Extreme Fliers truly entered the market in 2016 after introducing Micro Drone 3, brought from concept to production via a crowd-funding campaign. Now they have launched their first true-FPV product, the ‘Carbon Fiber Racing Kit’ and we have one of the first.
A ‘BIY’ (Build It Yourself) Drone…
Raising over $3.5m in revenue via the IndieGoGo crowd-funding platform, the original Micro Drone 3 (MD3) was a big success for Extreme Fliers, the revenue from which has helped them to launch their latest product.
Utilising the baseline technology from MD3, the Carbon Fiber Racing Kit is a ‘build it yourself’ bundle incorporating all components necessary to construct your own mini light-weight drone, but unlike the original MD3, the Carbon Racing Kit drone is slightly lighter (around 5g) and designed specifically for attaching a 5.8ghz FPV VTX and camera, providing minimal latency live video into your screen or FPV goggles.
To turn the kit into an FPV racing drone, you will need a few additional components to complete the kit, these can be ordered as optional extras via the Extreme Fliers store.
The additional elements will depend on whether or not you are an existing Micro Drone 3 owner, as parts are interchangeable.
Existing Micro Drone 3 Owner…
- Extreme Fliers Carbon Racing Kit.
- 5.8Ghz VTX + Camera (available from ExtremeFliers).
- Suitable FPV Goggles or Headset (capable of receiving 5.8ghz RF video, not to be confused with ‘Cardboard’ or similar).
- Additional Batteries (optional and available from ExtremeFliers).
Not An Existing Micro Drone 3 Owner…
- Extreme Fliers Carbon Racing Kit.
- Suitable FPV Goggles or Headset (capable of receiving 5.8ghz RF video, not to be confused with ‘Cardboard’ or similar).
- 5.8Ghz VTX + Camera (available from ExtremeFliers).
- Transmitter (available from ExtremeFliers).
- Battery + Charger Bundle (available from ExtremeFliers).
Watch our video review…
Due to our desire to provide comprehensive video reviews but without extending them beyond 20 minutes, we have split this review video into three parts. Please be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel to for notification of our latest reviews!
Part 1 – Introduction, Unboxing & Inspection…
Part 2 – Build and Setup…
Part 3 – Flight Test…
Where to buy…
At this time, you can only buy the Carbon Racing Kit direct from Extreme Fliers:
You will also need a compatible FPV headset/goggles capable of receiving 5.8Ghz video, we recommend the following budget/entry-level sets:
- Entry Level: Extreme Fliers FPV Headset
- Entry Level: Eachine VR 007 FPV Headset
- Intermediate: Eachine VR D2 FPV Headset
- Premium: AOMWay Commander Goggles
- Premium: Fat Shark HD3 Goggles
The positives…
❍ The box, branding and packaging is nice, a good gift.
❍ Building your own basic quad is fun, good for beginners.
❍ Fairly cheap at $65 + $25 for the transmitter.
❍ 5g lighter than the standard Micro Drone 3.
❍ Flies nicely, not bad flight time but do avoid wind.
❍ Simple to fix and repair with spare parts easily available.
❍ The props are well out of the way of the camera view.
The negatives…
❍ Instruction manual is too vague/brief for beginners.
❍ Needs roll protection to prevent damage to the VTX Antenna.
❍ No ‘lost model alarm’, these are essential with mini-quads.
❍ The LED’s have no simple way to attach/fix to the frame.
❍ Motor wires are exposed and vulnerable.
❍ Transmitter has too much dead-zone and doesn’t give precise control no high resolution on inputs.
❍ No capability to use your own transmitter.
❍ No ‘Rate’ or ‘Horizon’ mode which is common when flying FPV.
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