Speed Addict 210-R is a mini quad frame from Catalyst Machineworks, featuring the popular X config design and improvement in vertical COG.

Get your Speed Addict 210-R Mini Quad frame from Catalyst.

Here is my build log of this frame: https://oscarliang.com/speed-addict-210-r-mini-quad-build-log/

Frame Unboxing and Assembly

The attention to detail from the frame maker is just amazing! They have created this frame so easy to put together, and the design looks awesome!

I still have to build it and test it, but so far this is one of my favourite mini quad frames in terms of user experience.

Here is how the assembling goes, very straight-forward.

The main difference from this frame comparing to the rest of the world, is the location of the PDB which is mounted underneath the frame. It’s protected by a bay guard and carbon fibre cover. This allows a much lower top plate (will explain why this is good in a moment).

Look! These little aluminium standoffs are provided to put into the 3D printed bay guard, which is used to strengthen the structure making it more durable! This is one of the examples why I said they really pay attention to detail.

Comprehensive Document and Explanation

With every Speed Addict frame I have reviewed for Catalyst, they always come with comprehensive assembly instructions, detailed explanations of why each part of the frame is designed that way.

Frame Design

Uni-body Design

The uni-body design is always a controversial one – some people love the simplicity while some prefer the option of replacing only the broken arms and not the whole bottom plate. I personally prefer Unibody design for quads that are under or around 500g AUW. Light weight mini quad usually has a smaller impact in crashes and arms are less likely to break. It makes it very simple to build, and fewer bolts and nuts are used means more weight saving.

However on this frame, I found if I press on two opposite arms hard enough, they flex a little. I guess this might be one of the downsides for larger unibody frames. I would be able to tell if this is likely to cause any issue when after I have tried it.

X Config Design

Many experienced pilots I know told me that X config showed different flight characteristics cmoparing to H config, mostly positive feedbacks (even with the same setup, PID needed to be retuned). I am still trying to find a good explanation for this, I guess maybe because the arms are directly linked to the centre of mass – the middle of the craft?

Note that on this frame the width is actually longer than the length (135mm VS 166mm). I think this makes sense because most of the weight is on pitch axis, and requires larger force to pitch forward/backward so shorter length is to compensate that. We see the same in the good old Blackout Mini Quad frames and ZMR250.

On the bottom plate where the arms are, there is extra carbon fibre material on both left and right sides. It’s there to strengthen the arms against crashes. With this added material, the arms have a shorter lever and they are much better supported. As you can imagine, with shorter lever it’s more difficult to snap the arms.

Thoughts on the Speed Addict 210

Weight

Relatively light weight design even with aluminium standoffs – 107 grams, 102g without PDB.

Carbon Fibre Parts

Bottom plate and Arms are 3mm thick (4mm version is also available). top plate above FPV camera is 3mm thick, and all other carbon parts are 1.5mm. The cutting of carbon fibre is very clean.

Motor mounts on arms are made small, also the front and the rear part of the frame body are made as thin as possible. This results in better aerodynamics and less drag when flying forward. The trade off is less motor protection in crashes.

Lower Battery Position

We know we should make sure the COG (centre of gravity) is in the centre of the frame (where 4 motors intersect), to get better stability and performance. But we often forget to consider the vertical plane too (looking at the quad from the side), where COG should meet the line of props.

Sometimes slow oscillations and overshoots during sharp turns can be caused by Lipo mounted too high or too low in the frame, aka pendulum effect. Better COG on the vertical plane can help, and it also makes roll and pitch movement more efficient, giving you a more crisp feel.

Speed Addict’s solution is to move the Flight controller and PDB down, by adding a bay guard to create the extra space below the frame. Therefore you can sit the LiPo battery on a much lower top plate deck.

This allows the overall COG get closer to the line of props where the force are generated. This is perfect on paper, but it might not be in your case, because it depends on the size of your LiPo, and height of your motors etc. There are many factors that affects the COG of your quad. But closer to perfect is always better.

Due to the super low top plate, it doesn’t leave you much space to work with. I can see how tight this build is going to be to fit all my stuff in there, such as OSD, Blackbox Openlog, RX, VTX and so on.

Cameras

FPV camera cage design allows tilt angle from 0 to 45 degrees.

Catalyst Machineworks sells a 3D printed Gopro/Yi Camera mount that is designed for this frame. It’s made of TPU material which is flexible and crash resistant. It bends in crashes rather than breaking.

Reciever Antenna mount

RX antenna mount is also made of TPU material. As we have seen in the Speed Addict 265 frame, antennas are sets at 90 degree angle apart for optimal signal, and they lean back 45 degree so when the quad fly forward (also tilted forward), the antenna would sit up straight for better signal.

Personally I would prefer my old way of installing RX antenna – Zip ties + heatshrinks. The blue plastic tubes are just taking up too much space for me, and they don’t bend which becomes awkward when storing the quad in my bag or box.

XT60 LiPo connector pass through

It helps to keep wires away from spinning props, and reduces the use of wire to the minimum.

PDB included in Frame

I think the spec of this PDB should be enough for most setups, giving you 70A constant and 110A peak. 1A on both 12V and 5V voltage regulated output for RX, FC, VTX and OSD (filtered)

Take a look at the detail spec.

So far I really like this frame, will see what she’s capable of in the test flights! Build log and FPV videos will follow soon.

Here is a tutorial on how to assemble the frame: