Wish to construct a 1S long-range FPV drone however unsure the place to start out? Then you need to undoubtedly try the NewBeeDrone LionBee. That is basically a way more refined tackle the 1S 3-inch nano long-range FPV drones many people experimented with a few years in the past. NewBeeDrone has clearly optimized many elements of the design. Let’s learn how it performs on this assessment.
Study extra about long-range FPV flying on this information: https://oscarliang.com/long-range-fpv-flying-mini-quad/
The place to Purchase
Get the LionBee equipment from:
The LionBee is offered as a DIY equipment, not a pre-built drone. The equipment comes with all of the elements and also you’ll must construct it your self. Many of the elements are plug and play, the one factor you could solder are the motors.
- 1× LionBee AIO Flight Controller
- 1× LionBee 3-inch Carbon Fiber Body Package
- 4× 1202 11420KV Motors
- 8× Gemfan 3020 Propellers (4× CW + 4× CCW)
- 1× BeeEye FPV Digital camera
- 1× NewBeeDrone Honey Dipper 5.8GHz U.FL (IPEX1) Antenna
- 2× Modular replaceable 18650 battery holders
- 1× M10Q GPS module + 3D-printed GPS mount
- 1× BeeT-Antenna for ExpressLRS (ELRS) 2.4GHz receiver (MHF3)
- 1× JST1.0 6-pin to JST1.25 6-pin GPS cable
- 2× Velcro battery straps
- 2× Zip ties
- 4× Adhesive mounting pads
- Numerous screws and {hardware}
Specs
- Flight Controller MCU: AT32F435
- Gyro: ICM42688P
- Barometer: SPL06
- OSD: Constructed-in
- VTX Output Energy: 25mW – 800mW
- Receiver: Constructed-in SPI ExpressLRS
- ESC: AM32 32-bit, 5A
- Enter Voltage: 1S Li-ion / LiPo
- Safety: Full reverse-polarity safety
- Mounting Sample: 25.5 × 82mm
- GPS: M10Q collection
- Marketed Flight Time
- Hover: ~20 minutes
- Cruising Flight: ~quarter-hour
- Weight:
- GPS: 2.6g
- FPV cam: 1.7g
- Motor (every): 4.3g
- VTX antenna: 2.6g
- RX antenna: 0.5g
- Drone (with out battery): 64.8g
- Drone with 18650 battery: 112.8g
How Does It Examine to the HGLRC Rekon3 Nano?
The HGLRC Rekon3 Nano is one other standard 3-inch 1S long-range drone from about two years in the past, however by immediately’s requirements, the LionBee is the clear winner.
Weight
The LionBee is considerably lighter at 112.8g, whereas the Rekon3 Nano weighs round 115g (each together with an 18650 battery). For a 1S long-range platform, that weight distinction issues.
GPS help
The LionBee comes with GPS out of the field, whereas the Rekon3 Nano doesn’t. Whereas it’s technically potential so as to add GPS to the Rekon3, it requires FC pad remapping because of the lack of spare UARTs—and also you’ll additionally must design or print your individual GPS mount. That provides pointless complexity.
Present Sensing
The LionBee features a present sensor, which is extraordinarily essential for long-range flying. The Rekon3 Nano doesn’t have a present sensor.
Sturdiness
The LionBee makes use of thicker 2.5mm arms, whereas the Rekon3 Nano’s arms are just one.5mm thick.
Setup Complexity
The LionBee requires nearly no tinkering—it simply works when you construct it. With the Rekon3 Nano, I bumped into a number of points, together with video situation which required including an exterior 5V BEC and capacitor. Additionally ESC wasn’t utilizing Bluejay (and 48Khz), so it wanted flashing to enhance effectivity and filtering. The FC and ESC configuration on the LionBee is optimized proper out of the field for environment friendly long-range flights, saving customers loads of time
Antenna Alternative
NewBeeDrone clearly discovered from the Rekon3’s shortcomings. The LionBee makes use of a correct circularly polarized antenna as an alternative of a dipole, which massively improves video high quality and reduces multipathing interference. That stated, the receiver antenna mounting might nonetheless be improved, because it introduces one other potential vary bottleneck.
