Choosing between Betaflight. INAV and Ardupilot: A guide for new builders
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
- Learn more about Betaflight here: betaflight.com...
Learn more about INAV here: github.com/iNa...
Learn more about Ardupilot here: ardupilot.org/
My 'for beginner' series for each of these systems, made for first timers:
Betaflight: • Quadcopter Building fo...
INAV: • INAV for Beginners 202...
Ardupilot: • Arducopter/Pixhawk for...
Thank you for taking the time to watch the video. You can find me on social media at / painless360
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I liked the "Flying on Rails" bit. We will see! This is a great summary that already saved me some time, and can save many others lots of time and maybe some grief in choosing the right Firmware and program to use. Well done- thanks.
Very useful for me as an electronics designer just getting into drones who wants to experiment with sensor enabled autonomy etc. Clearly got to be Ardupilot, probably with an STM32H7 based controller for its 2MB flash to support full Ardupilot.
I use INAV in 90% of my builds (I have one quad with betaflight and I'm finishing a VTOL with arduplane, for obvious reasons). I still think if Ardupilot had a simple interface like INAV/Betaflight, it would be much more adopted.
I agree 👍. BTW: I did a hover test with the re-built Xiake & it had vibration issues. Maybe the Ethix 2blade 6” props generated the problem. I plan to do tomorrow again a test…
@@maro0016 I was thinking about replace them with 3-blade.
@@adilsongoliveira maybe I should try that too - let’s see when weather gets better here. It snowed today…
Yes, INAV is really convenient.
90% then you have at least 10 builds
I am going to switch my iNav builds to Ardupilot. That software is fantastic if you get past the initial hurdles.
It does support crsf, canvas mode, bidirectional dshot, etcetera, so lack of modern stuff support is not so valid anymore. Same for smaller vehicles; increased looprates, dynamic notches, helps a lot. Flight performance is good, telemetry and logging is excellent, lua scripts on the FC are powerful.
Regarding the flightcontroller: get something with an H7 processor. Otherwise you will continuously run into things you cannot do due to lack of flash, lack of RAM or lack of processing power. Even something trivial such as deciding what a LED strip must do besides traffic-light like behaviour requires a board with 2MB flash.
"if you get past the initial hurdles"
One year later: I did use iNav 7.0/7.1 again on both my Nano Goblin and Ranger T1 and gave it a fair chance of several 10's of flights / few months. The only advantage I found (which is actually a big one) is the slightly more connected feel in acro mode. Currently back to Arduplane 4.5
I lIke Watching your vids, I bought a wing, bit off more than i thought, Crashed a few times, watching your vids gave me the hope and determination to keep going. Now i have had a successful maiden with inav and was able to get the auto tune feature to run for a little bit. Appreciate your time.
I've been flying quads for years and never even tried to fly a wing or a plane. I recently picked up the atomic dolphin and that series, and all of your reworked videos are going to be a huge huge help. Thanks bud
I started with APM Copter, MultiWii and Arduinos. Worked with Ardupilot for years and professionally from 2013 - 2020 first with Monarch Inc. and later on a year long drop glider project with Tridge for Yates AeroSpace… I’m retired and now freestyle quads for the fun of it. I’m surprised to see such a storied and complex piece of firmware being so favored in the mix (great Venn diagram btw). I see Ardupilot as full time bench work where as Betaflight and INAV are in the air almost immediately. Ardupilot is a fine and capable choice for those that need to address mission complexity whereas Betaflight and iNAV focus on the desire to enjoy flying. I am aware that my history with ArduPilot (since 1.0) may effect my logic.
Thanks for posting Jeff, and thanks for the feedback on the diagram. It took many revisions with checking from my Patreons to get to the one used in the video.
Ardupilot setup is now a lot easier to setup compared to the older versions and I can set it all up in about the same time a Betaflight and Ardupilot. The benefit is that there is a lot more that the system supports over the basics of stabilisation, OSD, RTH etc when compared to the other two.
