DarwinFPV FoldApe. A 4" Foldable long range RTF quad!

[@halbgefressen9768]

Some disclaimers: - The motor mount is proprietary. You will only be able to put these exact motors in. I do not understand this design decision because they don't even offer an upgrade, just the same motor. - You *need* to put Loctite in every single screw since they tend to fall out of the quad mid air, at least in my experience. - The ESC is underpowered. Mine went up in flames when going 100% throttle for a couple seconds, even though the ESCs are rated for 15A and the motor spec says 9A at max throttle. - The prop mount is also proprietary and requires tiny bushings for installation/replacement of the folding Gemfan 4019-2. If you lose a single prop because of a screw coming loose mid flight, you need to come up with a different solution like drilling into the motor or hot glue because they don't even include replacement parts. - You can absolutely forget the GPS. It doesn't work at all 50% of the time and the other 50% it takes ages to acquire a lock. Positive things: - Battery life / efficiency is exceptional. I get around 20 minutes with a 3S 1300mAh LiPo. However, I was not once able to fly this time in one piece because after around 10 minutes, enough screws fell out of the quad to have an arm come loose and crash. - The camera and VTX are fine and the included antenna doesn't suck. Haven't had video reception problems once. - When flying with 1100mAh or less, the quad weighs less than 250g, which means you get to fly it almost anywhere in EASA countries. - The quad is not very loud and still packs enough power for light freestyle. However, I wouldn't recommend going too hard as the frame is so brittle it would probably fall apart in any crash with more than 5km/h.

[@RizHassan]

I bought this bag of potato’s several weeks ago with gps and installed caddx vista. I fly with 3s 1100mah. It’s my go to fun fly. Love it.

[@CurryKitten]

Your GPS ok, and are you using the SPI ELRS rx or fitting an external one

[@RizHassan]

@@CurryKitten i tried RTL, not so successful. However, having lat/long on my Tx16 gives me some sense of security. ELRS stock Rx

[@ReggieRailSystems]

Got to buy one now. I'd love to have a walksnail version

[@notsogood4321]

the analog ones going for 99 at unmanned rn if it helps

[@smithe68]

I got the no vtx version 6 months ago. Put an O3 in it originally but just recently put a Walksnail with the Pro camera in it. Still haven’t had a chance to fly it but it installed really easily.

[@detroy1234]

Don't bro am about to scrap mine for parts to make a new build

[@flasholiver69]

Great Video, I too want to go buy one! The Cows Looked like they also enjoyed the flight review! I've got a Tinyape I've coverted from analog to Hdzero! I enjoy flying!

[@CurryKitten]

The cows were absolutely transfixed!!

[@royrogers9821]

I checked last night 25 Sep on your link, it was available. This morning not on Banggood or even on the Darwinfpv site.

[@Spudgun1586]

Great review, very interesting little quad! I wouldn't mind something like that to replace the Rekon35 I bought but rarely used (always got annoyed that it could only use around 60% of the Li-Ion batteries!) Hopefully the GPS issue is a relatively easy fix and I look forward to seeing more videos about this quad in the future.

[@belliduradespicio8009]

man if only this thing had a tiny little HD camera on a gimbal with a digital zoom, it would sell so much

[@royrogers9821]

Now an hour later than my earlier comment, it is back on Banggood.

[@CurryKitten]

Well that's weird. No clue what was going on there!

[@MCsCreations]

Awesome flying and review, Wayne! 😃 What a fun little quad! I like it! I wonder how would it fly with 3-bladed 3" props... Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@CurryKitten]

I think it would do ok - perhaps a bit more speed/power. But not as efficient and wouldn't fold up as nicely

[@GR8SCOTT]

I've been thinking about getting this, but I have heard many say the gps is horrible. Thanks for the review!

[@CurryKitten]

I had some reports about the GPS not locking. GPS is clearly fine, but something is wonky somewhere along the lines with it's comms to betaflight

[@jimlwolfe-empty-midwest]

I think the location of the antenna and the GPS module are the issue, it's putting out 600 mw and it might be cutting off the GPS signal ability?

[@CurryKitten]

Normally, if you have GPS that get's hit be interference (and I've experienced it several times in other quads) you generally never get enough sats. Usually between 0 and 4. When it cuts off completely like this it's more like the FC doesn't receive any data from it and thinks it's gone.

