Mobula 7 HD Review | Best Acro Cinewhoop
Today we’ll be reviewing this fantastic Mobula 7 HD, the micro cinewhoop drone from HappyModel. Unless you were hiding under a rock last year the Happy Model Mobula 7 took everyone by storm. The upgraded version comes with HD Camera and bigger motors. Let’s dive into the details
Original Mobula was the first of an emerging market of brushless whoops. I’ve always been fascinated by tiny whoops usually during the winter, but they always end up disappointing me. They’re twitchy and difficult to tune so they fly smoothly and because you lack the mass they obviously don’t fly like a 5 inch.
The Mobula 7, Trashcan, Tiny Hawk and iFlight Cinebee were the next gen of tiny whoops and they fly really well.
Now I’m convinced it’s because the filtering in Betaflight needed to make them work well has benefited from more efficient code and just simply faster processors.
So Happy model have released this HD version of the Mobula7, it uses the CADDX Turtle V2 HD camera. A bit like a Run Cam split. And it’s got much larger motors which really takes it to the next level of whoop, it’s a acro cinewhoop.
WHAT IS IN THE BOX?
Quick overview of what we’ve got in package
- Little manual which we’re all used to
- 3S Battery 300maH, 30C/60C
- OSD joystick for the CADDX
- Extra pack of props 4blade
- Prop removal tool
- Screwdriver
- Few spare canopy screws in case you lose one
- XT 30 cable
- Adapter so you can use two 1s lipos in series
- Buzzer
The drone itself has that kind of futuristic look to it. The canopy has nicely injected moulding base. Unlike the original Mobula7 which had a Crazybee F3 board, this has got the Crazybee F4. It is flashed with Betaflight 4.
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FLIGHT CONTROLLER
At the bottom we’ve got the Crazybee F4 Pro V2 all in one flight controller. And you can use that on 2 or 3 S HV lipos. And there’s a built in receiver and you have to order the option you want.
RECEIVER
You can have either the FrSky transmitter that supports D8 and D16 and that’s non-EU.
Flysky using the HF HDS and HF HDS 2A protocol.
And there’s a DSM 2 DSM X version if you’re using a spectrum transmitter.
CAMERA
The camera they used is the CMOS CADDX Turtle V2 which will give you 1080p at 60 frames a second. Also tucked up in here there’s a microphone and there’s an OSD as well.
VTX
The VTX is tucked up inside the top of the canopy, just in there’s a little triangular board. It’s got 40 channels and it’s switchable between 25/200 milliwatts.
And this VTX supports smart audio so you can change the VTX channels, power and all your Betaflight settings using the OSD menu via the transmitter sticks. Just hold half throttle/full yaw and full forward pitch on the sticks and the OSD will appear in your goggles.
If you want to change the VTX channel or power you can do that with this tiny little button just tucked away in there.
LEDs under the top here show you what channel and what power is selected. It’s pretty awkward to use and using the OSD menu in your goggles is the way to go.
ANTENNA
It’s got this RG 178 a simple wire antenna that clips into the canopy.
MOTORS
Now these motors are EX 1102 9,000 kV which are pretty punchy on 3S. The are actually pretty good. I’m impressed with these motors. They do have bearings, magnets aren’t the strongest but they have great performance. The motors are very suitable for whoops of this size.
ESC
Apparently this has an upgraded MCU the EFM 8BB 21. Anyway it’s rated at 5 amps continuous and 6 amps for up to 5 seconds.
It’s running BL Helli REV 16.7. Supports one-shot, multi shot, D-shot and the default the most set is the D-shot 600.
So it’s quite a packed out little quad. The weight is 47 grams
compared to the original Mobula which is 30 grams. There’s a bit of difference. And I think most of the difference is probably in the CADDX camera board and these high power motors.
Setup should be easy, but I found it was impossible to get this bound in D16 mode even though the spec says it supports D8 and D16.
Remember the built-in receiver is non-eu so if you’re using a transmitter that’s flashed with EU LBT firmware you’ll need to add an external receiver.
FLIGHT TEST
It was tested with stock PIDs and rates on 3S using this pack. The tune is configured by Nathan Loopz, he masterd it to say at least.
It flies pretty smoothly to be honest, but as soon as you start pushing it with hard throttle punches there’s some oscillations.
Now I don’t think this is actually the tune that’s the problem I tried tuning it out but I think the mega powerful 10000 kV motors on 3S are just too much for this flexible frame. With 9000 kV it flies way smoother.
The original Mobula 7 frame used to break really easily and this frame on here looks the same as the V2 version which is available now. It still flexes but it doesn’t actually break.
One other thing to watch out for is these battery leads it pushes the leads on to the edge of the USB connector and if you’re not careful it’ll eventually cut through the wires. just make sure they’re pushed one out of the way when you put the battery in.
And lastly I need to add the buzzer, finding it in long grass is going to be a bit of a problem.
CONCLUSION
I think well though there’s a few problems with this quad I really do like it on 2 and 3S. With a gentle throttle finger you’ll get awesome acro footage that’s ready to put straight to YouTube 1080p at 60 frames a second.
It’s not quite ready for full-blown high speed just yet but I suspect an update will be on the way because I’ve seen some similar other quads using a simple carbon bottom plate across here.
And the component spec and build quality is excellent. It gets a solid 8 out of 10 from me.
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