When your quad is just too highly effective, just a few millimeters of throttle stick motion can take it from falling out of the sky to capturing towards house. This overly delicate throttle makes easy flying troublesome — particularly when flying by means of tight gaps or making an attempt to keep up altitude. That’s why Betaflight supplies Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo settings. When configured appropriately, they provide you way more exact throttle management and smoother cruising. On this tutorial, I’ll present you easy methods to set them up.
Why Use Throttle Mid & Expo?
There are different methods to cut back throttle sensitivity, however every comes with some drawbacks:
- Lowering energy utilizing throttle scale or motor output restrict → lowers your most velocity and drone efficiency.
- Utilizing a customized throttle curve in your radio → reduces throttle decision.
The most effective answer is to configure Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo in Betaflight. This lets you make throttle management extra exact with out sacrificing high velocity or efficiency.
Nevertheless, it may be fairly a complicated function for newcomers, which is why it’s usually neglected. I’m positive there are different methods to method this, however right here’s the tactic I exploit that works nicely for me personally.
Easy methods to Set These Values (Preliminary Setup)
Beginning with Betaflight 2025.12.0 (previously Betaflight 4.6), a brand new Hover Level setting was launched alongside Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo. This enables the throttle curve to be anchored round your quad’s precise hover throttle worth, making it extra intuitive to make use of.
Step 1 — Discover Hover Throttle
Depart every little thing at default, you’ll get a linear throttle response:
Throttle Mid = 0.50Hover Level = 0.50Throttle Expo = 0
If you happen to verify throttle curve preview, Enter ought to be the identical as Output by means of out the entire throttle vary (when shifting your throttle stick from 0% to 100%).
Hover your quad and observe the throttle place worth in OSD.
Instance:
- At 24% throttle → quad descends
- At 26% throttle → quad climbs
- So the hover level could be 25%.
Enter this into Betaflight:
Hover Level = 0.25
Step 2 — Set Throttle Mid
Throttle Mid determines the place you need the hover level to be in your throttle stick.
You possibly can put it anyplace between 0% and 100%, it’s purely a private choice.
I often place the hover level round 35% stick place as a result of:
- That’s my most comfy throttle stick place and I really feel like I’ve essentially the most management
- Round mid throttle stick (45% to 55%), that will be my regular cruising velocity
So:
Throttle Mid = 0.35
This implies, 35% stick place outputs 25% motor throttle.
You possibly can confirm this within the Throttle Curve Preview.
Step 3 — Set Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo controls how delicate the throttle feels round Throttle Mid. You possibly can set it to any worth between 0 and 1. The upper the worth, the much less delicate the throttle will really feel across the heart stick. Nevertheless, if set too excessive, it could begin to really feel sluggish and unresponsive.
A very good place to begin:
Throttle Expo = 0.65
If you happen to verify the preview, you’ll see that the enter and output are now not linear — you get a lot finer management throughout the primary 3 quarters of the throttle curve, which is precisely what we would like.
We’ve now established place to begin. Exit and check these settings. Strive flying by means of tight gaps whereas sustaining a relentless velocity and altitude, and see the way it feels.
If you happen to’re pleased with the outcomes, there’s no want to vary something. Nevertheless, relying in your talent degree, flying model, and supposed velocity, chances are you’ll wish to fine-tune the settings additional.
Easy methods to Modify Throttle Mid/Expo
We are able to divide the throttle curve into 3 zones. For many pilots, the center zone (precision zone) might be an important as you’ll be spending most of your time on this zone throughout flight.
Cinematic builds and sluggish cruisers can profit from a wider “precision zone” for finer throttle management. Nevertheless, if it’s too huge, the throttle might really feel much less responsive, and also you’ll want to maneuver the stick extra to regulate altitude.
Throttle Mid
To tune Throttle Mid, right here’s what I do.
Once you decrease the throttle throughout flight (for instance, when making an attempt to decelerate):
- If the quad doesn’t descend quick sufficient → enhance Throttle Mid
- If the quad drops too shortly → lower Throttle Mid
Even a small adjustment could make a noticeable distinction, so make small adjustments every time (e.g., 0.01–0.02).
Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo controls the sensitivity round heart stick.
- Larger expo (nearer to 1) → finer, smoother management however much less responsive, higher for relaxed, cinematic flying
- Decrease expo (nearer to 0) → extra linear, responsive and twitchier, higher for aggressive flying
For example, for my Air65 tiny whoop (champion version) I ended up with these values:
- Throttle Mid: 0.32
- Hover Level: 0.26
- Throttle Expo: 0.65
With out utilizing Throttle Mid & Expo, I needed to restrict throttle to 80% simply to fly indoors with out always crashing — the quad was just too quick. With these throttle settings, I can now fly comfortably with none throttle scaling.
It’s actually a recreation changer for those who’ve by no means tried this earlier than.
Older Betaflight (Earlier than Model 2025.12)
Older variations solely have Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo settings — no Hover Level, so configuration is totally different. Once you set Throttle Mid, it makes use of the identical worth as your “hover throttle” too and it flattens the curve round that time while you apply Expo. Sure, it’s complicated and that’s why I actually like the brand new method. Anyway in case your quad nonetheless has outdated Betaflight on it you may discover this handy.
Preliminary Setup
Set Throttle Mid close to your regular cruising throttle (or barely increased than hover throttle).
For instance, my tiny whoop, the hover throttle is 25%:
Throttle Mid = 0.25
For Throttle Expo, 0.65 is an efficient place to begin:
Throttle Expo = 0.65
High quality Tuning
Attempt to undergo tight gaps (attempt to keep fixed velocity and altitude):
- If the quad feels too quick → lower Throttle Mid.
- If the quad feels too sluggish → enhance Throttle Mid.
Modify in small increments every time (0.01 to 0.02).
To vary throttle sensitivity:
- Larger Expo → smoother however softer really feel
- Decrease Expo → extra direct response
Throttle Worth in OSD Seems to be Incorrect
After altering Throttle Mid and Expo, chances are you’ll discover the throttle place within the OSD now not matches hover throttle while you hover.
If you must re-measure true hover throttle (e.g. for GPS Rescue or Place Maintain):
- Briefly reset Throttle Mid, Hover Level, and Expo to 0 earlier than doing hover check, or
- Use Blackbox logs to learn the actual throttle output.
Conclusion
Throttle tuning is likely one of the most underrated options. By appropriately setting:
- Hover Level
- Throttle Mid
- Throttle Expo
you’ll be able to remodel an excessively highly effective quad into one thing exact, predictable, and far simpler to fly easily — with out sacrificing efficiency.
Spend a couple of minutes dialing these settings in, and your flying will instantly really feel extra managed and assured. So long as it really works for you, there’s no proper or flawed worth because it largely comes down to private choice. Don’t be afraid to experiment and check out totally different values till it feels proper.