I went one step further and tried to lower the weight of the quad by replacing the DJI O3 air unit with the Flywoo O3 Lite. Instead of de-casing the air unit myself, I bought it already done because it was only $16 more, plus I do not need to take the risk of doing something wrong and breaking it. I was considering the Ultra kit where they remove all the heat shield and SD card reader. But I like having the SD card slot for storage, so I opted for the Lite version. Plus, it cost $30 more for the Ultra kit.

There were a few things I did wrong during this build, and I was disappointed with the Flywoo O3 Lite, but it was my fault. Initially I did not know that at the time but after testing different layouts, I finally figured out what I did wrong. I will go into more in detail later, but first I will show you what was necessary to switch over to the Flywoo O3 Lite and how easy it was.

The overall build and construction of the Flywoo 03 Lite is very solid, but you will need to be aware of the size difference. For a build like the Pavo Pico you will need to find a creative way to mount the air unit because it is a tad smaller, and it no longer fits snuggly in the original mount. This is also where I made my first mistake.

Mount (Foam/Double-sided tape)
Initially I only used a small piece of landing pad foam cut to size and placed at the rear of the air unit where the antennas are. There was enough pressure to hold it in place, but the front of the air unit slides around a little. That might have caused some vibration and jello during my initial test flights. Then I added 2 small pieces of double-sided tape to the front of the air unit where it presses against the cage and now it feels very tight.

Camera Cable
The next thing is a huge mistake that I made and that was the camera cable. Make sure you keep it clear of everything like the camera gyro or flight controller. Do not make the same mistake and tuck the wire under the air unit because I ended up sandwiching the cable between the carbon fiber plate and air unit, thus negating the effects of the rubber dampener. And yes, the rubber dampener does work and helps reduce the vibration/jello in the video footage. As you can see in the photo, I ran the wire on the top of the air unit now.

Camera Vibration Dampeners
Just like my previous Pavo Pico build, I also added some BetaFPV vibration dampeners to the camera mount. I drilled out the original camera mount hole with a #31 size drill bit and shoved the blue gummies inside. Then I used a longer M2 screw to attach the camera.

12g weight reduction (72g > 60g)
Is all this effort and cost worth the 12 gram weight reduction? YESSSSS! Let’s start off with the amp draw. In the past the cruising amp draw was around 5.7a and now it is 4.5a. Please take these numbers with a grain of salt because we all know the number is approximate. With a lower amp draw, that would mean it will get longer flight times. In all my previous tests, I never utilized the full potential of the RDQ 525mah 2s lipo because I did NOT HV charge it. I typically charged it as a regular lipo and stopped at 4.2v per cell. During my very first flight with a HV charge (4.35v per cell), I was able to get 5 minutes of flight time!

Easy access
For most people this does not make a big difference for them, but it was super easy to switch out the different air units. All you need to do is remove the 4 screws under the vibration dampeners and unplug the wire harness from the air unit. That is why it was so easy to switch back and forth between to compare the difference.

Flywoo Issues!!!

I am a bit annoyed about how Flywoo took care of the issue when they shipped the ND4 filter with the O3 Lite air unit. The air unit is supposed to come with a Clear UV filter and that is what I wanted because I also bought their ND filter kit too. Now I have 2 ND4 filters and NO Clear UV filter. In case you do not know, the O3 Lite camera is de-cased and there is NO protection for the camera lens, plus the typical O3/Avata filter no longer fits. At the current time, the only lens protection available are the filters sold by Flywoo. I contacted Flywoo and they told me that they shipped the air units out with ND4 filters because the Clear UV filter was out of stock, and they are willing to send me one if I place a new order with them. Sure, I can create a 3D printed shroud over the lens but that doesn't really protect the glass. In the past I have scratched the surface of a Naked GoPro lens in a crash, and it could have been prevented with something like a clear UV filter. Ever since then, I have always use a clear UV filter with all my naked GoPro’s.

More info Soon!!!

Videos

5 minute flight time video with Gyroflow applied to the footage
(RDQ 525mah 2s Lipo HV charged to 4.35v per cell)

Same flight as above but recorded with the DVR in the goggles

With ND8 Filter