Need to construct a 1S long-range FPV drone however unsure the place to begin? Then it’s best to positively try the NewBeeDrone LionBee. That is basically a way more refined tackle the 1S 3-inch nano long-range FPV drones many people experimented with a few years in the past. NewBeeDrone has clearly optimized many facets of the design. Let’s learn how it performs on this evaluate.
Study extra about long-range FPV flying on this information: https://oscarliang.com/long-range-fpv-flying-mini-quad/
The place to Purchase
Get the LionBee equipment from:
The LionBee is offered as a DIY equipment, not a pre-built drone. The equipment comes with all of the elements and also you’ll have to construct it your self. A lot of the components are plug and play, the one factor it’s essential to solder are the motors.
- 1× LionBee AIO Flight Controller
- 1× LionBee 3-inch Carbon Fiber Body Package
- 4× 1202 11420KV Motors
- 8× Gemfan 3020 Propellers (4× CW + 4× CCW)
- 1× BeeEye FPV Digital camera
- 1× NewBeeDrone Honey Dipper 5.8GHz U.FL (IPEX1) Antenna
- 2× Modular replaceable 18650 battery holders
- 1× M10Q GPS module + 3D-printed GPS mount
- 1× BeeT-Antenna for ExpressLRS (ELRS) 2.4GHz receiver (MHF3)
- 1× JST1.0 6-pin to JST1.25 6-pin GPS cable
- 2× Velcro battery straps
- 2× Zip ties
- 4× Adhesive mounting pads
- Numerous screws and {hardware}
Specs
- Flight Controller MCU: AT32F435
- Gyro: ICM42688P
- Barometer: SPL06
- OSD: Constructed-in
- VTX Output Energy: 25mW – 800mW
- Receiver: Constructed-in SPI ExpressLRS
- ESC: AM32 32-bit, 5A
- Enter Voltage: 1S Li-ion / LiPo
- Safety: Full reverse-polarity safety
- Mounting Sample: 25.5 × 82mm
- GPS: M10Q collection
- Marketed Flight Time
- Hover: ~20 minutes
- Cruising Flight: ~quarter-hour
- Weight:
- GPS: 2.6g
- FPV cam: 1.7g
- Motor (every): 4.3g
- VTX antenna: 2.6g
- RX antenna: 0.5g
- Drone (with out battery): 64.8g
- Drone with 18650 battery: 112.8g
How Does It Examine to the HGLRC Rekon3 Nano?
The HGLRC Rekon3 Nano is one other common 3-inch 1S long-range drone from about two years in the past, however by in the present day’s requirements, the LionBee is the clear winner.
Weight
The LionBee is considerably lighter at 112.8g, whereas the Rekon3 Nano weighs round 115g (each together with an 18650 battery). For a 1S long-range platform, that weight distinction issues.
GPS help
The LionBee comes with GPS out of the field, whereas the Rekon3 Nano doesn’t. Whereas it’s technically potential so as to add GPS to the Rekon3, it requires FC pad remapping as a result of lack of spare UARTs—and also you’ll additionally have to design or print your personal GPS mount. That provides pointless complexity.
Present Sensing
The LionBee features a present sensor, which is extraordinarily essential for long-range flying. The Rekon3 Nano doesn’t have a present sensor.
Sturdiness
The LionBee makes use of thicker 2.5mm arms, whereas the Rekon3 Nano’s arms are just one.5mm thick.
Setup Complexity
The LionBee requires just about no tinkering—it simply works when you construct it. With the Rekon3 Nano, I bumped into a number of points, together with video challenge which required including an exterior 5V BEC and capacitor. Additionally ESC wasn’t utilizing Bluejay (and 48Khz), so it wanted flashing to enhance effectivity and filtering. The FC and ESC configuration on the LionBee is optimized proper out of the field for environment friendly long-range flights, saving customers lots of time
Antenna Alternative
NewBeeDrone clearly discovered from the Rekon3’s shortcomings. The LionBee makes use of a correct circularly polarized antenna as an alternative of a dipole, which massively improves video high quality and reduces multipathing interference. That stated, the receiver antenna mounting may nonetheless be improved, because it introduces one other potential vary bottleneck.
