As I've been deep diving into FPV over the past few months I've been learning more about what I love (and sometimes hate) about this hobby. I've realized that I really love flying micros, especially because they are lightweight, super quiet, and fly under the radar of the FAA. Most of my local flying spots are small so I rarely get to make good use of my 5" quad. Also, with micro HD cams these days, the footage is good enough for social and sharing.

After going through a couple 3" Toothpick builds and being frustrated with the durability and reliability of the AIO Whoop boards, and props in view, I decided I want something that flies like a 5 inch but is quiet like a Toothpick, has no props in view and is setup for a solid FC stack, and as room for at least a 400mw VTX.

So when I came across Dave_C's designs, I was immediately intrigued. Thanks, Dave! I love the lightweight design, with consideration for 16x16 mounting and 20x20 mounting. Also the Deadcat arms made it even better for capturing HD video.

So, going into this build, I decided it was going to be a Micro Midrange Explorer / Freestyle Cruiser named Clark. I didn't want to add the Buzzer or the GPS yet, as I won't be doing any true long range for a while. So this is a barebones build on Dave_C's awesome lightweight 3" frame.

I had my first test flights last night and managed a 7 minute flight with a few minutes of light freestyle at the end. I was cruising at about 35 percent throttle with the Gemfan 3016 Tri-Blade. Also going to test the Avan Mini's as the Gemfans are feeling pretty mellow. My scale died on me so I don't know what my AUW is, but will update this post next week when I have it.

Quad weight: 131g
Quad + 4S 525mah: 185g
Quad + 3S 850mah: 207g

UPDATE 03/22/2020:

I decided to throw on the Avan Mini Props to see how they would fly, and was surprised to see how much better they performed than the 3016s. I think the AUW is just to much for the slim profile of the 3016s. As stated above i was cruising at around 35-38% throttle on the 3016s, on the Avan Minis I am cruising at 28%! They are also really punchy and much more fun for when I freestyle.

I also started flying on 4S, it seems to fly great on a stock 4.1 BF tune, with an 80% throttle limit added. On 4S 525mah I'm cruising at about 23%, I haven't tried a long range flight on 4S but it's really fun to freestyle on 4S, getting about 3 min flights. I ordered some 650mah 4S to try out some longer flights, we'll see how that goes.

I am absolutely loving this build, the only bummer is the Tarsier V2 is giving me some troubles. Sometimes doesn't record, sometimes records half a session, but stops after a few packs. It sucks to come back and see only a portion of your flying was captured. It doesn't stop mid flight, it just decides at some point to stop initiating recording, so I get all or nothing on a pack. Also seems I may have to format my SD before every session? I'm not sure what to do. Help!