The Best FPV Racing Drone Under $300 in 2018

Best-in-Class, FPV Bind-and-Fly, FPV Ready-to-fly, Product Reviews
Best FPV racing drone under $300 3

If you are interested in buying the Best FPV Drone under $300 or Best Beginner FPV Racing Drone under $300, then you’ve just landed on the list that will make your decision easy.

Beginners should keep in mind a full RTF FPV drone setup will be made up of:

  • FPV quadcopter
  • FPV goggles
  • Radio controller
  • Additional batteries with a charger

If you got all the way to this point in the article and you’re wondering, what in the world is FPV or whats a RTF FPV Drone? Check out the following resources to get more of an intro to FPV:

We examined over a dozen FPV quadcopters while completing this review and settled on the final 5 best drones listed below as our Best FPV drones under $300. Most of these quadcopters are highly recommended for beginner FPV pilots and we are not surprised that a few of these ended up on our shortlist of best FPV racing drones under $300. Since we’re limiting ourselves to under $300 in this list, a few of the drones we examined fell into the beginner or entry level drone category. All the quadcopters we listed have the ability to race and do freestyle acrobatics and made it onto our shortlist because of their mix of value and performance.

Compare the Best FPV Racing Drones Under $300

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Model:
EMAX Hawk 5Arris X220 ProDiatone GT-M540Eachine Wizard X220SEachine Wizard X220
Overall Rating:90.5/10079.5/10089/10073/100
67.5/100
Pros:•Amazing tuning
•Powerful quad
•High quality components		•High quality components
•Great value for money		•Great frame design
•6S compatible		•Great frame durability
•Great for entry level pilots
•Improved performance from Wizard X220		•Excellent frame durability
•Great for entry level
Cons:•Camera protection could be improved•Frame is small for session camera
•No push button channel switching		•Power hungry
•Components exposed to damage		•Frame is not full carbon fiber
•No push button channel switching		•No voltage monitoring
•ESCs are exposed to damage
•No push button channel switching
Bottom Line:Best Overall Pick. Finely tuned, extremely fast quadcopter that punches above it's weight.Best Value. Fast, durable with excellent quality brand name partsFastest drone on our shortlist. Able to adapt from entry level to advanced pilots. Improved version of the Eachine Wizard X220. Great for entry level pilotsCapable flier that entry level pilots will love
Speed and Power:(30%)9.5/107.5/1010/107/106.5/10
Maneuverability:
(30%)		10/107/1010/107/106/10
Value for Money:
(20%)
8/1010/108/107/107/10
Camera:
(10%)		9/108/107/108/108/10
Durability:
(10%)
7/108/106/109/108/10
Specifications:•EMAX LS2206 2300kv motors
•EMAX Bullet 30A 4 in 1 BLHeli_S DSHOT600
•Foxeer Arrow Micro V2 600TVL
•EMAX Magnum F4 built in Betaflight OSD
•EMAX RS2306 2400KV Brushless Motors
•Flycolor Raptor S-Tower BHeli-S 2-4S 4-in-1 40A ESC + F4 + PDB + OSD
•Runcam Swift 2 FPV Mini Camera
•Edge racing 2308 1950KV Motors
•Mamba F40 4IN1 / 40A 3- 6S ESC Dshot600
•Runcam Swift Camera
•Mamba F405 flight controller		•Eachine MN2206 2300KV motor
•Eachine 30A BLHELI_S 4 in 1 ESC
•Eachine 1179 800TVL CCD camera
•BF3.1.5 Omnibus F4 V2 flight controller
•2205 2300KV Motor
•Eachine 20A BLHELI_S ESC
700TVL Camera
•F3 6DOF flight controller

Best FPV Racing Drone Under $300

EMAX Hawk 5

The EMAX Hawk 5 is AerialTechReview’s best FPV racing drone to buy for under $300 in 2018! This quadcopter is a highly recommended bind and fly drone in the FPV community. It is a very light, sturdy and powerful build that is respected by experienced FPV builders in the community.

