Quadcopter or Tricopter

piisceiss

Junior Member
I have been flying quadcopters for quite some time but mainly have been rtf. I really want to make a multirotor for fpv racing. I'm stuck on the fence between trying to make a 250 class quad or a tricopter as I like the yaw characteristics of a tri and they are relatively cheaper to make. Any suggestions or tips?
 

brettp2004

New member
If you're wanting to get into racing I think the quad would be the way to go. I'm not an expert in MR Racing but I would think the 250 size quad would be a little faster and from the videos I've seen, it looks like there is plenty of yaw authority on the small quads.
 

C0d3M0nk3y

Posted a thousand or more times
If this is your first build, I'd suggest going with the quad. A tri will be a more complicated build.
 

jipp

Senior Member
and it wont be that much cheaper.. because you will have to buy a servo. and their really are not to many tri-copter frames to choose. especially for racing.
chris.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
tricopters are unique and special snowflakes, and yes the cost would be about the same. As far as racing with a tri would go, I think there would need to be a separate class for them... and that hasn't happened (yet!). A quad is also much less complicated to build as you don't have to deal with powering the servo, and sorting out the tilt mechanism.
 

meehan

New member
I am wondering if you could design a course that would level the playing field between the mini tri and quads. I have a David W. style tri, a 330 quad and a HK Trifecta mini tri. The Trifecta is by far my favorite to fly fast and low FPV, I really need to build a 250 quad for comparison.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
it's not so much a leveling thing, it's making sure everyone in a class is flying something similarly powered as that just makes things more competitive. a quad around the same size as a tri would weigh around the same considering similar components, but the tri will have one motor less on horsepower/wattage.
 

C0d3M0nk3y

Posted a thousand or more times
It would be interesting to build a quad and a tri with the same props, motors, and ESCs and see if you could get the tri 25% lighter than the quad.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
It would be interesting to build a quad and a tri with the same props, motors, and ESCs and see if you could get the tri 25% lighter than the quad.

Definitely. Those good digital servos kinda add a bit of dead weight though... as in not producing HP where a quad would have that weight as a motor.

EDIT: on my tri for example... one 2204/2300 cobra (no mounting hardware) is about 25 grams, and the servo with the tilt mech (no mounting hardware) is 31 grams.
 
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makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
I specifically picked a tricopter for my first multirotor (electrohub based) because I wasn't sure I'd "take" to that aspect of RC (but I did!) and I didn't want to buy a bunch of CCW and CW props... but I already had a bunch of CCW props that I could use on the tricopter that I also use on my fixed wing planes.

Ultimately, I loved it, so I build a mini quad and now have a bunch of small CCW and CW props... but the tricopter will keep the 9x4.7 CCW props.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
tricopters are flippin cool. I'm only mentioning the power to weight ratio stuff because when it comes to racing specifically, I do believe they'd warrant their own class.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
Oh I also forgot to include the weight of another speed controller for the quad, and an additional arm... not enough spare parts in my workshop yet (and not enough brain cells operating under the influence of caffeine yet either)
 

C0d3M0nk3y

Posted a thousand or more times
Oh I also forgot to include the weight of another speed controller for the quad, and an additional arm... not enough spare parts in my workshop yet (and not enough brain cells operating under the influence of caffeine yet either)

And you could get by with a smaller battery on the tri.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Having seen a few races I think a racing tricopter can do just fine today. I see pilots with grossly overpowered machines lose to a little putt putt. The issue is control. More power doesn't win races unless you can control that power and today there are few who can.
 

narcolepticltd

I unbuild stuff regularly
Having seen a few races I think a racing tricopter can do just fine today. I see pilots with grossly overpowered machines lose to a little putt putt. The issue is control. More power doesn't win races unless you can control that power and today there are few who can.

I agree completely with this (I was just speaking solely from a machine stats perspective).
 

jipp

Senior Member
yeah it would be better to have a tri-copter class. just seems apples to apples.. instead of apples to oranges, did the better pilot win? or did the plat form.. well unless they are with in the same specs... yeah, a argument that could go one way or another.. but it does seem these mini tris are becoming popular, who knows maybe some more frames will come out.
i know i want to build a tri for my second project, assuming i can finish my own with out having to blow to much money. heh. i just have this guy feeling im gonna get blue smoke on my maiden. :D
chris.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
yeah it would be better to have a tri-copter class. just seems apples to apples.. instead of apples to oranges, did the better pilot win? or did the plat form.. well unless they are with in the same specs... yeah, a argument that could go one way or another.. but it does seem these mini tris are becoming popular, who knows maybe some more frames will come out.
i know i want to build a tri for my second project, assuming i can finish my own with out having to blow to much money. heh.

Someday yes. But how cool would it be to beat the quads with a tiny little tricopter? :)


i just have this guy feeling im gonna get blue smoke on my maiden. :D
chris.

Naw...the blue smoke tends to happen long before the maiden. :black_eyed:

The maiden is the funny part when the copter flips on its top as soon as you give it throttle and goes rocketing off the concrete patio into your wife's flower garden, it's happy little rotors gleefully chewing shrubbery and spewing happy little dead petals.

Your wife, standing behind you to witness the glorious moment of first flight you invited her to see, recoils in horror and shock at the carnage your "harmless toy" has wreaked upon her hard work and joy.

Now almost three years later I can say I truly know regret...



I should have caught it on VIDEO. :D


Learn from my mistake. Please film the maiden. :)
 
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