What good is a 7 inch quad in a fell of 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 and make sure I gave it a real chance and test some ideas out to be sure.
What I Need a 7 Inch To Be
For the 7 inch to be useful to me and stay in the fleet, I need it to do a few things better than my 5 inch quads.
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- Longer flight times – This is what I think people really mean when they say long range. Radio protocols aside, more time in the air means longer range. For me longer time in the air means more time to frame and get a shot.
- Smooth and stable – This one is pretty easy, just don’t fly crazy. Additionally for this, I want a solid frame, great smooth motors, and a good tune. None of these should I be specific to 7 inch, but I think they’ll stand out more if they’re not done right on a 7 inch vs. a 5.
- Carry a larger camera – I want the 7 inch to have a full size GoPro at least on it and not have any negative flight characteristics. I want the 7 to fly like my 5 inch drones when it has a Naked GoPro.
The Testing
I had a lot of feelings about how the 7 inch had performed in the past, but no real data. It was time to actually test out flight times and remove any doubts.
I had 2 sizes of batteries to test. My standard 1550 mAh batteries for my 5 inch quads, and some 2250 mAh batteries I had purchased specifically for the 7 inch. To make things more interesting, I also had a 2900 mAh battery I could try on the 7. While both of the smaller batteries would fit on the 5 and the 7, the 2900 mAh battery would only fit the 7.
To test the aircraft, I flew my 5 inch and the 7 inch with the 1500 mAh and the 2200 mAh batteries at a local field where I could do long loops of continuous smooth flight. No freestyle, nothing to aggressive.
The Results
You can see the flight times below. The short story here is that for about 2 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 1500 and 2200 had almost the same flight times, with the 1550 being providing longer flight times for 2 of the aircraft!
Flight Times
| Chimera 7 | Nazgul 6 | NewBee 5 | |
| 2900 mAh | 17 minutes 39 seconds | Not tested | Not Tested |
| 2250 mAh | 11 minutes 30 seconds | 10 minutes 3 seconds | 12 minutes 10 seconds |
| 1550 mAh | 11 minutes 39 seconds | 10 minutes 7 seconds | 11 minutes 48 seconds |
The Conclusion
Pretty simple one here, I’m keeping the 7 inch and making sure I have the right batteries to make it perform how I need to to. With almost 7 minutes more flight time, it definitely separates itself from the 5 inch and has a more defined and different use case, no more middle ground.
I should have done more research when I bought the 7 inch, I thought the 2200 mAh battery was what was called for and that mistake cost me 2 years of usage really. FPV can be overwhelming and it’s hard to get all the details right sometimes. Hopefully my mistake and lessons learned can help you on your FPV journey.
