I completely cherished the BabyApe II (V2). It was one in all my favorite analog sub-250g freestyle drones, so I used to be very excited to take a look at the brand new BabyApe III (V3). Nevertheless, DarwinFPV has utterly modified the specs—from motors, prop dimension, body design, LiPo cell depend, battery mounting, to weight. This isn’t only a new model, it’s a totally totally different quad. So the true query is: do these modifications make it higher or worse? Let’s discover out on this evaluation.
Take a look at my evaluation of the BabyApe II (V2) right here: https://oscarliang.com/darwinfpv-babyape-ii/
The place to Purchase
Get your Darwin BabyApe III from:
It comes with:
- 1 set of propellers
- Rubber bands for mounting the battery
- Screws
- Stickers
Specs
| Specification | Particulars |
|---|---|
| Mannequin | BabyApe III Analog BNF |
| Digicam | Caddx Ant |
| VTX | DarwinFPV 5.8GHz 1.2W VTX |
| VTX Antenna | 5.8GHz IPEX1 RF113 65mm Copper Tube Antenna |
| Max Flight Distance (No Interference) | 3km |
| AIO (FC + ESC) | DarwinFPV F411 15A ELRS AIO |
| Receiver | Onboard ELRS 2.4G receiver (model 3.0 or above) |
| GPS | None |
| Motor | DarwinFPV Bling 1104 5000KV Motor |
| Propeller | GEMFAN 3016-3 Propeller |
| Body Construction | Broad-X |
| Wheelbase | 130 mm |
| Arm Thickness | 2.5 mm |
| Most Horizontal Pace | 100km/h |
| Battery Life | 6–8 minutes |
| Really helpful Battery | 3S 500mAh 100C XT30 |
New Body Design: Smaller and Lighter
The BabyApe III is a whole redesign—a lot in order that it’s nearly unrecognisable in comparison with the V2, and it’s not what I anticipated. DarwinFPV has made the quad smaller, shifting from the V2’s 3.5-inch props right down to a 3-inch setup on the V3.
The body is totally new, with further arm bracing for help and crash resistance. The drone is lighter, DarwinFPV additionally has decreased energy from 6S right down to 3S. The large query is whether or not it feels considerably much less highly effective within the air—I’ll cowl that intimately within the Flight Efficiency part.
New Battery Answer: Blended Emotions
Battery Compartment
As a substitute of a conventional high plate for mounting a LiPo battery, the BabyApe III now encompasses a battery compartment. The battery is now safer, but it surely additionally restricts battery dimension—you’re restricted to packs with a most width of 16.5 mm.
Battery straps are usually not wanted. As a substitute, DarwinFPV makes use of rubber bands to carry the battery in place. This protects a few grams and really works fairly effectively in apply. That mentioned, rubber bands are simple to lose, so DarwinFPV consists of 5 spares within the field.
DarwinFPV’s Personal Battery
DarwinFPV now provides its personal battery designed particularly for the BabyApe III: a 3S 500mAh LiPo (not LiHV).
These batteries haven’t any exterior wires—solely mounted connectors.
To cost them, you’ll be able to both use the included wire extension:
Or purchase DarwinFPV’s devoted parallel charging board, which lets you plug the batteries immediately into the board and cost as much as 8 directly:
Battery Mounting Challenges
As a result of the batteries haven’t any wires, they needed to make the battery lead on the drone further lengthy. For some motive, DarwinFPV selected to make use of comparatively skinny 20AWG wire, which isn’t ideally suited for energy supply. On most 3-inch quads, 18AWG is extra frequent. I assume this was finished to save lots of a little bit of weight.
Truthfully, I don’t absolutely perceive why DarwinFPV is pushing this “wi-fi” battery idea. The one actual profit I can see is that it retains the battery lead safely away from the propellers. In any other case, it appears like an try to push customers to purchase their proprietary batteries when ordering this drone.
High quality management is one other concern. I solely acquired one battery, so the pattern dimension is small, however the pack I acquired has noticeable bulges on the ends—doubtless inner wiring. This turns into an actual downside as a result of the battery compartment is already extraordinarily tight. You need to push the battery in with fairly a little bit of pressure, which made me fear about damaging it.
With these bulges, it’s inconceivable to seat the battery correctly. I needed to place it barely additional again to keep away from placing strain on the battery, however that shifts the middle of gravity to the rear. It additionally places pressure on the battery lead and solder joints. It’s simply not ideally suited.
Battery Alternate options
Mockingly, the DarwinFPV 3S 500mAh LiPo is bodily bigger than each the BetaFPV LAVA 3S 450mAh and 3S 550mAh batteries—and these third occasion batteries truly match higher on this drone.
The BetaFPV batteries sit barely free within the compartment, however as soon as secured with the rubber band, they’re completely safe. There’s no extreme strain on the battery in any respect. The one draw back is the free battery wires, which you’ll have to handle rigorously to keep away from prop strikes. I merely twist the wires a couple of instances earlier than plugging them in to cut back slack.
Any third occasion battery with a width beneath 16.5mm ought to match fantastic within the BabyApe III.
FC: Minimal Specs for Low Price
The flight controller could be very restricted when it comes to options and functionality, but it surely’s enough to get you within the air.
There are solely two UARTs, however surprisingly each can be found. The analog VTX (SmartAudio) is linked by way of a SoftSerial, and the ExpressLRS receiver is SPI-based, so it doesn’t take up any UART. This implies you need to use the out there UARTs for extra peripherals reminiscent of a GPS module or perhaps a digital FPV system like DJI O4.
That brings me to one of many foremost downsides of this flight controller: the SPI-based ELRS receiver. Whereas it really works fantastic in apply, updating firmware can be extra cumbersome. As a result of SPI receiver firmware is bundled with the FC firmware, you need to replace Betaflight itself simply to replace the receiver. Because of this UART-based receivers are usually most popular—they’re way more versatile and future proof.
There’s additionally no present sensor and no onboard flash reminiscence for Blackbox logging.
One other odd selection is the firmware. The FC ships with a model of Betaflight that’s a yr outdated. It’s not a deal breaker and needs to be completely fantastic for informal flying out of the field, but it surely does really feel a bit dated.
I additionally observed a minor QC problem: one of many stack nuts was overtightened, compressing and deforming the rubber grommet beneath. This might doubtlessly cut back the effectiveness of soppy mounting. Fortunately, it’s a simple repair.
Motors: Non-Commonplace Mounting Screws
The motors have a T-mount model, which means the propeller is mounted to the motor bell utilizing two small screws. Nevertheless, as a substitute of the usual M2 hex screws, these motors use these tiny M1.3 Phillips screws. This caught me off guard. Whereas it technically works, it feels low-cost and fewer sturdy, and the small screw are a lot simpler to strip.
I additionally bumped into points when mounting the propellers. There was a 1–2 mm hole between the prop and the highest of the motor bell, and the prop merely wouldn’t seat absolutely down regardless of how laborious I pushed. In the long run, I needed to enlarge the opening within the prop hub utilizing a 1.5 mm drill bit (the motor shaft is 1.5 mm). It was a bit irritating and can be inconceivable to resolve with out the fitting instruments.
Flight Efficiency
Immediately, I used to be a bit dissatisfied that DarwinFPV decreased each the scale and energy of the BabyApe. The V2 was already very light-weight and comfortably beneath 250g anyway. My guess is that they had been attempting to make the V3 as low-cost and minimal as potential—and it reveals.
In flight, the BabyApe V3 is noticeably slower than different 3-inch quads I not too long ago reviewed, such because the Seeker3 and RATE S30, although these are considerably heavier. That is anticipated: the BabyApe V3 runs on 3S and makes use of a lot smaller motors. The decreased energy and lighter weight additionally imply it struggles extra in windy circumstances. Even in 15mph wind, it was barely shifting in a headwind and continuously being pushed round.
Flight video, 0:00 – 1st flight with Darwin 3S 500mAh LiPo, 4:27 – 2nd flight with BetaFPV 3S 550mAh LiHV
That mentioned, it’s nonetheless a reasonably agile and nimble quad. It’s nice for primary freestyle, proximity flying, or ripping round bushes and obstacles. In fact, it’s not as succesful as extra highly effective choices for aggressive freestyle, but it surely’s nonetheless lots of enjoyable to fly. And due to the decrease energy, it’s comparatively quiet, though the sound is fairly higher-pitched—nearly like a wasp.
Vary is respectable and 1km+ needs to be achievable in idea. The true bottleneck is the VTX antenna placement. It sits immediately in entrance of the battery, which blocks the sign when flying away, leading to noticeably worse video. As quickly as you flip sideways or head again, the sign improves instantly. This significantly limits most vary. On high of that, the drone makes use of a linear-polarized antenna. In case you’re utilizing circularly polarized antennas in your goggles (which most individuals do), you’re robotically shedding round 50% of sign. With that mentioned, it’s completely flyable at shut vary, however if you happen to plan to fly past 500m, upgrading to an longer circularly polarized antenna would make an enormous distinction.
Digicam picture high quality isn’t nice, but it surely’s flyable. Readability is appropriate, however the picture appears a bit too darkish, even after rising brightness to 100% in my goggles.
The included DarwinFPV 3S 500 mAh LiPo labored fantastic, however the BetaFPV LAVA 3S 550 mAh was clearly higher when it comes to each energy supply and flight time. With the Darwin battery, I used to be instantly getting low voltage warning when doing punch out originally, however the BetaFPV battery held up very well.
Flight time with the Darwin 3S 500 mAh battery is round 4–5 minutes. With the BetaFPV 3S 550 mAh, I used to be getting nearer to five–6 minutes.
The BabyApe III ships with a customized PID tune, however the filter settings are largely left at default, so there’s positively room for enchancment if you wish to fine-tune it. Nevertheless with out reminiscence for blackbox this turns into a difficult job.
Find out how to Setup
- FC Firmware: DARWINF4SX1280HD, Betaflight 4.4.2
- ESC Firmware: Bluejay (BETA), 0.14, 48kHz
Betaflight Setup
- The drone runs “props in” (commonplace motor course)
- Configuration Tab: the drone has no beeper, so ensure that to setup DShot Beacon
- PID Tuning tab: Set your personal charges
- Receiver tab: Enter your personal binding phrase
- Modes tab: Setup switches for Arm, Angle mode, Turtle mode and Beeper
- OSD tab: Customise it to your choice (it makes use of NTSC format)
Conclusion
To be utterly trustworthy, this quad is reasonable—and it feels low-cost. The {hardware} and QC aren’t the best, and you may inform DarwinFPV lower corners wherever potential. The battery becoming problem can be annoying, and the VTX antenna actually wants an improve. That mentioned, it does fly moderately effectively for a quad that prices solely $145.
Get your Darwin Child Ape 3 from:
Personally, I nonetheless favor the BabyApe II (V2). It’s far more highly effective and flies brilliantly out of the field. The V2 is roughly the identical value because the V3 and nonetheless beneath 250g. I feel it’s nonetheless out there from each AliExpress and DarwinFPV, in order that’s the one I’d advocate as a substitute.
Get the Darwin Child Ape 2 from:
That mentioned, the V2 is louder and considerably quicker on account of its greater energy. In case you favor a quieter, extra tame, and simpler to regulate micro drone, then the BabyApe III (V3) should be the higher selection for you.