It is horses for courses as I use INAV on most of my fixed wing fleet but when you need something that uses things like air-speed and lidar sensors properly or need to make a VTOL then it is a one horse race. Happy flying!
@@Painless360 Thanks again. It’s is good to hear that the front end programming has been in the works.
May I ask how good ardupilot with freestyle, I am not looking into hardcore s-bang freestyle but something "common" medium level of fresstyle. Thanks in advance
ohhh i'm very excited for this video! i started with ardupilot but wanted to potentially try something new for an fpv quad, will probably go with inav... great video!
Great, great video! I found exactly the info I was looking for. Building a VTOL and looking for alternatives for my current KK2 board. Clearly, Ardupilot is the way to go for this purpose.
Fantastic video, Lee! Thanks! 😃
I think about building a submarine, but... I'm really afraid of the salty water. 😬
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Super video! I know betaflight quite well, started using inav last year and love it on planes, now you got me curious to start using ardupilot ;)
Greets, Mario
thank you, very helpful for my start.
Thanks for the info here. As a beginner, I think I'll stick with Betaflight first for my planned first build, less compatibility issues and cheaper FC's use it.
Edit: by chance, the speedybee 405 I am checking out supports INAV so I can try either out.
I stick with speedybee F405 with the posibility of switching between Betaflight/inav/ardupilot
Excellent video!!. After a couple of years, I was thinking of going back to flight controllers. I have seen a lot of advances both in iNav and Ardupilot, and didn't know which one should I choose. Your video made it quite clear which direction should I take. Thanks a lot!!
Thank you! This gives me a very clear understanding of the direction that I want to go as I make the transition to FPV and automation👍👍👍
Thank you Lee fantastic video you’ve made it easy for me to choose for where I’m at and I believe Inav is for me as I fly mostly fixed wing at the moment🙏
very informative! I didnt know ardupilot and I learned about inav from my neighbour last week
Check out the channel. Lots of information aimed at new pilots on here... Best of luck
I was great! Perhaps I should spend more time with Ardupilot
Great video Lee. Just building my first wing with inav. Always used betaflight for my drones so should be interesting. Ardu pilot looks interesting too.
Great video and overview…. Thank you!
There is definitely a lot of confusion on board compatibility and what works with which systems. Just not knowing keeps me tied to betaflight
A suggested video idea would be a run through of hardware requirements for each.
It's a lot easier than you may think. See ruclips.net/video/XWv7aG7z22o/видео.html for how to find out... Happy flying
I used open pilot, mission planner, Qground ground control, cleanflight, betaflight, and now on INAV configurator,
All of above I like mp and inav is the best but every flight controller has its own limitations and we never configure it with only specific configuration software from above.
But now days inav is best. simple default values and PID gives best result, but in channel remapping and other configuration we need some extra knowledge of CLI commands to use unused channels.
Great video Lee! Maybe a Ardupilot upgrade & setup video for the atomrc Swordfish would be a good idea. Have a nice weekend!
Una clase magistral para los nuevos pilotos que no lo tenemos todavía claro en algunos puntos.
Un saludo desde España amigo 👍👍👍
Me alegra que el video tuviera sentido, incluso si estuviera en inglés. Feliz vuelo.
I have ArduPilot running on CineLog 35 with Matek H743mini)) I just got used to it on my big quad and found it simple to use the same software on both.
clear and super helpful, Thank You!
I have to say - I am learning a lot from your videos and I am very grateful especially when here down under ( Canberra - ACT) are not any other sources of delivering such knowledge, I have one question - if you had an opportunity to teach such knowledge for drones (Quadcopter ) what curriculum would you recommend ?
Not sure what you mean by curriculum'. I find the best way to learn something is to 'do it' and that's why I make the 'Quad Building for beginners' series and videos that allow you to explore and find out about each piece as you want to know more. Is that what you meant?
