It is impossible to ignore the success of the Tiny Whoop, which shines by its discretion in flight. One of the next trends may be racers for longer distance flights. In France, this is a prohibited practice since flights must be made in direct view of the pilot, and in the case of immersion flights, in direct view of an observer. Banned in France does not mean banned anywhere in the world: choose your destination carefully for this summer!
The 2019 G730L from Skystars is a 300 class device based on a carbon structure with 4 mm thick arms. It is equipped with Skystars 2306 V2 to 1750KV engines powered by a 50A BLheli_32 4-in-1 ESC for 7-inch Dalprop DP7056C transparent propellers. The camera is a Swift RunCam 2 600TVL, with D-WDR to increase image dynamics, associated with a 40 channel 5.8 GHz video transmitter capable of transmitting at 25 mW (the maximum allowed in France – but no matter, this device is not intended for use in France), 200 mW, 500 mW or 800 mW to go much further. It is equipped with a long polarized antenna for better radio transmission.
To orchestrate the whole thing, Skystars chose a flight controller based on an F4 processor, with an altimeter barometer, a Black box to refine the settings of the PIDs, SmartAudio and IRC Tramp compatible, with the RSSI radio, with a current sensor. It is flashed, according to the technical data sheet, with Beta flight and offers an active OSD. It remains to be seen why Skystars repeatedly mentions the word “Inav”, which suggests that Betaflight could have been replaced by the Inav software… Odd. On board, there is also a buzzer to make it easier to find the device in case of a crash and especially a GPS receiver (Mini M8N).
The device can be delivered with a FrSky XM+ receiver (limited range), or FrSky R9 MM (longer range), or without a receiver – in this case it is up to you to install yours (a TBS Crossfire for example). Skystars’ 2019 G730L will be available from $262 at Banggood (excluding port and taxes). It will be interesting to check if this camera is not too prone to vibrations: it is the disease of propeller racers of 6 inches and more… It would be a shame, since the goal of mid-range flights is to come back with beautiful images shot with a GoPro (or another sports camera).