TLDR; The NewBeeDrone Flow motors are great and the Glide frame is a solid (no pun intended) 'light weight' 5" frame.

This build came about simply because of the amazing sale that NewBeeDrone had on an '8 pack' of their 2306.5 Flow Motors. At $99 USD for 8 motors (a deal that as of writing - November 15th, 2020 - is still up on their website) it was a ludicrously good deal. And, even better, they are very good motors!

They're the first, and so far only, 2306 (ish) motors I've flown so I can't really compare them to other motors of a similar size but compared to the 2207s I've flown they're very good. Solid response at the low end (on par with the Karearea Toa 2207s that I love) and, so far, quite durable as I've been attacked by trees, grass and parking lot asphalt. I'm still running 4S so I got the 2450kV models.

I recently got a GoPro Hero 9 which weighs approximately 300lbs (or thereabouts) so to try to keep the weight down I went with the FPVCycle Glide 5" frame made by FPV's favorite dentist, KababFPV/Bob Roogi. I really like this frame as it's light and roomy (especially compared to the ImpulseRC Apex frame I used for my last 5" build) but still feels decently robust which is tough needle to thread for a frame that's around just 100g!

I picked up the T-Motor Velox 45 amp ESC ages ago...mainly because it's so damn pretty! Knock on wood it's been great on 4S taking a lot of abuse as I've experiemented with a variety of props over the last few weeks. I paired the Velox with a T-Motor F4 flight controller which was easy to use and does the job with minimal hassle.

I love my Rush Tank VTXs and their new V2 of the Rush Tank Ultimate continues their streak of making top notch video transmitters. Not only does the hardware itself look gorgeous, but the transmission quality is excellent and the Ultimate V2 goes up to 800mW. Much like the original Rush Tank Ultimate and the Rush Tank Mini, the Ultimate V2 runs on 7-36V so you can't use a 'regular' breakout 5V pad on the flight controller. Fortunately, the T-Motor F4 has a V-Bat pad that can be activated via solder bridge (which sounds more complicated than it actually is). I paired the VTX with a Caddx Baby Ratel from an old build and a Foxeer antenna.

Once you've used Crossfire for your radio link it's difficult to go back and I used the Crossfire Nano Reciever which continues to be an absolute breeze to set up/update/everything. As of writing, TBS recently came out with the TBS Tracer system which has even lower latency than the original Crossfire but a shorter range.

I've had a lot of fun playing with a variety of props for this build and while I've listed (and photographed) the HQ Ummagawd 4Play props (which are 4.8x3.4x4) for this build, I've decided to return to triblade propellers with the Gemfan 51433s (mostly for the increased pitch and prop length). The 4Plays have noticably more 'grip' than others I've used but I'm not nearly as talented a pilot to do the amazing proximity moves that warrant that kind of control.

Finally, since I'm using the fat bastard Hero 9, along with the light frame I've also tried to cut weight by using titanium screws wherever I can and also been using these excellent "Yellow Label" GNB 1350mAH 4S 100C lipos that are a bit ighter than regular lipos of a similar size. For example, the Xilo 1300mAH 4S and the Tattu R-Line 1300mAH 4S V2 both come in at around 160g - the GNB "Yellow Label" with the same C rating (100) comes in at around 143g. The weight savings apparently comes from using plastic shielding around the cells rather than the standard fibreglass...I'll definitely be sure to update this page/if when this quad bursts in flames after a crash! (joking....but not really)

ADDENDUM: Also used those RotorRiot 'KwadSkidz' (cringe) instead of using foam landing pads as they're able to tolerate far more abuse.