Do you fly 5" or smaller?

I find that flying my X-class in busy pre-school playgrounds is the best option. The children (or the small pieces that are left of them) love it and there's something so dramatic about bits of splintering carbon fiber bouncing off your googles.

I love the sound of a 5". It's like rocking a V8 under the hood.

I love the history talk of fpv, please do more!

This entire video was a ploy to sell grinderinos: bit.ly/3Tb0DHs bit.ly/3tBXyHA bit.ly/46QD10R

“You can make cool shit just to make cool shit” spoke to me. Love these recent videos a lot!

5" is where my heart is. The smaller platforms just don't have the chooch I need.

thanks for the dab rig show off at 27 seconds in, was a pleasure to make that piece.

I've barely been into FPV for over a year. 5" was my first proper quad build but quickly found that places to fly safely were limited. I bought a Mob7 just to fly about the house with during the cold, wet and windy winter months but instantly found that the world just opened up for me. I've got a 2S 85mm whoop with 1002 19,800kv motors and I can rip it around doing loop-de-loops and flippy-floppies, but still explore rooftops and do building dives and still feel safe that I'm not going to injure someone or damage property. Tinkering at this scale is so cheap too. The reason I have an 85mm at all was because I ballsed up and got 19,800kv motors instead of the 23,500kv for my 75mm. It was £5 for a frame, £20 for four batteries and a couple of quid for some props and I had a whole new flying experience. Every time I order something I stick on a random toothpick or whoop frame just to try something different.

It’s great listening to you talk about some of the evolution of FPV as well. This is laid out very well.

Matty stuntz videos were amazing too back in the day. Just felt like he deserved a name drop. I was building brushless 2s 2inch rippers around 8 or 9 years ago and was having so much fun I knew it would eventually be the end point.

Bot's TED talk

portability of a tiny whoop is just so fun and being able to stick 8 batteries in my pocket and I love my radiomaster pocket

Your Rotor X Atom videos from back in the day got me hooked on your videos... that and your Grave yard vids! I don't get my little guys out enough....

I never thought I would enjoy anything smaller than a 5" until I woke up one day with a 3" and sent it. It felt the closest and was way quieter flying around my neighborhood. While I will never quit flying my 5" I do see 3" being on my backpack right beside it. Awesome video Bot.

Hey thanks for the shout out! I fly my 5" demibot fairly regularly, but flying spots are limited. I've been thinking about building up a grinderino just because it'll be so much easier to finds spots to fly without people getting in the way.

Here in New Zealand, we don't have shit like Remote ID. As recently as last year, I got my first FPV quad, which _is_ a 5" frame. I prefer to _not_ keep up with the Joneses in favour of doing what makes me happy. I have tonne of fun with my quad, in addition to all the helicopters I own.

I always love hearing about the history of FPV stuff. I remember back in 2011 flying around my 9" quad made from Home Depot aluminum square stock and having the OG KK board. Didn't even have FPV, just line of sight. Those things flew so terribly but were so fun!

Always your videos that create contrasts and i like it a lot. For so many years I have been saying that the small FPV have the same pleasure to fly them like the big ones and most people came to eat me alive. Honestly now with your hand in the heart you would make this video if there was no RID over the head of all the pilots flying FPV; I wish many would hear you and not snobbish the smaller ones. They all have their own grace and all offered the same pleasure

I started on micros for over a year before I went to 5inch this past August. I thought that I wouldn’t like 5 inch, but I came to love many aspects of it. Now I have aspirations of diving waterfalls and unusual rock formations. However, everything you are saying is correct. Flying a whoop or smaller quad opens up a lot more access to exploration. People always comment on how small they are, and love to watch them fly as well. Even the Karen’s like to scratch the “drones ears, or pet the drones head from time to time.”

Awesome video bot, learned alot about the history of FPV

Yo bro it was super sick meeting you this weekend in NY! I'm a huge fan of yours! Keep up the great work! Cheers to!

