Though I'm a bit late to the party, I finally want to build a quad. I recently got into embedded systems design and I am making the flight controller from scratch(not using betaflight or anything like that).
However, when I finally started to look up available motors that I don't have to import from aboard, I found: 1. They are mostly 4-5years old ones and 2. The choices I have are unjustifiably expensive.
Right now I have my eyes fixed on a 300mm frame with 4 Emax rs2205 motors(around 9000 inr for the motors and escs). I was wondering if I could make a cheaper, more efficient 450mm but reliable build.
So my queries are:
1. Are there cheaper motors out there for 300mm builds?
2. What about off-brand ones? How reliable are they, for people who already tried them out?
3. if I only take the cost of motors+escs+batteries into account(I already have the rest of the sensors, microcontroller board, etc. with me), can I make a cheaper 450mm build? What would be the typical motor size that I'll be looking for?

Thank you.

Welcome to the Quad Family  .
Better late than never.
There are already quite a bunch of Top Notch help already present in the forum, which you can access by using the Search. I will give you my two cents of what I know about quads, as even my very first quad was from scratch.
The very first thing that I choose is the size. Size puts you in a very nice bracket of everything. As you mentioned you will be choosing a 300mm, I would recommend to go for a 450mm build.
I can assure you, there will be a lot of accidents where you will end up damaging multiple components of your quad .(Assuming this is your first time building and flying a quad that too from scratch).

So I would not recommend buying anything expensive, even the frame could be done from scratch. While building my first quad I ended up choosing pretty cheap motors(1000kv golden ones for INR 400ish) and generic SimonK ESCs(30a around 400INR) and even those proved to be costly for the number of times I ended up burning them. You could get them for cheap and even damaging them won't cost you a fortune. These motors comes in a variety of 1400/1200/1000kv and are suited for 450mm builds(hence the 450mm recommendation).
I just wrote what i think might be helpful to you, might be wrong, and if so I'm pretty sure someone will correct me. Anyways have fun.

Hi Rajatmo, welcome to the forum!

I woudnt recommend a 300 size frame since it has space constrains, may not work well if you plan on adding alot of components and also since its your first quad i assume, you need to keep things compact, neat and clean when building small systems and soldering skills is very important for them.

A 450 size quad on other hand is much spacious and you have a lot of options between motor, propeller and lipo (3s or 4s), planning with these combinations can get you a setup thats either good on endurance or decent on carrying some payload for few minutes.

now answering your questions

1) As of today the Indian hobby market for FPV quads is booming there are many options available for a 300 size quads motors can range anywhere from 1k to 2.5k depending on specifications .

2) I would say avoid any generic motors , ESCs and lipos which are being sold for cheap at amazon or elsewhere. Ready to sky motors are budget friendly and are used in a lot of build these days a go to motor for a lot of 450,500,550 users .

3) Motor,ESCs and lipos are important components so i would say dont go cheap on them, cost will depend on what you buy, most common motor size for a 450 size is the 2212 900kv to 980kv and if you want more thrust and efficiency then 2216 or 2218 motor 800kv to 900kv

Brands for motor i would say go for Emax, Sunny Sky or Ready to sky
Brands for ESCs i would say go for Emax , HobbyWing Xrotor or Ready to sky
Brands for Lipos i would say go for Tattu, Gensace or Bonka
Propeller i prefer HQ brand available at Rcmumbai

Few options i can recommend for a 450size quads:
For a 450size quad ranging from 1.2kg to 1.4kg
a) Ready to sky motor 2212 920kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
b) Emax 2212 935kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
c) SunnySky 2212 980kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
d) Ready to sky motor 2212 920kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 9x4.5 propeller + 4s 2800mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time with payload upto 100gms
e) Emax 2212 935kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 9x4.5 propeller + 4s 2800mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time with payload upto 100gms
f) SunnySky 2212 980kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 9x4.5 propeller + 4s 2800mah 35c will give approx 6 to 7 minutes of safe flight time with payload upto 100gms

For a 450size quad ranging from 1.4kg to 1.7kg
a) Emax 2216 810kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 10 to 12 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
b) Emax 2216 810kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 11x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 12 to 15 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
c) SunnySky 2216 880kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 10 to 12 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
d) SunnySky 2216 880kv + Emax Blheli 30A ESC + 11x4.5 propeller + 3s 2200mah 35c will give approx 12 to 15 minutes of safe flight time without any payload
e) Emax 2216 810kv + Ready to sky/Hobbywing Xrotor 40A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 4s 2800mah 35c will give approx 10 to 12 minutes of safe flight time with payload upto 150gm
f) SunnySky 2216 880kv + Ready to sky/Hobbywing Xrotor 40A ESC + 10x4.5 propeller + 4s 2800mah 35c will give approx 10 to 12 minutes of safe flight time with payload upto 150gm

Note: Flight time and payload capacity is just for reference purpose and cant guarantee same results, most of the setup ive mentioned here ive tried it long back.
Emax and Ready to sky2212 and 2216 come in different thread rotations and the 2212 motor of the same brand uses DJI style propellers.
Emax and ready to sky product motor,esc and propeller are available at robu.

I hope this works out for you!

Regards,
Mohammed Naveed

Hi,

Welcome to the hobby! You are not late, there is always a scope for learning new things and improvements.
I hope you get the parts that you are looking for.

I have posted few parts for sale, check them out here:http://www.rcindia.org/for-sale/drone-parts-huge-clearance-sale-moving-out-of-hobby/

It has two motor options: 800kv for 450mm and 1400kv for 330mm frames.
Let me know if you need them or any other parts listed.

Regards,
Deepak

sunny sky 2212 980kv moter req
8090374901