Review: Full Speed Leader 120 Mini FPV Racer

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Finally there is a new cult racer! After the awesome KingKong 90GT some pretty decent Mini Racers came out, but this one really rocks. With the Full Speed Leader 120 – that flies with 2S, 3S and even 4S batteries! – we have a new winner that performs like the devil on speed!

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Full Speed Leader 120 Mini FPV Racer

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Index:
Page 1: Review
Page 2: Modding
Page 3: Betaflight
Page 4: Lipo Comparison
Page 5: Videos

 

Full Speed Leader 120

Leader 120 & Accessories:
Leader 120 Mini FPV Racer
VTX03 25 / 50 / 200mW Mini VTX
Runcam Micro Swift 2
Mini LED Strip
FrSky XM+ SBUS Receiver 16 Channel
Kingkong 2840 2.8X4 3-Blade Propeller
Gemfan 3025 2-Blade Propeller

Caution, two versions!

With the Leader 120, the manufacturer Full Speed introduces a 120mm Mini FPV Racer that flies with both 2S and 3S (and even 4S – on the papers, at least). As the Leader was introduced, the reviewers were overwhelmed with enthusiasm about the great flight characteristics, the good handling and the enormous power, even with “only” 2S lipos used.

Shortly afterwards, however, there were the first reports of the Leader 120 performing so-called “roles of death” under full throttle, simply tipping over to the side and falling out of the air. The reviewers were quite baffled. Manufacturer Full Speed, however, responded quickly and took care of this problem, which became known as FOD (“Flip of Death”). The manufacturer gave the Leader 120 better engines and – this may have been the cause of the problem – 20A ESC, instead of the previously installed 10A. This seems to solve the problem and nothing negative is known yet about the new 20A version.

We also have the new 20A version of the racer in the test. These are currently available on Banggood. If you are not sure if you see the old or new version at a retailer: pay attention to the ESC’s ampere specification. 10A is the old version, 20A is the new and improved version.

Features

Features at a glance:
Comes with OSD!
Can be used with 2S / 3S / 4S lipos!
7500KV brushless motors
Carries up to 70mm propellers
Betaflight F3 6DOF flight controller
20A BLHELI_S ESC, capable up to DSHOT600
Plenty of power, superb flight characteristics!
Betaflight 3.2 compatible (dynamic filters)
Can be equipped with Runcam Micro Swift
Simple to mod
Comes as PNP (no receiver), compatible with PPM/SBUS/DSM receivers

The Leader 120 comes with a 3mm carbon frame, 1104 7500KV motors, 20A BLHELI_S ESC (DSHOT600 capable), a Betaflight F3 Omnibus flight controller with OSD, a mediocre camera (can easily be replaced with a Runcam Micro, see “Modding” below) and a 25mW transmitter. If you prefer a better range, you can easily replace the original VTX with 200mW VTX03 (see “Modding”). A buzzer is already installed (great!), on which there is also a LED that flashes cheerfully in time with the beeper. There is a connection for an additional LED strip on the board.

Attention: The Leader 120 comes without any receiver – which is an advantage in most cases so you can simply place your own favourite receiver (in our case the FrSky XM+). Advantage of the ultra-compact FrSky XM+ receiver: fits perfectly, offers full range, diversity and RSSI (real-time display of the reception strength via the OSD). So if you have a FrSky compatible TX (e. g. Taranis or Devo 10) you should definitely grab an XM+.

The Leader 120 differs from the KingKong 90GT mainly in its larger frame – and this allows the Leader to use 70mm propellers. In combination with the powerful 2S – 4S 7500KV engines, the leader can develop a considerable thrust which the KingKong simply can’t reach by far.

The fact that the leader has an OSD (and also a barometer, for your interest), is also a huge improvement over the KingKong. The PIDs can be easily adjusted via OSD now, right on the field instead of carrying a laptop around. If you have installed an RSSI-capable receiver (e. g. the FrSky XM+), you can always see the current reception strength on the OSD – and thus know at any time how far you can fly before the connection gets too weak.

An OSD is essential because it indicates in real-time how much mAh you have already flown. So you always know when it’s time to land, no matter if you’re using a 450mAh, 850mAh or other lipos. You don’t have to fly stubbornly to the timer anymore, because you can always see how much capacity is still in the battery. Once OSD, always OSD!

