BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit: The Best FPV Drone Kit for Beginners

If you are a beginner looking to get into FPV drones and learn how to fly in Acro mode, the BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit is an excellent option that comes with everything you need to get started for just $230 / £200 / AU$342. With its affordability and ease of use, the Cetus Pro Kit is the best way for beginners to try first-person drone flight.

The bundle comes with a full FPV setup, including goggles, batteries, and a console-style controller that you can also use to practice in simulators. The drone itself is incredibly light and ready to fly. While FPV flight makes crashes more likely, the Cetus is built tough enough to withstand most impacts. The drone features Turtle Mode, which allows it to right itself remotely, while three speed settings and three flight modes offer flexibility for learners to improve. We found Normal to be the easiest to fly, while Manual/Acro is the most difficult, requiring careful control and throttle regulation.

The Cetus Pro Brushless Quadcopter is palm-sized at just 117×117×35mm and weighs 45.8g with a 1S LiPo battery. The small whoop drone airframe is made of PA12 plastic with built-in propeller guards around and below the propellers to make the drone safer around people and when flown indoors. This crash resistance is essential because you will crash frequently while learning. Although there is a camera on the Cetus Pro, it is purely for the FPV feed with no capability to capture video, which is a shame.

The kit includes the LiteRadio 2SE Transmitter, which is a basic FPV controller that's perfect for the Cetus. FPV controllers are slightly different from camera drone controllers, but the included instructions make everything clear.

The VR02 FPV Goggles are budget analogue box goggles that provide the FPV feed from the Cetus' camera. These take some getting used to because they're low resolution, and interference in the feed is common when the drone is flown around obstacles. The main downsides are that there's no DVR built-in for recording the FPV feed, and glasses can't be worn when using them.

The Cetus Pro provides three speed modes – Slow, Mid, and Fast – and three flight modes so you can use more advanced modes as your flying skills improve. Normal Mode is the easiest to fly with and uses optical flow sensors to help the drone to hover and hold position when the control sticks are centred. Another safety feature, which is available in all flight modes, is auto landing where the drone will land when the battery reaches the minimum level rather than crashing.

• The Normal Mode is the easiest to fly with, using optical flow sensors to help the drone to hover and hold position when the control sticks are centred. Another safety feature available in all flight modes is auto landing, where the drone will land when the battery reaches the minimum level rather than crashing.
• Sport Mode is similar to Angle Mode on more advanced FPV drones, where the angle of the drone's roll and pitch are fixed at an angle, and when the direction stick is released, the drone will level itself automatically. With this mode, you still have to regulate the throttle like the accelerator in a car, which takes practice.
• Manual/Acro Mode is the most difficult mode to fly because you have to regulate the throttle alongside the direction stick. Once the drone has been rolled left or right and/or pitched forwards or backwards, it will remain at that angle until it's manually levelled again. Plus, the drone can be rolled and flipped 360° or more, so it's incredibly easy to crash in this mode and takes a lot of getting used to.
• The Turtle Mode allows you to flip the drone remotely if it lands upside down, so you don't have to remove your goggles and walk over to the drone to retrieve it. Unfortunately, there's no beep or buzzer built into the Cetus Pro, so if Turtle Mode doesn't flip the drone, you'll have to find the drone by sight alone, which can be tricky depending on where you crashed.

Are you looking to learn how to fly FPV drones in Acro mode? Then the BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit is the perfect choice for you. This affordable and complete FPV kit includes everything you need to start flying for just $230/ £200 / AU$342, and the controller can be plugged into Mac or Windows-based computers to control FPV simulators to extend your flight practice time.

The BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit is a complete and affordable FPV kit that includes goggles, batteries, and a console-style controller. You can use the controller to practice in simulators too. The drone is lightweight and built tough enough to withstand most impacts, and Turtle Mode means it can right itself remotely. The three speed settings and three flight modes offer flexibility for learners to improve. Normal mode is the easiest to fly, while Manual/Acro is the most difficult, requiring careful control and throttle regulation.

While the Cetus Pro Kit is an excellent option for beginners, there are a few drawbacks. One is the limited battery life of just 4-5 minutes per charge, which makes backup cells a necessity. Additionally, there's no option to record stills or video.

• Affordable FPV kit
• Robust build quality

• Limited battery life
• Can’t shoot photo of video

• Weight: 45.8gController: Yes
• Camera resolution: N/A
• Flight time: 5 minutes
• Range: 80m