RGB LED
There are 2 RGB LED on all sides and they are often configured in Betaflight.
BNF vs DIY
One benefit of the Rekon3 Nano is that it was accessible as a BNF (Bind-and-Fly) drone, that means no meeting was required. The LionBee is presently solely accessible as a “developer equipment”. Hopefully, NewBeeDrone will launch a pre-built model sooner or later.
Additional Studying: When you like long-range drones that use 18650 batteries, additionally try the HGLRC Rekon35 V2. It runs on two 18650 cells and is provided with DJI O4, providing a really totally different however equally attention-grabbing long-range expertise https://oscarliang.com/hglrc-rekon-35-v2/
Constructing the LionBee
The construct course of is pretty simple. NewBeeDrone offers very detailed, step-by-step directions, which makes the whole course of a lot simpler—particularly for builders who could also be new to micro long-range quads.
NewBeeDrone particularly designed this AIO flight controller for the LionBee. Every thing is built-in onto a single board: flight controller, 4in1 ESC, VTX, and ExpressLRS receiver. This all-in-one design significantly simplifies the construct and reduces wiring complexity.
The one soldering required is connecting the motors to the FC. Every thing else is just about plug-and-play.
They’ve already taken care of essentially the most fiddly elements—putting in rubber grommets in tiny mounting holes, becoming the battery holders, and many others. All you could do is plug within the elements, assemble the body, and safe every thing with screws. You continue to get a terrific sense of feat from constructing one thing from scratch, with out the same old frustration.
Many of the non-carbon elements are 3D printed TPU, doens’t look as good as injection molded plastic however feels sturdy.
A Observe on Reverse Polarity Safety
The flight controller is marketed as having reverse polarity safety, however sadly, it didn’t save my board once I by chance inserted the 18650 battery the flawed method round. That is a simple mistake to make with these cylindrical cells—particularly while you’re not paying consideration. The second I linked the battery, smoke got here out, and the flight controller not mild up once I insert the battery.
The present sensor seems to have been broken because of this. I reported the problem to NewBeeDrone they usually recommended a workaround to bypass the present sensor. It labored and I used to be capable of fly the quad simply positive, however I used to be not capable of monitor present draw. No less than I used to be nonetheless capable of full the flight testing for this assessment.
Battery: Nitro Nectar Gold 18650 3000mAh
With this quad, battery high quality issues lots. It’s essential to use good 18650 cells—low high quality or counterfeit batteries will utterly destroy the expertise. Excellent news is you will get your 18650 instantly from NewBeeDrone, I’ve examined their Nitro Nectar Gold 18650 and they’re to date one of the best 18650 I’ve examined for lengthy vary flying, even higher than Molicel P30B!
They weight about 48g per cell. Some folks speculate that they could be rewrapped Ampace JP30 cells, however I haven’t confirmed that myself.
When flying the LionBee on 18650 Li-ion cells, you’ll be able to let the voltage drop as little as 2.8V and even 2.7V per cell to make use of the complete accessible capability.
I do know it goes in opposition to what we had been taught, to land when the voltage reaches 3.5V, however that’s for LiPo. For Li-Ion it’s allowed to go decrease, and since it’s below load, you’re going to get some voltage sag particularly for batteries of such low C-rating like Li-Ion cells. Once you see 2.7V-2.8V and land, it’s going to get better to round 3.0-3.1V (and even larger). Anyway, you need to experiment with the battery you’ve gotten, and decide what’s the minimal secure voltage you need to land.
I additionally examined the Molicel P30B on this quad, and it carried out very effectively too, however the NBD battery has barely extra punch.
Flight Efficiency
The LionBee flies fairly effectively for a quad that’s powered by a single 18650. It’s a bit shaky when it’s windy, however that’s to be anticipated from a low energy 1S quad. It’s additionally highly effective sufficient to tug off primary freestyle strikes, and feels nimble within the air.
It’s not notably quick, hovers round 30% throttle, has a high velocity of round 75km/h. But it surely’s extra environment friendly and cozy when cruising round 40km/h.
Effectivity is great. With solely light cruising in calm climate, you’ll be able to count on as much as quarter-hour of flight time, masking 9km of distance.
