A 250 class mini quadcopter that breaks the mold and offers some unique features, the Mini Mamba is a very interesting option for those wanting to do a bit of FPV racing.
Pro’s:
– Quadrasteria’s attitude to improving the product
– tough (like most miniquads)
– fast, even with 0-degree motor angles
– can take 6-inch props (or bigger)
– lots of room onboard
– easy to modify/alter
– almost no physical limit on battery dimensions
Con’s:
– camera arrangements not well thought out
– landing gear could be improved (but better than the ZMR)
Summary:
The Mini Mamba could be improved in a couple of areas but is basically a fun miniquad with a good turn of speed and *lots* of potential. If you like to try stuff out and want something different then the basic performance combined with Quadrasteria’s very positive attitude to improving the design based on feedback make this a worthwhile purchase.
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A good point on the customer service bit! I bought my 220 frame from
Red20RC and the price went down $20+ 3 days later – he reimbursed me even
though the price drop was a calculation mistake of his. I did suggest I’d
pay it back, but he wouldn’t have it 🙂 Exactly why I bought the frame from
a small DIY dealer; you get a direct line to the guy who builds it.
Really looking forward to the build :)
Hi Bruce, What kind of flight times do you get with this setup?
Hmmm nice build Bruce. I think it’s time I send your Christmas gift quad
for all the great vids. I’ll PM,
hi where can i buy this frame from i live in the uk
Bruce, I was wondering if a manufacturer has thought of adding a small
servo to add or remove a few degrees of motor rotation depending on what
type of flight. Say for instance, if you were in hover, motors would be
parallel to flight deck, once you begin forward flight the motors would
rotate a bit to keep the flight deck flat. I’m sure you’d have to mix in
degree of rotation so the controller would know that it’s being offset a
certain degrees and not to compensate. But this would basically keep the
craft in it’s most efficient profile. APM could probably do it, I wonder if
any of those coders has thought of it.
I think you will find it is not so much a limitation of the flight
controller, KK2, Naze 32, CC3D ,APM etc all have gimbal support which if
you think about it is what you are suggesting. The real issue is coming up
with a mechanism that will be strong enough and also protect the servo in a
crash and let’s face if you’re not crashing you’re not having fun.
+Rob B I like how it’s a single carbon tube. it seems you can use the
same clamp that holds the tube to hold a bearing with the tube inside..
This would give you a rock solid mount. Then it’s just a digital servo
mounted mid way with two arms each attached to a ball joint mounted on the
tube. I’m only talking 10 degrees at the most here. more that that and
you’d really be flying something strange.
It is the same as gimbal, except that the gimbal is altering the angle of
the fight controller. the controller would need to know that it’s
purposefully being adjusted to 5 degrees forward tilt and not try to
compensate for it.
I may play with this..
Meh.. The whole thing looks a little bodged to me.
Hey Bruce, I just tried to Google the Mini Mama’s site to no avail.
The correct spelling is:- “Quadrysteria” Mini Mamba not Quadrasteria as in
your video description ;)
Manually adjustable motor pylon tube angle? Looking forward to in flight
servo controlled pylon angle someday? Boeing V-22 Osprey(ish)… preferably
without all the crashes and for significantly less than $27.2 billion.
Please teach this old guy new tricks. I’m trying hard to fly my quads and
copters but I can’t get the the trick to keeping track of my orientation.
I’ve been flying my planes with no problems because I always know with way
is forward. Maybe a white cane is not a bad idea for me. lol
Love it Bruce, but you need to spend more time flying and less time
reviewing. That was awful! …. :)
Hi Bruce. Why don’t you put some heli skids onto the lower frame… Regards.
Hugh. PS. By the way I bought the NAZA-H stabilisation system for the Trrx
500.
If you angle the props remember to angle the FC board or hover will get
interesting…briefly I think
Bruce, seems like you (and comments so far) have missed the important
feature of the Mobius camera (and its predecessor which is still available,
the 808 #16 keychain cam) – it can do live video out while also doing
on-board HD recording … so a separate FPV camera is redundant – just feed
the live stream to the video tx, and power it via the USB port, the cables
come with the set. The only reason you would want a separate FPV camera is
if you want head tracking on it.
Mobius does not deal with light changes or head on into the sun in an
acceptable fashion. When you’re flying at full tilt, you really want the
best image you can get. The board cams do an exceptional job of dealing
with lighting changes, which is why most people use them.
