TBS Gemini Review

by FliteTest | March 16, 2015 | (9) Posted in Reviews

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. 

COMMENTS

Jefftherckid on April 20, 2015
Would one recomend this for my first racing multirotor or something such as the blackout, qav, blade mach 25, etc. I've had multirotor experience before (2 proto x's, a nano qx, an electrohub spider w/ fpv, and a phaze) and I have fat shark fpv gear if that makes any difference wich i'm pretty shure it does.
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gabriel robson on March 23, 2015
Sweet, Charpu should make his own quad it would be awesome and I would buy it. Awesome video as usual.
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danallen82 on March 23, 2015
Wow is it really only 340-370 gram AUW? Is that even possible Lipo ~120g + 6x20g motors = 100g remaining for camera, FC, ESCs, frame, Rx, Core, Vtx. That would mean the frame is only 50-60g. It is a really impressive machine!
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Trappy on March 24, 2015
yes, that is correct. the motors are a little lighter, they are MT1306 modified to our specs. the frame itself is 63g, the canopy adds another 20g.
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danallen82 on March 24, 2015
Thx Trappy, IC they got a few of the specs wrong. Nevertheless an impressive hexa, I hope to try it one day.
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Trappy on March 24, 2015
The unit reviewed by FliteTest does not have the updated "locking pins" for the motors. we include a free "crash kit" with the Gemini, which includes replacement locking pins and some other things that break easily. All for tool-free repairs.

Thanks to FliteTest for this cool review. I was a bit nervous to hear what Charpu thought of the frame, since he's got his system dialed down to perfection and this is "just" a RTF machine :)
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piisceiss on April 26, 2015
What receiver transmitter combo did they use for this? And is their a way to use a spektrum tx?
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Psalmbody on March 25, 2015
Can I just buy the frame? Is there a quad frame like that's?
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Scubadude on October 29, 2015
Just got into multi-rotors and found this review on Youtube, its the first one I've seen that looks "finished" I don't mind the DIY, minimal and lightweight design of the frame only quads but this actually looks good!
Would this be Hex be "too much" as a first proper platform after the cheapo learning quad?
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Epitaph on August 15, 2015
What is the amperage draw on this? I mean, I don't know if I'm totally convinced with the JST plug because of its low rating... I personally would change it to a Mini-T or an XT30...
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PJ PJ PJ on July 15, 2016
The Gemini is my sixth quad copter, I bought it because I was impressed how clean this copter is put together. There are hardly any wires, everything is neatly in place. The Gemini is a real plug and play system, most modules are just plugged in place. The Frame of the Gemini is rather fragile I was reading many times that folks getting sick and tired to replace it after a crash. It is quite simple to exchange a Gemini frame; I think people dislike paying $40 for a new frame. The Gemini has motor tilt on all six motors. It is possible to argue about the advantage of this tilt. My experience, it is quite a hassle to setup your flight controller. Since there is hardly any conclusive information on the Internet I ended up using all my sub-trim to get a hovering without forward drift. A positive experience is the quality of the video picture. Like said before I have several racing Quads and I never installed the cheap stuff. The picture I get from the Gemini is just that much better. If Team Black sheep would make a frame without motor tilt and in the same time make the frame a bit sturdier (not so many cutouts) it would be a great Quad copter.
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PJ PJ PJ on July 16, 2016
Just another observation that turned me off a bit. I live in Arizona and flying the Gemini in the summer is a problem. compared withn other quadcopters the gemini ESC and FC getting rather hot. On days where temperatures reach 110F the ESC and flight controller getting extreamely hot. Sometimes the Gemini certantely falls out of the Sky like a Rock, I guess if the six ESC getting to hot they simply just shut down. Removing the two covers does not help. Having the six ESC so close together and zero heatsink, zero airflow is a bad idea.
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TBS Gemini Review