The Eachine SpeedyBee SEC FPV camera is a new budget option for racing drones. While popular light weight, micro size FPV cameras such as the Runcam Micro Swift 2 and Foxeer Micro Arrow can cost between $30 to $35, the Eachine Speedy Bee might be a cheaper alternative at the $20 price range.

The Eachine SpeedyBee FPV camera is available at

Unboxing – Eachine SpeedyBee SEC FPV Camera

The Speedy Bee comes in a nice plastic box. The package includes the camera, and a silicone cable.

There is no screws or mounting bracket, so you have to get them separately!

Closer Look at the SpeedyBee Camera

Spec:

Weight : 6g

Dimensions : 19mm x 19mm x 19mm

Input Power: DC 5V – 36V

Image Sensor : 1/3″ SONY Super HAD II CCD

600TVL

Aspect Ratio : 4:3

2.3mm Lens (M8)

Connector: Molex Pico 6P 1.25mm Socket

Cable: Molex Pico 1.25mm 2P&3P Socket to 6P male

On the back of the camera there is an “OSD” pin for changing camera settings, but it doesn’t come with an OSD control remote. I found the remotes that come with Runcam’s camera actually work perfectly on this camera. (I suspect “camera control” using flight controller might also work with the Busybee, but I can only confirm when I test it.)

There is a VBAT+ pin too for monitoring your battery voltage (allows up to 36V), and displaying the value in the FPV video OSD. If you leave this pin disconnected, you can display the voltage of your camera’s input voltage instead.

Side-By-Side Comparison with the Runcam Micro Swift 2

The Speedybee SEC has nearly identical dimension to the Runcam Micro swift, which means any frame that fits the Micro Swift should have no problem supporting the Speedybee.

One of the main differences between the two is the size of the lens, the Speedybee uses a narrower, longer lens.

The circuit design and layout of the Eachine Speedybee look very similar to the Micro Swift 2.

Another difference is how the lens is mounted on the image sensor. With the Micro Swift, the lens is fixed to the circuit board by 2 screws on the back, while with the Speedybee, the lens is glued directly on the PCB.

The camera menu and settings are identical to the Micro Swift, this makes me wonder if these two cameras actually came out of the same factory!

The OSD menu is also similar but slightly simplified compared to that of the Micro Swift. It’s missing some features such as Artificial Horizon, System settings, and Pre-Set Scene Settings.

The menu operation appears to be the same.

Testing

I am very interested to see how the Speedybee SEC performs compared to the Runcam Micro Swift 2, since they have the same CCD image sensor. Stay tuned for more info!

Can’t do much testing at the moment due to the bad rainy weather here…

Latency

Average latency is about 34ms, compared to 28ms with the Micro Swift 2. Full result can be found in this post.

Image Quality

coming soon…