What good is a 7 inch quad compared to 5 inch drones? People like to call them “long range”, but I have 5 inch quads that can do the same or better in terms of transmission range. My battery experience up until now hasn’t shown any flight time benefits either. As I consider building a cinelifter, the 7 inch drones feel like a strange middle ground. I don’t usually like the middle ground, so I started to consider selling my 7 inch drone. Before I sold it, I wanted to fly it one last time to make sure I gave it a real chance and tested some ideas out.
What I need a 7 inch to be
You can see the flight times below. The short story is that for about two years, I had the wrong batteries for the 7 inch if I wanted any of the advantages that size of quad is supposed to give me. I was a bit shocked that the 1550 and 2250 had almost the same flight times, with the 1550 giving longer flight times on two of the aircraft!
| Battery | Chimera 7 | Nazgul 6 | NewBee 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2900 mAh | 17 min 39 s | Not tested | Not tested |
| 2250 mAh | 11 min 30 s | 10 min 3 s | 12 min 10 s |
| 1550 mAh | 11 min 39 s | 10 min 7 s | 11 min 48 s |
The conclusion
Pretty simple one here: I’m keeping the 7 inch and making sure I have the right batteries to make it perform the way I need. With almost seven minutes more flight time, it clearly separates itself from the 5 inch and has a more defined, different use case. No more middle ground.
I should have done more research when I bought the 7 inch. I thought the 2250 mAh battery was what it called for, and that mistake cost me two years of real usage. FPV can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to get all the details right. Hopefully my mistake helps you on your FPV journey.
