I just lately received my palms on the BetaFPV Meteor75 Professional O4, and I’m excited to share my expertise. This evaluation covers how I put in the O4, set it up, and my flight expertise.
Additional Studying:
The place to Purchase
Get the Meteor75 Professional O4 whoop from:
It is available in two variations:
- DJI O4 Model: Priced at round $199.99.
- PNP Model (With out DJI O4): Priced at $79.99, however you’ll want to purchase your personal DJI O4 Air Unit.
To be trustworthy, should you don’t thoughts additional work assembling the drone, it could be value getting the PNP model. The DJI O4 is just $109, which implies it can save you $11 by constructing it your self.
Unboxing
I’m reviewing the PNP model, which doesn’t embrace the O4 Air Unit. It comes with all the mandatory equipment, together with a alternative antenna and an O4-to-FC cable, so that you’re prepared to put in the O4 within the Meteor75 Professional proper out of the field—no additional components or instruments required.
The quad weighs 37.2g (together with the DJI O4) or 51.4g together with a 1S 550mAh battery.
Cover
The brand new cover options a big cutout, permitting for a large angle adjustment for the O4 digital camera.
I’m fairly impressed by the digital camera’s delicate mounting mechanism that BetaFPV has developed—it’s maybe one of many first “correct” delicate mounting options for the DJI O4 to date, which is crucial to attain jello-free footage with the demanding O4 digital camera.
The mount incorporates a two-piece design—a again piece with two mounting screws on the perimeters (19mm width, micro FPV digital camera dimension) and a entrance clamp that secures the digital camera. The 2 items are linked by 4 vibration-dampening “balls,” which scale back the vibrations reaching the digital camera.
Flight Controller
Aside from the brand new cover and digital camera delicate mounting design, the Meteor75 Professional has additionally acquired an improve to the flight controller—the Matrix 3-in-1 FC.
It’s designed particularly for the DJI O4 Air Unit (Lite), that includes a connector that plugs immediately into the O4 Air Unit with out soldering. It’s a 1S board, and as we all know, the O4 doesn’t carry out properly with voltages beneath 3.7V. Subsequently, BetaFPV has added a 5V BEC to this FC, offering sufficient energy for the O4 even at most RF energy.
There’s 16MB of reminiscence for the blackbox and a complete of 4 UARTs obtainable, though solely 2 are used.
Identical to any BetaFPV tiny whoop, to maintain the load down, there’s no USB port on the FC; to entry Betaflight, you’ll want to make use of BetaFPV’s devoted dongle.
Motors and Propellers
The Meteor75 Professional O4 is just not strictly a 75mm whoop—the diagonal motor distance is definitely over 80mm, so it ought to actually be known as the Meteor80. The rise in dimension accommodates bigger propellers—these are 45mm tri-blade props, not the 40mm props utilized in typical 75mm tiny whoops. Because of the additional weight of the DJI O4, bigger propellers make sense, as they supply extra energy and effectivity. To spin these bigger props, BetaFPV makes use of bigger 1102 22000KV motors.
Sturdiness
There have been combined experiences from the neighborhood relating to sturdiness, primarily because of the DJI O4 Air Unit, not the Meteor75 itself. Some customers have skilled malfunctions or injury to the board after a couple of exhausting crashes. Whereas I haven’t encountered any main points but—since I’ve been flying gently as a result of that is the one DJI O4 I’ve—I might warning in opposition to treating the O4 whoop the identical method you’d an inexpensive analog whoop.
Putting in DJI O4 Air Unit
Putting in your personal O4 would possibly sound difficult, particularly given the fiddly components concerned within the delicate mounting. Nonetheless, it turned out to be fairly easy—so long as you’ve regular palms. It solely took me about half-hour to finish the construct.
Professional Tip: The O4 digital camera cable is sort of stiff because of the protecting tape used, and it could switch vibration from the body/cover to the digital camera. To unravel this, I eliminated the tape close to the digital camera connector, which exposes the versatile a part of the wires. Be extraordinarily cautious should you determine to do that, and don’t injury the wires within the course of.
