September 8, 2024

Sologood Cyclone 1W —The BEST Budget VTX? Review + VTX Table

 

This will be a quick review of Sologood Cyclone 1W Analog VTX, which is the best budget video transmitter (in my opinion) for any freestyle, long-range or even racing drones, so stay tuned!

Price

While being priced at 22$, it appears to be one of the cheapest, and at the same time capable video transmitters. It is definitely worth the money, especially on discounts (which happen regularly on AliExpress) when you could totally get it for 18$ or less, which is a really great deal, considering its features and power.

What's included?

It comes in two different variants of equipment, the only thing that changes is the antenna - in standard it comes with dipole antenna and RushFPV RHCP in advanced, but you should just get standard and add your own antenna. Also in package there are two sets of gummies to mount it on the frame (20mm or 30.5mm), which allows you to mount it on majority of frames, then there is cable with connector, which two additional pins to power the camera directly from VTX, but you can take them out if you don't want to do so. The antenna connector is MMCX which is common in this hobby, so there won't have any problems finding an antenna for it.

Technical specs

This is 5.8GHz VTX which outputs 1W (as manufacturer states), but I can't test it, so we'll just have their word for it. Also it supports 48 channels, has switchable power from 25mW all the way up to 1W, TBS Smart Audio which allows to change channels and output power from your controller without pushing a button on VTX (which is also here if you wanna use it).

Pinout

Red is power 7-26V (positive)
Black is GND (negative)
White is TX (transmitting pad, for TBS Smart Audio)
Yellow is VTX (video out)

I connected mine without power output to the camera

Connect these wires only if you want to power the camera directly from VTX! 

Black is camera negative
Blue is camera positive (5V out)

Real tests

I do have this VTX on one of my quads, and it works great! It has almost no noise, compared to AKK Race Ranger 1.6W, and it's way smaller and lighter. You can watch a sample video here: 


I'm really sorry for the quality of the video, it was recorded using camera I'll be reviewing here later and FatShark Dominator V3 DVR which is far not the best but still gives an idea of overall quality.

Should you buy it?

Once again, I think it is the best budget high-powered VTX for FPV drones, which is great for all types of flying and majority of drone sizes and types. At the price point of 22$, it has no competitors which offer such a great performance and features, so this is my go-to video transmitter for 2024 (and probably 2025).

Where to buy?

You can buy Sologood Cyclone 1W VTX on AliExpress for the best price here: 

Budget camera to complete your video system (similar to used in the test):  

VTX Table

You can download VTX table for Sologood Cyclone 1W VTX here:

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