Want to get into fpv racing drones, but have little money

Joey04

New member
Hi. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to read my post. I am a young kid who had been flying rc planes for 4 years now. For the past two years I have gone to Flite Fest and have seen the race drones in amazement. I have always thought about getting a race drone, however I don't have a lot of money so I have always put that thought in the back of my head. I have decided to post on here to see if anyone could help me with motors, a frame, esc's, fpv camera and video transmitter, goggles, ect... any of those items would be great. If you have a spectrum reciever and would like to donate that as well that would be great. I really hope you can help me out on my journey to fpv!!!
 

Tazman

Active member
Ok I just purchased a whole kit like you are talking about, here is what I would suggest, the radios if you are serious there is a really nice radio and pretty much going to be the radio that rules them all, and its not to expensive, its the Jumper T16 Pro, retails for 160 bucks US, that radio will fly any and all protocols so you never have to worry about the drone you buy. Next in the tiny whoop like they are small buy fun you can get a TinyHawk-s for 100 bucks US or a betaFPV for 150 bucks US respectively. Now if you want you can get entry level googles for 60 bucks all the way to 600 bucks. This is the cheapest you really can get. In my opinion but the radio and the drone and leave the FPV googles for later, learn to fly line of sight and then buy the googles later.
 

Ihichi Bolls

Well-known member
There are not many quad pilots on these forums mate. You may also want to post what you are asking for over in Kwad Share as that has a larger quad based population. Check this post for what that is all about. https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/what-is-kwad-share.38287/

In the mean time I know being young is hard but the best thing about the hobby is there is nothing that says you must by everything at once. You can plan a build on paper then gather the parts one or two at a time. I am in the same boat. It takes me close to a year to save or piece buy enough parts to build a new quad.

Back when I was a kid around this time of year I bought a cheap rake and went door to door in the neighborhood seeing if someone would pay me to clean the leaves off their yards. I made good money as a kid shoveling snow, raking leaves and mowing lawns. I kept up with all my hobbies which at the time included TONS of sports gear for Baseball, Football, Soccer and Street Hockey. I was also able to buy my own school clothes each year and not have to let my mom show me what we could afford which really helped her and my other siblings as their budget from mom was spread less thin.

I will dig thru my junk pile but I doubt I have complete matching sets of anything as they would probably be on something already. Usually one of something that was bought as a spare or something that is worn out to be used in non flying projects.
 

FDS

Elite member
Racing quads are expensive, there’s no cheap way to get into it. There’s expensive ($400) and very expensive ($1000+.)
If you want to try it out for less than that the only options will be smaller quads. You can get a Toothpick or brushless whoop for under $100. They would just need batteries and goggles to fly if you have a TX from planes.
I started with a $50 set of Eachine E800 goggles. I still use them for indoor stuff sometimes, they were fine for learning and convert to a monitor when you fly with friends.
I can’t buy all the parts for a mid range 5” at once either. As noted above buying a bit at a time is a solution.
 
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Tazman

Active member
Yup I agree with FDS, and again you do not have to get FPV right away, get a really good radio, I really think in my opinion you cannot beat the Jumper T16 Pro at 160US. And any Bind and Fly tiny whoop, the BetaFPV 4s with the straight FPV camera not the cine version that can run on both 3s and 4s, is a great little drone. It is carbon Fiber reinforced, has a ton of power and is fun indoors and out, it will help you learn the fundamentals of flying a drone is very crash resistant and cheap to rebuild, then you graduate to the big race quads, if you crack up a race quad once well your gonna be broke, crack up the BetaFPV and more than likely you wont break a thing or be out 30 bucks on a few parts and flying the next weekend. The googles well you want to learn line of sight first and unless you are a really good pilot you want to leave the googles for last, I just got the whole setup and I am still flying line of sight for the winter cause I cannot go outside to fly so I am going to master setup and line of sight all winter long. I am trying to setup a one day a week skype session with guys, to exchange ideas and talk all things RC, if you want to do that let me know I will give you my skype name and we can talk about stuff till you figure out what you want. It never hurts to talk and its cheap.
 

FDS

Elite member
You can put all the parts from things like Tiny Hawks and other ducted brushless whoops onto carbon toothpick frames with bigger props and they fly great, the motors etc are all cheaper than larger quad ones.
 

Tazman

Active member
You can put all the parts from things like Tiny Hawks and other ducted brushless whoops onto carbon toothpick frames with bigger props and they fly great, the motors etc are all cheaper than larger quad ones.
If you tune a TinyHawk it flies great to, learn how to apply project mocking bird, it applies to all quads and makes them super quads. You do not have to redesign a quad that is already perfect, TinyHawk out of the box is designed sluggish for beginners, it is not a out performing quad till you tune it. TinyHawk-S comes with 2 tunes profile1 and 2, for 1s flying and 2s flying. If you apply project mocking bird to the tune, it changes it fantastically and makes it more aggressive and fun. However I am not at that stage yet, but I have seen Joshua Bardell do it and it was great. In my opinion if you find the need to redesign a quad, you may as well build it from scratch and learn the whole art of tuning. I might add, TinyHawk you cannot do that much to, since it is a solid body frame and cannot take the ducting off, you can change the engines out, but they are more powerful than you need, you need to tune them down or change the rates more than change them out, and the FC and VTX, well not enough room to really change anything there as well, so. TinyHawk is very limited, but a great flyer of anyone new. I have one and recommend it highly.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
If you want to start learning how to fly quads for racing, start off small, with something like the Tinywhoop sized drones. There's several reasons I suggest this:

1) They're pretty indestructible. It's possible to break them, but I've slammed mine at full speed into a wall and had it bounce off, then was able to keep flying.

