Betafpv 65x 2s Powerwhoop

[palros]

So i pick up a Betafpv 65x Powerwhoop about a month ago and have been giving it a good thrash while the weather has sucked. Here is my review

https://youtu.be/fJDQdmr6zuY

[Bad Raven]

In the growing trend of makers glibly assuming a purchaser will muddle through a set up, this one takes the biscuit.

In the box is a "business" card with a link to "Manual and Help".  That's it!

The link is dead. Navigate manually to the BetaFPV site and then to the right model, not a comfortable process, and what do you find?

A Dump printout. No more.

Inadequate, lazy and frankly for the money it is, an insult!

Apparently sold in Euro and International flavours of FrSky (as well as Flysky and Spekrum), there is nothing to tell you which FrSky flavour you have just received. (Yes, despite the order clearly stating what I wanted, I received the other one!)

I'm writing this from a less experienced persons perspective, with a lot of set ups under my belt, I got there, but suspect more than a few would struggle.

And once into the firmware, what do you find? Yet another left such that motors can run when not armed, yet another issued for FrSky but by default supplied set in Spektrum channel format.

This is worse than the Tiny6/7 situation, where I have had to bail out four fellow modellers who just could not get the Rx and FC talking to each other.

Once you get past all this its a decent little item, which the review in flight terms covers well, but Oh Dear me, do they ever need to pay more attention to helping people get to that stage!

This is not a cheap item, and they should ensure that people get MUCH more information, as for example it is nice to know which Rx firmware it has, esp when all people will get is an inability to bind, which could be swamping, could be a fault, etc.

[Bad Raven]

SO, mods done to date:-

1. Removed central divider from battery holder, reshape cross bar to hold a single larger cell pack.

2. Removed dual battery connectors and fitted XT30.

With 333mAh 30-60C 2S MyLiPo.de packs, the pack weight goes up from 15g to 23g. Hardly noticeable in performance terms and if anything improves the stability.  I put the pack in with the leads forwards and the packs std wire length is perfect to pass down the side of the pack and fit the rear connector.

Duration to my normal cut off of 3.6v under load is marginally under three minutes. Not great, but you can cover a lot of ground with it in that time. 261mAh to recharge.

As it is blue and I fly in a blue painted hall quite a bit, I have exchanged props for yellow and added yellow vinyl trim to the canopy to hopefully make it more visible to others!

[palros]

Agreed what is the Box is not great.

To be honest, i had a Eachine micro quad that was even worst (binding was totally different to the instructions). There is very much a reliance on the community to support people getting these things setup.

I am just reviewing a Mobula 7 and that at least comes with instructions.

FYI. After recording this video I watched AndyRcs view and saw how he fixed the camera angle issue without a 3d printer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgDbk1jtnxk

[Bad Raven]

OK, Update.

Pretty much as soon as I got it moving at a decent rate I was getting fairly frequent but erratic Yaw washouts on turns. Sometimes there were so bad it carried out a full yaw 360 before it regained control.  It was also sometimes acting like it was slamming the brakes on  (back pitch and yaw) at the slightest throttle lift.

Could not find anything on this for the 65 but it wasn't difficult to pull up people getting this with the 75.

So, I have applied the 75 setting changes I found advised at the same level, which is basically reducing Yaw "P" from 80 down to 65, adding "I Term Relax" (at its default settings, it is turned off as supplied) and increasing Feed Forward to 96 roll/96pitch/100yaw. (Was 65/65/80).

Search on "Beta75X Washout Tuning" for background and full info from originator Nate Payne in Google Docs.

Now I need the winds to drop to give it a better test.

[Bad Raven]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xlaGtkMGJUP1UwcJw1xqIG9TCuA0a7NtbvzOQrsN7hM

[Bad Raven]

No chance for outdoor yet, but got a battery through it indoors flying LOS in a larger area than home today. I was actually flying a Whoover race course over the top of a race.

And it was PERFECT, not a moments concern, no washout, no yaw looping, just locked in confidence inspiring groove. I'm a metre up at most following a tight kick sided basically tri oval and outrunning the hovercraft below with ease while holding inside the barriers of the course.

[palros]

I have given up with mine. I am most likely going to sell it.

I have moved to a Mobula 7 which is Ace!