10 seconds funny man , had me 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Good loop for your first. Good job dude 👊😉

8:40 omg THAT iiissss how engagement works. learn something new each day. I can go back to bed. Thanks Mr. Botgrinder 😊

Sounded like Cash Jordan right there at the end. Getting that call to action 🙂 great video man!

great video again. im loving 5", 3.5" and whoops now but yeh sitting in my van whoooping my hood is special. Team Asbo are making frames all the time, we have the new asbo XLR 3.5" and an all new 5" dropping next month.

I fly all, 2" , 3", 5", 7" and Wings. And, what a wonder, i love to flyin`all of them. It`s all a Question of the Spot you`re want to fly at. ImhO.

Really been enjoying these more video essay style videos you've been doing lately. I only started flying about a year ago so it's cool to hear where it came from and the history of everything. I only have micros and tiny whoops with my largest being a 3”. I have been tempted to build a 5" but at this point it almost seems like I'll get more use out of the micros and I can still rip them.

BOTGRINDER please keep doing videos like this!

That Hubsan x4 you put on screen was exactly what got me into drones. Flew the hell outa that thing

a week shy of 2 years ago now, I ordered the babyhawk II HD. 3" ripsqueaks were AMAZING and my favorite all-rounder, but then, i saw exactly what that extra half inch of prop did for the platform. So , I built a couple of grinderinos once that frame dropped. favorite quads in my fleet. The future is now.

Great vid Bot!! I wanted to have every size and I almost do but micros are a blast and your not bothered to much.

This is an absolutely fantastic video Bot!

I love this essay format video. Bot you are so good at these. It's amazing. I dont always agree, but i mostly do, but I love the prospective you bring. Masterfully done, sir. Cheers

I toook 4months off of FPV. I missed the freedom and therapy it provides in this wicked world. The first build after my sabbatical was the micro apex, I got that thang rippin like a 5” but there’s still something about the power of a 5” that I can’t get enough of. I’ve never built anything under 3inch, so I can’t speak on it. One thing I do know is that Bot you’re a great dude for sharing these videos with the masses! Keep on keepin on my G

Great stuff as usual Bot, I'll help boost your engagement! This is a strange time in our hobby, it feels like we're at turning point for how FPV (and rc in general) will look in the future. I think we're past the remote id hysteria for the most part, people have made their mind up at this point what they plan on doing. At this point it seems that people are just searching for the most sustainable lowest risk/cost way to enjoy this hobby long term, with Uncle Scam now being heavily involved. I kinda agree that 5" seems to be somewhat dying, and I too have really logged the hours with whoops in the past couple years. Like you said, its just so much easier to find places to fly and not have Karens bother you. I think the main thing that smaller crafts just can't replicate is the speed and momentum. The difference in momentum is the first thing I notice (and miss) when flying a tiny whoop- it just limits what you can do so much more! But maybe a 3.5" is a good middle ground. I can definitely see the benefits for size and cost, but I just wonder how well they will fit the bill for us old heads that want that power, speed, and momentum. What I envisioning happening is the 3.5" class carves out its own new niche in the community. It's likely more appealing to a newcomer that just wants something affordable with good performance, but doesn't want a big heavy buzzsaw of a 5" flying around their neighborhood. Like everything else as our hobby progresses, it gets more and more specialized as new categories of drones become the norm for specific purposes. Maybe we end up with whoops, 3.5", and 5" as the new bread and butter categories in the future. I don't think you'll ever fully get rid of 5", but maybe it just becomes a smaller subset of the freestyle world. Time will tell, but its really interesting to watch as this all evolves!

I just wanna say thanks for the motivation! I hadn't flown in 6 months, but youtube randomly threw this video onto my feed and after watching heaps of your content, I charged a bunch of packs and ripped my mobeetle all over the house. I only fly whoops anyway because of the expense of larger drones. I still cant fly worth a damn, but I'm having fun again. Keep up the great content!