In short: the Leader 120 has all the prerequisites for a perfect mini racer: light weight, big propellers, powerful engines, runs with 2S and 3S (even 4S are mentioned, but nobody has dared to do that yet. ), an OSD, comes with a buzzer and an LED strip can be easily attached.

A Runcam Micro Swift (currently the best choice for FPV cameras on mini racers) is also easy to install! Sounds great so far – but how does it fly?

Flight Characteristics

Already on the first flight with a 2S 850mAh lipo you will notice: this thing has power. In fact, the leader flies so agile and nimble that you’ll automatically have a grin on your face. Racer pilots know this phenomenon: it only occurs when a racer performs like the devil. And that’s what Leader 120 does.

The “locked-in” feeling is perfect – the Leader 120 flies ultra-precise, you almost get the feeling as if it was totally weightless. But the Leader has a huge advantage to the KingKong 90GT, which flies ingeniously as well: its power! If you had to remember to accelerate the 90GT in time after a dive, so that you don’t drive it into the ground, you’ll notice with that you can fly much more relaxed with the Leader 120, because it has just enough power reserve to catch itself from a dive at the very last moment. And that’s even with 2S!

But with 3S, the leader is going to add another dimension of power, it literally becomes a little rocket! 4S would still be inside the specs (well, at least on paper). When choosing the batteries, you should not use lipos that weigh more than 50-60 Gram, otherwise the flight characteristics will suffer and the leader doesn’t steer as easily. With a light 2S 450-800mAh or 3S up to 500mAh it performs great!

The leader can be easily upgraded to the current Betaflight version (3.2.1), so that you can use the new “Dynamic Filter” feature – that’s exactly what we did. The setup is the same as before – the motors didn’t warm up and the Leader 120 flies better with the dynamic filter than before. We couldn’t produce any prowash on our flights. We really tried hard though. Wow.

Some Drawbacks

The Leader 120 seems to a perfect match so far. But are there any drawbacks? Actually, yes… and that’s an old friend of mine: the built-in camera. Unfortunately, this is only mediocre in terms of image quality and light sensitivity. Under Californian sun this may hardly be noticeable, but whoever flies in northern regions or under cloudy skies is, as usual, rewarded with a muddy and dark picture that lacks of colour and contrast. At dusk, the original camera does perform absolutely poor.

Also the video 25mW transmitter is not a perfect match either. Not because of the low transmission power (25mW may be still sufficient in some situations) but because of the modest transmission quality. The video transmitter is mounted piggyback on the camera. An elegant solution, actually. However, there are three clear disadvantages of this method: because the transmitter sits directly behind the camera, it can only be tilted upwards to a limited extent until it hits the flight controller. And the antenna of the video transmitter disappears between the side parts of the carbon frame – which results in a great loss of transmitting power. We had dropouts with the original cam/transmitter combo in an open field and within a range of 30 meters. That sucks.

Third disadvantage of the piggyback combo: if you only want to replace the camera, you have to replace the transmitter as well (and vice versa) since both are plugged together. There are no wires at all and you really don’t want to mess around with such small soldering points. So either change both or stay with the original cam and the original VTX.

Fortunately, the Leader 120 can be easily equipped with a Runcam Micro Swift, as well as a 200mW VTX03 transmitter. Do so and you really have a perfect picture with a good range.

How this is done is shown on the next page.

Summary

Finally there is a mini racer again which does (almost) everything right in terms of both, features and flight characteristics. And the few things that are to be criticized (camera and video transmitter) can be eliminated with little effort.

The Leader 120 is currently available as the new and improved 20A version for just around 100 EUR at Banggood. This makes it very, very attractive. If you are looking for a really great mini racer that offers modding potential and ingenious flight characteristics and can fly with both 2S up to 4S, you should definitely add the Leader 120 to your fleet.

The Leader 120 flies as precise and agile as the KingKong 90GT – but is superior in many aspects. Due to its bigger propellers, the Leader offers a lot more power, flies great with 2S and 3S, comes with an OSD and has room for a Runcam Micro and a stronger video transmitter – much more modding potential than the 90GT has. So is the leader the long-awaited cult successor of the 90GT and the new king among the mini racers?

Definitely yes!

Next page: Leader 120 Mods – Adding a Runcam Micro Swift and a 200mW VTX

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