality parts
  • Easy arm replacement, stack not affected
  • Major parts have SKU numbers so maybe spare part sourcing should be good
  • TPU parts provided for arm protection and DJI HD system parts
  • Camera cage suits 20mm, so with suitable adaptors a wide range of camera sizes can be used
  • Good price for what you get.

CONs

  • The supplied nutserts for the arm mountings are very tight in the drilled holes, needs care with a good press, not recommended to ‘wind them in’ with a screw
  • Button head screws supplied for frame assembly
  • Poor instructions
  • Insufficient parts supplied for stack mounting, maybe quantity of nutserts should be 8?

Verdict
Am I glad I chose this frame ? YES
Would I recommend it? YES

Frame with supplied parts

Camera cage

Underside, button head screws replaced with cap head

Stack screws, note added brass nutserts, nickel ones are standard supply for arm fitting

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Great review Steve :clap:t2: Thanks for taking the time for a detailed overview. Looks like a good solid 5" frame option. Look forward to seeing some flight videos :smiley:

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Ready for maiden, hopefully 8:30 at the field tomorrow :+1:

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Looking good there Steve, hope the maiden goes well mate :+1:t2:

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If there are any hdzero users left out there, or potential buyers of the system, here is some raw footage of the Foxeer Digisight v3. Best to download I think and view.
There are no settings on the camera, like saturation, contrast etc.
The image looks better in some nice oled goggles.
It has a 1/2" sensor, the same as the hdzero micro v2 (which I don’t have). But the hdzero micro v2 has settings you can alter.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m_N4LD-8v4J2scQsoRYcqtpcZf6hzyNq/view?usp=sharing

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I think the video is badly compressed? 360p?

It is. I think downloading would be better to view.

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So, so much better…

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Agreed the downloaded version looks very good.

Is this the version with the blue tint Karl?

No, its the ‘fixed’ version

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I thought it was the ‘fixed’ version, it looks really good :+1:t2:

Anyone bought anything from Chris Teal at https://www.dronecoproductions.com/ ? He’s the guy that does the modified Shendrones Squirt (slammed squirt) and some other interesting cinewhoop frames.

I fancy moving the parts from my BetaFPV 95x onto one of his Snapshot frames - lots of people reporting that it flies much better. Not sure whether ordering stuff from the States is going to be a PITA/expensive though?