I have a radiomaster zorro elrs and am waiting on hdzero goggles.
I have 50+ hours of sim time, and am most interested in stable controllable flight for exploring and looking at things and having fun. Less interested in extreme speed and power.
I would like to get a whoop for indoor training and fun, I would fly it outdoors as well on windless days if possible.
I wanted to build my first drone for the sake of knowing how to repair it, but that seems inadvisable for a whoop.

I am considering the mobula7 or the newbeedrone hummingbird f4 v2 but I am open to all recommendations and reasons. What whoop would you recommend that is easily repairable with available parts?
Thank you all for your help and advice!

My first quad was a iFlight XL5 that I built. My second was a Mobula7 tinywhoop. The XL5 was very intimidating, I had some sim time but crashed the quad several times doing basic stuff. It was not until I got the whoop that I was able to actually learn to fly comfortably. Practicing in your house is such a convenience.

All this to say that I give a huge thumbs up to the Mobula7 or very similar Moblite7. They make a BNF HDzero version of both too.

Hi, welcome to the forum and hobby!

Nice choice of radio and specially goggles.

Regarding the whoops (I'm assuming you're getting the hdzero version since you didn't mention any analog vrx on your setup), I haven't seen much about the hummingbird, but the mobula7 is the top choice for a lot of whoop pilots and reputable reviewers out there. So my recommendation would be for the mobula7, based on all the reviews about it, price, and availability.
Also, the FC that comes on the mobula7 is 2s compatible, so you could do some motor upgrades or tweaks to give it a bit more power when you feel like it, without having to buy a whole new drone.

Building a whoop can be PITA bc everything is so small, but conversely, on a typical whoop with AIO FCs, you don't have much soldering to deal with, although the ones you do have to do are in very tiny pads. Motors are mostly plugged via connectors, camera on some its connectors and on some solder, radio receivers (rx) are mostly on board already, but when not they are soldered, video transmitter (vtx) are onboard on some and either soldered or plugged on connectors on others.

For example, the happymodel analog whoops normally come with everything onboard, with motors and cameras on connectors, with the digital versions I believe to be similar, so they are relatively easy to fix and swap parts.

Thank you. I did buy the hdzero analog expansion module but have not bought an analog module for that yet(I think it's just an adapter?)
I think I will go hd just for more pleasant flying experience, but I know the added weight can allegedly make it tougher to fly.

Is there a good build tutorial for a whoop size drone for when I want to go that route, and for when I need to replace broken bits?
Thanks again.

Maybe because I've put a bunch together, but I think Whoops are extremely easy to build, how ever you want them, and as was mentioned, there's not a whole lot of soldering to do, and I'm no fan of soldering.

After 4 years, the original Mobula is still the best factory 75 out, and the most versatile. On 1S, it's more than fast & powerful enough for any inside whoopin through the house, but is easy to control, and really doesn't do bad outside on 1S either. Doubling up the batteries for 2S outside turn it into a completely different critter. It's got plenty of punch, good speed, and handles just like it should. It also gets great air time so you're not constantly feeding it batteries either. If your interested in building your own, Xinte has a Mobula kit that has all the parts that come on the factory quad, and with minimal soldering, you can put your own M7 together. It would show you all the basics of putting together a Whoop . . . or any quad with an AIO flight controller, and the end result is a great Whoop that you did put together. There's tons of info on the Mobula, and all kinds of solutions to just about any problem that might turn up, so you're not left hanging with an unflyable quad. The new 1S Mobula 7 with the 19kv motors would be my second choice for inside with a 75, and does better than their old Snapper 7 outside on 1S too. I haven't tried the newest est M7 with the newest est type 802/20kvs, but that looks really promising for an inside Whoop too.

When you want to try something different, for $20 or less, you can get an open prop lightweight ToothPick kit, like the Gnarly Primo, and in about 20 minutes, plug the Mobula guts in that frame and have a totally different quad. When you want, another 20 minutes and it's back to a Whoop. That would give you two different quads you could get use to flying for the price of a cheap frame. 

If you want to go digi or HD, I wouldn't put that on anything smaller than an 85, and that's not really an inside Whoop. The Mobula can handle the weight on 2S, and you can feel the difference in the weight, but it still flies decent. The M6 65 in the HD version flies noticeably heavy, and gets krap for air time. The 85s don't even notice the weight.

(19-Apr-2023, 10:21 PM)FPVme Wrote: Thank you. I did buy the hdzero analog expansion module but have not bought an analog module for that yet(I think it's just an adapter?)
I think I will go hd just for more pleasant flying experience, but I know the added weight can allegedly make it tougher to fly.

Is there a good build tutorial for a whoop size drone for when I want to go that route, and for when I need to replace broken bits?
Thanks again.

It is just an adapter, you will need an analog vrx module, such as a Foxeer Wildfire, ImmersionRC Rapidfire, TBS Fusion, etc. if you want to view analog signals.
If you’re going completely HD, you don’t need any of those.

Added weight won’t make it “tougher” to fly, but it will significantly reduce your flight time as well as its agility. The reduction in agility isn’t really a bad thing when you’re just starting out.

