Review: XHOVER Skyeliner by Drib

Before we dive into Le Drib’s new XHOVER Skyeliner frame, I want to talk about what I look for in a frame. I only fly freestyle so it’s going to have to be a top mount battery design. It needs to have quality carbon, the stiffer the better. It has to be durable, and lastly it needs to be balanced. Center of gravity, prop-line, standoff height, and FC/gyro placement are all things that factor into how it will fly.

OVERVIEW

The XHOVER Skyeliner has a 222mm footprint, a top-mount battery, compressed X frame layout, and 20mm standoffs. It’s a great frame design and similar to my usual frame of choice, the CraftQuads Loflo. I’m sold on the design because it drops the center of gravity closer to the prop-line. On the XHOVER Skyeliner the FC gyro is right on the prop line. I think this is often overlooked in frame designs, but the closer the gyro is to the prop-line, the easier it will be to tune the quad.

The FPV camera sits low in the front camera pod and allows adjustment from ~10-45 degrees. The FPV camera lens sits at a height right in line with the props as well. This means when you’re making movements on the roll axis, your visual perspective is coming from the center of the rotation. This just gives the pilot a much more natural feel.

The rigidity of the frame and quality of carbon is great! It’s very stiff and all the pieces fit snugly together. This is a must for me and leads to less noise in the gyro, more durability, easier tuning and most importantly, better footage.

Daniel Sandoval at XHOVER is known for the quality of his frames, and the Skyeliner is a perfect example. I also want to mention that the packaging was some of the best I’ve seen in the FPV industry. Each part of the frame was sealed into its own pouch, proper.

BUILD LIST

• Frame: XHOVER Skyeliner by Drib
• Motors: Lumenier Skitzo RB2206 – 2650kv
• Props: HQ 5x4x3 (The OG ones)
• Flight Controller: FlightOne RevoltOSD
• ESC: FlightOne Bolt32 30amp
• VTX: TBS Unify HV
• FPV Cam: Runcam Swift 2 w/1.8 lens
• RX: TBS Crossfire
• Battery: ThunderPower Adrenaline 1300mah 4S
• Antenna: TBS Triumph
• HD Camera: GoPro Hero7

All up weight: 659g

This is my usual setup for a 5″ build except for the motor/prop combo. The 2206 2650KV felt awesome with the older HQ 5x4x3 props. I intentionally used this setup for its inherent smoothness and throttle resolution, which allowed me to focus on the flight characteristics of the frame.

THE FLIGHT

Right out the gate, the XHOVER Skyeliner feels very snappy and precise. Since it’s a compressed X style frame with the majority of its mass on the pitch axis, the roll axis has a lot of authority and stability. I didn’t have any real tuning issues with the frame, besides underestimating how much authority it has on the roll axis. Otherwise, I had no tuning nightmares and didn’t spend the day chasing phantom vibrations. The HD footage from my GoPro Hero7 proved this. The footage looks crisp and jello-free. This is a huge selling point for me. Everyone has their own reasons for flying FPV, but one of my biggest is the footage I capture. I’ve tried a lot of frames over the past few years and have noticed that many require much more effort in tuning/piloting to get crisp footage. The XHOVER Skyeliner is not one of them.

Take a run with me flying the Skyeliner and giving my first impressions.