ok so ive been flying whoops and tiny stuff for about a year now and i finally want to build a proper 5 inch freestyle quad. ive been watching builds on youtube for weeks and every single person uses a different frame and swears by it. some guys are all about the iFlight Nazgul or whatever, others wont touch anything but a Botgrinder collab frame, and then theres the whole True-X vs stretched X debate which honestly just confused me more.

my budget for the whole build is around 350-400 dollars and im trying not to blow half of it on a frame that i might crash into a tree my first week. does anyone have an opinion on a good durable starter 5 inch that isnt gonna flex and shiver every time i push it. also does arm thickness actually matter that much for a beginner or is that more of a thing when you start going fast

arm thickness definitely matters but maybe not in the way you're thinking. for a beginner the bigger concern is just how easy it is to get replacement arms. some frames are basically impossible to find parts for six months after release and then you crash and you're looking at buying a whole new frame. i'd honestly look at something like the Apex or even just an old Armattan Chameleon clone ? parts availability is solid and they're not floppy at all.

the stretched X vs true X thing is real but you wont feel it at the skill level you're at right now, not trying to be harsh just being honest. fly true X until you know what you're missing and then reassess. also 350-400 is totally doable for a complete 5 inch if you shop smart and dont go overboard on motors.

i was in the exact same spot like 8 months ago and ended up going with an ImpulseRC Apex and honestly no regrets. took some crashes and the arms held up way better than i expected. the 4mm arms on that thing are no joke. might be slightly over your budget depending on where you source everything else but its worth stretching for the frame imo