ok so ive been flying whoops and tiny hawks for like a year and a half and i finally want to build a proper 5 inch. ive watched probably 40 hours of youtube on this and somehow feel more confused than when i started because everyone recommends something different and half the videos are from 2021 so i dont know whats still relevant.

main thing im hung up on is the frame. budget is tight, maybe 30-40 bucks for just the frame. i keep seeing people talk about the ImpulseRC Apex and the Source One but also some people swear by the TBS Source One alternatives that are way cheaper. is the Source One still a good starting point or is it kind of dated now? i dont care about having the coolest looking thing, i just want something that wont crack if i crash it into a tree at moderate speed which i definitely will do.

also should i even worry about a unibody vs split plate design for a first build or does that not really matter until youre more experienced and actually breaking frames regularly

Source One is honestly still fine for a first build, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. yeah its not the lightest or stiffest thing but for learning to solder and figure out your stack its totally adequate. i built my second quad on one and it took some real hits before anything cracked. the arm thickness on the v3 and later is decent enough.

the unibody vs split plate thing is worth thinking about though ? split plate is generally more repairable because you can swap just the top or bottom if something breaks, unibody you crack the main plate and youre replacing the whole thing. for a beginner id lean split plate for that reason alone. ImpulseRC Apex is a great frame but its also nearly twice your budget new, so unless you find one used id skip it for now and just get flying.

i was in the exact same spot like 8 months ago lol. ended up going with a cheap Armattan clone off aliexpress and it was fine actually? took forever to ship but the carbon quality was surprisingly ok. not recommending that necessarily but just saying the frame is probably the least important decision you'll make ? its the FC, ESC and motor combo that'll cause you more headaches.

also make sure you budget for like a decent soldering iron if you dont have one already because i tried doing my first build with a garbage 20 dollar iron and it was a nightmare, joints kept coming out cold and i spent two weeks diagnosing a motor issue that turned out to be a bad solder joint on the ESC pad the whole time