TEST: IDEAFLY Octopus F90

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INTRODUCTION

The IDEAFLY octopus F90 is a 90mm brushed FPV microquadcopter prebuilt with a propguard protection so decicaced for both indoors and outdoors applications. The electronic is based on a SPF3 Evo FC board, a micro FrSKy D16 receiver and an AIO 600TVL CMOS 25mW 48CH FPV camera. This model is equiped of 2S compatible 8.5mmx20mm brushed motors… probably to boost performances. The Octobpus F90 can be seen as a direct competitor of the Eachine QX70 for example. Let’s check the content of this model.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x IDEAFLY octopus F90
+ 1 x 2S 300mAh LiPo with JST connector
+ 1 x USB charging cable
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Screwdriver
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

OVERVIEW

The general design is a X-quadcopter with builtin propguard but not large enough be considered as a ducted system. On top is installed a round ball jailing the AIO FPV camera. The shape clearly reminds an octopus.

A 90mm machine so 1/3 more larger than a classic TinyWhoop.

The lower frame is carbon based but a little bit thin… 1.25mm only. Should be ok for most type of crash.

IMHO the most worry concerns the thickness of the propguard, only 0.75mm for the plastic structure…

In practice, the guard is super flexible and is almost useless… More, it can block and prop midflight !!!! That’s a pretty bad point.

-FRONT VIEW

A small white LEDs is present on the front side… not strong enough in daylight conditions to help to keep your orientation for LOS flights.

The 5.8G antenna is installed on top of the bubble jail.

-SIDE VIEW

One drawback in the design is the low clearance distance between the prop-guard and props, 1-2mm maximum. It could be a real drama, in the sens a prop can break easily midflight

I strongly advise to raise motors inside they respective pod by 1-2 extra mm

With the 2.4G antenna mod once the receiver is bound and installed inside the machine

-REAR VIEW

A JST connector has been prefered and a tiny blue light can be found

With the antenna mod

-UPPER VIEW

The right hole in the following button welcomes the VTX/Vfreq selection button. You will need a super thin tip to press on the bottom. A short press cycles between the eight frequencies inside the current selected band while a long press will cycle inside the six supported bands.

On major problem concerns the absence of visual/sound feedback to monitor the Vfreq selection. One trick is first select on your VRX the first frequency of the band. Then long press on the AIO button until you find the right band. Now you will be able to select the Vfreq by some short pressings.

-BOTTOM VIEW

The battery tray backside is covered with foam element. Notice the microUSB port to connect the machine to Betaflight. Version 3.0.1 is pre-installed and configured. For the calibration, when a microUSB cable is plugged it’s not obvious to install the machine horizontally to calibrate. Probably prefer the stick commands when being desarmed.

Out of the box, the FrSky XM receiver is not fully installed into the canopy in order to press more easily the bind button. This D16 receiver offers much better range (>600m) versus a classic D8 while outputting RSSI on the last channel.

Most part of the antenna is jailed into the heatshrink tube

-WEIGHT

60.7g total weight so it’s 6g more than the Eachine QX70 but in 1S configuration.

Motors and props

2S 8.5mmx20mm coreless brushed motors. No RPM indications given… In theory it should boost performances.

44mm triblade props. In practice, these props can break super easily in contact of the propguard ..

LiPo

A 300mAh 2S LiPo with a discharge of 30C… Should boost as maximum the performances of the motors.

AIO FPV Camera module

the camera is uptilted with an angle of 10 degrees approximatively. No possibility to set this angle.

Jailed into the top round sphere, a 600TVL CMOS 48CH 25mW AIO camera. The exact frequency table is given below

Disassembling

Remove the six screws installed on the bottom side to open the machine.

The AIO FPV camera mean lead wires are directly soldered while for motors we have decicaced connector. A good point for the motor’s maintenance. Always advised to stock at least one CW and one CCW motors, especially for a 2S system where they are even more stressed.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine comes with an old Betaflight 3.0.1 installed (dump_BF_3_0_1_octobpus_F90). The FrSky receiver is configured with SBUS connexion on the UART2. PIDs settings are the 3.0.1 one.
No speficic problem to bind the receiver or the upgrade the betaflight version. By default two flight modes are configured, the 6-axis stabilized one and an acro flight mode. First impression about the FPV camera and associated range is pretty good for a simple 25mW model despite having a linear antenna. No problem to cross several walls. Only the tuning of the Vfreq is a little bit annoying with the absence of clear visual indications.
First take off with BF 3.1.7 with slightly optimized settings shows a really good stability but clearly the lack of motor’s thrust is the big disapointement. You can’t really say it’s more powerfull than a 1S system but for sure much weaker than any brushless model. It’s just ok for basic acro flip and roll but you will loose some altitude in any case. For indoors applications, the machine can fly in super tiny spaces but after just one or two crashes, elements of the propguard system broke and by consequence broke also props by direct contact. The achille’heel of this machine… IMHO after just a couple of flights, you will need to cut all the prop guard system to remove it. Unfortunatly, it won’t save a lot of weight to boost performances. Flight durations are a lit bit short also, around 3min30 in average.

CONCLUSIONS

The IDEAFLY Octopus offers honest flight performances and a good FPV rig able to fly precisely in indoors tiny spaces. The machine also flies pretty in outdoors but lack of power to be super fun for advanced acro flying. The main problem of this machine is the weakness of the thin prop guard breaking easily props.

PROS

+ Goof Flyer
+ SPF3 Evo FC board
+ Good FPV cam with good FPV range
+ FrSky D16 w/RSSI channel

CONS

– Fragile prop guard
– Low clearance between prop guard and prop
– Lack of power
– Can’t set easily the Vfreq

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Tomtop in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude.
You can find it actually for 70USD at http://www.tomtop.com/rc-quadcopter-1192/p-rm7909-3.html

Cet article TEST: IDEAFLY Octopus F90 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!.

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[Ahmed]

thought about the possibility to buy this drone... good review, thanks!