TBS Gemini Review

With the popularity of multirotor racing on the rise, Team Black Sheep is hitting the market strong with this new design. 

The TBS Gemini, designed by Dr. William Thielicke (aka Shrediquette), screams, "RACE ME!" Everything on this little hex is designed to go faster.

PACKAGE INCLUDES

• TBS Gemini main frame and plastic parts
• Canopy for Race and Film (Mobius camera)
• 6 motors, ESCs and props
• Flight control, pre-configured
• CORE PNP25 (optionally upgrade to CORE PRO)
• FPV camera
• TBS UNIFY 5.8GHz 200mW (optionally remove it and choose another VTx) [photo with ImmersionRC SpiroNET]
• 1x 4S Battery (A free upgrade from your friends at TBS)
• Gemini Carry Case

 Even by looking at the design you'll notice something that is very simple but does wonders for the speed of this thing. 

The motors are mounted with a 10° forward pitch to drive this faster without the need for more power. This also elminates the need to tilt your FPV camera up if you intend on flying fast. 

We recently got back from Florida where we had the pleasure of hanging out with the GetFPV crew and multirotor racing legend Charpu (aka Carlos Puertolas)

To quote Alex, "Who better to test out a little racing hex than Charpu!"

We met up at a local park and played pass the transmitter to see how the TBS Gemini performs. 

Out of the box the controls on this are razor sharp. Alex says he was caught off guard by how well it flew and surprised by it's durability, but more on that later. 

Charpu's first comment after getting it in the air was also how snappy the controls were. We were somewhat confined to the area of the park so extremely long, fast lines were difficult. 

To help compensate for the sensitivity of the controls we decided to add a little bit of expo. 

Charpu perfers to have anywhere between 30% and 40% expo to soften up the turns. We found the best value was exactly 35%.

Just that little change made this much easier to control in the space that we had. 

If you've seen any of Chapu's FPV videos before, (and if you haven't you need to immediately) he is known for flying through some insanely tight spaces at insanely fast speeds. 

The only real obsticals we had at the park were the trees and the playground. But leave it to Charpu to find the best holes to punch through!

So about that durability...

We've said it a thousand times before but we'll say it again. It doesn't matter if you are flying for the first time or you've been flying your whole life; you are going to crash. 

It's how you deal with it that's the important part. One thing to remember is you check to make sure you scan the crash site for all the pieces of your craft before you move on.

Almost be rebuilding while you pick up the pieces to ensure you don't leave a crucial part lying in the mulch. 

The damage to the TBS Gemini was impressively minimal. The only damage sustained was a broken prop and three snapped motor mounting studs. 

The motor mounting studs are much easier to replace than any other component on the hex. For this very reason they are breaking points by design and did their job wonderfully. 

Over all we were very impressed with the TBS Gemini. The only gripe any of us had was the adhesive holding the mounting brackets on the canopy. It wasn't gripping as tightly as we would have liked but this fix is as simple as roughing up the plastic and using glue you trust or going the super cheap route and using some electrical tape. All the internal components are designed to be replaceable in the event of a crash or burn out. This thing does everything that it was designed to do. If you are looking for a simple way to get into FPV multirotor racing we would recommend this as an out-of-the-box solution. 

As always thank you for being a part of the Flite Test community! Leave your comments below and let us know about YOUR favorite racing multirotor.