FPV Toolbag Essentials for every pilot
Whether you are a beginner or a pro – a tool bag is an essential part of #FPVlife and every pilot has one. Tool bags vary from one to another, but today I want to talk to you about the essentials that every pilot should always have on hand. All the links to the mentioned products are in the text
Now - this toolkit is nothing that you can buy prepared, but it is something that I have customised to my specific needs. What you can buy is the bag itself. I am using the TORVOL sling bag and I enjoy working with it. If you want to copy this entirely or get just a couple of things that you may find useful - check the links.
Also, as a side note – this blog post is also available in a video form on My YouTube channel.
Now, Even though we will be talking about the toolkit – I would like to somehow split it into the categories.
So in this blog post, I will explain each tool or add-on and why I consider it important. Please just keep in mind that sometimes I am taking less or more depending on the type of trip I am going to. So I will obviously take fewer spare parts for a freestyle trip, rather than a racing event. I will also finish this list with some ready-made toolkits that you can simply buy and later adjust to your needs.
1. Drone Tools:
The first tools you will see in my bag are the hex screwdrivers and screwdrivers in general. I am using wera toolset with a Phillips screwdriver for some cameras and other small things, 2x hex screwdrivers and a hex nut screwdriver for my stack screws. I am also having an electric screwdriver and a set of bits here, but usually, the electric screwdriver has a 2.5 bit in, so if I don’t take the bits with me - I am still well-prepared with just my essential bag. If you are interested in my SEQURE (with a code ES126 save 10% OFF) electric screwdriver - the review can be found here. Those are the most used tools in my bag and I need them to disassemble & reassemble my frames. But also to tighten the screws before the flight because believe me - the screws will get loose with time, and you don’t want to risk losing your drone because of that.
The next most used tool in my toolkit is the Hex Nut Screwdriver which I am calling a proptool. The one I am using most is from Gemfan and it’s one of the most comfortable proptools I had a chance to use, so I am sticking with it
I may be having such a tool in every backpack, toolkit and prop bag...
If you cannot find the Gemfan one - ETHIX has a great prop tool and multitool that you can find on FPV24 or Amazon.
Another thing that I have in here are two types of tweezers. Some of the cables need them angled, while the others work well with straight tweezers. I use it mostly for soldering or plugging in small plugs such as camera plugs. Those are absolutely needed for soldering as you should not touch the cables with your bare hands. Things can get hot.
Next off we have pliers which are needed to cut cables, zip ties etc.
Another thing I need in my toolkit is needle nose pliers, which I use for holding bigger things such as frame parts, big screws that got stuck etc.
An absolute lifesaver is the smokestopper. Whenever you change something on the drone. Either because you had a bad crash on the race or had to exchange something in the field. Smokestopper will make sure you won’t fry the quad in rush. This tool is saving you from shorts and lets you know if everything is correct by a green light or a red light. You can get one on RDQ or FPV24
This is something I usually keep in my LiPo bag just for convenience but it’s a battery checker. I am using a ISDT battery checker to check on my cells health, battery status and if needed - to use the remaining juice to charge my cameras or phone through the USB port. Which has proven very useful more times than I can count. You can get one on RDQ, FPV24 or Banggood.
2. Soldering kit:
I know that for many beginners: Soldering may be scary, but! There are many videos on YouTube that will teach you how to do this properly. It’s much easier than you think it is! You can check out some tips and tricks in my Build videos here.
My soldering kit is actually all thrown into my essentials bag. The soldering iron I am using is the TS-100 or SEQURE SQ-001 Soldering Iron. I am just plugging it into my 6S lipos (and you can plug 3S+ lipos to it) and it’s good to go.
Along with that, I have a flux pen. And for those of you who don’t know - flux is helping to transfer the heat better and makes your soldering smoother and looking sleeker as well. I am also keeping a solder tube which is really handy on races and on the field because it’s light, clean and easy to work with. I do have a little stand with a sponge in it, and I should probably use it more often... but I do solder on my knee a lot which is something you should not do.
Now, this takes us to the third category of essentials:
3. Screws, cables & heatshtinks:
I think those need their separate category because maintaining the right amounts and setups of those may be challenging. And those seemingly boring things are having a crucial role in your drone. You don’t want stuff to be loose or flopping around in your quad because that causes more vibrations in the quad. Always make sure that everything is fastened and tightly secured to avoid jello, vibrations and crashes.
First of all - electrical tape. This is the easiest way to keep things secured and fastened to the frame. I am actually using it to hold my VTXs on the top plate, while securing them from carbon. I am also using it on racewires, so they don’t touch the carbon either.
Because you don’t want that
Since we are on tape I am also having a double-sided tape that works great for things that have to be separated or a bit higher, when you don’t know where to put it such as recievers.
I am also having the dual-lock tape but I am holding it in my lipo bag as I am using it for the lipos and the bottom/top plate. Wherever I want my batteries to be. Just to be sure that batteries don’t cause extra vibrations or get lost in flight.
The next on my list is a box of screws. I am using this separated small compartment box I got off a random store to separate various sizes of the screws for a quick repair.
Zipties! I recommend having small and big zip ties for various reasons. The bigger ones are usually stronger and can hold bigger parts, while the smaller zip ties work well with smaller components, loose cables etc.
Heatshrinks: For the moments when you have to connect two cables or secure a component - heat shrinks are an absolute must. I know that many people use those with heat guns but I am usually just walking around the race looking for people with a lighter or have one on me when going somewhere alone. Heat guns are just too big and heavy for me.
4. Spare parts:
Now that we are done with the tools and essentials - let’s go to my spare parts bag.
I am usually taking it for racing events only and it consists of everything I may need to repair on the race. Basically this bag has a racing drone worth of parts, in case of emergencies. What you can find here are motors, FC, ESC, Cameras, camera lenses, Antennas, tracer, vtx, LED packs, Cables, antennas, frame parts etc. For freestyle trips I usually take just the antennas, maybe one spare motor, spare arm and a camera, but I just throw them into a small baggy or something. The racing bag is the only specially prepared setup.
5. Filming accessories:
I am a YouTuber and as you may imagine - having good content is my priority when it goes to anything I do. Therefore, there are a couple of things I always have with me for all the drone-related trips and events...
SD card holder - The one I use is from camkix but I cannot find it on Amazon anymore so… here’s the second best
ND filters for GoPro, insta360go2, insta360 one-r and basically everything I am taking with me. It’s a great way to protect your lens, plus it works like sunglasses for your cameras, minimizing the sun gello, getting better colours and footage as well as just making sure that the light doesn’t do too much to your footage.
If I am going for a longer trip I also keep some spare batteries for my camera as well as some other filters for it.
And this is basically all that I have in my essentials toolkit. Leave me a comment if you think there’s something I am missing out on, or that I should get rid of. Or what do you think is absolutely essential in your toolkit! We are all different and I bet there are so many different toolkits all over the place!
For the time being - this toolkit has served me incredibly well and I cannot complain about it as I usually have what I need.
As I mentioned before - I am leaving you as many links to the products mentioned as possible and all the links in this post are affiliate links. So when you get something from them - I will get a little commission! Thanks!
If you enjoy this blog and my YouTube content you can join our discord via support on Patreon here. That’s all and I’ll see you next time.
Stay awesome Fam!
xoxo Lexie
