When your quad is simply too highly effective, a number of millimeters of throttle stick motion can take it from falling out of the sky to taking pictures towards area. This overly delicate throttle makes easy flying tough — particularly when flying by means of tight gaps or attempting to keep up altitude. That’s why Betaflight gives Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo settings. When configured appropriately, they offer you much more exact throttle management and smoother cruising. On this tutorial, I’ll present you how one can set them up.
Why Use Throttle Mid & Expo?
There are different methods to cut back throttle sensitivity, however every comes with some drawbacks:
- Decreasing energy utilizing throttle scale or motor output restrict → lowers your most pace and drone efficiency.
- Utilizing a customized throttle curve in your radio → reduces throttle decision.
The very best resolution is to configure Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo in Betaflight. This lets you make throttle management extra exact with out sacrificing prime pace or efficiency.
Nevertheless, it may be fairly a complicated characteristic for newcomers, which is why it’s usually ignored. I’m positive there are different methods to method this, however right here’s the tactic I take advantage of that works effectively for me personally.
The way to Set These Values (Preliminary Setup)
Beginning with Betaflight 2025.12.0 (previously Betaflight 4.6), a brand new Hover Level setting was launched alongside Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo. This permits the throttle curve to be anchored round your quad’s precise hover throttle worth, making it extra intuitive to make use of.
Step 1 — Discover Hover Throttle
Depart all the pieces at default, you’ll get a linear throttle response:
Throttle Mid = 0.50Hover Level = 0.50Throttle Expo = 0
Should you examine throttle curve preview, Enter needs to be the identical as Output by means of out the entire throttle vary (when shifting your throttle stick from 0% to 100%).
Hover your quad and observe the throttle place worth in OSD.
Instance:
- At 24% throttle → quad descends
- At 26% throttle → quad climbs
- So the hover level could be 25%.
Enter this into Betaflight:
Hover Level = 0.25
Step 2 — Set Throttle Mid
Throttle Mid determines the place you need the hover level to be in your throttle stick.
You possibly can put it anyplace between 0% and 100%, it’s purely a private desire.
I often place the hover level round 35% stick place as a result of:
- That’s my most comfy throttle stick place and I really feel like I’ve essentially the most management
- Round mid throttle stick (45% to 55%), that may be my regular cruising pace
So:
Throttle Mid = 0.35
This implies, 35% stick place outputs 25% motor throttle.
You possibly can confirm this within the Throttle Curve Preview.
Step 3 — Set Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo controls how delicate the throttle feels round Throttle Mid. You possibly can set it to any worth between 0 and 1. The upper the worth, the much less delicate the throttle will really feel across the heart stick. Nevertheless, if set too excessive, it could begin to really feel sluggish and unresponsive.
A great place to begin:
Throttle Expo = 0.65
Should you examine the preview, you’ll see that the enter and output are now not linear — you get a lot finer management throughout the primary 3 quarters of the throttle curve, which is strictly what we wish.
We’ve now established a very good place to begin. Exit and check these settings. Strive flying by means of tight gaps whereas sustaining a relentless pace and altitude, and see the way it feels.
Should you’re proud of the outcomes, there’s no want to alter something. Nevertheless, relying in your talent stage, flying fashion, and supposed pace, chances are you’ll wish to fine-tune the settings additional.
The way to Modify Throttle Mid/Expo
We will divide the throttle curve into 3 zones. For many pilots, the center zone (precision zone) might be a very powerful as you can be spending most of your time on this zone throughout flight.
Cinematic builds and gradual cruisers can profit from a wider “precision zone” for finer throttle management. Nevertheless, if it’s too huge, the throttle could really feel much less responsive, and also you’ll want to maneuver the stick extra to regulate altitude.
Throttle Mid
To tune Throttle Mid, right here’s what I do.
If you decrease the throttle throughout flight (for instance, when attempting to decelerate):
- If the quad doesn’t descend quick sufficient → improve Throttle Mid
- If the quad drops too shortly → lower Throttle Mid
Even a small adjustment could make a noticeable distinction, so make small adjustments every time (e.g., 0.01–0.02).
Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo controls the sensitivity round heart stick.
- Increased expo (nearer to 1) → finer, smoother management however much less responsive, higher for relaxed, cinematic flying
- Decrease expo (nearer to 0) → extra linear, responsive and twitchier, higher for aggressive flying
For instance, for my Air65 tiny whoop (champion version) I ended up with these values:
- Throttle Mid: 0.32
- Hover Level: 0.26
- Throttle Expo: 0.65
With out utilizing Throttle Mid & Expo, I needed to restrict throttle to 80% simply to fly indoors with out consistently crashing — the quad was just too quick. With these throttle settings, I can now fly comfortably with none throttle scaling.
It’s actually a sport changer in case you’ve by no means tried this earlier than.
Older Betaflight (Earlier than Model 2025.12)
Older variations solely have Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo settings — no Hover Level, so configuration is totally different. If you set Throttle Mid, it makes use of the identical worth as your “hover throttle” too and it flattens the curve round that time once you apply Expo. Sure, it’s complicated and that’s why I actually like the brand new method. Anyway in case your quad nonetheless has previous Betaflight on it you may discover this convenient.
Preliminary Setup
Set Throttle Mid close to your regular cruising throttle (or barely increased than hover throttle).
For instance, my tiny whoop, the hover throttle is 25%:
Throttle Mid = 0.25
For Throttle Expo, 0.65 is an efficient place to begin:
Throttle Expo = 0.65
Superb Tuning
Attempt to undergo tight gaps (attempt to keep fixed pace and altitude):
- If the quad feels too quick → lower Throttle Mid.
- If the quad feels too gradual → improve Throttle Mid.
Modify in small increments every time (0.01 to 0.02).
To alter throttle sensitivity:
- Increased Expo → smoother however softer really feel
- Decrease Expo → extra direct response
Throttle Worth in OSD Seems Improper
After altering Throttle Mid and Expo, chances are you’ll discover the throttle place within the OSD now not matches hover throttle once you hover.
If it’s good to re-measure true hover throttle (e.g. for GPS Rescue or Place Maintain):
- Quickly reset Throttle Mid, Hover Level, and Expo to 0 earlier than doing hover check, or
- Use Blackbox logs to learn the actual throttle output.
Conclusion
Throttle tuning is likely one of the most underrated options. By appropriately setting:
- Hover Level
- Throttle Mid
- Throttle Expo
you’ll be able to rework an excessively highly effective quad into one thing exact, predictable, and far simpler to fly easily — with out sacrificing efficiency.
Spend a couple of minutes dialing these settings in, and your flying will instantly really feel extra managed and assured. So long as it really works for you, there’s no proper or flawed worth because it largely comes down to private desire. Don’t be afraid to experiment and check out totally different values till it feels proper.