Great vid bro! Its been about a year ...both 5'' just collecting dust.. all about mircos and fixed wing lately!

Metaldanny!!! Dude that guy was fast in the woods!!!

Just got back from my first 5” freestyle event,,, it was totally rad the demibot frame did so well,,, the smaller drones were harder for spectators to see and the sound of the 5 really made things more exciting,,, such a good time,,, suck it ffa

i’m new to fpv and my first quad was a pavo20 (2” O3) and honestly it feels like a good entry point. I think new people coming in now are kind of working backwards - starting with small quads and working up to bigger quads with more power

I want to build a 3". Great video. Covered a lot of areas. Thanks.❤

Sweet to see the FalconRad shoutout. Been loving the Rad Li-ion

Love the content Botgrinder , keep it going, ruffle feathers 🪶 😂

Nope. I've tried.. I have 3.5s 3 inch toothpicks, some whoops, I am even building a 2s baby turtle 2 inch in hopes that I will like it. But every single time I fly I micro I just miss my 5 inch. Every time I want to go fly and rip.. I want the 5 inch. 🤷 something about it. I just love 5 inch. I'm trying though.. gonna do a whoop video this weekend and go whoop around town. But I just want to fly my 5 inch

Same here Bot. I have several 5"drones but find myself grabbing a micro or the Grinderino most of the time. Tnx for the video.

I flew an Inductrix back in the day. Was a blast. I've since settled on 2-inch, 2S/3S whoops. Great park cruisers, and I got 'em tamed so I can fly indoors no sweat. Great cost-to-performance ratio, too.

I build one TBS Source One V5 and it was great. After I bought a Mobula8, I fell in love with micros. Now I have a grinderino, 2.5", mob8, and a mob6. The barrier to entry is much lower with sub250 class and the versatility inversely gets better with size 🤙

i recently got back into FPV, i used to have a some kinda china cheap racing drone (but it had 800+mw VX transmitter so the range was great) that i got for like 250 bucks, remote + screen + drone. was a great deal honestly back in 2015. This year i got the pavo pico20 and a geprc moz7 but yeah, i initially wanted to fly the large 7 inch drone around but i can't really do it in the city, the tiny pavo pico20 kicks ass supporting 3s battery and 03 air unit

I have everything from 65mm whoops to a couple Demibots. Whenever I do go fly my 5in, I nearly always have a Crux35 or Grinderino to pair it with because my spot options open up vastly. Theres just nothing quite like the sound of a demibot ripping the air apart.

Im worried people will think i have a tiny whoop whoop when we all want 5inchs

Keep up the great magnificent work. But I think I’m gonna stick to 5” only because it’s much more durable for wind velocity and the weight so I believe. 🤷🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

Flyin' Blenders got me hooked and will always rip, but I totally get going tiny for the massive increase in flying possibilities. Great content sir.

trip down the memory lane, nice vid!

Hi botgrinder. Nice vid!

Not quite sure if a mobula 8 is classed as a micro but my walksnail mob 8 is becoming my favourite quad to fly. Living in Australia i come under some pretty heavy scrutiny flying my 5-inch quads now. No more sneaking into a park and diving a high rise in the city any more at day break as most people know what a fpv quad is and know there illegal in Australia ,especially when they hear those really loud 5-inch props ripping into the air a mile away. Well, that's were the walksnail mob 8 comes in. i can sit in a quiet corner of a park somewhere with my bag or even just a shopping bag and can fly my mob 8 around most places without anyone even giving me a second look. And with elrs and digital video you can fly a suprisinly long way, especially when I've tuned my mob to give me 6 minutes flight time and that's 6 minutes hard flying. Because of the extra weight of the digital vtx and the 550 mah 2s battery i can even drop into decent high rise building dives as long as the wind isn't too high, hell just about everything a 5 inch can do the mob 8 can do, within reason. but it opens up so many more flying spots and not bringing attention to myself. Can't beat ripping a 5 inch but digital micros are seriously bridging the gap between flying and being chased off and fined to flying most anywhere and not bothering anyone. Cant believe the enjoyment i get flying such a small quad with surprisingly good video rec.

