so ive been flying whoops and 3" stuff for about a year now and finally decided to just commit and build a proper 5" freestyle quad. got a frame already (ImpulseRC Apex, picked it up on sale) and i have motors sorted ? going with Brotherhobby Returner R5 2306 1700kv which i think should be fine for 4S.

the part im stuck on is the FC and ESC stack. everyone seems to have a different opinion and ive been going down a rabbit hole for like 3 days. some people swear by the Speedybee F7 stack because of the built in bluetooth for tuning which honestly sounds really convenient, others are saying just get a Foxeer or a Mamba stack. i dont really care about price difference within like $20-30 range, i care more about not having to fight the thing to get Betaflight working properly.

also should i be thinking about the VTX situation before i pick the stack or does it not matter that much in terms of integration. planning to run analog for now, maybe add DJI O3 down the line but thats way later.

the Speedybee F7 v3 stack is actually pretty solid for a first 5" build, the bluetooth thing is genuinely useful when youre sitting at a field and dont want to drag out a laptop. i ran one for about 6 months before i upgraded and never had major issues with it. just make sure you flash it fresh when you get it because sometimes the factory firmware is a bit behind.

one thing id say ? if analog is your plan for now, just make sure the VTX you pick has a SmartAudio or Tramp wire so you can control it through Betaflight. most modern VTXes do but i got burned once buying some cheap one that didnt and it was annoying. for analog a Rushfpv Tank or even a Foxeer Pit VTX are both fine. honestly the stack choice wont really affect your VTX situation much unless youre going digital.

i went through the exact same decision a few months back lol. ended up going Mamba F722 and i have zero complaints honestly but im also not sure i would have known if something was wrong since it was my first big build. it just worked which is all i wanted.

one thing nobody told me ? get some good capacitors and solder them to your battery leads before you do anything else. i fried a set of ESCs because i skipped that step and got voltage spikes on a hard throttle punch. like 1000uf 35v cap on the power leads, some people say its optional but trust me it isnt really.