The GEPRC Darkstar22 is a small cinewhoop that makes use of 2.2inch propellers. The additional thrust from barely bigger props makes a noticeable distinction in flight efficiency, particularly when carrying the heavier DJI O4 Professional Air Unit — with out rising the general measurement in comparison with typical 2inch counterparts. On this overview, I’ll break down my impressions of the Darkstar22’s design, construct high quality, flight efficiency, sturdiness, and the way it compares to the Pavo20 Professional II, and who this drone is greatest suited to.
New to FPV? Find out about cinewhoops on this purchaser’s information: https://oscarliang.com/cinewhoop/
The place To Purchase
Get the GEPRC Darkstar22 from:
There are two variations accessible:
- A model with DJI O4 Professional pre-installed
- The “WTFPV” model the place you put in your personal FPV system
It comes with these equipment:
- 1 × Spare prop guard (gray)
- 1 × Spare O4 Professional mount and digital camera cowl (gray)
- 1 × Battery pad
- 1 × Spare set of Gemfan 2219×3 props
- 1 × L-shaped 1.5mm hex wrench
- 1 × Battery protector with touchdown ft
- 1 × Additional battery strap
- 1 × Damping ball punch software
- 1 × Binding pin
- 1 × USB adapter
- All required screws, instruments, grommets, and rubber dampers
- Stickers and quick-start sheet
Specs
- Body: GEP-DS22
- Carbon Fiber Plate Thickness: 2.5mm
- Wheelbase: 100mm
- FC: TAKER F405 20A ELRS 2.4 2–4S AIO Board
- MCU: STM32F405
- Gyro: ICM42688-P
- FC Firmware: GEPRC_TAKER_F405 AIO
- Flash: 16MB
- ESC: 8-bit 20A
- Motor: SPEEDX2 1104 7500KV
- Propellers: GEMFAN GP2219-3
- Energy Connector: XT30U-M
- VTX: None
- Digicam: None
- Antenna: None
- Receiver: Constructed-in ELRS 2.4GHz
- Beneficial Battery: 3S 720mAh LiHV
Design
The GEPRC DarkStar22 is a compact cinewhoop working 2.2-inch propellers:
- Sufficiently small to fly in tighter areas and shut to things
- Geared up with prop guards, designed for flying close to folks, vehicles, and property with decreased danger
- The ducts make it surprisingly powerful — gentle bumps are far much less catastrophic
- Highly effective sufficient to hold the DJI O4 Professional
- The digital camera is soft-mounted to scale back vibration and jello, very best for cinematic footage
The cover and ducts are injection-molded plastic. They really feel inflexible, stiff, and robust. On a quad this measurement, the plastic feels beefy — not low cost or brittle. The motors and flight controller are mounted on a 2.5mm thick carbon fiber base plate, which reduces flex and improves flight efficiency.
The XT30 connector is built-in into the rear duct utilizing a neat 3D-printed holder. It’s nicely protected and properly built-in, however your battery lead have to be lengthy sufficient to succeed in it. One draw back is that unplugging batteries could be barely annoying as a result of it stretches your battery wire.
The digital camera lens is comparatively nicely protected with none plastic showing the digital camera’s view. Nonetheless, I’d nonetheless suggest utilizing an ND or UV filter for extra lens safety, because the digital camera mount itself is fully plastic.
An LED strip is built-in contained in the ducts. It’s not RGB — only a single shade (blue). You possibly can flip it on or off utilizing a change in your radio. It’s already configured in Betaflight and assigned to Channel 8 (AUX 4) within the Modes tab.
That mentioned, it does add further weight (roughly 10g). In the event you’re not a fan of LEDs, you possibly can merely swap to the spare duct as a substitute of ripping out the LED strip from the unique body.
Smooth-Mounted Digicam Cover
Much like the Pavo20 Professional, the Darkstar22 soft-mounts each the digital camera and the air unit, it really works very nicely at isolating vibration and minimizing jello within the footage.
Nonetheless, in contrast to the Pavo20 Professional, which secures the cover with bolts, the Darkstar22 depends on 5 rubber grommets to carry the cover in place. In more durable crashes, the cover is prone to pop off.
It’s additionally fairly fiddly to take away and reinstall. It’s a must to push the grommets by very tight gaps, and putting in or eradicating them — particularly when becoming the DJI O4 Professional — could be tedious.
Restricted FPV System Choices
Like many BNF producers, the cover and digital camera mounting lately seem optimized primarily for the DJI O4 Professional air items greater than anything.
DJI cameras use completely different screw spacing in comparison with conventional analog or Walksnail cameras. In the event you plan to mount digital camera apart from DJI, chances are you’ll have to do some DIY modifications.
That’s not essentially a deal-breaker, nevertheless it’s price realizing before you purchase a “no FPV system” model anticipating common drop-in compatibility with analog or Walksnail or different programs.
Digicam Angle Limitation
The utmost digital camera angle is restricted to roughly 0° to about 30°.