As far as build tutorials go.. I can’t think of any good whoop ones, but, CiottiFPV regularly streams his builds, and most of them are micro quads/whoops:

https://youtube.com/@CiottiFPV

Other than that, we can walk you through a build from part choice, assembly, software setup, to first flight. We just need to know your budget, gear you currently have, end goals for the build, how much patience you have, your soldering skill level, etc.

As far as prebuilt quads go, you can’t really go wrong with a Mobula7. It’s a standard 75mm whoop, it’ll fly well inside and outside (as long as it’s not windy), you can upgrade the motors if you want more power, if any part of it dies you have a wide variety of suitable replacement parts available from multiple different manufacturers… I can’t speak for a digital version, as I’m still flying analog, but, I put countless batteries through a mobula6, mobula7, and moblite7. They’re good little birds.

Don’t buy them direct from China though. Buy them from a local retailer with a good return policy and good customer service, because while they are good quads, Happymodel isn’t always the best at quality control.

Great info! I'm very tempted by the mobula build kit, a little intimidated but that's why I should probably do it.

I have done a ton of jewelry silver soldering with a torch, but basically no electronics soldering, so I will need to educate myself on that and practice a little before I put hot soldering iron to microchip board.

Of the various analog modules that would work on the hdzeros, any personal preferences?

If your eyes/fingers are used to working with super tiny parts (crumb sized motor screws), then building a whoop should be quite manageable as long as you have selected parts that fit together. The X12 AIO board that the Mobula 7 uses is great, everything in one board, just plug in four motors and plug in the camera (if you select the right camera), no soldering needed. A lot more learning on the software/setup side though.

I have a handful of older 65/75 whoops (Frsky and ELRS) if you wanted to try them out before deciding what to buy, I believe we are in the same corner of the state.

I've seen glimpses and heard murmers about the software side of things, but other than knowing I need to use beta flight to configure my drone, I haven't delved into it. I imagine that will be a hurdle itself. Pointers welcome.

mstc, much appreciate the offer. I have looked in the area for clubs and get togethers but have seen shockingly little around other than going into Philly itself. I would definitely be interested in meeting a fellow hobbyist and checking out your collection/hearing your thoughts. I live right on the PA/DE line, near newark de. Great little woodland property that will be killer for whoopin on a calm day.

I am pretty new to the state, also tried to find flying groups when I first moved here, but only saw RC plane clubs. Seems you are only 30 minutes away, happy to share flying/building experiences. I fly mostly larger micros 3"-4" these days, but have accumulated drones of various sizes drifting in and out of the hobby over the years.
Haven't actually used pm on this forum before, but feel free to pm or email me.

As I don't have an analog module for the hdzero yet, which module would you recommend?
Also, with the mobula build kit, which Version should I select? DSM2, Flysky, or Frsky?

(20-Apr-2023, 07:33 PM)FPVme Wrote: As I don't have an analog module for the hdzero yet, which module would you recommend?
Also, with the mobula build kit, which Version should I select? DSM2, Flysky, or Frsky?

Since you already have a zorro w/ELRS, definitely get an ELRS version. You need its receiver protocol to match your transmitter protocol, and your transmitter protocol is ELRS. Besides, ELRS is significantly better than dsm, flysky, and FrSky in both range, support, and available hardware.

If your transmitter has an internal 4-in-1 module and an external ELRS module, then you can choose any of those other three protocols, but since you’re just starting out, I’d say just stick with ELRS.

As far as analog modules go, I have a Foxeer wildfire and I love it. I haven’t tried a tbs fusion or immersionrc rapidfire, but those two are supposedly the best.

There is an overseas seller that gives a bad bang for your bucks and is totally untrustworthy, but I've bought quads and parts from Xinte for over 5 years, and their customer service is every bit as good as the best I've got here in the states, and better than others more than once. They have great communication with your orders, have a great line with Happymodel, and have since before the Mobula. They are also always one of the first, if not the first to get the newest HM releases, models and parts. I have another about $100 order on the way from them now, and have no worries about it, and will be ordering from them again. When they have what I want at a reasonable price or better, I buy a lot from RDQ & Pyro here in the states, and both have good customer service, but not any better than Xinte . . . which means I can buy with confidence from all three.

ADDED: ++ on the Wildfire module. Tremendous difference over the disappointing FS module that came with the Attitudes, especially with the Menace Pico (& Viper) patch & their Pagoda

and . . . I'm not sure if that kit actually still has the original F3 1-2S board or the F4 1-2S, even though it does say the F3. Might want to email them to be sure. If it is, I don't know if that board can support ELRS, I haven't tried it yet. If you want to put an outboard Fr, Fly sky or DSMX receiver, you can use any version & cancel out the onboard & use your outboard receiver.

Thanks all. I'll go with the foxeer wildfire for the analog module.

I am having trouble finding an hd elrs mobula available. Since I'm getting the analog module maybe I'll just go with an analog version for now?
Sure is overwhelming to have so many options an versions!