Are you looking for a drone that you can fly in freestyle mode? For a very affordable amount of money, you can buy the EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5 micro-racing drone.
Do not let the small size of this drone deceive you because it is quite a performer. It has been designed with a lightweight body made of carbon fiber, and high quality, powerful motors. The combination of all of these factors pushes this drone to speed and superb navigation control.
There is no surprise when it comes to the performance of this small drone. After all, EMAX has been working tirelessly to produce small drones that outshine the big boys. Despite some flaws such as poor camera quality, which barely meets expectations, this is still a good drone and it is worth buying.
Before you continue, we have a small disclaimer for you. This is not a beginner drone. Many resources say that it is a beginner racing quadcopter but nothing could be further from the truth. If you are not ready to peruse the user manual and watch tutorial videos for hours, don’t buy it. Most beginner racing drones just need you to bind the batteries and you are ready to go. This one is different.
EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5 Features & Technical Details
If you are a performance freak and you want to extend the same to your bikes, cars, boats and even drones, the Tinyhawk Freestyle is your kind of drone. Therefore, this micro racer drone is designed with people like you in mind.
Read on to see its features and specs.
Design and build quality
As you can see, this is a small drone, but it offers much more that many of the big boys cannot offer. It measures 3.5 by 4.1 by 0.7 inches (L by W by H). Even with the two Lipo batteries, (It is supposed to use two 1S batteries); the weight of the drone is minimal at 79g.
The frame of the EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5 is made with carbon fiber, a high quality, resilient and lightweight material. While ABS plastic is all the rage in the market when it comes to drones, well, carbon fiber is a step ahead. It does not burst open at a crash and it does a marvelous job of lowering the weight. That is why performance cars and bicycles use carbon fiber in their frame.
Get high quality brushless motors with your Tinyhawk 2.5 drone. They require zero to minimal maintenance, they give a high quality performance and they do not consume the battery at the same rate as brushed motors would.
Camera Quality
Small and agile as this drone is, it is still a camera drone. It comes with a 600TVL CMOS camera. Some resources say that this is the last generation CMOS camera with higher resolution and better image and video quality than its predecessors.
This camera has a wide-angle lens. Therefore, your FPV transmission is going to be detailed, with vivid colors and details. You will have fun with the FPV feature of this drone. Since this drone has smart audio, the communication between the drone and the controller is quite enhanced. This has nothing to do with having sound in your videos. It just means that you can adjust the settings of your video transmitter using the remote controller.
Battery and flight time
We know that most racing quads do not come with long-lasting batteries. For example, the Hubsan X4 Storm’s battery gives 6 minutes of flight time.
Therefore, we figure that the 2, 450mAh Lipo batteries that this drone comes with are good because they can give you a flight time of 7 minutes when using assisted flight mode. However, when you fly your drone in freestyle mode, these batteries will last about 5 minutes, which is still good. The plug takes two batteries. These will give you good flight time when you want to fly the drone casually or for FPV fun.
Use the provided charger to charge the batteries. While the flight time is not that long, the saving grace is that the charging time for one battery is 30 minutes.
Receiver
Of course, the Tinyhawk 2.5 Freestyle Does come with a small receiver. This receiver can bind with D8 and D16 but you have to change the settings in BetaFlight, under the receiver options. Frsky D8 and D16 receivers are popular with FPV drones, so there is a lot of information online.
Short Summary of Feedback from Existing Owners
I would not advise beginners to buy this drone because it is a bit complicated to fly for the first time. However, once you get the gist of it, this drone flies like a marvel. Sebastien H.
I think the price is alright from a drone with these features. However, the flight range and the FPV range seem to diminish a bit with time. Be careful not to fly this drone too far lest it flies away for good. There have been reports of a botched fail-safe return. Spencer W.
The flight performance of this small drone is just incredible. It has 1103 brushless motors and an advanced AVAN Rush propeller for better thrust and control. Lenny A.
The small size and the minimal weight of this drone make it seem a bit delicate but it is not. It can actually take a few bashes without breaking anything. However, be careful not to hit it against obstacles too much since it does not have prop guards. Iyad K.
My only issue with this drone is the TVX camera. I feel it could be better than this as I like to enjoy my FPV experience. I have thought of swapping it with something better but decided it is not worth it. Aladdin W.
In BetaFlight Configuration, this drone flies like a marvel. With this kind of performance, I think this price is quite a steal for me. Miguel R.
EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5 Pros
- It flies wonderfully well
- The Tinyhawk 2.5 comes with a high quality case for storage and traveling
- Fun FPV experience
- Spare set of propeller blade
- The dual battery connection gives double voltage and longer flight time
- High quality brushless motors are quiet and they fly well
- Carbon fiber frame makes it extremely light in weight
EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5 Cons
- Too light in weight, can easily fly away if the fail-safe return doesn’t work
- A bit complex for beginners
- Camera quality could be better
Who Should Buy The EMAX Tinyhawk 2.5?
Considering the cost of the Tinyhawk 2.5 Freestyle and the flight performance that it can give you, we can say it is worth every penny that you pay for it. Anyone can buy this drone, but it is most suitable for people who have some experience flying drones in freestyle mode. Therefore, if you are looking for the first drone ever in your life, this may not be it. You should cut your teeth on smaller, cheaper and easier-to-fly drones and then graduate to advanced ones. If you are looking for a camera drone with the aim of capturing good videos and photos, this one will not serve you.
Conclusion and Recommendation
As soon as you buy the EMAX Tinyhawk Freestyle drone, you should start by reading the manual carefully. The reason for this is that this drone is hard to fly and so you would do better to watch a few videos on YouTube as well. Once you learn everything about it, take it out to a clear field on a calm day and fly the heck out of it, always ensuring it stays within sight. Mostly, since this is just a fun drone, we figure there is no need to buy other batteries and so you can just use the two it comes with.
