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KingKong Tiny7 has arrived!
#1
Huge thanks to Sandra and Banggood for providing this KingKong Tiny7 (Advanced BNF version) item in return for a preview article and honest review.

The KingKong Tiny7 is available from BangGood here https://goo.gl/pk5nOJ 
Basic version comes with a Yellow canopy and props (no spares) with 1 battery excluding RX for $55.99
Basic version with FrSky RX is $57.99 DSM2 and FlySky options are $62.99 and the Futaba FASST RX is priced at $76.99
Advanced version with 5 batteries, 16 props and 4 canopies of different colour without RX is $76.99
Advanced version with FrSky, DSM2 and FlySky RX - $84.99 and with FASST - $97.99
(prices correct at time of publishing) 

[Image: ILyxiiY.jpg]

At a Glance
The KingKong Tiny7 is a 75mm (motor to motor) micro FPV quadcopter, loosely based on the form factor of the Blade Inductrix and subsequently the 'TinyWhoop,' the Tiny7 has larger 0720 (7mm x 20mm) brushed motors than the 0615 (6mm x 15mm) motors of the average 'whoop.' The FC is an F3 based 'acro' brushed board with an integrated 25mW VTX (Video Transmitter) for the 800TVL, 1/4" CMOS, camera which uses PAL only, without the option of NTSC. The larger motors and 3-blade 40mm props give good thrust, but the upgraded battery which is now available with the Tiny7 will without doubt provide better all round performance than the lower 30C discharge rated batteries I received. The chassis of the this micro also looks to be slightly more sturdy than the original ducted prop TinyWhoop design, with the addition of some extra support struts between the ducts. 

[Image: wUvGssb.jpg]

Buying Options
A PNP option is available or BNF with a choice of DSMX/DSM2, FlySky, FrSky and Futaba receiver, also available is the 'advanced' pack which provides a selection of replaceable covers and a full set of props in each colour. The main benefit of the advanced pack is the 5 batteries and 5 port charge that comes with it, the additional props are welcome but with the ducted design of this oversized whoop, breaking props should be a rarity.

[Image: YDML3JG.jpg]

Packaging
The Tiny 7 comes excellently packed in a ridgid plastic box with high quality clasps, the interior packaging is a thin molded plastic which keeps the pre built quad separate from the batteries, which are also safely separated from the other spare parts. The batteries have rubber protection over their JST connectors for shipping, I wanted to use them to give some extra protection to the motor base and wires but they are a bit small and I snapped too many!  Spares include rubber bands to secure the motor wires and replacement rubber grommets, which serve to minimise 'jello' caused by vibration between the chassis and the canopy which houses the camera. A 'spanner' which is actually a prop puller is also included, but the exclusion of the small screwdriver required to remove or change the canopy is a minor oversight.

[Image: IITZHtb.jpg]

BetaFlight Setup
The 1st thing to mention is position of the micro USB port, it stick out perpendicular from the bottom of the board making accelerometer configuration very difficult!  My only previous experience with BetaFlight configurator was with a board which puffed magic smoke before ever getting into the air,(!) so I was very pleased that all I needed to do was to change the 'min throttle' setting down from 1070 to 1000, and confirm which of the AUX channels were assigned 'Arm' and 'Flight Mode.' This was the 1st time I had my iRangeX (FlySky clone) i6X transmitter recognised in BetaFlight and the defaults had 'Arm' and 'Angle' set to the VrA and VrB pots, so I changed the settings on the TX to use SwA switch for Arm and the SwC 3 position switch for modes, added Horizon and Angle mode. Note the default positions had the quad 'Armed' with the SwA switch in the UP position, with the i6X the switches all need to be in the up position for it to activate when turning on. I reversed this so up was disarmed and down was armed.   
These are my assigned switches, rates and SeBy Docky's PID's
         

Flight Characteristics
The Tiny7's stock PID's with BetaFlight 3.0.1 could do with some tweaking, prop-wash oscillations are can be quite heavy and it's noisier than I expected, but despite this it still fly's well right out of the box, as you can see in the video of my maiden (its actually my 5th battery, due to SD card problems I have no video of the 1st 4.) I am fighting some pretty heavy winds and despite the ducts giving a large area for the wind to work on, it maintains heading and altitude much better than I had expected it to. Note : I was using self leveling 'Angle Mode' for the maiden. In self 'Angle' mode the Tiny7 is much faster than I had expected it to be, with a snappy yaw rate and even with pitch & roll going to about 45 degrees, the 0720 (7mm x 20mm) brushed motors still provide enough thrust to maintain altitude, when the batteries are still fresh at least.

Horizon mode I found quite easy to get to grips with, my 1st time using it I successfully managed a couple of flips and rolls... While it might have looked like my E010 it actually felt a bit like flying my toy grade H8 mini, just without having to push a button to do a flip! But in reality few of us are about flying with any type of 'aid' so I have hardly used Horizon at all...

I am now flying in the F3 board's default 'Acro mode' (no self levelling) and I still need to fine tune the rates and expo settings to find a preference that suits me, but I'm not far away... I have updated the pre-installed BetaFlight version from 3.0.1 to the 'most recent stable version' currently 3.1.7, I have also applied the PID settings suggested by 'SeBy Docky' in his youtube video. Both before and after applying these PID changes, full throttle causes some instability on all 3 axis dropping the rear right corner and twitching a little on the yaw plane, for some reason this does not happen with 'Airmode' activated? The overall characteristics since updating the PID's are much smoother, quieter and more locked in which helps when, like me your still learning acro.

