You have to give DarwinFPV credit. They came out of nowhere, and have stuck it out, and are making new products. They have opened up entry level quads to people that do not have the skill to build yet.
Hi Lee, Great video and review of the Darwin Foldape 4, I have to admit that I am liking Darwin quads. I have several others that are flying great. The folding frame actually works great, but I wish it had a Ratel instead of the ant,but Darwin trying to save when they can. I appreciate that it comes with a Thumb or Peanut HD camera mount. I don't have a printer to build one. Give it a month or two and Darwin will have a pro version. Thanks for the video and information about this quad.
@@Painless360HGLRC M100-5883 fits, not the same plug so cut the old cable and solder (only 4 wires, no i2c on FC so skip compass wires.) Have yet to try it other than bench, and want to upgrade to BF4.5 for better rescue.
Flight time is pretty confusing as I am getting 12-14 minutes from babyape 2 with 850mah 4s battery and it is sort of freestyle quad with presumably less efficient props and motors, IDK
Is this company part of RunCam / Speedybee group or are they just riding on Speedybee pupularity while copying theyre style? Starting from logo and going to color scheme of the drone. Everything reminds Speedybee Mario series, especialy Mario 8.
I have a question, I bought the this fold 4 by Darwin, I connected to PC and accidentally hit the flash key, and it erase the firmware, tried rebooting button but nothing happened, Do I need to buy a fc for it, Thanks.
Is anyone else having issues with walksnail VTX overheating on this unit? It's scary to fly now because I never know when the video will suddenly shut down. I tried to minimize the time that the battery is on before taking off, I have enabled low power mode when disarmed and I have tried multiple batteries from 750 to 1250 with multiple discharge rates. I also reduced the VTX power to 200 without success. A few extra details: - I have a cinelog35 v2 also running walksnail that is not suffering from overheating - The bottom of the battery strap touches the VTX, not sure if this is contributing, but it's the default strap sent by them - Florida warm weather - Initially it would only shut down if I took too long to take off, or was hovering slow on the heavy battery, today it turned off even after doing a bunch of acro maneuvers - Usually after a few seconds on the ground it recovers the video signal - For the first few flights, I'd see a VTX warning and VTX temperature, I think the gauge might have died, or it disappeared after I updated betaflight/the vtx, I haven't been able to add it back on the OSD
I imagine it is very hot at the moment over in Florida, so can understand why the unit is struggling. Make sure that there is room for the air to flow ALL AROUND the AVATAR, it is like putting one side of the unit under a duvet having the strap against it... Best of luck!
@@Painless360 Since I made this post, I have disassembled the frame and was able to route the strap through some of the frame holes, releasing some airflow in the center part of it which I'm hoping will help. But I'll only know in a few hours or tomorrow morning.
It did ? You put a 6s battery or something ? I use 2s 450 with crossfure and an 800 mW vtx and got 12 minutes but it ruins the battery . Then it starts getting 3 or 4 minutes
Meh. Bargain bin parts: F411 15A. The mini usb is a dead giveaway that's it's obsolete. M80 gps? Just why? And the godawful Ant camera! I'd rather build myself a 4 inch quad using Speedybee mini stack, Cadex Ratel 2 or Runcam Phoenix 2 & HGLRC M100 GPS that gets a GPS fix within a minute of cold boot!
This was designed to hit a price-point and still fly well. I would have preferred a few tweaks too but that would have pushed up the price.. Happy flying!
You have to give DarwinFPV credit. They came out of nowhere, and have stuck it out, and are making new products. They have opened up entry level quads to people that do not have the skill to build yet.
You sure do. I've looked at many of their models since they started. They've always made value for money stuff.... Happy flying
Their name and mascot is hilarious too
Yea they really making a name for themselves
BabyApe was my go to toy for a while when I started
Hi can you recommend a good camera to screw onto it?
Oh, BTW, about the screws, you could use a thumb screw. Even 3d print a head for a normal screw. 😊
That would have been a nice idea for DarwinFPV. Maybe they can start to provide them... Happy flying
I assume eventually you will be able to buy the frame separately like their other quads to build a custom version.
I'd expect so... Happy flying
No sence in getting only the frame, because motors are 3 hole custom mount
@@chrisbee5481 a drill could fix that pretty easily
Hi Lee, Great video and review of the Darwin Foldape 4, I have to admit that I am liking Darwin quads. I have several others that are flying great. The folding frame actually works great, but I wish it had a Ratel instead of the ant,but Darwin trying to save when they can. I appreciate that it comes with a Thumb or Peanut HD camera mount. I don't have a printer to build one. Give it a month or two and Darwin will have a pro version. Thanks for the video and information about this quad.
Darwin first inexpensive long range. First completely waterproof drone, now they have a 9" and now a foldable! 🙌🏽
I have this being delivered tomorrow can't wait. Can you recommend a better GPS module that would be a drop in replacement?