What a clever yet simple antenna mount using tie-wraps. That saves a whole
lot of ‘farting around’ as Bruce would put it.
Hi
Is the Möbius no good as an fpv camera on its own ?
How much better is a board camera than the Möbius ?
Cheers 
Ok nice review, I like it but I am a plane guy. I have the stuff for a quad
but lack many know hows Like what does simon K flashed mean and how to hook
up my x8 to my new naze board any links to other vids would be great here.
thanks !
Nice !
I want to join the team that had enough of mini quads… still a good
review and still worth watching.. thanks Bruce..
Are the mini’s more or less susceptible to the carbon fiber interference
I’ve heard you talk about?
Need product link Bruce!
Hi, Bruce! Can you review the HJ-Y3 tricopter? It looks good, but not sure
if it flies as good as it looks.
Thanks in advance!
Bah humbug from a fixed wing guy at the back of the class! 😉
Also, for racing quads should come with a lightweight fairing to cover all
the ugly. Preferably red with a prancing horse on it. :-)
Hey Bruce (and Ron). Really been looking forward to this review. Love the
concept of this very cool looking kit. After hearing Ron will offer
increased frame gap for a Mobius inside, my first thought was just spin it
180. With space in between for a Mobius (and a little anti-vib foam), I’d
try setting her up back to front. The Mobius could sit nicely protected
between both plates with the FPV cam directly above (or visa-versa with a
nano-cam) and neither would be in the way of the other. It would also
eliminate the extra bulk of the ball mount. However, after studying the
photos more closely, I can see that as is the back end is probably not long
enough for the Mobius to fit fully recessed. Version 2.0 perhaps?
Alternatively, if the longer plate is the top plate, then the Mobius could
sit forward with a clear view and the FPV cam could hang underneath. In
any case, I think you’re spot-on Bruce that many of us will wipe-out that
cam mount in short order.
My other wish is eliminating the weight and fiddling of all those steel
nylocks. Can’t tell if those are M3 or M4, but about 15-20 grams for 24 of
them…not much, but it all adds up. If half of the tube clamps were
threaded, screws just bolt into the threaded half (from either side for the
frame section). It would of course require 8 more screws, but since all
the screws would be shorter it might even shed a fraction more weight.
Cleaner looking setup too.
Just a few thoughts…hope it’s useful. Good video Bruce, looking forward
to the rest.
hmm , ive done something similer where i use the 12/22mm carbon boom
holders stacked to run 12mm motor arms and 22mm boom down the middle. funny
as when i though about how id make a 250 this is what i dreamed up. one
question is what holds the frame solid from torque roll in hard yaw moves??
Hey Bruce. How about putting the motor arms in some bearings and then
controlling the angle of the motors with a pair of servo’s? Possibly mix
them with the elevator (or whatever it’s called on a quad) … I wonder how
far you could tilt them without loosing control? …. OOoooo now that I
think about it … lifting body shape and you could just about have them
horizontal. How fast could a mini quad go with a body for lift and 4 motors
going full knacker? LOL
Nice quad, and the tilt on the motors might work, Bruce have you seen the
mini hexa from TBS? it follows this idea of racing quad
Gah, I’m having a hard time with getting into miniquads. I’m old and too
much conflicting info for my poor noggin.
Please Bruce, can you just give me a list of bits to go for my first one? I
like really like this frame for example, but I just need a simple quick
list of bits to go with it (I’ll crash, so not too fragile please) . Naze32
from HK OK? Motors? ESCs props etc. Hobby King if possible, but whatever,
if the price is reasonable. I have a Taranis radio so will use a FrSky Rx
(yay FrSky!). Say middle of the road expense? I’m OK for FPV gear and a
Mobius, as I have heaps for my fixed wing stuff, although a 5.8Ghz Tx
recommendation would also be appreciated..
Just wanted to say, thanks for all the hard work you do Bruce.
Bruce I have an AXN with D4r2 and Taranis. I believe there is a simple 2
resistor voltage divider I can build to send flight battery voltage back to
my Taranis. Is this correct?
I thought I had seen something in one of your vids but I cannot seem to
find it. :-)
Did you see the v2 mini mamba
How much does the Mini Mamba frame weigh? Not listed on web site….
Thank you
Great review 
can you recommend a good quad for smooth filming
Why would you use a separate board camera for your FPV when you’ve got the
Mobius? Just connect the Mobius to the transmitter…