The EMAX Hawk 5 is the best made and best set up quadcopter in our shortlist.  It is designed to go very fast and is perfectly tuned out of the box by people that know exactly what they’re doing. Anyone that buys this quadcopter will have a top tier racer. As a beginner or intermediate pilot you get the benefit of a finely tuned FPV racer that punches way above its weight.

The frame is a sturdy 5mm thick carbon fiber that has a convenient cutout on the top plate that makes it easy to read your VTX channel display. Since this is an EMAX quadcopter it is an extremely good quality build with excellent components. EMAX is a top tier manufacturer of reliable parts and with such a high quality build the chances are this will stay your primary quad even after you’ve developed past the beginner and intermediate pilot stages. The speed and handling is extremely good and can be compared to racing drones well above this price range. This quadcopter belongs on the racetrack. Its our Best FPV Drone Under $300 in 2018.

  • The EMAX Hawk 5 is a finely tuned, extremely fast FPV racing drone that punches above its weight.
  • It’s out of the box setup and tuning is top tier and really shows that EMAX knows how to make a quality FPV racing drones. 

Pros:

  • Out of the box setup and tuning is amazing
  • Very powerful and stable quadcopter
  • Excellent high quality components, and they give you spares in the box

Cons:

  • We really wish the EMAX Hawk 5 had better camera protection. The frame set up leaves the camera exposed to damage in crashes

Read our review: EMAX Hawk 5

Cheap FPV Drone – Best Value for Money

Arris X220 Pro

The Arris X220 Pro is a great quadcopter with high quality name brand parts at an awesome price. It has a simple but strong frame design with chamfered edges on the arms that give it a sleek and aerodynamic look. The Pro version of the Arris X220 is shipped with a Runcam Swift 2, EMAX motors and a Foxeer padoga antenna. This is a great selection of reliable brand name components at great value. Compared to some of its competitors its quite a cheap FPV drone.

The 4-in-1 ESC on the Arris X220 Pro is located inside the chassis of the quad and has been upgraded from the 30A version in the standard model to a 40A version in the Arris X220 Pro. It would be pretty difficult to bust the 40A 4-in-1 ESC on the Arris as a beginner. Unlike the Eachine Wizards reviewed below, the Arris X220 Pro has integrated battery voltage monitoring and there is no need to install a beeper or try to guess how much battery life is left on the quadcopter.

The frame is a little wider on the front and the top and bottom plates are smaller than average, so you may struggle to mount a session camera like the GoPro on the top along with your battery. This is only an issue because the Arris comes out of the box configured for top battery mounting. It is common to mount the session camera over the top of the battery or move the battery to the bottom of the frame. This is usually not a big deal for beginners as they may not fly with a session camera. An advantage of the slightly smaller frame is that this quadcopter has a great Thrust-to-Weight ratio.

  • The Arris X220 Pro is our pick for the Best Value racing drone under $300. It is a great Cheap FPV Drone.
  • It’s fast, maneuverable, has excellent reliable parts and is durable. You can’t go wrong with this pick.

Pros:

  • Great quality name brand components and durable frame
  • Great Value for Money
  • Excellent Thrust-to-Weight ratio for the dollars

Cons:

  • Not enough space to mount session camera and battery on top of frame
  • Does not have press button channel switching on the VTX

Read out review: Arris X220 Pro

RTF FPV Drone – Drone Racing Starter Kit

Eachine Wizard X220

The Eachine Wizard X220 quadcopter is pretty standard on any beginner FPV “Best of” lists. It’s an entry level quadcopter that provides great value, durability and performance. It is one of the best Beginner FPV Racing Drones out on the market. The frame is a thick 4mm carbon fiber that is able to withstand a decent amount of abuse and will be hard to break. The design has good guards on the motors for some added protection and a camera mount that allows you to recess the camera quite well at lower tilts for added protection.

It is a very good beginner quad that most entry level users would find fast and quite responsive. The Ready-to-Fly (RTF) version of the Eachine Wizard X220 that we’ve linked to in this post is shipped with a 3S battery and a Flysky I6 remote control. For anyone looking for a little extra speed and power it’s possible to upgrade your battery to 4S, though 3S batteries are probably good enough for a beginner just starting out.  While the motors on the Eachine Wizard get the job done and give this flyer a decent thrust to weight ratio, experienced flyers will notice that the bearings are not as high quality as other name brand motors on the market. The quadcopter has LEDs under the motors for potential night flying and visibility, which is often desirable for some pilots.

