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When building a quad go cheap or expensive?
#1
I very new here if you have not seen previous posts.  I am or might be planning on ordering the parts below, but questioning it now.  I seen some videos were people are saying don't order from banggood or gearbest but rather buy equipment like Alien and spend more money on everything rather then buying cheap parts.  I talked to a guy on you tube I like his flying and he is not against banggood but agiants the racestar stuff they have.  Unfortunately the build I wanna follow has these items in it.  What would you guys do, just remember im a beginner and just practicing on sims right now.  The only quads I have are the husband micro and mavic pro.  Would you guys go with the parts below or would it be worth it to by quality right away?  If I go with the parts below how many have you had bad luck with the RaceStar stuff?  If there is issues out there, is there another build I can follow or which parts would be best to replace these with?

Frame
Motors (RaceStar)
ESC (RaceStar)
PDB
Flight Controller
FPV Transmitter
FPV Attena
Camera

Build Guide
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#2
The main thing with cheap chinese "brands" is, they often come without warranty, support, quality checks, and usually are copies of other brands that actually put in work to design and develop...

That said, they come so cheap that you can easily afford a few spare pieces like extra motors, escs, maybe even an extra frame if there's no single parts available for it. Imho for a first build it's ok to not sink a ton of money into - you can always invest in quality later when you know what to look for.

I didn't check all the links, but from what i hear the racerstar escs seem to work very well and reliably.
[-] The following 1 user Likes fftunes's post:
  • sirdude
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#3
I think it's personal preference, but for me I've always gone with a mix. Generally I don't skimp on motors, VTX, or cameras. I do buy cheap frames, FCs, ESCs, the recievers that I buy are pretty inexpensive but that's just because FrSky started selling them for half the price when the released a new version.

Personally on the first couple of builds I'd say bias heavy on easy to build, then go with durable after that. You can go for a no-clones purist style later after you've decided which of the expensive brands that you like. I am about to start buying more expensive frames in my future builds for example, this was because I had problems with the cheap frames I've been flying. I used my experiences to understand what I need in better parts.
carl.vegas
Current Quads: Operational: Diatone GT2 200 In need of repair: Bumble Bee, tehStein,  Slightly modified Vortex 250 
[-] The following 1 user Likes Carl.Vegas's post:
  • sirdude
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#4
For pretty much the a few more buck, I would go with these changes.

Martian II anniversary frame $20
CL Racing F4 for $24 at Armattan (just checked they sold out)
Matek VTX or the Mach II VTX or TBS Unify Race HV $29
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  • sirdude
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#5
I have to agree with all the advice on when to spend.
I think some of your parts are best avoided as there are better and cheaper parts available for the frame, FC and vtx, and cheap motors are usually not worth it.

Voodoo's parts list is excellent, I would strongly encourage those changes. As for motors if you aren't in a hurry and are on a budget RCX motors are pretty good. I like brother hobby motors too though there are many good motors on the market. The site miniquadtestbench.com is a useful resource for motors, worth studying their results.
Flying: Talon 6S 6" 2407s 381g no bat, Martian 3, 5" 2205s sooo heavy + gopro session 5 573g AUW, Aurora 5" 2205s 280g no bat, Druckbaer 3" 1404s 172g AUW 3S 550, BQE Megapixel 2.5" 1107s 139g AUW 3S 550, BabyHawk R 2.5" 164g AUW 3S 550 (stock except microeagle, CRSF, 2.5" arms) and maybe 3 more, for now...
 




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  • sirdude
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#6
I've had several items warrantied through bangood. But now that i'm not breaking as much. i'm going for higher dollar parts. at first i broke a lot, so.
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  • fftunes
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#7
(25-Dec-2017, 07:03 PM)voodoo614 Wrote: For pretty much the a few more buck, I would go with these changes.

