trying to decide between the Iflight Nazgul Evoque and the BetaFPV Manta for a freestyle build. I know they're kinda different price brackets but hear me out ? the Manta keeps popping up in my feed and the price drop recently made it actually competitive. I fly mostly open fields and the occasional urban spot, nothing super technical, just chasing flow and practicing some basic freeride stuff.

most of the youtube comparisons i found are either old or clearly sponsored so im not really trusting those. the spec sheets look similar on paper, both running F7 stacks, similar motor KV options, but i dont know how they actually feel in the air and whether the Manta tune is anywhere near as dialed as the Nazgul. anyone have real seat time on both or even just one of them with opinions on the tune and durability

havent flown the Manta but ive put probably 200 packs through a Nazgul Evoque and the thing just doesnt quit. frame cracked once around the arm but Iflight sent a replacement no questions asked. tune out of the box was passable, i run RPM filtering now and cleaned up the PIDs myself but thats just me being me, a lot of people fly stock and are totally happy.

one thing i will say is the weight balance on the Evoque is really nice with a lipo on top, feels planted. cant speak to the Manta at all though sorry

so anyway i picked up the Manta a couple months back on a whim because it was on sale and figured id mess around with it. first impression was the tune felt a little sluggish, like the throttle response wasnt as snappy as i expected, but after going into betaflight and bumping the throttle boost and tweaking the TPA curve it came alive. the build itself feels a bit plasticky compared to some other frames ive handled but nothing has broken yet and ive binned it a few times already. for the price its honestly pretty decent. wouldnt say its better than the Nazgul from what ive heard but if the price gap is big enough it might not matter depending on your budget