@@Painless360 I mean a course suitable for all ages where at the end everyone will be able to put together, set up , tune and fly his drone
That is a tall ask. See my build series for how I do it here. Best of luck.
I had no idea that Ardupilot now supported cheaper hardware. Can you recommend some entry level flightcontrollers that work with Arupilot? I'd like to experiment with a quad or wing that can fly autonomous missions. Any recommendations appreciated!
Full list here - ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html#closed-hardware
I like the Matek flight controllers (the wing baords for planes in particular). Any FX with an F7 or H7 processor is preferred but it works great on an F4 but some of the more advanced features may not work due to memory/CPU limitations.
Didn't know that ardupilot isn't pixhawk only anymore! Thanks for the info! Will jump with my 800mm hexa onto it.
Need to find a suitable FC
Check out some of the Ardupilot builds on the channel. I have installed it onto Matek and also Omnibus flight controllers along with other stuff, too. Lots of content on the channel that you might find interesting. Happy flying.
I am using ArduPilot and Betaflight. I am more familiar with ArduPilot.
Betaflight is for piloting copters, not for flying them. It seems to be optimized for FPV and racing copters.
I had the worst experience recently. The GPS RESCUE feature in Betaflight 4.3 causes the copter to drop near the takeoff point.
At first I thought it was a misconfiguration. However, Betaflight says that this is normal. They say that the GPS RESCUE feature is designed to return the copter to home and take control.
They say that there is no auto-landing feature. That is why it crashed.
This feature should not be used if you are not using FPV or if you cannot see the copter returning from the takeoff point.
Betaflight says not to trust the GPS RESCUE feature. They say that it is not reliable in the next version either.
The auto-landing? feature has been improved in Betaflight 4.4. It seems that vertical landing is possible.
Many small copters have Betaflight flashed. Even long range copters are used. This is probably because the PID values can be adjusted and it is easy for the manufacturer to set up.
A few days ago my 7.5 inch copter lost the radio signal and FAILSAFE and GPS RESCUE did not work. It is unreliable.
GPS rescue only became useful in Betaflight 4.4 IMHO... Happy flying
@@Painless360 I came across your videos through the channel subscription and algorithm guidance. Thank you for the well-organized content. This is exactly what I was looking for.
INav also has fully autonomous flying capability.
Sure can, not a patch on the capabilities of missions in Ardupilot. Happy flying!
Great review!
I was looking for info on iNAV and Ardupilot. This video was VERY useful. My research is done. Thank you. I have been wondering why diy quads can't have DJI-like features. With Ardupilot, I see that they can, but most builders want to race or do acrobatics, so they opt for Betaflight. I'm glad to see that there are ways to get DJI-like features withouth getting locked into the DJI ecosystem. Sound like it's possible to build an almost-DJI quad with Ardupilot (and a lot of electronics).
How good is the Ardupilot auto landing? I doubt I would ever get enough skill to land a FW in my front yard. There is enough space, but the yard is lined with tall trees.
You mentioned that Betaflight provides a more "connected feel". Does that mean that iNAV and/or Ardupilot feel less connected? I don't think the kind of flying I want to do would benefit from a flight system with knife edge responses, but I don't want something with too much lag either.
Ardupilot autolanding is amazing on quads and needs a little setup on planes. Betaflight is designed for racing and freestyle so tries to do the minimum so the pilot feels in the most control. Ardupilot, by default, does a lot more..
@@Painless360 thanks for the reply. "Ardupilot, by default, does a lot more.." This sounds like it just provides more aids than, say, Betaflight. Not necessarily more lag. Is that correct?
Kinda. It is the difference between driving a go-cart and a fully loaded Tesla. ;)
thank you , that was very helpful
I have 3x Pixhawk v3.1 Pro Mini 's. I've done 133km with a WingWing Z-84
Lee please make a video on how to setup betaflight 4.4 RTL.