The Tiny7 can feel slightly under powered when recovering from descents and seems to get caught in its own wash quite easily, maybe this is due to the ducted design? Hopefully the upgraded batteries will alleviate this. On the subject of batteries, it looks as though KingKong decided to heed the suggestion in my preview article, where I mentioned that even smaller lighter whoops prefer a higher discharge ('C') rated battery.

Battery
The original stock battery has been upgraded to a 1s (3.7v) 450mAh 80c, over the initial 500mAh 30C 'PeakPower' cell. Annoyingly, the batteries I received are the 30C ones, while the performance they provide is still pretty good some extra punch would really help to recover from fast descents. the Tiny7 is still great fun and I'm sure that the upgraded batteries will make it even more so.  Flight times with the original batteries, at a hover comes in at just under 5 and a half mins. One thing I must mention is that the 5 port charger doesn't balance charge the batteries to the same voltage, upon testing I got results ranging from 4.16v to 4.25v. Flight time result is from a battery charged at 4.24v and discharged to 3.70v at which point the quad is unable to maintain a hover, and if you bring it home when it really the flight starts to feel saggy the batteries are usually at about 3.8v, perfect for storage. Depending on which ports of the charger I used gave me the different charged voltages. On the plus side the 5 port charger has an XT60 socket to use a 2s - 6s pack to charge these 1s batteries in the field.

                                 

Camera & FPV
The 1st thing to mention is the chassis support blocks 30% of the view, but despite this I am quite impressed with the range and the signal penetration of the 25mW VTX provided on-board with the FC, there seems to be no additional interference when the motors spin up, so power filtering has been implemented successfully. The image quality provided by the 800TVL 1/4" CMOS camera is far from 'High Definition,' but it adapts to changes in lighting conditions quite well and works very well in low light. The image in bright sunlight is a little bleached, but this is no deal breaker. Note that when I tried to remove the camera to replace the canopy the camera board detached from the lens, I also wanted to see if I could sharpen the image by tuning the focus, but the lens is refusing to budge, In the end I just continued using the yellow canopy and gave up on the lens adjustment!
  
Resilience
In the week that I have owned the KingKong Tiny7 I have had a lot of pretty hard crashes, resulting in some small irritations and some minor worries, but minimal actual damage. One of the crashes resulted in the loss of a screw which holds the canopy in place, on closer inspection the screw did not just vibrate loose but broke the thread which protrudes from the chassis. I had to use a longer screw (ideally the large 'washer head' type) in conjunction with a blob of hot glue, to re-attach the canopy, an easy fix if you have the right screw, but it did reveal a frustrating design flaw. A longer screw to protrude through the bottom of the chassis would have solved this! Without the screw in place the jello added to the FPV becomes very bad due to the camera being mounted in the canopy. The worry I mentioned, is due to the stress where the motor struts meet the ducts, already the plastic has started to discolour due to the strain, probably due to repeated hard impacts!

           

Summary
In summary then, the KingKong Tiny7 is a good little addition to a micro fleet and is a perfect quad for the adult 1st timer, or for a kid with parents who are intoFPV! It is safe to fly indoors, minimal impact from even moderate winds outdoors. It is a great progression from 'toy grade,' offering a simple setup for 1st time users of BetaFlight, offers the satisfaction of a simple firmware update and tune with instant gratification from a better flying experience. The acro mode feels pretty locked in (as long as you have airmode enabled,) some minor PID tweaking does add to the experience and adjusting rates to personal preference will soon become a neccessity, but this little micro is still great fun to fly right out of the box. The 'Angle' flight mode is perfect for those who have only flown auto stabilized toys, and Horizon mode offers the ability to do flips and rolls but maintains an auto level function for those who want to experiment with tricks but lack the confidence to fly full manual 'Acro' mode. It has enough power to provide some really impressive speed, and hopefully the times when it does feel underpowered (ie. when recovering from a fast descent) have been solved by the battery upgrade. The Tiny7 maintains well in moderately windy conditions, but would show some true ability in the hands of a master when proximity flying indoors.   

Pros

  • Fast and fun
  • Safe and sturdy
  • Simple BetaFlight setup
Cons
  • Last of a dying breed? Brushless micro's seems to be taking over.
  • Minor design flaws, the simple inclusion of longer screws would have solved this issue!
  • No buzzer, or low voltage warning and no failsafe with FlySky RX.

The not quite 'Maiden'
Windless fields and smokeless builds
[-] The following 1 user Likes Tom BD Bad's post:
  • Oscar
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#2
Just a quick vid detailing the punchout of the Tiny7, quite impressive for 7mm brushed motors!

Windless fields and smokeless builds
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#3
I don't mean to bump my own thread, but I realized I haven't provided links here to my videos of the TiNY7 - posted in the videos section of the forum.

http://intofpv.com/t-tiny7-high-speed-laps

http://intofpv.com/t-1st-attempt-at-flying-chase-cam
Windless fields and smokeless builds
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