2) Parts are cheap for them. Frames tend to be under $10, sets of four motors will usually run $20 or less, and props can be had for $10 for several sets of different colors.

3) Many of the good ones will allow you to start off with a self leveling mode, and allow you to switch up to full acro, just like the larger 5 inch racing quads, allowing you to fly with more speed and pull off loops and rolls. This will not only give you the same feel, but you can fly almost anywhere, indoors or out.

https://newbeedrone.com/collections/beeductrix-inductrix/products/acrobee-lite-rtf-kit


This is a good way to get into it - $200, and you get EVERYTHING you need to start off with: quad, 4 batteries, a charger, controller, AND headset. The goggles can be used for any other quad that broadcasts on analog FPV bands, as can the quad can be flown with an FrSky compatible transmitter if you decide to upgrade to a different controller.

Is it the best equipment out there? No. There's other stuff out there that you would want to use for full on racing drones. That said, you're going to be spending a fair chunk of change to make that happen - $450-$700 just for the quad, and that doesn't include goggles or transmitter. But as a way to dip your toes in and get started, this is a great way to go for learning to fly quads and learning to race them.
 

mach1 rc

Master member
I had a inductrix fpv plus loved it until I crashed it one to many times. I would reccomend the inductrix fpv plus for a first drone because it's only 60 bucks bind and fly.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I had a inductrix fpv plus loved it until I crashed it one to many times. I would reccomend the inductrix fpv plus for a first drone because it's only 60 bucks bind and fly.

The Inductrix quads are good, but they require you to have the radio, and the goggles are more of a necessity. If you don't have either, buying a bundled kit is a better way to go for starting out.
 

poor boy 101

Active member
My recommendation emax Ecos, transtech frog, https://m.banggood.com/MAMBA-F405-M...ing-Brushless-ESC-p-1345001.html?rmmds=search whatever that stack this is.(it’s good and really cheap) https://m.banggood.com/AKK-Infinite...pport-Smart-Audio-p-1382124.html?rmmds=search and also if you would really like I can send you a decent camera and a spectrum receiver. If you can contact me through Email if you would like. It is lukeskywalkerthe3@gmail.com Also beware hackers that is an email account I just made on a school computer. In other words I have extra descriptions on it! It should be around 157. If you don’t contact me I recommend the caddx ratel (30) and a standard (24) dsmx receiver. This stuff is really good especially for beginners. A good 3in is the hx115 by betafpv for $150 with a receiver. Or they have a sale on the 2s beta60 for ~100 and it gives you a battery with a built in receiver.
 

poor boy 101

Active member
Yup I agree with FDS, and again you do not have to get FPV right away, get a really good radio, I really think in my opinion you cannot beat the Jumper T16 Pro at 160US. And any Bind and Fly tiny whoop, the BetaFPV 4s with the straight FPV camera not the cine version that can run on both 3s and 4s, is a great little drone. It is carbon Fiber reinforced, has a ton of power and is fun indoors and out, it will help you learn the fundamentals of flying a drone is very crash resistant and cheap to rebuild, then you graduate to the big race quads, if you crack up a race quad once well your gonna be broke, crack up the BetaFPV and more than likely you wont break a thing or be out 30 bucks on a few parts and flying the next weekend. The googles well you want to learn line of sight first and unless you are a really good pilot you want to leave the googles for last, I just got the whole setup and I am still flying line of sight for the winter cause I cannot go outside to fly so I am going to master setup and line of sight all winter long. I am trying to setup a one day a week skype session with guys, to exchange ideas and talk all things RC, if you want to do that let me know I will give you my skype name and we can talk about stuff till you figure out what you want. It never hurts to talk and its cheap.
Why is everyone being dumb and thinking that he doesn’t have a transmitter. He has been flying planes for 4 years and was also asking about a spectrum receiver.
 

poor boy 101

Active member
Also if you want a good fpv goggle aeomway lowered a good one to $175 and that is the lowest I have ever seen on a fat shark style goggle. Here is the link to both the retailed goggle and also the micro drone. https://m.banggood.com/AOMWAY-Comma...port-Head-Tracker-p-1468279.html?rmmds=search or the ftx viper v2 is at about $120 and i have a pair as a back up and I def do recommend. https://store.flitetest.com/betafpv...e-spektrum-bfpv-00313111-dsm/p865869?v=861501 Also here is a page for a prebuilt Budget quad from rotor riot.
 

Thorondor

Active member
Box-style FPV goggles: about $60 (Eachine has some good ones, but as long as you look at some reviews any brand is fine)
Brushless Whoop: $100-ish (I am very happy with the Mobula7 I just acquired)
Decent radio that will last you a few years: <$200 if you get a used one


EDIT

Here is the stuff I would recommend. It should all last you a good while and it's also all upgradable.

Goggles: Eachine has several sets of goggles for around $50, here is the one I would get https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-EW...997.html?rmmds=search&ID=224&cur_warehouse=CN

Whoop: https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...del/products/mobula7-whoop-basic-standard-kit

Radio: (my personal preference is Spektrum, but feel free to ask around about Tanaris and FrSky) https://www.horizonhobby.com/radios/aircraft-transmitters/dx8e-8-channel-transmitter-only-spmr8105
You can find a used radio for a little cheaper, but make sure that it has at least 8 channels if you are flying drones. I have an old DX6i that can just barely fulfill the functions of a basic micro drone.
 
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"Corpse"

Legendary member
I just got into FPV, and I use a Dxe. In a pinch it works, but It is a pain to configure on betaflight. Definitely get a nicer TX.