RGB LED
There are 2 RGB LED on both sides and they are often configured in Betaflight.
BNF vs DIY
One benefit of the Rekon3 Nano is that it was accessible as a BNF (Bind-and-Fly) drone, which means no meeting was required. The LionBee is at present solely accessible as a “developer equipment”. Hopefully, NewBeeDrone will launch a pre-built model sooner or later.
Additional Studying: In the event you like long-range drones that use 18650 batteries, additionally try the HGLRC Rekon35 V2. It runs on two 18650 cells and is provided with DJI O4, providing a really totally different however equally attention-grabbing long-range expertise https://oscarliang.com/hglrc-rekon-35-v2/
Constructing the LionBee
The construct course of is pretty simple. NewBeeDrone offers very detailed, step-by-step directions, which makes all the course of a lot simpler—particularly for builders who could also be new to micro long-range quads.
NewBeeDrone particularly designed this AIO flight controller for the LionBee. All the things is built-in onto a single board: flight controller, 4in1 ESC, VTX, and ExpressLRS receiver. This all-in-one design drastically simplifies the construct and reduces wiring complexity.
The one soldering required is connecting the motors to the FC. All the things else is just about plug-and-play.
They’ve already taken care of probably the most fiddly components—putting in rubber grommets in tiny mounting holes, becoming the battery holders, and so forth. All it’s essential to do is plug within the elements, assemble the body, and safe all the things with screws. You continue to get a fantastic sense of feat from constructing one thing from scratch, with out the standard frustration.
A lot of the non-carbon components are 3D printed TPU, doens’t look as good as injection molded plastic however feels sturdy.
A Word on Reverse Polarity Safety
The flight controller is marketed as having reverse polarity safety, however sadly, it didn’t save my board after I by chance inserted the 18650 battery the fallacious manner round. That is a simple mistake to make with these cylindrical cells—particularly once you’re not paying consideration. The second I linked the battery, smoke got here out, and the flight controller not gentle up after I insert the battery.
The present sensor seems to have been broken because of this. I reported the problem to NewBeeDrone and so they recommended a workaround to bypass the present sensor. It labored and I used to be in a position to fly the quad simply nice, however I used to be not in a position to monitor present draw. At the very least I used to be nonetheless in a position to full the flight testing for this evaluate.
Battery: Nitro Nectar Gold 18650 3000mAh
With this quad, battery high quality issues quite a bit. You need to use good 18650 cells—low high quality or counterfeit batteries will utterly spoil the expertise. Excellent news is you may get your 18650 immediately from NewBeeDrone, I’ve examined their Nitro Nectar Gold 18650 and they’re thus far the perfect 18650 I’ve examined for lengthy vary flying, even higher than Molicel P30B!
They weight about 48g per cell. Some folks speculate that they might be rewrapped Ampace JP30 cells, however I haven’t confirmed that myself.
When flying the LionBee on 18650 Li-ion cells, you’ll be able to let the voltage drop as little as 2.8V and even 2.7V per cell to make use of the total accessible capability.
I do know it goes in opposition to what we have been taught, to land when the voltage reaches 3.5V, however that’s for LiPo. For Li-Ion it’s allowed to go decrease, and since it’s beneath load, you’re going to get some voltage sag particularly for batteries of such low C-rating like Li-Ion cells. Whenever you see 2.7V-2.8V and land, it’s going to get better to round 3.0-3.1V (and even larger). Anyway, it’s best to experiment with the battery you may have, and decide what’s the minimal secure voltage it’s best to land.
I additionally examined the Molicel P30B on this quad, and it carried out very properly too, however the NBD battery has barely extra punch.
Flight Efficiency
The LionBee flies moderately properly for a quad that’s powered by a single 18650. It’s a bit of shaky when it’s windy, however that’s to be anticipated from a low energy 1S quad. It’s additionally highly effective sufficient to tug off primary freestyle strikes, and feels nimble within the air.
It’s not notably quick, hovers round 30% throttle, has a prime pace of round 75km/h. However it’s extra environment friendly and comfy when cruising round 40km/h.
