okay so this is the third time ive cracked an arm on my current frame and i know crashes happen but this feels excessive. its a fairly popular 5inch true-X layout, wont name it but most of you have probably seen it around. the arms are 4mm carbon and honestly i think the layup is just garbage because ive seen people run thinner arms on other frames and have way better durability.

starting to look at alternatives and wondering if anyone has actual long term experience with frames in that mid range price bracket, like 40-70 USD. ive been eyeing the Apex HD and also the ImpulseRC Reverb came up in a reddit thread but i couldn't really find many people talking about it recently so not sure if its still even worth considering. mostly doing park freestyle, some light proximity, nothing insane.

also semi related ? when i rebuild im probably going to redo some of my wiring since its kind of a mess from previous repairs. any reccomendations on wire gauge for the main battery lead on a 4S 2306 build, currently running 14AWG and it seems okay but wasnt sure if theres a reason to go heavier

14awg is fine for that setup honestly, 12awg would be overkill unless you're running big 6S motors doing long punch sessions. the resistance difference matters way more in high current scenarios and a park freestyle setup on 4S isnt really pushing enough amps continuously to make it worth the extra weight and stiffness.

on the frame thing, i switched to an Apex a while back and the arm durability is noticeably better than what i was running before. the geometry takes a minute to get used to if you're coming from a true-X but nothing crazy. only complaint is the stack mounting area is a bit tight depending on what FC you use.

the Reverb is still around but i think impulserc has been slower on restocks, might be worth checking their site directly rather than going off reddit threads from six months ago. i almost bought one last year but ended up going a different direction. cant really speak to durability from personal experience but the people i know who run them seem happy enough. tbh at that price range a lot of it just comes down to whether the geometry matches how you fly and personal preference on weight distribution