Once I was window searching for a brand new 3-inch freestyle drone, I got here throughout the RATE S30 Professional and instantly puzzled how this drone might be so low-cost when the specs look nice on paper. So I made a decision to choose one up for a assessment. I’ll even be evaluating it to my present favorite, the Deepspace Seeker3, to see which one is the higher 3-inch FPV drone when paired with the DJI O4 Professional Air Unit.
Try my 3-inch FPV drone comparability with the O4 Air Unit right here: https://oscarliang.com/best-3inch-micro-fpv-drone/
The place to Purchase
Get the RATE S30 Professional FPV drone from Banggood: https://oscarliang.com/product-nomu
Comes with
- 2 battery straps (15cm and 20cm lengthy)
- Mounting {hardware} for numerous FPV setups (Analog, DJI O3, Vista, DJI O4 Professional)
- Zip ties
- 1 set of propellers (4 complete)
- 2 screwdriver bits
Specs
- Body: S30 Professional Freestyle FPV Racing Body
- Wheelbase: 139mm
- Flight Controller: RATE F405 Mini
- ESC: RATE 30A Mini
- Motors: RT 1505 4300KV
- Propellers: HQ T3x3x3 / Gemfan (1 pack)
- Dimensions: 128 × 38 × 42mm (L × W × H)
- Receiver Choices: None / RATE ELRS 2.4G / TBS Nano RX (non-obligatory)
- Enter Voltage: 4S
- Digital camera Mounting: Helps 14mm, 19mm, and 20mm broad cameras
- VTX Mounting: Appropriate with 20×20mm and 25×25mm mounting patterns
- Weight (My Measurements)
- With out FPV setup or battery: 135g
- With DJI O4 Professional, no battery: 172g
- With DJI O4 Professional + Sub250 4S 720mAh LiHV: 239g
- With DJI O4 Professional + BetaFPV LAVA 4S 850mAh LiPo: 266g
Putting in the DJI O4 Professional Air Unit
The RATE S30 Professional is bought with out an FPV system put in, so that you’ll want so as to add your personal. The set up course of was barely extra concerned than I anticipated. There’s no printed guide included—there’s a web based guide, however it’s solely two pages, totally in Chinese language, and solely 2 photos, so it’s not very useful.
For skilled builders, this shouldn’t be a serious situation, however it’s not essentially the most beginner-friendly.
All of the screws are neatly organized in labeled luggage, however once more, the labels are in Chinese language solely.
Right here’s a fast overview of how I put in the DJI O4 Professional Air Unit:
Route the digicam cable beneath the ESC first.
To mount the digicam, use the included screwdriver bit (a standard screwdriver received’t work as a result of the motor is in the best way).
Mount the antenna and join the digicam to the air unit.
To attach the air unit to the flight controller, you’ll have to take away the FC first, because the connector is positioned beneath the board.
You may go away the SBUS wire linked. It’s wired to UART3 (R3) on the FC, which isn’t utilized by default, so it received’t trigger any points. Nevertheless, in the event you plan to make use of UART3 for one more peripheral, be sure that to take away the SBUS wire from the harness to keep away from conflicts.
The O4 Professional Air Unit connects to UART4, and it’s already configured in Betaflight. You shouldn’t want to vary any settings — it ought to work straight away after set up.
Lastly, zip-tie all of the wires securely to forestall them from getting chopped by the propellers.
Stick the receiver on prime of the air unit—the receiver comes with pre-applied double-sided tape, which is a pleasant contact.
The beeper is designed to be sandwiched between the highest plate and one of many rear standoffs, as proven.
Design
That is my private favorite sort of conventional freestyle drone design—nothing flashy or over-engineered, simply sensible and easy. It’s simple to work with, simple to restore, and straightforward to take care of.
One of many issues that caught my eye was its low weight. With no battery, it weighs solely 172g together with the DJI O4 Professional, which is over 6g lighter than the Seeker3. It might be even lighter with out these plastic aspect panels – which I’m not a fan of.
They’re designed to be openable like a door, however in apply they’re extraordinarily tough to launch. As a result of they clip onto the FC stack’s nylon nuts, pulling too arduous can rip the nylon nut off together with the panel, which is irritating.
You may take away the panels totally, and doing so would save a number of grams. Nevertheless, they certainly do a great job of conserving grime and particles out of the electronics—as you possibly can see on my quad after a number of flights.
Soldering high quality seems to be good total.
The 3D-printed antenna mounts are effectively designed for each the DJI O4 Professional and the ELRS receiver.
The digicam is sort of uncovered, so I’d advocate utilizing an ND filter or UV filter to guard the O4 digicam lens.
Flight Efficiency
There’s no GPS onboard, so I can’t say precisely what the highest velocity is. Though the S30 Professional is light-weight and runs 1505 motors, when flying it back-to-back with the Seeker3, the Seeker3 does really feel barely sooner and extra punchy.
That doesn’t imply the S30 Professional is sluggish—it’s nonetheless a strong and agile freestyle beast. The truth is, it’s extra environment friendly than the Seeker3, delivering over 30 seconds of additional flight time on common. It additionally feels extra forgiving and simpler to deal with, and it’s barely quieter as effectively.
One widespread criticism on-line in regards to the S30 is that the inventory PID and filter tuning is poor, however I didn’t discover that to be true in any respect. The manufacturing facility tune feels clean and locked-in, with little or no propwash. I don’t suppose it actually wants any tuning modifications—it’s ok as-is for what this drone is designed to do.
I believe lighter batteries swimsuit the S30 Professional finest. The Sub250 4S 750mAh LiHV (get it right here: https://oscarliang.com/product-fmf7) is a superb match—it retains the quad below the 250g weight restrict and makes it really feel far more nimble. A 4S 850mAh battery can also be a stable alternative in the event you choose longer flight time of as much as 7–8 minutes (if solely cruising). You may nonetheless freestyle with it, however lighter batteries are far more enjoyable and nonetheless offer you virtually 5 minutes of aggressive freestyle flying.
The present sensor seems to be pretty correct, and I didn’t have to make any changes.
The way to Setup
FC / ESC / RX Firmware:
- Flight Controller Board Goal: RATEF405_V3 (preloaded with Betaflight 4.5.2). Authentic CLI Diff obtainable right here.
- ESC Firmware: AM32 (RATE_V203_01 Model 2.18)
- Receiver: Fee 2.4GHz RX working ExpressLRS v3.5
Setup Directions:
Conclusion: S30 Professional or Seeker3?
For $120, I can confidently advocate the RATE S30 Professional. It’s comparable to nice deal.
It’s not essentially the most beginner-friendly because of the lack of an English guide, however for knowledgeable pilots, that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker. Different drawbacks embrace the dearth of GPS and barely decrease energy in comparison with the Seeker3. Nevertheless, it’s considerably cheaper whereas nonetheless delivering very respectable freestyle efficiency with a superb manufacturing facility tune. The included equipment are beneficiant and help a variety of FPV setups.
RATE has hinted at long-range potential by recommending a 4S 3000mAh Li-ion pack for this drone. With its environment friendly motors, I’m certain it may obtain very lengthy flight occasions—however I wouldn’t try that with out including a GPS module first.
The Seeker3 stays the premium possibility, providing higher efficiency and a extra full set of options out of the field. The RATE S30 Professional, nevertheless, is a superb finances various for pilots who desire a succesful, fun-to-fly freestyle drone with out spending quite a bit.