For typical cinewhoop use — indoor flying or relaxed out of doors cruising — this vary is completely enough. Nonetheless, should you favor increased digital camera uptilt for quicker flying, chances are you’ll want to switch the mount your self.
Find out about how digital camera tilt angle have an effect on your flying: https://oscarliang.com/camera-angle/
GPS Mounting: Nice Concept, Imperfect Execution
In the event you don’t use GPS, this received’t concern you.
When putting in the mounting plate on the O4 Professional air unit, chances are you’ll discover a sq. slot within the plate. After securing the air unit, this slot faces upward by the cover cutout. It’s designed to carry a GPS module, preserving the construct clear and tidy.
It seems to suit GPS modules with dimensions round 15.5×15.5mm. GPS like HGLRC M100 Mini would match completely.
Nonetheless, as a result of the GPS sits very near the O4 air unit and antennas, there’s potential for interference. This will scale back GPS efficiency — fewer satellites locked and longer time to attain a 3D repair.
For my part, it will have been higher to position the GPS mount on prime of the digital camera protector. It could be barely extra uncovered, however GPS modules are typically fairly strong. Extra importantly, mounting the GPS farther away from RF sources would possible enhance satellite tv for pc reception and reliability.
Including GPS lets you allow:
A Small Annoyance: Exterior USB Adapter
On the DarkStar22, you must plug in a small adapter to entry the USB port for Betaflight configuration. It doesn’t make the quad more durable to make use of, nevertheless it’s precisely the form of tiny half you’ll finally lose — particularly should you personal a number of quads with completely different adapters. It rapidly turns into messy.
It’s the identical scenario with the Pavo20 Professional. It appears pretty frequent these days for small cinewhoops to interrupt out the USB port to a separate adapter.
The explanations for this design selection are apparent: weight financial savings and simpler entry in compact builds.
And there are two similar connectors on the board, which makes it straightforward to plug into the unsuitable one.
Flight Efficiency
The Darkstar22 hovers at round 21% throttle. It doesn’t really feel significantly highly effective. A full throttle punch is noticeably slower than the Pavo20 Professional, possible as a result of further weight.
That mentioned, I don’t have complaints about dealing with. It’s a really clean and steady whoop. Turns really feel clear and predictable.
There may be some propwash oscillation throughout sharp turns and when recovering from dives, however that’s anticipated for a heavier micro cinewhoop.
I additionally seen a tiny little bit of vibrations when flying in windy circumstances (round 15 MPH within the flight footage). Nonetheless, these could be smoothed out simply in submit utilizing Gyroflow.
For a micro cinewhoop, it truly performs surprisingly nicely in for freestyle and acro. Flips and rolls really feel snappy and responsive.
GEPRC recommends a 3S 720mAh LiHV battery. I didn’t have one accessible, so I examined it with some BetaFPV 3S 550mAh LiHV packs as a substitute.
With a mixture of freestyle and cruising, I used to be getting round 4–5 minutes of flight time. In the event you use a 720mAh pack, you possibly can in all probability count on about one further minute.
Darkstar22 vs. Pavo20 Professional V2
They’re basically the identical measurement — each use 2.2-inch propellers — however there are some essential variations.
Weight
The Darkstar22 is heavier than the Pavo20 Professional. With the DJI O4 Professional and LED strip put in, it’s roughly 17g heavier.
- Pavo20 Professional II: 116g
- Darkstar22: 133.5g
That possible explains why GEPRC recommends a bigger battery — to compensate for decreased flight time as a result of further weight. Nonetheless, a much bigger battery makes the drone even heavier, which noticeably impacts efficiency.
Takeoff weight together with manufacturer-recommended batteries:
- Darkstar22 (133.5g) + Storm 3S 720mAh (50.5g): 184g
- Pavo20 Professional (116g) + LAVA 3S 550mAh (43.2g): 159.2g
That’s a few 25g distinction, which is critical on a small cinewhoop.
In the event you’re pleased with 4–5 minutes of flight time, I truly suppose a 3S 550mAh pack is the higher selection for general flight efficiency.
Pusher vs. Commonplace Configuration
The Pavo20 Professional makes use of a pusher configuration — motors are mounted the other way up, and the props sit beneath the body.
The Darkstar22 makes use of a regular configuration — props are on prime, like a standard quad.
There are arguments that pusher setups could be barely extra environment friendly, doubtlessly translating to marginally higher flight occasions. Nonetheless, the draw back is that propellers are extra uncovered throughout landings and crashes. This will result in:
- Extra bent or broken props
- Elevated likelihood of micro vibrations (and jello in footage) over time
- Extra frequent upkeep and prop replacements
With the Darkstar22’s customary configuration, propellers are extra protected. When it lands or tumbles, the ducts and arms hit first somewhat than the propellers.
I’ve written a extra detailed article discussing these configurations right here: https://oscarliang.com/pusher-configuration-explained/
Which One Flies Higher?
