A beginner comparison of FPV drone classes: whoop, 5 inch and 7 inch. Size, battery, environment, difficulty and flight time to pick your first drone.
Choosing your first FPV drone almost always comes down to three classes: whoop, 5 inch and 7 inch. They differ in size, battery, where you fly them and how much they forgive mistakes. This comparison puts them side by side so you know which one fits what you want to do.
The whoop is the smallest class, with a 65-75 mm wheelbase and under 40 g. Its props are ducted, so it bounces off walls and furniture without breaking, which is why it's flown indoors. The 5 inch is the hobby standard: 220-250 mm, a 6S battery and plenty of power for freestyle and racing outdoors. The 7 inch is bigger (300 mm or more) and favors efficiency over agility: it's built to fly far, not to snap through tight turns.
If you've never flown FPV, a whoop is the most logical entry: it's cheap, flies at home and rarely breaks in a crash, so you practice without fear of destroying it. If you already know you want the standard and have outdoor space, you can go straight to a 5 inch: it's the class with the most parts, guides and community behind it, which makes learning and repairing easier. The 7 inch is not a good first drone: its size and Li-ion batteries call for more careful flying.
Flight time is where they split the most. Whoop and 5 inch sit around 4-6 minutes because they prioritize agility and power with LiPo batteries. The 7 inch uses Li-ion batteries, denser in energy, and large props that move a lot of air with little effort: that gives it 20-40 minutes of flight and lets it push out on long range. In return it loses the explosive response of the 5 inch, so it isn't the class for aggressive acro.
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