Thanks for the idea. I will add it to the list. If you want reliable RTH, then INAV still gets my vote unless you want to fly only on calm days ;)
@@Painless360 I have ardupilot setup on most of my quads 4”, 5” and up. They all rtl v well. But I’m never happy with my tunes. But betaflight tunes just work out of the box, but rtl has ever worked for me?!
BF RTL is called GPS rescue for a reason. Last time I used GPS rescue it with version 4.4, a motor shaft bent 😂
excellent overview...
For fpv quads, iNav just doesn't perform anywhere as good as betaflight in terms of flight performance, responsiveness, control, etc.. there are noticeable differences in inav even if you get pids matched exactly. the navigation features are cool and i thought i would be willing to give up flight performance for the safety features of inav, but i was wrong. Plus if you don't have all sensors installed (mag, baro, optic flow, lidar), it just doesn't work well. maybe for an indoor woop or fixed wing it may be cool/worth it, but for 3-5inch fpv quads, betaflight all the way... and now betaflight comes with rth landing.
Is ardupilot the choice for 3.5 " cinewhoop if I want stabke easy fight for filming?
I wouldn't imagine that is a common choice. Most would use Betaflight... Best of luck
Hi there,
So I just bought an orange cube (fight controller) I have not tested this FC but all the videos I've seen they all use ardupilot. Would this flight controller work with betaflight?
Ardupilot or PX4. See my videos on it.. Best of luck
Hi this is the first time I wanna build Autonomous RC Plane. Do you know any tutorial for this build? I really hope that I can buy the exact same part to prevent any error
Thanks
I have both Arduplane and INAV for beginners series on the Ranger, designed for pilots new to the technology. Check them out... best of luck
Always used Betaflight and tried Inav but whent back to BF since it felt more familiar with it. Now I have a 7-inch that I want to outfit with Inav but I appears that I can't get Inav to work with BLheli S with Bluejay. It defaults to Multishot. Is BLheli 32 a must for Dhot with INAV?
I agree with you on which fw to use with the type quad, or wing. I'm building a larger quad capable of lifting heavy payloads, commercial filming, etc. so this will be my 1st ardupilot build. I wouldn't say cost is not a concern, but I do want to use hardware that works well consistently, do you have suggestions for basic setup, gps, compass, lidar, whatever equipment I need for accurate vtol, and mission planning. I'll be watching your videos, but I would like to price some of the hardware I'm not familiar with to get an idea what this might cost. Also I see a frame much like yours called the fpv king 500mm x8 for only 79.00, do you know if this frame would be ok for lifting between 5, and 10 pounds, or what frame do you suggest? This video answered my original question perfectly, so thank you, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Carrying weights are normally listed for the larger frames. They are not something that I get my hands on here as it is mostly 450/650 class frames. Best of luck!
A first video makes some sense to a beginner, ie me. I'm teaching a STEM drone course in a few months. Do you think Betaflight can work for secondary school students? I feel flying a drone provides not much value in a school setting unless students get a good understanding of how a drone work. I'm watching your Betaflight series now. Great work. Thank you.
That sounds like a fun thing to do as a series of lessons for STEM. There are specific resources I've heard of for using drone technology as part of STEM lessons so I am sure you will have a blast!
There are so many stills and knowledge that building a drone can cover. One of the main ones being troubleshooting, overcoming adversity and persistence. I still use lessons I learnt from similar teachers back in my teens now, when I'm in my 50's.
There are three other videos that cover the power system, control system and FPV system. You can view them here - ruclips.net/video/xPDc6r6nRTU/видео.html
They should be a lot of help covering the basics in a way that a new builder/pilot can follow easily.
Best of luck with it!
Great video! I want to build an Ardupilot wing. Have started a few times but mission planner always gets me and then I don't feel comfortable to maiden it. Also wish there was a way to switch ports around.