In case you are an skilled freestyle pilot, the Pavo20 Professional is extra enjoyable. Being nearly 20g lighter makes a noticeable distinction in dealing with, responsiveness, and effectivity for drones on this measurement class. That mentioned, you received’t be dissatisfied by how the Darkstar flies. It’s nonetheless clean and nimble, and you’ll completely freestyle with it.
With the identical battery, the Pavo20 Professional provides you nearly a full minute extra flight time, primarily due to its decrease weight.
Vary
The Darkstar has the sting in the case of vary.
It makes use of an exterior ELRS receiver with a better-positioned antenna. On the Pavo20 Professional, the antenna is only a easy copper wire tucked contained in the body, which considerably limits most vary. Flying inside 300m is usually high-quality, however past that it turns into more and more dangerous.
If vary and sign penetration functionality issues to you, the Darkstar is clearly stronger on this space.
Sturdiness
Each the Darkstar and Pavo20 has strengths and weaknesses.
I’m not an enormous fan of pusher config and attempt to keep away from it when attainable. Props on the underside are likely to get broken extra usually, and takeoffs could be more durable if the quad will get caught on particles. The O4 Professional digital camera can also be barely higher protected on the Darkstar. The battery protector can also be a really good contact.
Nonetheless, the soft-mounted cover is the primary weak level. Arduous crashes could cause the cover to separate from the body. Repeatedly eradicating and reinstalling the rubber grommets may harm them over time.
In distinction, the Pavo20 Professional cover is secured with bolts, making it extra strong and safe. For that motive, I’d keep away from aggressive flying that might result in heavy crashes with the Darkstar.
Upkeep
Upkeep largely comes all the way down to how the cover is mounted.
- Pavo20 Professional: 4 screws to take away. Simple to work on and straightforward to reassemble.
- Darkstar22: To entry the underside of the FC, you take away six screws from beneath. For the highest aspect, you will need to take away the cover — and reinstalling these rubber grommets correctly could be irritating.
In the event you take pleasure in tinkering and don’t crash a lot, it’s manageable. However should you crash usually and need fast repairs, the Pavo is simply simpler.
Noise
Noise issues particularly once you’re flying near folks, indoors, or round animals.
- Pavo20 Professional: Quieter, with a lower-pitched sound.
- Darkstar22: Barely louder, with the next pitch.
Neither is wherever close to as loud as a 5-inch quad. A number of hundred meters away, each fade into background noise. But when stealth is a precedence, the Pavo has a slight benefit.
Value
The Darkstar is roughly $35 greater than the Pavo20 Professional as a full BNF:
- Pavo20 Professional II (O4 Professional + ELRS): $364.99
- Darkstar22 (O4 Professional + ELRS): $399.99
When evaluating PNP variations (with out O4 Professional), the Darkstar is $65 costlier!
You’re paying a noticeable premium for the Darkstar22, so the true query is: do you get what you pay for?
Putting in the DJI O4 Professional Air Unit
In the event you order the model with out the DJI O4 Professional, you’ll want to put in it your self.
I’m barely dissatisfied by the shortage of directions on how to do that. For knowledgeable pilots, it’s not an enormous concern — you possibly can in all probability determine it out pretty rapidly. However for inexperienced persons, this could possibly be irritating. On the very least, they need to clarify which screws go the place and the way the air unit needs to be mounted.
The quad features a leaflet within the field, nevertheless it’s simply generic info for all their BNF drones — not a correct guide for this particular mannequin. I additionally checked their web site for documentation, however couldn’t discover something. Not probably the most beginner-friendly expertise.
Anyway, I’ll present how I put in mine right here to make issues clearer.
The best way to Setup
Earlier than the primary flight, I did the next:
- Put in O4 Professional Air Unit
- Put in the battery pad
Firmware
- The flight controller (FC) board goal is TAKERF405, and it comes preloaded with Betaflight firmware model 2025.12.0-beta. For CLI Diff, see right here
- ESC Firmware: Bluejay, 0.21.0, 48kHz (Q-H-30)
- ELRS Receiver Firmware Goal: GEPRC Nano 2.4GHz RX, firmware 3.5.4
DJI O4 Professional OSD Setup
Betaflight Setup
Handbook:
Remaining Verdict
If measurement doesn’t matter and also you simply need the perfect flying cinewhoop, I nonetheless favor the GEPRC Cinelog30 V3. It’s extra environment friendly, extra highly effective, extra steady, and surprisingly quiet.
However should you simply desire a small 2-inch cinewhoop with the DJI O4 Professional, it actually comes all the way down to the Pavo20 Professional vs. Darkstar22.
Total, the Pavo20 Professional flies higher and longer as a result of lighter weight, and it’s higher suited to close-range freestyle. It’s additionally simpler to keep up and extra reasonably priced.
That mentioned, the Darkstar22 additionally flies nicely and has a stable PID tune, however the heavier weight makes it higher suited to relaxed cruising. Its higher receiver and antenna setup give it noticeably higher vary.
Get the GEPRC Darkstar22 from:
If you think about worth — with the Pavo20 Professional being $25–$65 cheaper relying on model — the winner is pretty clear.