With regards to vary, I used to be capable of fly 800m+ with strong video. I might have gone additional if I hadn’t nearly reached the top of the sector. The primary bottleneck to most vary seems to be the ELRS receiver antenna placement. Mounting it vertically as an alternative of horizontally would probably enhance vary consistency. It’s additionally partially blocked by the body, so I observed RSSI was larger on the best way again than flying out. When you actually wish to push vary to the utmost, a range receiver can be a good higher resolution. Try this publish about selecting ELRS receivers: https://oscarliang.com/expresslrs-receivers/
GPS efficiency is great. I used to be capable of get a GPS repair inside one minute (8 satellites) on a chilly begin, and after about 10 minutes, it was locking as much as 26 satellites, which may be very spectacular for a tiny GPS module that weighs lower than 3 grams.
Nonetheless, Rescue mode wasn’t setup out of the field, I needed to manually allow it in Betaflight. However even with principally default settings (I solely needed to improve hover throttle to 1300), it labored positive for the open area I used to be flying. As at all times, you need to fine-tune Rescue Mode primarily based in your particular flying atmosphere. Learn to configure Rescue mode right here: https://oscarliang.com/setup-gps-rescue-mode-betaflight/
DJI O4 Assist?
I might completely like to see a DJI O4 model of this drone—it could make the flying expertise much more pleasurable.
For the time being, it solely help analog FPV system.
Supporting DJI O4 would in all probability require a totally totally different flight controller—one with a dependable 5V BEC able to powering the O4 Air Unit, whereas nonetheless working on the extraordinarily low voltages of a single 18650 cell (right down to ~2.6V). The BetaFPV Matrix 3-in-1 FC might probably be a candidate, however it’s not designed for Li-ion battery, so additional testing can be required.
Body mounting compatibility would even be a problem, for the reason that body doesn’t help regular 25.5×25.5mm FC mounting.
How you can Setup
FC firmware: Betaflight 4.5.1, goal LIONBEE_V2_REVB. Default CLI will be discovered right here.
It’s utilizing ELRS receiver (SPI), to bind, merely enter your binding phrase within the Receiver tab, or click on the “Bind Receiver” button to get receiver in bind mode.
ESC firmware: AM32, Goal LIONB_G_F421, Model 2.19, Bootloader v13 (PB4), MCU F421, 48Khz PWM Frequency.
Betaflight Setup
- Configuration Tab: the drone has no beeper, so be sure to setup DShot Beacon
- PID Tuning tab: Set your individual charges
- Receiver tab: Enter your individual binding phrase
- Modes tab: Setup switches for Arm, Angle mode, Turtle mode and Beeper
- OSD tab: Customise it to your choice (it makes use of NTSC format)
- Energy tab: cut back voltage warning to three.1V, lowest voltage to 2.7V
When you solder the motor wires as proven within the guide (similar wire order), it’s possible you’ll must reverse a few of the motors. In my case, I needed to reverse motor 2 and three, in any other case the quad received’t take off. Observe that the drone runs “props out” (reversed motor course).
Rescue mode in Betaflight additionally wants organising.
Enhancements I’d Prefer to See
- Mount RX Antenna vertically
- Add A small buzzer (solely ~0.7g)
- Supply BNF model
- Assist DJI O4 model (can be excellent with the wide-angle lens mod)
- Up to date FC firmware to newest Betaflight 2025.12, and benefit from the brand new Place Maintain function
Conclusion
That is essentially the most refined 1S long-range drone I’ve examined to date. It really works effectively, has a considerate design, and NewBeeDrone provides every thing you could construct it—together with the battery—making the method comparatively hassle-free. The construct directions are clear and straightforward to observe. That stated, it’s not a newbie drone. It’s higher fitted to intermediate or skilled pilots. Some soldering is required, and you could be comfy organising Betaflight. With a single 18650 battery, you’ll be able to fly round for 14–quarter-hour, masking 8–9km distance, which is implausible for exploration.
Get the LionBee equipment from:
I genuinely loved constructing it too—it’s a enjoyable little undertaking that’s effectively thought out, with every thing becoming collectively properly. Nonetheless, I can see why some pilots would favor a prebuilt possibility, and I feel NewBeeDrone ought to severely take into account providing a BNF model.