okay so ive been flying whoops for like a year and finally decided to do a proper 5 inch freestyle build. ive got the frame sorted (went with a dead cat style, forget the brand, its the one thats like $28 on banggood) and i grabbed some 2306 motors rated at 2450kv. problem is i dont really understand how to figure out what ESC to get. the guy at my local hobby shop said to just match the motor amp rating but when i look at motor specs i see like a peak amp and a continuous amp and i dont know which one to use for sizing the ESC. also should i be going 4in1 or individual ESCs for a freestyle build? feels like everyone just uses 4in1 these days but im not sure if thats actually better or just easier

for 5 inch freestyle with 2306 2450kv motors youre probably looking at somewhere around 35-40A continuous per motor depending on your props and how hard you push it. i'd size your ESC off the continuous rating not the peak, peak is basically what the motor can survive for a fraction of a second before it starts complaining. so something like a 45A 4in1 should be totally fine there, gives you headroom without going overboard.

4in1 is honestly the way to go for most freestyle builds these days unless you have a specific reason not to. way less wiring to deal with, saves weight, and if one FET blows you're replacing the whole stack which sucks but honestly individual ESC wiring on a 5inch is just a pain. most people running 4in1 stacks with blheli32 or am32 firmware are happy with them.

yeah what he said. also just make sure whatever 4in1 you get has the mounting pattern that matches your frame. some cheaper frames are 20x20 and others are 30x30 and its easy to just assume they match and then your stack shows up and nothing lines up. ask me how i know lol