I've been flying the Grinderino lately because how much easier it is to transport, smaller cheaper batteries, and less prone to break shit. Next I need to figure out what action cam I like best for it, or just shell out for the DJI crap. Cheers 🍻

Great video and very good point . I’m personally invested in 250 mm so I’m gonna rock it for a while but I also want to build some small pocket racers to see what it’s all about . I can’t do whoops though they are just to small .

5" is the sweet spot of raw power and a nimble flight behaviour. Larger may be more powerful, but not as agile. Smaller is agile AF, but lacks raw power. My largest issue with bigger quads is noise. I've got a horse farm a few hundred meters nex to my house and can't fly my 5" without scaring the horses (this can be pretty dangerous for the people there). When searching for spots there are barely bandos in my area (rural southwest germany), but lots of cool spots next to houses and people in general. So I mainly fly my ~200g AUW 4s 3style with 3018 props. It doesn't scare mammals

First non-whoop was a tinyhawk 2 freestyle - it still gets used nearly more than anything else. It's just so much fun and cheap to run - have upgraded the **** out if it too :) Built a 3.5" too that is still small enough for more places, but has loads of power to play with :)

My first HD Quad was the Babyhawk 2 HD, I've now got a 7" a couple of 5" quads, and a few tiny whoops with naked O3, but if I could have only one it would be the Babyhawk. I converted it to O3 and its still sub 250, will carry a naked gopro no problem, gives you loads of flight time, plenty of punch, it's quiet and its a lot of fun.

this was a cool watch BOT !!!!

I’m an equal opportunity quad flyer. I’m in Colorado so winter time can get me snowed in which gives me lots of time to fly micro quads in my basement and around my house but then in the spring and summertime I love to fly 7 and 10 inch up to the top of mountains where I can mountain surf and dive down to clear mountain lakes

I started the hobby with an Avata only last year and now have a few hd quads but only want to race and freestyle my tiny whoops. You nailed all the positives but I think you forgot to mention the most important thing! The indestructibility of these damn things!

So far, largest in the arsenal is my 3.5inch grinderino.. Love it so much. But my nephew just bought me the Demibot frame for Bday, so im gonna start buying a piece at a time and will probably turn into my first 3D build as well.. Otherwise, I'd be fine with just my Grinderino and of course tiny whoops/2inch build for everything else. 🤘

Love my 3" just wish it could carry a full size GoPro cos I like that flowy smooth video, gyro flow is cool an all but straight out the camera saves so much time. Still love my 5"s though, guess options is good, tend to take them all with me and fly what feels safe at the time (we are very limited on spots for bamdo's in the u.k.)

We have a shit load of freestyle guys getting into racing with five33 in Knox TN. We are talking about opening up a park for freestyle and racing. Most of the guys here mainly do freestyle and dabble in racing. Seems like mainly 5inch and 3-3.5. But I think the future is moving towards the 250 gram mark on a 5 inch drone.

I love both 5" and 3.5"...but as someone who travels for work the overall smaller packout for 3.5" is super nice for my normal day to day. I prefer 5" but love that my 3.5" let's me rock and roll on the go with little effort.

Love, Love Love, my 5" but I live on a 30 x 40 mile island that is primarily military, urban, airport, and private land. The parks are normaly either small or packed with people so very few places to fly it. I really only get some 5" love a couple hours a week. But my whoop, sub250 3", and my recent build, a 4s 2.5" I can fly every day in my back yard.

I agree with you taking out the Pavo Pico more than my 5". But honestly, nothing beats a GoPro footy. To me, DJI digital as some work to grow.