[@MrStoppo31]

Hi ! Had problems with the gps that would not lock on satellites. Moved it in the front with a 3dprint. Works flawlessly since then. Guessed there’s some interference with the antennas in the back. Printed some landing arm protection as well.

[@DizzyRC]

It has been found that power wires from the battery give off lots of interference. So it should work better with the gps away from the battery wires helps.

[@CurryKitten]

Not the issue here - are you using an analog system. I have noticed digital to mbe much worse at wiping out a GPS lock?

[@MrStoppo31]

@@CurryKitten I have analog on mine

[@munarkmusic]

Do you have a link to that stl?

[@eVecc555]

Did anyone have issues with updating to betaflight 4.5.1 on this quad? I've updated mine and gps just stopped working, betaflight wouldn't recognise it at all. But when i downgrade it it starts working again.. At the end i just swapped gps module to HGLRC M100-5883 and now it seems to be working fine!

[@OsitoCraft_3d]

for the vtx antana is it rhcp or lhcp

[@CurryKitten]

rhcp

[@anti-popfpv4638]

A fix for never having battery banace cable hanging is sticky tacky! I use it on all my builds. From fixing SD cards in slots, sticking battery cable down, packing into USB ports to clean or keep clean, mounting anything. Sticky tacky is not used in the hobby as much as I'd think. Just my experience, I love the stuff.

[@CurryKitten]

Sounds pretty useful. I normally to ok just tucking the balance lead in, but this one popped on out!

[@onclefly8450]

Hi, I put it is default is that it is 3S and not 4S so I will convert it to 4S, moonlight camera better GPS.

[@CurryKitten]

Yes - its 3S

[@onclefly8450]

@@CurryKitten better 4S !

[@NalaMcdonald]

Got this n 2 locking screws we peircin thru esc in deliver i didnt notice madin flight took off n fried the board stil waitn on replacement fc company i got it from lost a gd customer that day hobby rc true story

[@CurryKitten]

Wrong size screws in the locking arms?

[@NalaMcdonald]

@@CurryKitten nope was a prebuilt but they had cranked the 4 squishys on flight controller rt down i hadnt notice cus i fot it would a bn checked cus it was a pre build hobbyrc wer bn dicks abt it when i contacted them 👎now only order fai unmanned tech 👍worse a it is replacement fc is only £40 quid when i spend £500 every cuple month on ther site they just dont value ther customrrs

[@McShakyFPV]

It’s not your gps it’s your clock or your sbus. I know because your barometer dies at the same time and they’re both on the same bus

[@irrelefant303]

FoldApe don't have a barometer, BF is guessing from GPS data.

[@irrelefant303]

I had similar dropouts, I decided to try and switch to HGLRC M10 GPS, then also added a vifly beeper and decided to use the same ground pad as the GPS and noticed that the GPS ground was cold soldered! So after resoldering that I didn't notice that problem again. So check if it's any cold soldered pads first maybe before switching out the module. 😅

[@CurryKitten]

as @irrelefant303 mentions, there is no baro on the foldape. The reason the alt goes is because it's getting it from the GPS data

[@notsogood4321]

the gps fritzing out might at the worst case might be brown outs with the bec not push enough amps when the motors spike in power use , i doubt this is the issue but its quite easy to replicate and verfy with a multimeter

[@CurryKitten]

I am talking to DarwinFPV about it now - who are talking about excessive GPS load.... which is a new one on me. As it's there RTF quad, obviously I'm asking them how they would fix it - if they already know the issue

[@notsogood4321]

@@CurryKitten that seems like a big oversight if the brown out theory is true because it's claimed to be a long range drone and so people are relying on the GPS to be reliable, I hope it's a simple fix - perhaps just moving the GPS away from the power lead ? Another commentator said that worked for him .

[@CurryKitten]

Ecessive load to me means the CPU is being stressed. Where you have interference on a GPS from power leads (or whatever) you will never get above 4 sats locked, and often zero. This is getting into high figures, so it's not an interference issue

[@notsogood4321]

@@CurryKitten ah that might explain why my GPS gets no lock at all , new to the whole GPS thing personally so I didn't realise , if it's a CPU issue that seems awfully strange of an issue , I suppose you'd need to check in with other customers of this drone , see if it's a wide spread issue and all . But I guess you could always flash the FC with an older beta flight release see if they screwed up there ? - bit of wishful thinking to be honest

[@PeterM-PeterM]

I have found the Darwin Fto be unreliable.

[@CurryKitten]

What's "fto" ?