Nonetheless, I do have issues in regards to the threaded tubes on the body that holds the FC in place. They solely lengthen to the highest of the FC silicone grommets (aka gummies) and don’t truly present any help for the O4 Air Unit when it’s mounted on prime of the FC. The O4 gummies are pressed in opposition to the FC gummies utilizing longer screws. Whereas this methodology form of works, it has its flaws. If the screws should not tight sufficient, the O4 may need wiggle room—particularly throughout flips and rolls. However, if the screws are too tight, they’ll press too exhausting on the FC gummies, which isn’t best for delicate mounting. The body is injection-molded, and it’s costly to create a brand new mildew only for a small design change, so I perceive why BetaFPV opted for this workaround.
Battery and Flight Time
BetaFPV recommends their LAVA 1S 550mAh LiHV batteries. It’s also possible to use the lighter, smaller 450mAh batteries, however flight time is significantly shorter. I get round 5 minutes of flight time when flying indoors with the 550mAh battery, and round 3.5 minutes with the 450mAh.
Get some 1S 550mah batteries right here:
Flight Efficiency
I’ve seen a number of movies of the Meteor75 Professional with O4 from when it was first launched, they usually all appear to have fairly dangerous jello. I’m not certain if BetaFPV has made enhancements to the design as a result of I haven’t seen any jello or vibration throughout my indoor testing (I acquired mine simply final week). Additionally, the way in which I put in the O4 may need contributed to the improved picture high quality.
The inventory tune labored fairly properly. I made a number of adjustments to the settings to go well with my flying type, however general, the quad was fairly responsive and secure out of the field.
I haven’t flown this quad open air that a lot as a result of it’s been raining and appears like it is going to proceed for a couple of extra days (and it’s near 0°C). Nonetheless, this whoop is designed primarily for indoor flying. In my expertise, a tiny whoop at this light-weight simply will get pushed round by the breeze except you’ve completely windless circumstances. For outside flying, bigger and extra highly effective fashions are higher suited. If you would like a whoop to fly predominantly exterior, I believe the BetaFPV Femto could be a better option, which I’m nonetheless testing and can publish a evaluation within the subsequent few days evaluating it to the Meteor75 Professional.
Learn how to Setup
The FC goal is BETAFPVG473, and it got here loaded with Betaflight 4.5.1. The unique CLI diff might be discovered right here.
- Bind ELRS Receiver: For some purpose, the ELRS receiver gained’t go into WiFi mode after ready a few minutes, so I needed to bind the receiver utilizing one other methodology. I merely clicked the “bind receiver” choice within the receiver tab in Betaflight. Then, on my radio, I went into the ExpressLRS Lua script and chosen the Bind choice. And binding was carried out.
- Pair O4 to Goggles 3:
- Modes tab in Betaflight Configurator: Configure the switches for arming, angle mode, and turtle mode.
- Energy tab in Betaflight Configurator: Set the minimal cell voltage to three.2V and the warning to three.4V (land earlier than 3.2V).
- PID Tuning tab in Betaflight Configurator:
- Dynamic Idle: Set it to 75 (it was set to 30 for some purpose, which is just too low; 30 is for five″ quads).
- Charges: disable Throttle expo by setting it to 0
Listed here are my charges and how one can arrange fee choice primarily based in your flight mode.
Specs
- Wheelbase: 80.8mm
- Motors: 1102 22000KV
- Body: Meteor75 Professional
- Propellers: Gemfan 45mm 3-Blade Propellers
- Digicam/VTX: DJI O4 Air Unit (Lite)
- Cover: Cover for O4 Air Unit
- FC: Matrix 1S 3IN1 HD FC
- Receiver: ELRS 2.4G
- Advisable Battery: LAVA 1S 550mAh Battery
- Weight: 37.2g
Ultimate Ideas
With regards to flying round the home, my general impression of the BetaFPV Meteor75 Professional O4 is constructive, although it does include some quirks:
Execs:
- Compact and progressive design—from the cover and delicate mounting to the flight controller.
- Good indoor efficiency with potential for stable outside flights in calm circumstances.
Cons:
- Blended outcomes with stabilization, particularly open air.
- DJI O4 sturdiness issues have been reported by some customers, notably with frequent crashes.
- Nice picture high quality, however flight efficiency is just not akin to lighter, analog tiny whoops.
The place to Purchase the Meteor75 Professional O4 Whoop
For lovers trying to discover the world of FPV in HD, the Meteor75 Professional O4 is an attention-grabbing choice with its mix of contemporary options and compact design. For those who’re keen to spend a bit time fine-tuning your setup, it may change into a dependable instrument in your FPV arsenal.