2 broke 5 inch 2 tiny whoops which been flying a lot indoors chasing kids, getting quite good because rain or shine ya gonna get some pacs in . Moblite 7 and 6 love them both. Still love 5 inch great video man

I love building and flying sub250 quads, especially 3.5". They are much more fun in tighter spaces, so much quieter and also more agile. Only reason for 5" are GoPro and bigger cameras, but then there are also naked GoPros if O3 isn't enough already.

You tube keeps declining my card.... however. Totally rocking documentary style badass FAHKING video. Dude you Rock!

I shall engage good sir. I first started FPV with Alien Wii boards on Parrot frames and also Picnic quad frames many years ago. These were very quick quads for the size and weight and really was so much fun. Brushed quads other than whoops and now including whoops are all brushless. But before they made tiny brushless motors brushed was the way and without the ducts like whoops have the quads were much faster and really a shit ton of fun. Super quit, super quick and with and 200mw AIO VTX and a Lemon RX you could go some distance.

i fly them all , i got 3 5 inches for freestyle , 2 mobula 6 , i am still rocking a eachine thrashcan thats a 75mm , have a beta 85 pro , and 2 3 inch racing drones , but tiny whoops have an advantage you can fly them anywhere .

I remember my first quad was Tarot 130 .... every fly i burn a motor till I found out about about Impulserc mltors 🙂I still love FPV like from the first day

I have a couple 5” quads that have always collected dust, but my micros and whoops collect all the sky miles. All for the reasons you mention. Can fly them in more places with less worry

I exclusively fly sub250g because I only just started the hobby last year and knew what was coming (in europe). There's some great 2.5" Cinewhoops or 3.5" Freestyle quads easily below 250g including battery and a lightweight action cam 🙂

I live in a dense city as well and recently got a Mobula 8. It's so much easier to just zip around on the e-bike and poach spots, I just find myself flying it way more often than my 5". Finding a spot free of people and big enough for the 5" does still feel like a treat, like going to the race-track for a day on your motor bike or something, but the fact is that I just spend more hours flying my mini quad!

Had a GEPRC Smart35 a few years ago and man it was the most fun just because it was so easy to go out and fly. Nowadays I feel like its a hassle to get my 5" out and fly unless I am being paid for a gig haha

1) I haven’t been flying long enough to be at that point to make a hard fast decision . 2) I’m more comfortable in tighter spaces like Bandos with a 3.5 inch because of my limited skill level. And they are easier to transport and be a little more discrete 3) they do fly fairly close to a 5 inch but I still feel a 5 inch is better and less fidgety. I seem to have trouble with those little motors sometimes. 4) so I would say I like the performance and most things about 5 inch, but I do like the portability and smaller form factor of the 3.5 5) that was a lot of me not saying much, but I’ll continue to fly both. And whoops don’t fly quite as good but they’re definitely fun and again super portable. 6) I see my sticker!!! Thanks homie!!!

For me, same age as you, started building back in 2013 mostly 5”, then had kids, got busy so I took a break around 2018 from the hobby as I was spending way too much money lol, then, when the 03 air unit came out, I got back into the hobby, these new BnF’s are so nice and such timesavers for me. The baby hawk 03 is so much fun!!! i’ll probably stay in the sub 250 category. Same thrill, less money and they withstand crashes better.

I'm just getting into quads after years of helis, and while my 5 inchers are absolute monsters to fly, I love my 3.5 and 4 in parks and soccer fields. They're quiet, and are more than capable of doing any trick i can throw at them. A school playground is a ton of fun with a whoop, so i tend to grab the smaller quads for quick flights. The 5 inch quads go out on planned trips.

I got into the hobby with 5” freestyle and picked up a cheap whoop for the winter and now I’m building 3 more 😅 After watching 28g whoop the world I yern to go and gorilla whoop and watching your whoop vids have really got me going on building some whoops to go dive and take into town

I currently have a 5" and 2 micros, one digital one analog. I like the weight of the analog when it gets down to the whoop size. I have the parts list together for my demibot build though, that might be what I run mostly when the snow melts up here in Canada.

