A capable 5-inch FPV freestyle drone does not need to break the bank. With careful component selection, $300 gets you a quad that rips.
Parts List
Frame: TBS Source One V5 5mm carbon ($29). Stack: SpeedyBee F405 V4 50A ($55). Motors: EMAX ECO II 2306 1700KV x4 ($56). VTX: Rush Tank II Ultimate 800mW ($35). Camera: Foxeer Razer Mini 1200TVL ($22). Receiver: Radiomaster RP1 ELRS 2.4G ($13). Antenna: Foxeer Lollipop 4 Plus RHCP ($12). Props: HQProp 5×4.3×3 V2S x2 sets ($6). Hardware: XT60, ties, heat shrink, M3 screws ($10). Total drone: $238.
Assembly Steps
- Frame prep: install arms to bottom plate with Loctite
- Motors: attach with M3x8 screws
- ESC soldering: solder ESC to FC, XT60 to power pads with flux
- Motor wires: solder all 12 wires to ESC pads
- Receiver/VTX: ELRS to UART1, SmartAudio to TX pad
- Betaflight: flash 4.5+, configure ports, set CRSF and DShot300, verify gyro/motor order
- Final: top plate, route antennas, zip-tie, multimeter test before plugging in
First flight: hover test over grass, check motor temps, verify Failsafe, then send it.