I'm not aware of a direct replacement that'll be the same size. If you find one, please let me know.. Best of luck
@@Painless360HGLRC M100-5883 fits, not the same plug so cut the old cable and solder (only 4 wires, no i2c on FC so skip compass wires.) Have yet to try it other than bench, and want to upgrade to BF4.5 for better rescue.
The equipped GPS works fine. Set the VTX to low power until first arm in CLI and it will acquire sats.
Talk about full circle, folding quads were the rage years ago, Vortex 285 was one :)
Thank you for the review Lee.
Cheers!
Do you know a link for buying a 3 hole mount motor for spare. There's only 4 hole on their site.
Usually highest flight time is movign forward no wind. So prob flying like 20mph maybe 25mph steady.
How do you lock the arms in place so that it doesn't fold in a crash
Covered in the video... Happy flying
Flight time is pretty confusing as I am getting 12-14 minutes from babyape 2 with 850mah 4s battery and it is sort of freestyle quad with presumably less efficient props and motors, IDK
Amazing flying and review, Lee! 😃
Do you think the Moonlight would fit in it?
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
No, not enough room without mods... Happy flying
Please upload a video of you convert this to walksnail, I would also like to attempt this.
It'll be the same as this ruclips.net/video/yenvvxq_Ovs/видео.html
do you think this could lift a Gopro Hero 11 Mini?
That is 133g, I doubt it would fly well, if at all, with that much extra weight...
Is this company part of RunCam / Speedybee group or are they just riding on Speedybee pupularity while copying theyre style? Starting from logo and going to color scheme of the drone. Everything reminds Speedybee Mario series, especialy Mario 8.
If they were, I doubt they would be using that awful Caddx Ant! 😁
Hi.Can I fit 3blade props if i want to? Wouter
Yes you can but you will pay a flighttime penalty..
@@Painless360 Thanx. Your channel is tops🤠👍🇿🇦
I have a question, I bought the this fold 4 by Darwin, I connected to PC and accidentally hit the flash key, and it erase the firmware, tried rebooting button but nothing happened, Do I need to buy a fc for it, Thanks.
You should be able to reload the software and settings... It depends on what you actually pressed... Best of luck
@@Painless360 I only hit the flash one, Anyway you can direct me to a firmware I can download, I have no clue were to begin kinda new at this
Check out the Quad Build for Beginners series from December - all the steps are in there... Best of luck!
does the drone use a TX60 or TX30 battery connector?
XT30
@@Painless360 ok thanks!
I just got one and the vtx video keeps cutting in and out anyone have a idea what t happens when it gets hot and it still happens when I fly it
Same thing here, do you have walksnail as well?
Good review
Is anyone else having issues with walksnail VTX overheating on this unit? It's scary to fly now because I never know when the video will suddenly shut down. I tried to minimize the time that the battery is on before taking off, I have enabled low power mode when disarmed and I have tried multiple batteries from 750 to 1250 with multiple discharge rates. I also reduced the VTX power to 200 without success.
A few extra details:
- I have a cinelog35 v2 also running walksnail that is not suffering from overheating
- The bottom of the battery strap touches the VTX, not sure if this is contributing, but it's the default strap sent by them
- Florida warm weather
- Initially it would only shut down if I took too long to take off, or was hovering slow on the heavy battery, today it turned off even after doing a bunch of acro maneuvers
- Usually after a few seconds on the ground it recovers the video signal
- For the first few flights, I'd see a VTX warning and VTX temperature, I think the gauge might have died, or it disappeared after I updated betaflight/the vtx, I haven't been able to add it back on the OSD
I imagine it is very hot at the moment over in Florida, so can understand why the unit is struggling. Make sure that there is room for the air to flow ALL AROUND the AVATAR, it is like putting one side of the unit under a duvet having the strap against it... Best of luck!
@@Painless360 Since I made this post, I have disassembled the frame and was able to route the strap through some of the frame holes, releasing some airflow in the center part of it which I'm hoping will help. But I'll only know in a few hours or tomorrow morning.
Hello dear..do you think it will work with 4S battery?
I don't have it anymore to try. If it supported 4s then they'd advertise the fact... Best of luck
Hopefully the flight controller doesn’t cook itself like my Babe ape pro 😂
It did ? You put a 6s battery or something ? I use 2s 450 with crossfure and an 800 mW vtx and got 12 minutes but it ruins the battery . Then it starts getting 3 or 4 minutes
Meh. Bargain bin parts: F411 15A. The mini usb is a dead giveaway that's it's obsolete. M80 gps? Just why? And the godawful Ant camera!
I'd rather build myself a 4 inch quad using Speedybee mini stack, Cadex Ratel 2 or Runcam Phoenix 2 & HGLRC M100 GPS that gets a GPS fix within a minute of cold boot!
This was designed to hit a price-point and still fly well. I would have preferred a few tweaks too but that would have pushed up the price.. Happy flying!
Micro USB...