The one drawback that the Eachine has that many newer models of racing quads do not, is it’s 4 separate arm mounted ESCs. It is pretty common for the Eachine X220 ESCs to get damaged or burned out in a bad crash because of how exposed and close they are to the spinning propellers.

  • The Eachine X220 is a capable flier that all entry pilots will love with a great combination of power and maneuverability.

Pros:

  • The frame is well designed, sturdy and offers great protection for components
  • Great speed and maneuverability for entry level pilots

Cons:

  • Does not have integrated battery voltage monitoring. It’s possible to use a timer or buy and install a battery alarm, but this is a hassle for a “RTF”  or “BNF” quadcopter
  • ESCs are arm mounted and are exposed and prone to damage
  • Does not have press button channel switching on the VTX

Read our review: Eachine Wizard X220

Best Beginner FPV Racing Drone

Eachine Wizard X220S

The Eachine Wizard X220S is the newer version of the popular X220 model. The X220S quadcopter is very similar in design to the orginal Wizard but with some minor improvements and a boost in power. The X220S is slightly heavier than the original Wizard but it has increased it’s Thrust-to-Weight ratio from the X220 model. This is a awesome Beginner FPV Racing Drone!

Eachine has also changed the layout of the ESCs from the original Wizard to a 4 in 1 ESC that is housed inside the main frame body.  Since the Eachine Wizard X220S no longer has exposed ESCs, this version of the Wizard is less prone to damage on crashes than the original Wizard.

This quadcopter is still largely aimed at beginners and entry level pilots, but is definitely a more capable quad than the original Eachine Wizard X220. Beginners and entry level pilots could do a lot worse than this for a first time quad to thrash around. The improvements on speed and handling from the original Wizard begin to edge this quad into real contender for race winning.

  • The Eachine Wizard X220S is a welcome improvement to the original Wizard.
  • It has improved power and design, but still has the great frame design and appeal of the original X220. 

Pros:

  • The frame is well designed and sturdy
  • Ready-to-fly
  • Great speed and maneuverability for entry level pilots

Cons:

  • Frame is not full carbon fiber. The X220S has lost some durability on its frame, especially the top plate, compared to the older version of the Wizard
  • Like the Wizard before it, components are more prone to failure than name brand contenders
  • Does not have press button channel switching on the VTX

Read our review: Eachine Wizard X220S

FPV Racing Quadcopter – Fastest Racing Drone

Diatone GT-M540

If we had to pick three words to describe the Diatone GT-M540 we’d pick fast, fast and fast. This quadcopter is newer than the EMAX Hawk 5 and is the newest drone that made it onto our shortlist. It is heavier than expected for a racer and this is largely due to it’s big heavy 2308 1950KV motors.

Like many of the newer quadcopters being released, the Diatone M540 is designed for up to 6S batteries (hence the lower kV motors). The frame thickness is quite high on the Diatone with the arm thickness at 6mm, but this is necessary because of the extra weight of the motors.

Overall the Diatone M540 has a decent build quality and good components. It has a fresh build stlye and a great frame design. The Diatone M540 frame is designed to pivot up easily on a hinge after removing just two screws on the front of the frame. This allows quick access to the components and is something that’s fairly unique in frame design.

This racing drone will work for beginners and also more experienced fliers as you can move from a 4S to a 6S battery build as your skill progresses. The 5S is probably our recommended battery on the Diatone M540 as it will give you a good balance between flight time and performance. The 4S battery doesn’t seem to be very punchy. While the 6S really gives you a great speed, it is very power hungry and limits your flight time to about 3 minutes. This is the fastest drone on our shortlist with the 6S battery installed.

  • The Diatone GT-M540 is the fastest drone in our shortlist with a fresh build style.
  • It’s able to adapt from an entry level quadcopter using a 4S battery to an advanced racer using 6S batteries.

