TEST: ARRIS X90

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The ARRIS X90 is a cheap 90mm brushless TinyWhoop inspired. With 90mm dimensions, 1104/7800 Kv motors, don’t expect this machine be an indoors flyer. It’s clearly more an outdoors brushless FPV trainer machine. The X90 integrates an old F3 board with a builtin OSD but not a BetaflightOSD model. Here it’s the old-style MW-OSD. The 4-in-1 12A ESC are BLheli_S/Dshot 600 compatible. For FPV rig, a basic 520TVL NTSC CMOS camera coupled with a 48CH 25mW VTX. Four choices of receiver are proposed for the BNF edition: 1) radiolink based, 2) FrSky D16, 3) FlySky AFHDS-2A and 4) Spektrum DSM2. The ARRIS is proposed to be associated with a cheap 3″ FPV mask. Let’s discover all elements.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x ARRIS X90
+ 1 x 700mAh 2S LiPo 30C with JST connector
+ 2 x Rubber bands

For the quadcopter, we can notice the absence of spare props.

The 3″ FPV mask…. a direct clone of the Eachine VR006

+ 1 x 3″ FPV mask
+ 1 x 5.8G linear
+ 1 x USB to microUSB cable
+ 1 x Headstrap
+ 1 x Noze foam element
+ 2 x Swipe tissues
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

ARRIS X90
The machine is largely tinywhoop inspired, a 90mm machine. All individual prop guard are fully plastic plastic… more or less ok to absorbe moderate crash.

2035 transparent props, some Genfan model. It’s really surprizing but they are not secure by hexscrews.

The main lower frame is fully 3K carbon based with 2mm of thickness.

-FRONT VIEW

-SIDE VIEW

The microUSB port is available on the left side …. but you need a cable with a very thin connector hub for the connexion.

-REAR VIEW
The battery connexion is done with a basic JST connector. It’s OK for a 2S setup… but at least wire’s gauge is large the bottleneck will be very limited.

-UPPER VIEW

A unique button can be pressed thank to a thin screwdriver tip. The Vfreq, Vband selection is classic. Short press to cycle within the 8 Vfreq associated with the current selected Vband and long press more than 3s to cycle within the 6 supported Vbands. Notice, the lights associated with the Vfreq, Vband can’t be really guess through the canopy. The best option is to remove first the canopy to select your favorite freq. Unfortunatly, the tramp proticol is obviously not supported.

-BOTTOM VIEW
The battery tray jails perfectly the 2S LiPo. In order to save 4-5g, you can remove it and attache the battery via the two rubber bands given.

-WEIGHT

120g in total with the battery…. it’s a bit heavy…. for a 2S setup.

Motors

1104/7800 Kv motors

Good news, they are not too fast and they support 3S battery.

LiPo

The X90 is shipped with a basic 700mAh 2S LiPo …. Announced to be 30C. In practice, you can expect 4min30 of flight time with.

Camera module

The AIO module is installed with a small positive angle around 10 degrees maximum. No possibility to tune this default angle.

The system is locked in NTSC format. It’s a basic 1/4″ model with an average light sensitivity. The FOV is about 120 degrees so perfect for outdoors applications. The VBand, Vfreq selection is indicated by two dot lights installed respectively on two rows of lights.

Disassembling

To open the machine you have to remove three M2 hexscrews. Two latteral ones and one located rear. Good news, there is a buzzer installed…. but at least for the FrSky receiver, the bind button is completly hidden…. by the underneath carbon plate.

You must first remove this carbon plate (four nylon bold to remove) then you can guess finally the bind button … Weird…

I strongly advice to rotate 180 degrees the receiver. At least only the top canopy need to be removed with this solution.

FPV MASK
The FPV mask is a direct clone of the Eachine VR006. There is a compact 3″ builtin screen able to display in 500X300 resolution… Whatever a PAL or a NTSC source, the quality will be then degraded.

One unique antenna but the builtin 48CH receiver offers a good RF sensitivity of -95dBm.

The microUSB port is here to recharge the builtin 1S LiPo. Expect 1h to recharge it.

A facial sponge confortable is here and good news the noze section compatible with occidental standard.

Unfortunatly, the opening dimensions are too narrow to weah this mask with correction glasses …

More, the distance between the screen and the eyes is super short. You need a super view to focus correctly…. More I will add, by wearing such glasses, you can deteriorate your view.

On top, there is a small 3.5mm jack connector…. but it’s an AVin …. In the menu, no possibility to switch it into an AVout… in order to connect directly a small DVR.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine comes with an old betaflight version, i.e. the v 3.1.5… but well configured out of the box. For the MW-OSD, you must be sure that the MSP is turned on for the UART2… Unfortunatly, no possibility to tune directly from Betaflight the OSD system. You need to use a FTDI serial converter to change settings. At least, it’s also possible to access to most part of the parameters through the radiocommand. It’s advised to upgrade to a more recent Betaflight version. More from BF 3.2.X, the RSSI will appears on AUX12. Use the radio sticks commands to turn on the RSSI display. Turn on also RSSI via FC. If you want to minimize rear-right fall after a fast U-turn, it’s also advise to inverse sens of rotation of props.

With the default 2S configuration… and with the little optimization mentioned above, I am positively surprize how smooth this machine is. More no problem to perform acro style figures…. Of course it’s not a monster of power but it’s largely strong enough for powerloops for example. The machine can handle well a moderate wind. The fligh time is about 4min30 in average. The FPV link is also not bad at all… expect a good 150m in open space conditions. With 3S batteries, of course this machine is much more powerfull and good news… no need to retune PIDs. No bounce-back noticed. it’s super smooth…. Really despite the old FC, basic electronics… the machine flies pretty well.

CONCLUSIONS

The ARRIS X90 is a simple relatively cheap machine based on old but durable and mainly tested electronics. With some little optimizations, a betaflight update, the X90 is far to be ridiculous. It’s not an indoors machine, neither a super fast ultra powerfull machine …. but fast and strong enough to have plenty of fun in acro with. For the FPV mask, I am more sceptical except if you have a perfect view…. This mask lacks of any focal ajustement… for more older eyes.

PROS

+ Nice flyer
+ Acro compatible
+ Mw-OSD
+ FrSky XM with good range
+ RSSI available for the OSD after Betaflight update
+ 3S compatible
+ Cheap

+ Basic 3″ FPV mask
+ Good RF sensitivity

CONS

– Old electronic equipement
– No M2 hexscrews securing props
– No spare props
– No Betaflight OSD
– FrSky’s binding button hard to access out of the box
– USB port requires a thin microUSB cable

– Google mask opening too narrow for correction glasses
– Google mask requires a perfect view
– No Avout to plug a DVR

dump_BF_3_1_5_Arris_X90

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Hobby-Wing 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 115USD at https://www.hobby-wing.com/arris-x90-90mm-micro-brushless-fpv-racing-quadcopter.html

View the full article