You can. Check out the series linked in the description... Best of luck!
@@Painless360 Can ports be changed in arduplane? I asked in the facebook group but never got an answer.
Yep, I've done it on my setup series a few times. See ardupilot.org/plane/docs/common-serial-options.html
I would always follow the connection diagram as not all ports/UARTS are created equal and some things need DMA to work..
Have you used QGroundControl instead of Mission Planner? MP is restricted to Windows, whereas QGC runs on Linux (and Windows & Android). Since I use Linux on the plane, I prefer Linux on the ground. Is there a decent OSD (i.e. an FPV HUD PFD, Primary Flight Display) for QGC as in MP? The QGC developers rather strongly oppose having a PFD for QGC, on the grounds it's "too complicated for beginners", but a plug-in HUD PFD would be most desirable (after all, the WiFi-based OpenHD has one; have you looked at OpenHD?).
See my Pixhawk series where I cover why I use Mission Planner in the videos aimed at beginners. QGC is often fou d on things like the AIO radios like the Herelink but higher end briefcase GCS units often use PC hardware and MP.. . Happy flying
I am looking to build a solar powered boat, kinda like a kayak...
What all would I need for Ardupilot to make it work????
I've not done anything with solar hare. The control system would be the same as any other Arduboat, I'd expect... Best of luck
@@Painless360 I did not know that but thank you for the info…
@@Painless360 would be nice if someone had a walkthrough for boats though lol
ruclips.net/video/Y1Go708geKQ/видео.html ;)
Sir, I have AocodarcF4v2 & firware Inav 6.0.0 can not output PWM for Servo 3,4,5,6,7,8.
At Mixer Airplane, which choice: Auto, Motor or Servo?
Please see my INAV setup videos. I'd suspect that the outputs are not enabled or there is no power to the servos... best of luck
This video answered a lot of questions for me. Do you know if Mission Planner will ever have a native Linux version? It is unusable running under mono on Ubuntu.
There are other options for pilots no running Windows. See the Ardupilot documentation... Best of luck
Sorry for the simple question, on which Matek flight controllers can autonomous flight be planned? Can the F411 WTE and F405 WMN fly autonomously?
Yep. Happy flying
Inav: easy to set up and clear 100% working.
Ardupilot: hard to setup and complicated.
Agreed, If you're not used to it. See my recent series where I cover all the basic steps and it isn't too tricky. Happy flying!
It's a matter of knowing which settings are important and which you can ignore. These days with Ardupilot I can set up a new plane build in 30 minutes, and be confident enough to turn my radio off in the maiden flight to test failsafe, have done this many times.
@@iforce2d I brought 2 cards Ardupilot compatible pixhawk and apm for fishing drone. I wasnt successful than i used Inav with no problems.
Check out my Ardupilot and PixHawk for Beginners series... All the steps are in those videos. Arduboat is far superior to INAV.. Best of luck
Someone should make an inav diff file to arduplane config converter. Even a complicated excel / macro could work
good stuff!
Arduplane video idea. Failsafes. Is it me or does arduplane just RTL. It would be great to do a video on how to make arduplane RTL and land or something else. I can’t find any videos or documentation on it.
Video on autolanding in the works. You can set it up as part of RTL as covered in the docs ardupilot.org/plane/docs/automatic-landing.html stay tuned!
do you have a video on a good starter flight controller for beginners?
I tend to use tried and trusted brands like Matek, Speedybee and HolyBro. Ones with larger pads for soldering are better for new builders... Best of luck
Great stuff, very helpful. Say I'm looking at a particular f7 on a site that sells such things, how can I figger out if that's gonna run ardupilot before I buy it??
As covered in the video, check the listing, ask the seller and check out the Ardupilot page... Best of luck
@@Painless360 Thanks for the response, Ardupilot"s hardware compatibility list focuses on the high end options and is terribly out of date. In my experience most vendors don't even have contact information let alone respond intelligently to questions.