Pros:

  • Frame is designed to pivot up easily with the removal of just two screws
  • 6S compatible build for increased speed and performance. It is a very fast quadcopter

Cons:

  • Power hungry motors and lower flight time
  • Components are quite exposed to damage due to the minimalist frame design

Read our review: Diatone GT-M540

What is important when choosing the Best FPV Racing Drone?

To compare the FPV racing drones we reviewed while compiling this shortlist, we rated each on 5 key metrics: speed and power, maneuverability, value for money, camera and durability. These categories are what best sums up a great FPV racing drone. Keep in mind that you may be looking for something slightly different in a racing drone. Take a look at the descriptions below for more in-depth information on our categories and how we ranked the drones in our reviews.

Speed and Power

Speed and power is the most valuable quality in a FPV racing drone. It is largely a function of battery, motors, weight and your choice of propellers. We looked at the Thrust-to-Weight ratios of the quadcopters and their top flight speeds to evaluate them for Speed and Power. The quadcopters that ranked the highest in this metric were typically the ones with the fastest clocked speeds.

To evaluate the Thrust-to-Weight ratios of the racing quads we watched several test flight videos of the racing drones in action, and then simulated the total drive capability of the quadcopter using online motor calculators. 

Another great source of information was aggregating the top measured speeds of the racing drones in various test flight videos online. We recorded the top clocked speeds in the various videos, averaged the results and used them to weight our category scores. 

Maneuverability

This category was a bit harder to quantify than some of the others on the list. While reviewing test flight videos we noticed that the feed back on maneuverability of the racing drones varied quite a bit depending on the skill level of the tester, and whether they had freestyle experience or not. Our opinion is that this category is quite heavily dependent on the final tuning of a quadcopter, which is in turn very pilot dependent.

We thought a simple measurable metric for base maneuverability would be a calculated Thrust-to-Weight ratio, as this determines the stopping and starting power of a quadcopter. Thrust-to-weight ratio is also important when evaluating a quadcopter’s agility and its ability to flip, turn and perform acrobatics. We used an online motor calculator to simulate the total drive capability of the quadcopter and its Thurst-to-Weight ratio. 

We also reviewed freestyle and test flight videos of the racing drones to determine their scores in this category. 

Value for Money

This was a fairly easy metric to determine. We looked at the overall price of the quad, but also accounted for the components in the build and their overall reliability when completing our ratings. Quadcopters that had brand name components that are reliable were ranked higher than those that did not. FPV racing drones with a cheaper purchase price got more points than their more expensive competitors.

Camera and Video Quality

Since a key component of FPV racing is the visual quality of your video feed we felt it was important to have a metric in our review that somehow captured this. There’s a lot of things at play when determining the final video quality of a FPV quadcopter such as flight range, antennas, VTX cards, cameras etc. We kept these things in mind when completing our product reviews, but a many of these factors are based on the flying conditions, antennas involved and the FPV googles you’re using.

The score in this category was determined by reviewing the camera resolution and user feedback from online test flights and review videos. We named this category camera for simplicity, but it is intended to measure the racing drones complete video TX/RX capability. 

Durability

As most FPV racers know, it is very common to crash racing drones. Which makes it important to have a drone that won’t disintegrate into dust the first time it hits the ground, a tree or a fence. The scores in this category were determined by reviewing the frame thickness, coverage of the components and the frame material. Ultimately you want a strong, thick carbon fiber frame that encases your most important components and protects them from damage at impact.

There were a lot of great drone crash videos out there for us to review while scoring this category. We watched these videos and tried to gauge how well the drone survived its impact and the test pilots ability to get the drone back online after the crash. The less damage the racing drone took or the easier it was to fix the higher it scored in durability. 

The Verdict

If you are looking for a great FPV racing drone for under $300 then the 5 quadcopters listed above in our shortlist are the first place you should look. Ultimately we had to pick one winner and one quadcopter that was the best value, and our selections were the EMAX Hawk 5 and the Arris X220 Pro. We hope this review will help you make your choice and find the Best FPV racing drone for under $300 in 2018. Enjoy that FPV flying!

Come back sometime and check out some more of our product reviews and best-in-class lists.