Published on March 9th, 2016 | by Júlio Ventura

Top 5 BNF and RTF Racing Drones for 2016

Drone industry is quickly growing around the globe, quickly conquering skies and people’s hearts. Enthusiasts get together at indoor and outdoor events to show off their pilot skills as well as their aerial machinery. Drone racing is becoming the new sport of the XXI century. It started has an amateur sport back in Australia, but today in 2016, it gives the first steps into the professional competition world. Some examples of this growth are the new Drone Racing League, a five stage competition in which drone racers compete against each other until one reaches the final stage. This final stage is no more no less than the Drone Racing World Championship! Yes, it is now an official world competition, which will determine the very first Drone Racing World Champion. Another great example of this on-growing seriousness around drone racing is the upcoming 2016 United States National Drone Racing Championship. We drone enthusiasts are living exciting days, we get to be the first generation of professional drone racers.

How can I become a drone racer?

That is a good question. What every beginner is wondering about now. As always at Techno FAQ, our goal is to help and guide you through your questions and doubts. Therefore, we have compiled a list of five great BindAndFly and Ready-to-Fly FPV drones, available to anyone who is serious (or even just curious) about drone racing. All the drones in our list come with all the needed parts. We have taken into consideration both quality and price as well as ease of assembling and controlling. So to every drone racing enthusiast out there, from beginners to experts, this are the five best complete package drones in the market for 2016:

Note: BNF means BindAndFly (drone needs to be assembled); RTF means Ready-to-Fly (drone is ready to fly out of the box).

Walkera F210

By now almost any drone enthusiast is aware of Walkera, a China based company founded in 1994. They have produced great commercial hits such as the microcopter QR Ladybird and the quadcopter QR X350. F210 is not their first racing drone, they have previously developed Runner 250 and Furious 320. From this three, Walkera F210 is the one which stands out the most. F210 is light, fast and agile, as any racing drone should be! F210 delivers high-performance flights with a very smooth and responsive control. F210 frame is made of carbon fiber, design is based on anti-collision and anti-drop mechanics (watch it pierce a piece of glass). F210 is equipped with four powerful WK-WS-28-014A 2500kv brushless motors, ensuring the high-performance I mentioned previously. On top of all this F210 package also includes a one million pixels 700TVL camera with adjustable 120º point of view, plus night vision and real time image transmission directly to a screen or FPV Goggles.

Storm Ninja 250 Pro V2

If you are familiar with Storm Ninja 250 Pro, a very fast and affordable flier, you will love the new version the Ninja 250 Pro V2. Produced by Storm Factory, it is known as a new generation drone racer. It doesn’t just focus on speed, it focused also on handling, extremely fast, accurate and responsive (using a CC3D Flight Controller). Frame is made of 3K Carbon Fiber, which is very light and resistant. It uses four powerful 2300kv 4D motors and light ABS propellers. Storm Ninja 250 Pro V2 is a pure joy to drive, enhancing the all speed racing experience. It has six flight modes from beginners to experts: Stabilized Beginner Mode (suitable for beginners), Stabilized Sport Mode (faster and with auto-leveling), Stabilized Freestyle (aerial acrobatics such as roll and loops), Acro Beginner (slow and low levelling), Acro Sport (extremely fast you will need FPV Goggles or monitor), Acro Freestyle (expert aerial acrobatics). Overall a very fast racing drone also suitable for aerial stunts.

Lumenier QAV210 Storm Edition

Another great racing drone by Storm Factory, the QAV210 Storm, a combination of the most updated technology and hardware. Using the powerful Storm M2204 brushless motors together with four HQ 5 Tri-Blade propellers running on 4S batteries (1300mah 4s being the one suggested by the manufacturer). Storm Factory has decided to use the all-in-one controller the PowerCube manufactured by another great drone company Team BlackSheep (we will mention one of their own drones further ahead). PowerCube is preloaded with CleanFlight software which control 4 20amp TBS BULLETPROOF Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) with OneShot and Active Braking. As you can see, the amount of technology put together to produce QAV210 really is promising. QAV210 frame is also great for racing, mainly due to only weighing 96grams and being made of 3K Carbon Fiber. On top of all this, it also comes with a low latency and good image quality Foxeer CCD camera with adjustable tilt-angle.

Sky-Hero Anakin

Anakin Storm is a multi-Award winning drone. Probably the most prized racing drone to date. 1# in Cabourg FPV Beach, 1# 3D Cup, #1 Ircha FPV Race, #1 Okc FPV Race, 2# Drone Nationals and 4# Hobbykings FPV, all in 2015. It is a proven champion, ready to compete at the highest level. Anakin design is totally adjustable, arms, motors and camera all can be adjusted according to your needs, allowing it to acquire different flight forms. Anakin is very resistant this is mainly due to its dihedral structure. Anakin is also very easy to customize, even beginners won’t have a hard time making custom changes to their quad. This fast racer features X2204 2300V motors capable of delivering up to 250W of power. A great looking racing drone, which has proven to be one of the best choices.

ANAKIN Club Racer

If you loved Anakin you will love even more its newest upgraded version the Anakin Club. Advertised as a “near-indestructible” drone, 215mm frame made of full 3K Carbon, only weighs 112gr. Does it live to Anakin’s legacy? We think it does. Equipped with high performance Xnova X2206 2000kv motors able to deliver up to 364W of pure power. Anakin Club, is an outstanding piece of aerial machinery. It uses OpenPilot CC3D board, one of the best in the market. It includes a FPV Sony 600TVL camera with 2.8 lens. There is nothing this racer doesn’t have. Truly a beast of the sky which will surely delight all racers for the upcoming drone racing events.

Extra drone!

TBS Vendetta

Vendetta, manufactured by Team BlackSheep, has not yet been released to the market. Therefore we haven’t included in our top 5. However, this 240mm sized drone, is one of the most hyped racing drones for 2016. A full carbon fiber molded unibody which is easily repaired and upgraded. Vendetta also has fully modular electronics and is designed aimed towards easy and quick repairs. It uses CM2204 2300kv brushless powerful motors and TBS ProCube with one of the fastest F3 boards (as previously mentioned on Storm Racer 250 Pro V2), which allow it be a fast, responsive and very reliable quadcopter, with up to 190W of power. Definitely a drone to keep your eyes on!

Six powerful drone racers which will surely be used in official competitions. Best of all, they are available to anyone who wishes to have a go at it. Of the six what is your favourite? Are you a proud owner of any of them? Please let us know on the comment section below, we at Techno FAQ are always happy to read your opinion.

Tags: 2016, 5, BNF, drone, drones, racing, RTF, top, UAV

About the Author

Júlio Ventura Digital Marketer, Webmaster, Writer, and Tech Enthusiast. Undergraduate in Translation from Faculty of Letters in Lisbon, Portugal. Postgraduate in Digital Marketing from Lusofona University in Lisbon. On a quest for further knowledge.