I started on an eachine novice 3 and it’s still one of my favorite rigs. Granted everything but the frame and fc has been upgraded, but it really wasn’t bad out of the box

Been havin a blast mostly flying 2 to 4 inchers for a while and just recently returned to my 5 inch quads. The smaller quads definitely allow for more options but rippin a good ole 5 inch freestyle quad properly just feels like coming home.

I love flying small frames and recently got the Goggles X so I could get some smaller frames that still do digital. I have switched to just flying small quads before but I alway end up going back to 5”. 3D props only come in 5” and I like flying 3D sometimes. I have. 3” set up for 3D but it’s nowhere as nice to fly as the 5” because of the props not being 3D. I like running a GoPro for videos I post. Even the DJI O3 isn’t quite as nice as the GoPro video. I think there’s enough room in the hobby for a variety of frame sizes.

1804 motors on 3.5" arent enough for me anymore. Now I love my 4" with 2005 motors on 6S. Love the portability and rips just like a 5" 360g all up weight. But I have 36 quads from 1.6" to 11" and just love all of them for their specific flight purpose. 5" is just the smallest size that can freestyle a full gopro.

Yea, I almost solely fly 3.5" and under these days. Mostly because I love flying in parks and the difference in noise and size draws way less attention. If I was flying bandos and other larger spots, I'd probably still opt for my 5" though.

Bro, my main rig for a few years has been a gnarlyfpv primo. Cheap to build, fly awesome with freestyle, and like you said, opens up SO many more spots. Fits in my pocket and is surprisingly robust. Less inertia I imagine.

Makes me so happy that I bought a rekon 4fr when I did sub250g and the closest you can ever get to a 5inch quad sub 250g quads are going to be the norm soon and every company is going to try and make them when they see profits dropping guaranteed....so I'm excited to see what's in store but for now I'm stoked on my micros😁

I've seen alot of 3.5" freestyle vids lately. I thought 6" would take over cause everything getting heavier. VTx and gopros. So more power while not losing flight time.

I got a 6” i love for the speed sound and solid video even in higher winds, i do miss having a tiny whoop tho. I haven’t had a tiny quad since i started

I fly them all, its kind of like cars, the Big Block Muscle V8 (5 inch quad) will always be the one people want to look at and drive, but most people can have as much fun in their Modded Honda,(micro) that is cheaper to run and gets less looks from the authority's . 5 inch will never go away, but 3 1/2 and micros can be just as much fun, several times I have passed on a flying location because I didn't want the attention, not as big of problem with the smaller ones...

I fly everything from 65mm up to 5"... I love them all... but the weight and the feeling of hucking my 5" is definitely my favorite. I think I'd die of a broken heart if I couldn't fly my tinywhoops inside though. Living in Seattle the weather doesn't always play nice.

I mainly fly 4" and up. I'm definitely over 250g. Demibot for the win.

I've been saying this for years. I've been flying fpv for 4.5 years and have never flown a 5 inch. I built a sub 250g 4 inch years ago out of parts from the parts box because every KZfaq video kept telling me I needed to be flying a 5 inch. I liked it, but I found it was too big for the type of flying I really like to do (just ripping around my yard track going in n out of the windows of the house) n being so light made it weak AF. I think 2/3 inch toothpicks and 75mm whoops are the best for my needs. When they are properly tuned, they fly amazing.

Used to fly 5" back in the day but now its either whoops / 2" or 6"/ 7" when I want to feel like I`m actually pushing some air around, with bi-blades it sounds amaaaazing. ...so you might be on to something.

2.5" is where it's at for me. Big enough to carry the light HDZero or Walksnail systems without compromising performance, but small enough to fly in my backyard. 5 minutes of flight time (not just cruising) on a 3s 550mAh battery.