After starting with 5" quads and then dropping down to a 2.5" build, I discovered that I really like the dynamics and quieter sound of smaller quads. Especially for flying around the house, an ultralight and quiet build that won't smash through a window or bother my neighbors, is especially atractive. I did my research and decided that KabobFPV's ToothPick3 (TP3) was the way to go. My target build would weigh 25-30% less than my 2.5" Tadpole build but have larger props - my primary goal was quiet. As I name all of my quads male names that end in "n" (something my daughter started), I have dubbed this build "Griffin".

After mapping out the parts (largely dependent on what I could find in stock), I set my target dry weight at 60g and my AUW a bit over 110g.

I am pretty much following exactly what the CycleFPV website suggests for this build - AUW around 110g on 3S with the 3018 props.

I used a single tube of heatshrink on each arm to cover and strap down the motor wires. Classic ziptie and heatshrink for the receiver antennae. Rubber band around the camera holds the VTX antenna vertical. Between the capacitor, powering the camera from the VTX, and extremely short wires, the video feed from this quad is the cleanest of my four.

This wasn't an exceptionally difficult build, but the VTX and AIO pads are some of the smallest and closest ones I've had to use, so my solder joints aren't as neat as I would like, but they're perfectly functional!

I have flashed JESC to the BLHeli_S ESCs and am running Bidirectional DShot300 with a 2k PID loop and RPM filtering. This puts an average load of 35% and peak load of 65% on the processor. I like to leave plenty of headroom after discovreing how much smoother it can make quads. By dropping my PID loop, disabling accelerometer, and dropping from DShot600 to DShot300 on a few of my quads I saw significant increases in smoothness and performance.

It flies fantastically, has loads of power (feels faster than my 6S 5" on punch outs and throttle blips), and most importantly it is INSANELY quiet. Like completely silent when behind any obstacle. Also, due to a combination of the biblade props and lower RPMs because of the ultralight weight, the sound it makes is much deeper than my other quads - it just sounds AWESOME. Now when I fly my little 2.5" it sounds like a bee and my 5" sounds like a banshee. This thing sounds like a hot knife cutting through warm butter.

Finally, it wasn't one of my goals, but the flight times are amazing! I'm using the exact same RDQ Series 450mAh 3S packs on this as I do with my 80g 2.5" Tadpole. The Tadpole typically flies 3 minutes per pack, maybe 4 minutes. I'm getting 7 minute easily and 8 minutes if I push it on this build. What a difference that makes! It's like a little econobox racecar. This will definitely not be my last toothpick - already considering an ultralight 5" toothpick for a Hero 5 Session down the road...

Dry Weight: 62.1g
All Up Weight: 113.7g