Rotor Riot finally released their first flight controller, the Riot Control FC! In this review we will check out the board layout, build quality, strength and weakness.

Buy the Rotor Riot Control Flight Controller from:

Learn about how to choose flight controllers for mini quad.

Specifications of Riot Control Flight Controller

Here is the basic spec of the FC:

F405 MCU

MPU6000 Gyro

2S – 6S input voltage

Betaflight OSD

Built-in Current Sensor

8MB Flash Memory for Blackbox

3 UART’s

BEC: 3.3V, 5V, 9V

The Riot Control FC comes with:

XT60 pigtail (10cm)

mini buzzer

rubber gummies

nylon screws and standoffs

4in1 ESC cables

Closer Look at the Riot Control FC

Doesn’t it look familiar?

Yes, the Riot Control FC is based on the DYS F4 Pro V2 FC, with a few tweaks by Rotor Riot. That’s why the layout and physical appearance look similar. The Riot Control FC is also manufactured by DYS.

The gyro is soft mounted and protected in a plastic case. The mounting holes are enlarged to fit vibration damping grommets (gummies). Does the “double-stage vibration damping” make it better or worse? We will find out soon from testing.

I wish they offer ICM20689 gyro option to allow for 32K/32K gyro sampling rate and looptime. This could take full advantage of the extra filtering.

UART’s, Layout and Soldering Pads

There are only 3 UART’s, including the one for SBUS. Perhaps not enough for some people, think about the stuff we use: SmartPort, VTX Control, ESC Telemetry, Runcam Split, Camera Control, Serial Receiver….. That’s why some FC’s these days provide 5 UART’s.

UART 1 is for serial receivers, there is a jumper pad you can solder to choose between SBUS or other non-inverted receiver signal.

The soldering pads are well sized and easy to work with. The very same pads are available on both sides of the board.

The Removable, Soft-Mounted Gyro

The Gyro protective case is mounted on the board with 4 screws. These screws are located on the bottom you can easily remove.

The gyro sensor is fully encased in a thick protective plastic housing, surrounded in vibration dampening gel. This makes it impossible for the gyro to come loose or wiggle free.

They Gyro connects to the flight controller via a ribbon cable. It goes through the slot in the FC to the other side of the board. The ribbon cable shouldn’t be too long to cause problem.

The gyro ribbon cable connector is located on the back of the FC. You can disconnect the gyro and ribbon cable by lifting the connector by hand. This is useful if you want to swap out the gyro for whatever reason.

Conclusion

I will soon put this FC on a quad and test out the performance, and I will come back and update with more info. For now here is my thoughts:

Pros

Great pad layout and build quality – easy to work with

Double soft-mounting – Gyro and Gummies

Pads are available on both sides of the board

4in1 ESC connector

5V and 9V BEC

Gyro swapable

Cons