BetaFPV F411 1s 5a Flight Controller - ELRS

Name: BetaFPV F411 1s 5a Flight Controller - ELRS
Brand: Aerial Outlaws
Price: 39.99 USD
Availability: InStock

$39.99 USD

~~$39.99 USD~~ $39.99 USD

Sale Sold out

Motor Plugs Yes No

Product variants

Quantity

People often ask me "what is the best flight controller?" Well, as of right now, it's this one!

This flight controller is a favorite among top level pilots and my current recommendation for best flight controller. This flight controller does require a little more soldering than other flight controllers, as it does not come with a VTX, but this ends up being a key factor in making it the most reliable flight controller on the market. It is also one of the lightest and cheapest.

Note: please check that these flight controllers work BEFORE soldering. Even if you’ve never flown the build, once you get out a soldering iron, the return process becomes much more complicated and sometimes even impossible. These flight controllers are becoming a decently low DOA rate, but sometimes it still happens, and if it happens, then you’ll be able to much more quickly and easily get a replacement if you haven’t soldered to it yet. I recommend checking the gyro using the sensor tab of betaflight, the escs by plugging in a motor and using betaflight to spin it, as well as the receiver by binding to the flight controller, all before you get out the soldering iron. This is a process I recommend for every flight controller from every store!

COMPATIBILITY

This flight controller features standard 25x25 whoop mounting which fits all the popular whoop frames, including 65mm, 75mm, and 85mm frames. The "cross" shape also means that it will be compatible with BetaFPV's "Pro" frames, such as the Meteor65 Pro.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT VERSIONS?

There are 4 main versions of this flight controller: D8/PNP, ELRS, Light, and Classic. There are several differences between the D8/PNP board and ELRS board. These differences largely come down to the receiver and its hardware.

D8/PNP: Comes with an SPI receiver that uses the D8 or Redpine protocol. This receiver seems to be much more reliable (in terms of not breaking in a crash) than the ELRS version of this flight controller. However, the way that I use it is to add my own external ELRS receiver. This version of the board makes it extremely easy to add your own receiver (hence the "PNP").

ELRS: Comes with a serial receiver for the ELRS protocol. While the ELRS protocol is typically preferred over D8/Redpine, this receiver seems to frequently break in crashes. Unfortunately, it is not as easy to add a receiver to this version of the flight controller due to not having all the pads to support it easily accessible.

The difference between the Light and Classic versions of this flight controller is whether or not it comes with motor plugs.

Classic: Comes with motor plugs

Light: Does not come with motor plugs

WHICH VERSION SHOULD I BUY?

The main issue with this flight controller is that it is not uncommon for the ELRS receiver to die. This is NOT unique to this flight controller or brand. This is an issue with EVERY serial ELRS flight controller. For this reason, I never recommend serial ELRS flight controllers unless the pilot expects to have the receiver die. I am not sure if this is a coincidence that EVERY serial ELRS flight controller has this issue or if there is something about the way it is implemented, but they all tend to die very quickly.

if you do choose to get the serial ELRS version, it is recommended that you direct solder the motors, rotate the flight controller 90 degrees, and make sure there’s no chance for the camera to impact into the flight controller. For this purpose, the CustomFPV mount is the best ultralight camera mount you can buy and the BikeGuy mount is the best versatile lightweight mount. There’s really not any situation where I would recommend any other camera mount unless you’re simply trying to make your drone heavier. But in all cases, it’s extremely important to choose a camera mount that prioritizes the safety of your flight controller if you’re using the ELRS version of this flight controller.

Because the ELRS version is so fragile, I usually recommend the D8/PNP version of this flight controller. Whether you want to use the D8/Redpine protocol or not, the D8/PNP version of this flight controller is the most reliable way to easily get a working ELRS receiver on your build. It is counterintuitive, I know, but if you want to use ELRS, the D8 version is the best way to do it, in my opinion. At least for reliability. Buying the ELRS version will be about $10 cheaper and 0.4g lighter than using a PNP board with an elrs receiver, but the PNP board will almost certainly last much longer.

Between the classic and light versions of this flight controller, I personally tend to prefer my builds to NOT have motor plugs. However, regardless of what you prefer, the classic version allows you to check that your ESCs work BEFORE soldering, maximizing your chance to return a defective unit should you get one. This is especially important as this flight controller uses slightly different microcontrollers for the ESCs which sometimes can be a little weird when configuring. These issues seem to be mostly worked out by now, but better safe than sorry!

Long story short, I believe that the D8/PNP version of this board in the "Classic" variant (with motor plugs) is the best option for pretty much everyone.

WHY IS THE LITE VERSION UNAVAILABLE?

Aerial Outlaws is a brand that believes in doing things differently. Even though the Lite version might be the popular choice, we believe that everyone should check the QC on their FC's immediately upon receiving them. If your flight controller does not have motor plugs, it really isn't possible to check to make sure the ESCs work properly without soldering, which can often times void your warranty. Motor plugs serve a vital role in being able to check your electronics before soldering and are very easy to remove after you've checked everything. So I personally believe nobody should ever buy the Lite version.

LEARN MORE

I'm going to make a video soon showing exactly how I recommend utilizing this flight controller and how I use it. This all applies for UWL, freestyle, toothpicks, and 65mm racing!