Martian II anniversary frame $20
CL Racing F4 for $24 at Armattan (just checked they sold out)
Matek VTX or the Mach II VTX or TBS Unify Race HV $29

For the f4 board does armattan restock pretty fast or it is worth paying a around 34 from another place? Also would you need a pdb with this or is it a pdb as well?
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#8
The CL Racing F4 is the old board. The new board is the F4S. So I don't know if they will restock the old board. You can email them. The new board is good, but $35. And you have to be careful on the ESC you buy. Some can cause death rolls with the new board.
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#9
Should I just try the race star stuff out?
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#10
I have not problems with Racestar ESCs. I do not have experience with their motors.
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#11
My experience has been buy the best stuff that you can afford.  IF your budget is such that you have to pick and choose, for me I tend to place my money in the camera gear first.  By camera gear I mean camera, VTX and antenna.  Got to be able to see where you're going, right? I've gotta disagree with Carl a bit here....I would try to buy a decent frame.   You're going to crash....a lot.  The first time you slam into a tree or something else solid, you may wish you had opted for a higher end frame. My next priority would be on the flight controller (AIO) with the last being the ESC's/MOTORS.  Now, that is not to say you should cheap out on the ESC's and motors (best you can afford), but if you have to base your spending on budget (I know I do), that is how I would prioritize it.  At the end of the day, it's a hobby......it's not suppose to bankrupt you.  Buy what you can comfortably afford, if you tear it up, it can be fixed. Big Grin
"Damn the torpedoes!!!  Full speed ahead!!!"
[-] The following 1 user Likes sirdude's post:
  • Carl.Vegas
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#12
As I have advanced in my build adventures, areas where low budget components work fine (frame, FC).  I am also uncovering areas where skimping has not been the right move (motors, ESC, battery, SOLDER).  I feel like there is really only a couple of ways to determine what works for what you want...trying things out and noting results and learning vicariously through the experiences of others.  It really is a personal thing, but now that I have started to select "higher end" components, there are some that feel better and others where I cannot tell the difference from a cloned part.  In the end, avoiding paralysis of analysis and purchasing the part, good or bad, is the way we figure out what works for us Smile

RacerStar stuff...mixed experience for me.  I do not crash that often.  I am not a great pilot, but my partner has explained that I am really lucky.  I have had two RacerStar BR2205 motors fail with bad windings.  I have had a 20A 4-in-1 ESC where the pads started to separate "just because".  This does not mean that there stuff is bad, it means that it does not seem to hold up well for me.  I have had really good luck with Eachine parts, but I have read others having bad experiences there.  Some of the allure is finding what works for what you want to do.
SoCal Kaity :D
OMG, no one told me it would be this much fun!  Addicted :)
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#13
Could you guys give examples on what component list you would go with for someone just starting out. I don’t want to spend to much but also do t want to say I wish I would of got that instead. Mostly would rather get off the sim and fly in life.
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#14
(26-Dec-2017, 02:20 PM)sirdude Wrote: I've gotta disagree with Carl a bit here....I would try to buy a decent frame.   You're going to crash....a lot.  The first time you slam into a tree or something else solid, you may wish you had opted for a higher end frame.

I don't specifically advocate for cheap frames necessarily, but I did start with cheap frames. I can see if you're going for one of the martians make sure it's RealAcc as there are knockoffs of the knockoff brand out there believe it or not... and they're actually poorer quality. This is why tehStein is going to go through it's second frame eventually!

The pro side of cheap frames though would be to keep replacements inexpensive. If you've got a $100 frame with arm packs that cost $25 a piece then that is more painful to replace than a frame that cost $25 in the first place. The problem with this theory though, is that cheap frames are often crap and will really bug you and make you wished you bought quality when it comes time to rebuild. 

oh and on racerstar... I have racerstar ESCs in both of my builds. I've never had any problems with them, but technically neither is quite a year old yet.
carl.vegas
Current Quads: Operational: Diatone GT2 200 In need of repair: Bumble Bee, tehStein,  Slightly modified Vortex 250 
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  • sirdude
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#15
I am with Carl. Cheap frame but something that has a proven record. Replacement should be readily available.
[-] The following 1 user Likes voodoo614's post:
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