Effectivity is great. With solely light cruising in calm climate, you’ll be able to count on as much as quarter-hour of flight time, overlaying 9km of distance.
Relating to vary, I used to be in a position to fly 800m+ with stable video. I may have gone additional if I hadn’t virtually reached the top of the sphere. The principle bottleneck to most vary seems to be the ELRS receiver antenna placement. Mounting it vertically as an alternative of horizontally would doubtless enhance vary consistency. It’s additionally partially blocked by the body, so I seen RSSI was larger on the way in which again than flying out. In the event you actually need to push vary to the utmost, a variety receiver could be an excellent higher answer. Try this submit about selecting ELRS receivers: https://oscarliang.com/expresslrs-receivers/
GPS efficiency is great. I used to be in a position to get a GPS repair inside one minute (8 satellites) on a chilly begin, and after about 10 minutes, it was locking as much as 26 satellites, which could be very spectacular for a tiny GPS module that weighs lower than 3 grams.
Nonetheless, Rescue mode wasn’t setup out of the field, I needed to manually allow it in Betaflight. However even with principally default settings (I solely needed to improve hover throttle to 1300), it labored nice for the open discipline I used to be flying. As all the time, it’s best to fine-tune Rescue Mode based mostly in your particular flying atmosphere. Learn to configure Rescue mode right here: https://oscarliang.com/setup-gps-rescue-mode-betaflight/
DJI O4 Help?
I might completely like to see a DJI O4 model of this drone—it might make the flying expertise much more satisfying.
For the time being, it solely help analog FPV system.
Supporting DJI O4 would most likely require a very totally different flight controller—one with a dependable 5V BEC able to powering the O4 Air Unit, whereas nonetheless working on the extraordinarily low voltages of a single 18650 cell (all the way down to ~2.6V). The BetaFPV Matrix 3-in-1 FC may probably be a candidate, but it surely’s not designed for Li-ion battery, so additional testing could be required.
Body mounting compatibility would even be a problem, because the body doesn’t help regular 25.5×25.5mm FC mounting.
Setup
FC firmware: Betaflight 4.5.1, goal LIONBEE_V2_REVB. Default CLI might be discovered right here.
It’s utilizing ELRS receiver (SPI), to bind, merely enter your binding phrase within the Receiver tab, or click on the “Bind Receiver” button to get receiver in bind mode.
ESC firmware: AM32, Goal LIONB_G_F421, Model 2.19, Bootloader v13 (PB4), MCU F421, 48Khz PWM Frequency.
Betaflight Setup
- Configuration Tab: the drone has no beeper, so be sure 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 desire (it makes use of NTSC format)
- Energy tab: scale back voltage warning to three.1V, lowest voltage to 2.7V
In the event you solder the motor wires as proven within the guide (identical wire order), chances are you’ll have to reverse a few of the motors. In my case, I needed to reverse motor 2 and three, in any other case the quad gained’t take off. Word that the drone runs “props out” (reversed motor path).
Rescue mode in Betaflight additionally wants establishing.
Enhancements I’d Wish to See
- Mount RX Antenna vertically
- Add A small buzzer (solely ~0.7g)
- Provide BNF model
- Help DJI O4 model (could be excellent with the wide-angle lens mod)
- Up to date FC firmware to newest Betaflight 2025.12, and make the most of the brand new Place Maintain function
Conclusion
That is probably the most refined 1S long-range drone I’ve examined thus far. It really works properly, has a considerate design, and NewBeeDrone provides all the things it’s essential to construct it—together with the battery—making the method comparatively hassle-free. The construct directions are clear and simple to observe. That stated, it’s not a newbie drone. It’s higher suited to intermediate or skilled pilots. Some soldering is required, and it’s essential to be snug establishing Betaflight. With a single 18650 battery, you’ll be able to fly round for 14–quarter-hour, overlaying 8–9km distance, which is improbable for exploration.
Get the LionBee equipment from:
I genuinely loved constructing it too—it’s a enjoyable little venture that’s properly thought out, with all the things becoming collectively properly. Nonetheless, I can see why some pilots would favor a prebuilt choice, and I feel NewBeeDrone ought to critically think about providing a BNF model.