TEST: URUAV UR65

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

After the excellent Happymodel Snapper6, here is a new 65mm microbrushless FPV machine, i.e. the URUAV UR65. To make short, it’s based at 90% with the same incredients: same Crazybee F3 board, same AIO FPV module, same bundle… only the frame and the KV of the 0603 motors are differents. For the UR65, we have a machine 3g lighter but with slightly slower 0603 motors: 17000Kv vs 19000kv. The crazybee integrates a 5A (peak 6A) 4-in-1 ESC BLheli_S/Dshot 600 compatible, a builtin 2.4G FrSky (D8/D16) or Flysky (AFHDS-2A) receiver? The FrSky export the Vbat & RSSI via telemetry… of for both RSSI is also sent for the OSD directly via SPI connexion. The AIO is a good 700TVL CMOS model with a builtin 48ch/25mW VTX. So a lot of similarities with the snapper6 in a first glance. Let’s discover the UR65.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x URUAV UR65
+ 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.

The charger accept DC input from 7V up to 25V. In the field, you can use a 3S-4S battery with a XT30 connector. Two switches are here one to select between the LiPo/LiHV modes and the second to select between 0.2A or 0.6A charge.

A bag with spare elements… exactlement the same contents as for the Snapper 6. The rubber bands are useless since the battery is hold directly via the tray.

OVERVIEW

The full detailed list of all elements:

It’s clearly a super compact 65mm machine… 100% of the size of the original TinyWhoop but this one is brushless.

A direct comparaison with the Snapper6. The top canopy plastic structure is identical…., same props, same AIO module. Only the lower frame is different with a full nylon plastic solution for the UR65 while the snapper6 mixes carbon and aluminimum elements.

-FRONT VIEW
The duct sytem is now larger fully nylon based. Even arms are in plastic…. Since the duct system is attached to the frame in two different points and thanks to the flexibility of the nylon and the ultra light weight of the structure…. the durability is in practice pretty good…. Dislike the Snapper6, no need anymore to reshape the aluminimum guard after a big crash

-SIDE VIEW
Thanks the two latteral screws, the AIO FPV module can be uptilted up to +15 degrees.

From the rear holes, at least the VTX button can be reached.

-REAR VIEW
The UR65 uses a JST ph2.0 connector….

-UPPER VIEW
The linear antenna is installed vertically via a small dedicaced hole. What a pity, they didn’t also drill another one for a more direct access of the Vfreq/Vband selection button.

-BOTTOM VIEW
The microUSB port of the Crazybee F3 board is located bottom…. not the best location to level your machine when connected to Betaflight.
Be aware, the three screws holding each motors tends versus multiflights to pop out…. It’s strongly advised to secure them with a locite thread lock.

The 2.4G antenna is installed bottom…. Try to straight it vertically to maximize the control range.

Good news versus the snapper6, the battery is now installed into a dedicaced tray… No more rubber band as for the snapper6

As for the snapper6, motors are directly attached via a 3p 1.25mm microJST connector. It’s super easy for maintenance/upgrade

-WEIGHT
27.3g !!!!!!!

in comparaison with the snapper 6

So more than 3g saved…. about 10%. It’s a huge difference… The massive argument for the UR65.

Motors

0603 motors up to 17000Kv … so 2000Kv slower vs the snapper 6 model

LiHv batteries

250mAh LiHV battery…. rated 30C… They are good in practice but don’t go too low with. LiHV batteries are know to loose faster than LiPo their charging capacity.

AIO Camera FPV module

The same 700TVL CMOS NTSC camera module of the Snapper 6. If you raise the front right canopy side, you can guess the ultra tiny micro switch used to bind the receiver….. This one is hard to access…. and it’s strongly advised to remove first the top canopy module.

A unique button not easy to access via the left hole. The selection is classic. Short press to cycle inside the eight Vfreq of the current selected Vband. Long press to cycle within the 6 supported Vbands.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS, CONFIGURATION AND DEMO FLIGHT

The machine comes with BF3.3. Be aware if you want to upgrade. There are two versions of the CrazyBee F3 board one for the FrSky, the second for the flysky. Dshot600 is selected by default. The originality with SPI connexion, first you can turn the builtin receiver into D8 mode (FrSky_D) or in D16 (FrSky_X). For both… the Vbat & RSSI is sent by telemetry and the RSSI is also here for the OSD… Important remark, since there is a SPI connexion for the receiver, DO NOT APPLY THE RSSI ON THE LAST CHANNEL in the receiver panel… it will block the RSSI to 50%. The default OSD settings display a lot of informations…. probably too much IMHO. Some elements can be removed.
Since there is no builtin buzzer, you can apply the poor’s buzzer trick by 1) increasing the beacon level strengh (~200) then 2) thanks to the “set beeper_dshot_beacon_tone = 1” command, you can assign a switch to this “buzzer”. But to be working, you need also 3) to flash the BLHeli_S “16.67RC Dshot_cmd” firmware via BLheli_configurator or BLheli_suite. The PIDs are the default ones … and default flight modes just select angle and acro…..

First take off and the machine left the ground from 55-60% of throttle input… not so bad… It’s silent and no drift in angle-6 axis stabilized mode can be observed versus time… That’s a really positive point. As soon as the push the throttle to maximum… really punch out are pretty good for a 1S machine…. one the best I ever observed…. I can’t imagine how good will be with the 0603/22000Kv racerstar motors. The machine flips and rolls great !!! What a pleasure for a such small machine to have a machine 100% acro compatible. More for indoors, it’s so tiny that you go everywhere and have super precize control…. I much prefer this UR65 than the 75mm boldclash B06 pro for example… It’s almost as powerfull but more agile and compact… The good news it’s a indoors trainer only…I was able to fly with in presence of moderate wind (~20 km/h) and no big impact/chaos…. I was impressed. The flight time are in average about 3min…. Not so bad. The FPV feedback is also good, with a good light handling for a CMOS sensor…. No problem from this side. No problem for both the control range/FPV to reach 100m… Cherry on the cake, the current meter helps a lot to manage your LiPo to not go beyound 230-250mAH for example. One more time, to not abused of these LiHv batteries…. Despite multiple crashed, I didn’t observe any major stress on the full plastic based frame.

CONCLUSIONS

This URUAV AV65 is currently one my favorite machine …. it’s so small that it’s impossible to hurt something/someone… no problem with any restrictions. The machine is strong enough to enjoy acro…. it’s stable, fly great in acro…. Good FPV and control range and the flight duration about 3min is also really acceptable. To make short, I highly recommand this machine for both Indoors/outdoors application….. I can’t imagine this machine with 22000Kv motors.

PROS

+ 27.2g AUW !!!
+ 0603/17000Kv 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
+ ~3min of flight time
+ Good LiHV battery
+ Silent

CONS

– Micro bind button hard to access/press
– No top direct access of the AIO button
– Motor’s screws easy to loose. Need to be thread locked

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/URUAV-UR65-65mm-FPV-Racing-Drone-BNF-Crazybee-F3-Flight-Controller-OSD-5A-Blheli_S-ESC-5_8G-25mW-VTX-p-1295884.html

View the full article