ok so this has been driving me crazy. I want a 3.5inch prebuilt for mostly outdoor freestyle, occasionally some light cruising through trees. budget is around $250 give or take. I keep going back and forth between the iFlight Nazgul Evoque and the BetaFPV Crux35 and I genuinely cannot pull the trigger on either one.

From what I can tell the Evoque has better build quality and the stack feels more solid but I've read the Crux35 is actually more agile out of the box and the tune is pretty decent stock. I'm not a total beginner, I've flown a few different 5inch builds so I can handle something with some punch but I also dont want to spend the first month fighting the tune instead of actually flying.

Anyone gone from one to the other or have strong opinions either way? Also does it even matter that much at this size class or am I overthinking it like usual

you're overthinking it lol. Both are fine. I had a Crux35 for a while and the stock tune was surprisingly decent, took maybe 20 minutes of adjustments to get it where I liked it. Never flew the Evoque personally but from what I've seen the motors on the Nazgul line are generally a step up in quality. If durability matters to you more than agility I'd lean Evoque, if you want something that already feels snappy and you dont mind that it might feel a bit lighter/cheaper, Crux35 is solid.

had the evoque and wasnt super impressed honestly. the tune out of box had this mid-throttle bounce thing that took me way longer to fix than it should have, ended up reflashing betaflight and starting from a clean slate which helped a ton. haven't tried the crux but a buddy flies one and it looks pretty planted in his videos. also worth considering what motors youre getting on each config cause iFlight sometimes ships different motor options depending on where you buy and the specs page doesnt always make that clear