TEST: HAPPYMODEL SNAPPER6

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The Happymodel Snapper6 is probably a new giant in the 65mm FPV brushless machine area. As you already know first attempts with super compact brushless motors (0603/0703 categories) didn’t really outperform brushed equivalent. More a lot of vibrations were here with the brushless solution. With the Snapper6, we have some 1.7g 0603 motors but spinning @19000Kv !!! With such speed, each motors are able to carry at least 2-3 extra grams individually versus 15000/16000Kv former models. Two types of receiver are proposed and directly integrated on the main flight controller board: i) a FrSky (D8 & D16) and ii) FlySky AFHDS-2A. Finally the Snapper6 is proposed in two bundles version: i) a basic with one unique battery and ii) the standard with a parallel charger and three batteries. I will review here the standard FrSky variant.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Happymodel Snapper6
+ 3 x 250mAh 1S LiHV with JST pH2.0
+ 1 x USB parallel charger
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Screwdriver
+ 1 x Wrench prop remover
+ 2 x Spare rubber bands
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

WIth the standard version, a parallel charger is provided. Two switches are here one to select between the LiPo/LiHV modes and the second to select between 0.2A or 0.5A charge.

The charger accept DC input from 7V up to 25V. In the field, you can use a 3S-4S battery with a XT30 connector.

OVERVIEW

The Snapper6 integrates the new Crazybee F3 board with a buitin FrSky (or FlySky receiver). Important, this one is not connected via SBUS/UART connexion but directly via SPI !!! It means faster responses. More… it’s possible to select either the FrSKy D8 mode or the FrSky_X D16 via betaflight… Impressive. The main board welcomes also a 5A BLheli_S/Dshot 600 ESC solution.

The machine is super compact … 65mm. It’s impressive to integrate everything in a such compact place.

The lower frame structure carbon based offers 1mm of thickness. Enough or not enough. For me it’s ok because first of all the machine is super light and secondly the carbon is reinforced by the aluminium prop guards. attached with.

In comparaison with the HBRC HB68. The Snapper6 looks even more compact….

and with the Boldclash B06

It’s super tiny ideal for indoors training.

-FRONT VIEW
The top canopy structure is installed onto two nylon standoff and locked with two nylon bolds.

The free room between is enough to insert a fine tip for tje bonding procedure or the AIO Vband,Vfreq selection.

-SIDE VIEW
The top structure allows to fine-tune the camera lens orientation. It’s great to switch between indoors/outdoors applications.

The maximum angle is about 30-35 degrees.

Small originality, we have some aliminium prop guard instead of classic plastic. It’s less flexible, bendable but more solid too…

Probably, the prop guard will be bent in case of crash on very hard surfaces but the good news it should be super easy to fix the shape.

-UPPER VIEW

-BOTTOM VIEW
Each motor are connected via microJST connectors. The microUSB port is also located there… so not ideal to reset the level in betaflight and also to press and hold easily the micro switch bind button if you want to power the system with a USB port.

The battery is attached via a simple rubber band…. the presence of two small nylon screws don’t allow a perfect aligned installation.

-WEIGHT
30.3g AUW !!!! impressive….

Motors and props

One of the novelty… the introduction of the fastest 0603 motors spinning @19000Kv… so about 10-12.5% faster than the former generation.

31mm triblades props…. A good tradeoff between efficiency and flight duration.

LiHV

Three 250mAh LiHV model announced to be 30C for the discharge rate. They ends with a JST pH 2.0 connector. A standard for this size of machine.

Camera module

A 700TVL NTSC CMOS camera coupled with a 48CH/25mW VTX. The field of view is about 120 degrees .

Via the larger rear hole in the canopy structure it’s possible to press the unique button thanks a thin screwdriver tip.

Here is a raw video sample

The light sensitivity is pretty good… above the average. That’s a good surprize.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, BINDING, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine comes with Betaflight 3.3.0 so a super recent version. This choice is motivated in order to control the builtin receiver with direct SPI connexion. Thanks to this new way, it’s possible the switch the receiver either in FrSky D8 mode or in D16. Just great. Whatever the version the RSSI is exported to the OSD and even sent via telemetry for the radio. In general the machine is well configured out of the box. So it’s ready to bind…

One difficulty is to press and keep it pressed the bind button located front right. It’s not easy even with a thin tip of a screwdriver.

A lot of informations are available on the OSD… First the RSSI…. and more we have also current readings working fine. It’s great for a 65mm machine.

The machine take off from 45% of throttle input …. and punch out are not bad at all for a 1S micro system!!!!! clearly far superior to any other 30g machines, especially to any brushed Tinywhoop machines. it means it’s acro compatible. No problem to recover from flips & rolls. The machine is stable and not drifting in angle or horizon modes involving the 6-axis stabilization. The machine can turn fast without typical micro rear altitude losts. More the machine is silent. The list of good news is not over. The AIO module works pretty well and handle light transitions above the average. Due to how is attached the top structure, maybe some little vibrations can be noticed on the the FPV feedback. In windfree conditions, this machine is super precize and fun… incredible for a 30g machine. With the 250mAh LiHV battery, flight durations are about 2min40 up to 3min.

CONCLUSIONS

To make short, it’s the best 65mm FPV machine actually. The list of the main qualities is long: acro compatible, stable, F3 w/OSD, builtin SPI FrSky receiver, silent, good FPV & control range. It’s well configured out of the box and durable thanks to it’s carbon-aluminium structure. I give to this machine a SeByDocKy’s award.

PROS

+ 30.3g AUW !!!
+ 0603/19000Kv motors strong enough for acro
+ F3 w/OSD
+ Well tuned out of the box
+ No drift in angle mode
+ FrSky SPI receiver w/ RSSI for OSD & Telemetry
+ Good AIO module
+ Uptiltable camera
+ ~2min45-3min of flight time
+ Good LiHV battery
+ Silent

CONS

– Micro bind button hard to be pressed
– Aluminimum prop guard can be bent after a crash

dump_BF_3_3_0

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 97USD at https://www.banggood.com/Happymodel-Snapper6-65mm-Micro-1S-Brushless-FPV-Racing-RC-Drone-w-F3-OSD-BLHeli_S-5A-ESC-BNF-p-1283482.html

View the full article