Article from the Mundo Drone archive, published 12 March 2020 and updated 2 July 2020. Text merged on 28 October 2026 from all its 2020 versions; specifications, availability and regulations may have changed since.
This drone could be described as a pocket race drone. He's being one of the sales leaders within his segment but... Is it really justified? At first glance the quality of the materials used, such as carbon fiber chassis for example, indicates this...
Let's see it!
Analysis and characteristics of the BetaFPV HX100 FPV
The first thing that strikes you as soon as you see it is its design, which completely departs from the traditional design that race drones usually have. And above all its size, as it practically fits in the palm of the hand!
In any case, you should not be fooled by its size, as you can make really fast flights with it.
The structure of the drone is composed of a 2mm thick frame, a controller and the camera and VTX go separately. Above it has a canopy that is very light, but in turn it is easy to swing that can be broken due to its fragility.
Regarding the frame, the material used for it is really rigid and resistant. You can adjust the angle of the camera without seeing the canopy at any time. and the VTX antenna does not move, so there is no danger that it interferes with the propellers.
The box is carbon fiber 2 mm thick, seems to be of good quality and durable. The motors are fixed with only two screws, which keeps the weight down. The extruded tips on each arm provide some protection to the engine in the event of a crash.
It is advisable to add some battery pad at the bottom to prevent the USB port and screws from being keyed into the battery when you crash or land. (The USB port only pops up a little bit.)
There is a piece of foam between the frame and cover to provide stabilization to the deck and chamber. It seems to be an economical and easy solution, but it is not enough to keep the canopy stable.
There are only two screws that hold the canopy down on the sides, and I think you need one more screw on the front to prevent the cover from moving up and down. This movement makes the camera vibrate (just a little bit) during the flight sometimes. It's not a big problem, it only bothers me when it's too windy.
The engines are of the brand BetaFPV 1103 8000KV. The engines are connected to the ESC via 3-pin Micro JST-1.25 connectors.
The HX100 comes with four-blade 48 mm propellers and two-blade 65 mm propellers. It is recommended to use 3S LiPo with 48 mm and 2S LiPo with 65 mm.
The 65 mm propellers appear to be the Kingkong. They are one of the simplest accessories of this model; they work reasonably well, quite efficient and yet soft. Part of that yield comes from light weight, as they only weigh 0.4 g each.
On the contrary, the smaller 48 mm propellers weigh twice as much as the 65 mm propellers. The weight of a propeller changes flight characteristics. But the 48 mm propeller can definitely resist shocks better.
The flight controller (FC) / ESC is BetaFPV's F4 12A AIO, a Whoop-type flight FC, and so far a reliable FC. The good thing about this controller is the built-in current sensor, which allows you to control your battery level more accurately. You can see the reading of its voltage, but when it flies so fast, the voltage tends to fluctuate quickly, and the current sensor is useful in these situations.
The FC is delicately mounted on a piece of foam and does not use typical rubber separators, which is an unusual approach. Anyway, it seems to be working as expected to minimize oscillation and provide protection to FC.
If you choose the Frsky receiver, it comes with the XM receiver, not the usual XM+ receiver. The XM is simpler and smaller, but has only one antenna, while the XM+ has two to improve the range. Although it is not a decisive factor, it would be advisable for the XM + to be the standard mounter.
There is a welded capacitor at the end of the XT30 cable, with a heat retractable wrapper on it. I think it would be better if you turned the lid on the other side (up from the XT30) to make the cable more flexible.
BetaFPV normally uses "AIO Camera / VTX" in its micro models such as FPV configuration. But this time they finally used a decent dedicated FPV camera on the HX100: Runcam Nano 2.
The VTX is the BetaFPV AO1, a good VTX that supports SmartAudio and capable of output powers of 25mW and 200mW. The VTX antenna rests between the two rear accessories, but is really rigid and does not move at all.
BetaFPV recommends LiPo 2S or 3S 300mAh batteries for this model, depending on the type of propellers you want to use (as mentioned above, depending on the propellers being mounted). According to some tests, the 2S 450mah is also a good option.
The flight driver is loaded with BetaFlight version 3.5.3, a fairly old version, but it is not necessary to update it. The objective of the firmware is MATEKF411.
There are two UARTs: UART1 used for VTX SmartAudio, UART2 used for radio receiver.
The configuration is quite simple. Here's an example of what you can do to blow it up for the first time:
- Link the drone to the radio (Frsky XM)
- Disable "Motor_Stop"
- Lower the "engine idle accelerator value" to 10
- Disable "RX_LOST" in DShot Beacon
- Configuration switches for arming and beeper
- Configure OSD
Note that the HX100 is configured to run "Props out": engines rotate in reverse direction. According to BetaFPV, the default spin direction of the propellers causes the quad to sink, and the reverse settings fix it.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a small-sized BNF race drone, you won't be disappointed with this model. The BetaFPV HX100 offers a wide range of receptors and all components are reliable and work well. The configuration is as easy as it can be in a model of these characteristics, and it is tuned to fly just out of the box. All you have to do is link it to your radio.
It weighs only 41 g without battery, only 2 grams heavier than the lighter quad, the Sailfly, and that is one of the reasons why you can achieve a really long flying time: about 5 minutes of aggressive flight on a 3S 300 mah.
In general it flies better with the 65 mm propellers, and it is also much more powerful and efficient. There is really not much to be seen in the need to use 4-blade 48 mm propellers in this type of quads. The 65 mm propellers work well in 3S, it is only advisable to set the accelerator to 80% or 90% in your radius, and that's it!
Specifications
- Weight: 45.8 g (without battery)
- FC and ESC: F4 2-4S AIO 12A FC
- Engines: 1103 8000KV with connector
- Stitches: 65 mm 2 blade struts (1.5 mm shaft orifice) / 48 mm 4 blade struts (1.5 mm shaft orifice)
- Camera: Custom EOSV2 camera
- VTX: A01 25-200mW 5.8G VTX
- Table: carbon fibre table HX100
- Canopy: Canopy for HX100
Recipient option: Frsky XM / DSMX / Futaba S-FHSS / Flysky / TBS Crossfire - Battery: 300mAh 3S battery / 300mAh 2S battery
- Flight time: almost 2 minutes
Pros and cons of this Drone
- Pretty good construction quality, especially the frame
- Very fast, especially with the 3S configuration
- Independently mounted camera, so it can be replaced
- There are plenty of accessories and spare parts
- Canopy's a little fragile.
- The camera you bring as standard offers a rather poor image quality
Conclusions
This is a small - great race drone to start with. His flying skills are more than enough to have a really fun time with it and the construction quality is quite decent for its class. In addition, for the newest users, with the configuration it brings as standard you can already fly as you pull it out of the box.
A highly recommended product within your segment!.