ok so ive been flying freestyle on a prebuilt Nazgul for about 8 months now and i finally want to do a proper custom 5inch build. ive watched probably 40 hours of youtube on this and somehow feel more confused than when i started because everyone recommends different stuff and half the videos are like 2 years old so i dont know whats still relevant.

my main question is around the FC/ESC stack. im looking at the Speedybee F405 stack because its cheap and everyone seems to like it for beginners, but someone in a discord told me to just get the Foxeer Reaper F745 stack instead and spend the extra money now instead of upgrading later. budget isnt unlimited but i can stretch if it actually matters.

also running a Runcam Racer Nano for the analog cam, Foxeer Lollipop antenna, probably the Xing2 2306 motors because i see them everywhere. is there anything obviously wrong with that combo or am i missing something dumb

the Speedybee F405 stack is honestly fine for a first build, dont let people talk you into overspending before you even know what you want from the hobby. the difference between that and a fancier FC in real world flying terms is basically nothing at your stage. learn to tune on the cheaper gear first.

one thing i would say though - double check the ESC current rating matches what your motors will pull under load with those Xing2s. the 2306 1700kv on 4s should be fine with a 45a ESC but if youre running higher kv on 6s you want headroom. also make sure whatever stack you pick has enough UARTs free because youll want one for your VTX, one for your RX, and if you ever add GPS or a blackbox module it gets tight fast on budget boards.

i did almost the exact same build a few months ago, went with the Speedybee stack and zero regrets. only thing id swap in your list is the antenna - the Lollipop is decent but i had better luck with the Pagoda or even just a cheap AXII clone for freestyle range. the Lollipop felt a little fragile when i clipped a gate and bent the connector.