so ive been trying to get into proper freestyle for a few months now and my 5inch just feels... mushy? like when i try to do a split s or even a basic roll it just doesnt snap the way i see in videos. im running stock betaflight rates which is probably part of it but i also feel like the quad itself is just not responding fast enough. pid tune is whatever the default was, i never touched it. running 2306 motors on a 4s 1550 pack. not sure if its the rates or the pids or both honestly

yeah default pids are almost never gonna feel good for freestyle, they're tuned to be safe not snappy. first thing i'd do is bump your p and d terms a little on roll, just like 5-10% at a time and fly a pack, see how it feels. also your rates matter a lot ? if your center sensitivity is low the quad just feels dead around center stick. try bumping rc rate and lowering super rate a bit so theres more travel before you hit max rotation. it takes a few sessions to dial in but once it clicks it really clicks

honestly same problem when i started. i spent like 3 weeks thinking my quad was broken lol. turns out i just had expo set way too high and everything felt like i was flying through mud. def mess with the rates first before touching pids, easier to understand whats happening