TEST: FrSky Apus MQ60

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INTRODUCTION

The FrSky Apus MQ60 is a surprizing product from FrSky more known to deliver excellent 2.4G radio solutions. Here we have a Brushed FPV TinyWhoop machine with classic ingredients: F3 SPracing Evo board but without OSD, 6mmx15mm motors and a simple 600TVL CMOS 25mW 48CH AIO module. Let’s have a look to this product.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x FrSky Apus MQ60
+ 1 x 200mAh 1S LiPo with
+ 1 x USB charger
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

No spare props …. no extra battery…. For A 80USD bundle …. It’s not a good starting sign.

OVERVIEW

The structure is ultra classic, a 65mm ducted machine in order to improve hoveribility vs the fast mouvements.

The plastic quality is in the average…. not among the best plastic quality I met.

-FRONT VIEW
The 5.8G antenna is installed vertically outside the canopy via a top hole on the canopy. It’s a good point for the FPV range.

In the other hand, the camera is installed perfectly horizontally … so not super adapted for fast forward mouvement despite the 120degrees wide angle of the lens.

-SIDE VIEW

The left side shows a plastic tab to be press for the Vfreq, Vband selection. As for almost all AIO module, a short press will cycle within the eight Vfreq for selected Vband. A long press will cycle within the 6 supported Vband.

Through the Skyblue canopy color, it’s hard to guess the index of the blue light (Vband) and the red light (Vfreq)… You will probably need to open the machine by removing the small three screwdrivers.

The green small light is the receiver status light. It will flash slowly when the binding procedure is in process and faster when bound. When the binding operation is over… the green light will be turned off.

-REAR VIEW

The microUSB port location is well designed…. ideal to level accelero & gyro when the machine is connected to Betaflight.

-UPPER VIEW

-BOTTOM VIEW

The F/S, binding button of the builtin FrSky XM receiver (in D16 mode). The RSSI is sent to the last channel but since there is no builtin OSD… it’s useless.

-WEIGHT

28.2g AUW…. it’s a lot…. for 6mmx15mm motors

Motors

Some 6mmx15mm brushed motors … no RPM mentioned …

LiPo

a 200mAh 1S LiPo model… no LiHv…. ending with microJST SH (1.25mm) connector.

Camera module

Disassembling

The dedicaced F3 SPracing Evo with a builtin FrSky XM receiver. The FPV module is plugged via a connector.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine integrates a Betaflight 3.3.0 so probably a beta version of the of the incoming V3.3 branch. The machine is tuned to 16000PWM in order to reduce the noise emitted by motors. In the other it will slightly drop the performances of the machine.

After binding (if you have an IR8M radio, set the finefreq option to 63), you need a minimum of 75%-80% throttle input to take off…. Weird…. the machine is absoluptly underpowered….. You will need to anticipate a lot your elevation in your flight.. It’s really annoying. Acro flight with this machine is a dream…. Forget it…. Really motors are not strong enough… The flight time is impacted, about 2min-2min 30…. far from the 5min promised. The LiPo also IMHO is overated in term of discharge rate. The only good news is about the FPV signal… clean with a good range.

CONCLUSIONS

What a disapointement ……. probably the worst tinywhoop FPV clone…. I ever tested….. I didn’t find really any positive points for this machine. More the price is very expensive versus competitors….. “Player FrSky shoot again”….. I am not sure that FrSky will continue to produce such kind of machine.

PROS

+ Betaflight compatible
+ MicroUSB port location

CONS

– Completly underpowered
– Poor flight time (2min30)
– Expensive
– No builtin OSD

Dump_BF_3_3_0_Apus_MQ60

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood 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 80USD at http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-CX-10C-CX10C-Mini-2_4G-4CH-6-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-with-Camera-RTF-p-989909.html

Cet article TEST: FrSky Apus MQ60 est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!.

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