EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle is a 2.5 inch (115 mm) 2S FPV toothpick freestyle/racing quadcopter, designed for outdoor flying, which performs almost like a 5 inch, but with a dry weight of 53 grams; it comes in BNF (Bind aNd Fly) version, compatible with FrSky D8/D16, so if you want to use a different protocol you have to mount your own receiver.
Package Contents
These are the contents of the package:
- Tinyhawk Freestyle;
- 2 x Emax 1s HV 450 mAh;
- USB charger;
- Extra Propeller Set (2x CW, 2x CCW);
- Screw pack;
- Instruction manual;
- stickers.
The quad comes in a nice bag but, unfortunately, it fits in only without propellers mounted on.
Specifications
- Frame: carbon fiber with white printing
- Diagonal wheelbase (without paddles): 115mm
- Maximum size of the aircraft (without antenna, cable tie): 180mm
- Aircraft weight (without battery): 53g
- Motor: TH1103 7000KV
- Propeller：Avan Rush 2.5 inch 3-blade
- Flight Controller: F4（MATEKF411RX）
- ESC: 4 in 1 5A BlHeli_S
- Receiver: EMAX SPI compatible with Frsky D8/D16 protocol
- VTX : 25mW adjustable frequency 37CH
- Battery: 2 x 1 Cell 450 mAh HV LiPo with JST-PH2 Duo connector
Frame
The frame is the Storm Trooper white carbon, which is a unibody X style frame with flat top anchored with 4 screws allowing easy access to the stack. The frame is designed for top mounting battery.
Always remember to tighten the bolts on the frame before flying.
Motors and Propellers
EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle motors are the EMAX TH1103 7000KV: these brushless motors and 2S batteries are the perfect combination. They are fixed to the frame using 3 screws and the frame has edges to protect the motors in case of crash. Propellers are AVAN Rush 2.5 inch 3-blade: they are push on props, but it is also possible to use bolts to screw them in.
The AVAN Rush propellers assure a quiet fly, allowing discrete flights without annoying people nearby.
As always, it is good to have some spare propellers.
FPV camera
EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle FPV camera is a 600 TVL CMOS camera that has protection on top and bottom; it has also a dampened mount. Even if it is not possible to tilt the FPV camera, the default angle is decent. Video quality is pretty good with small amount of noise coming through the video feed.
FC, ESCs and VTX Stack
The stack is soft mounted (there are mounted dampeners between the boards) to reduce gyro noise caused by vibrations.
The flight controller is the MATEKF411RX, loaded with Betaflight version 4.0.0; the FC has an EMAX SPI built-in receiver for FrSky protocol and the bind button is accessible from the bottom of the frame. ESCs are 5A BLheli-S 4in1.
The VTX is a 25 mW with 37 channels and smart audio to change the settings easily from the OSD. Even if this is a micro quad, i.e. not suited for long range but for proximity flights, they could have gone for a 200mW VTX.
There is a vertical USB port to connect the quad to the PC and use Betaflight to change configurations and a little capacitor and the side to handle voltage spikes.
Battery
The EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle is a 2S quad, but it comes with two 1S batteries: this is because the manufacturer has chosen to use JST-PH2 duo connector, probably for those already owning this kind of 1S batteries from other EMAX drones.
This configuration is not the most convenient, so a good change is to substitute the JST-PH2 duo connector with an XT30 one.
In case you prefer to continue using the JST-PH2 Duo connector, then these 1S batteries are really good:
Otherwise you can use these 2S batteries with XT30 connector:
Conclusions
The EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle is a freestyle beginner oriented quad and the default tuning is very good, so it gives the ability to new freestyle pilots to focus on the flight instead of spending time adjusting PIDs values. Moreover, the flight time with 2S 450 mAh battery is pretty long (about 5 minutes) compared to the average flight time of freestyle quads, another positive note for who is starting to fly and needs to stay in the air as long as possible.
You can buy the EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle here.
If you want to check some possible upgrades, take a look at this article.