Complete newb, need some advice.

[MattB]

Hey all, first time post. I have been wanting into this hobby for a long time, and it finally seems to have reached the point where some commercially available options are as good as a rig you put together yourself, so it's time to look for an entry point.

I want to eventually get to an outdoor model that haz ludicrous fly time and radio capacity to be able to fly a mile away and make it back to allow me to explore my neighborhood and nature parks from a new perspective, but I need to start small, where the price of entry is reasonable and the cost of the endless crashes I am sure to suffer is equally affordable.

I know I'm going to have to start on a sim and graduate to something tiny to buzz around indoors, build hand control and accuracy, then go to a smaller outdoor model and so on, but I don't know enough about controllers and goggle tech to be able to progress through the hobby without needing a suitcase of different gear to operate perhaps a total of 4 different drones eventually. I'd ideally like to have 1 controller throughout all the different models (possible?), and 2 headsets, one for the tiny variety and one for the larger drones that can travel some distance.

Besides looking for the right gear progression, I'm not handy with micro electronics, so my first drone should be something ready to connect and fly, with ample parts availability (I'm going to break stuff) and easy-to-swap to boot.

With all this in mind, what is my single radio, and my set of goggles that will connect to my first indoor and outdoor models (and to my computer for a drone sim) and a suggestion for a good flight sim?

My order of preferences, in order of importance in goggles and electronics:

1: range and connection
2: clarity and immersiveness
3: inter-connectability (1 radio to rule them all)
4: price
5: not too bulky

I don't know if I'm asking the right questions. If not, what SHOULD I be asking, and how would you do it if you had it all to do again?

 

[Darmie]

Good day Matt. It use to be you would have to buy this buy that, put them all together and give it a go, crash and learn. Program the boards, change PID's ect, ect, ect. Don't forget, Batteries, chargers. Radios ect. The FPV hobby has changed a bit. Now you can buy ready made that works great out of the box. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and I hope you can read more later. I recommend a DJI Neo. You will need to buy two more things, the FPV 3 controller and the DJI n3 goggles. Grab a couple of extra batteries but you can find them on amazon with a charging hub. This drone has a couple of things going for it. 1, you can fly it in normal or sport mode where you really aren't flying it but repositioning it. That gives you a safe way to try FPV without a huge learning curve. 2, it's a tough little bugger and can withstand a few dings. The bad side of normal and sport mode is your not learning the proper way flying a FPV drone but it does help with confidence. Heck I'm sure many people just fly that way for ever. Let's talk manual mode. This is where you fly the drone without any help, where ever you put the left stick, it goes and keeps going. This is more like freestyle. The FPV controller does have a pause button that can help with the learning curve. Now that you have the FPV 3 controller and the N3 Goggles, you can move on to the avata 2 but, I recommend the Geprc Cinelog30 V3 W DJI 04 Pro. for your next drone. One of the reason I mention the Neo, FPV 3 controller and n3 Goggles is the googles and radio is compatible with this drone or any pre built drone with the DJI 04 Pro system. You can even build your own with a DJI 04 Pro system that will work with those goggles and controller.

Then there is the Longer range drone, explorer LR 4 O4 PRO Sub250 4K/1080P Micro Long Range. My point is once you start with the neo, the goggles and fpv 3 controller, you can then move to others without rebuying radios and different goggles. Hope others will chime in for you.