I use technology on the channel that I trust and have backup from vendors. I use the list on the Ardupilot site as the bible for support. Best of luck.
I want to know which firmware can cope with a programmable routes of exit, using only the onboard IMU, when the GPS signal is lost.
Or in case of an event on pinX, execute a script.
Inertial navigation is an advanced feature and not one I use. I've seen work on it in the INAV project, but I suggest you check the documentation for the latest.. Happy flying
Why did nobody tell me about ardu when I was trying to build an fpv long range helicopter?
I'm guessing you're not a regular viewer! Ardu heli series coming In the fall... stay tuned!
which one is better for ornithopters?
No idea, I've never seen that in the info I've seen... Best of luck
Why no interest in px4? The Holybro x500 v2 seems to be based on it and it seems to be a rather big player.
The content I, make is aimed at beginners and i have found that Ardupilot and Mission Planner are easier to flash, setup and get flying well. I'm happy to revisit PX4 at some point in the future but only wity support from the developers.. happy flying
@@Painless360 I tried starting out with Ardupilot and SITL but am having tremensdous difficulty because of poor documentation and deprecated projects. Gazebo is not rendering the drone half the time and it's falling through the floor on RTL meaning I have to restart the sim every time I land because it can't fly above ground again.
Dronekit being deprecated means there's no good alternative than the extremely syntax heavy Pymavlink. Ardupilot is a nightmare so far.
Going to switch to PX4 with MavSDK I'll let you know whether the grass is truly greener on the other side or maybe I'm just a spoiled programmer that's expecting too much.
(Mission Planner RTL_SPEED) (INAV RTL_SPEED ?)
Huh?
INAV RTH Where are the speed settings.?
I have a betaflight bug that I would like to report and I don't know where to do so, I built a quad for a friend and I was giving him my old Turnigy evolution Pro and have a fli14 RX that uses ibus only, the flight controller is a matek f411 mini and for whatever reason betaflight will not recognize the reciever, I flashed it to clean flight and it works fine. Apparently there's a bug with the new betaflight, I have not tried the older version of betaflight, I have also built dozens of drones and this was the first one that the motors started spinning wen first powering it, scary...
If it works with an older version of Betaflight then it is probably more likely some setting you're missing. See my video on using Github to see how to report it.. best of luck
How do you download ardupilot on a mac? Can't find the download anywhere
Mission Planner is Windows only... Best of luck
@@Painless360That's a shame, was planning on building a vtol :( Appreciate the reply
There are things like QGroundControl that work on non Windows platforms but I've found them less solid for setup and flashing. Best of luck!
@@Painless360 Will check that out. Thank you👍
edit: This looks way more streamlined than ardupilot, I would not have found this myself.
What if I wish to fpv freestyle but flip a switch it will do complex waypoints... I can't find anyone video of ardupilot for freestyle bando😂😊
Ardupilot is actually very capable on 5" quads and used my some for racing. Video all about it coming soon..
@@Painless360 😍😍😍 thanks, this is great news. I am so bored with betaflight
How come, it seems to be the go-to for many pilots not bothered with GPS features...
@@Painless360 I started with APM & ardupilot back to 2014 and stop flying any drone in 2017. My knowledge with ardupilot was limited up to that date. It is very capable of autonomous, auto tuning, sonar, optical flow, tons of flight mode and features (especially the follow me mode via bluetooth module & phone), And last year I am back to 5" freestyle, It was fun with acrobatic move but something just missing. betaflight is limited to freestyle. If ardupilot can do freestyle, follow me (like DJI mavic), autonomous it would be swiss army knive solution for me during travel. I saw Pawel Spychalski video inav's freestyle, looks great to me but I'm much prefer ardupilot.
I see. Ardupilot is the DADDY for smooth flying, hours flown and extensive features. Stay tuned, the setup of it for 5" quads should be interesting..