DJI FPV Improvements?

[PTease]

I'm glad that DJI FPV is slowly but surely gaining acceptance. In DJI's first foray into RTF quads, this is already a game changer. However, there are still some flaws to the product especially when it comes to durability and maneuverability as, while impressive, it still cannot and does not match up to traditional quads. While DJI has maintained that DJI FPV is not meant for racing, it would still be good if the next iteration can further close the gap and make this a real tradtional quad alternative. So with rumors of a Mini FPV coming up, what enhancements would you like to see, especially those who have tried both "real" quads and the DJI FPV?

 

[cootertwo]

A lighter, carbon fiber frame, with easily replaceable arms, and a parts list of everything, down to each screw, nut and washer, available to order. Made compatible with older Vista and Air units, without all the binding issues. Clear shell to better show off the insides.

 

[thetechnobear]

it still cannot and does not match up to traditional quads.

having just bought a 5" freestyle, and flown it back to back with my DJI FPV,
I'd challenge that....

basically they are very different products, and for different target audience.
does everyone want to:
- mess with lipos?
- know what voltage you can fly till (rather than just have a battery %, and indicator when to come home)
- mess with betaflight
- have carefully set up GPS rescue/failsafe
- spend hours in a sim, before taking off for the first time?

even then, the air unit camera is not as good as dji fpv, the experience is not seamless.
the cost (of comparable) quads is not too disimilar (taking into account goggles, controllers, chargers etc)

and thats just against, RTF drones, let alone BTF, or build your own

for sure, the flying is better - smoother, more powerful, more agile,
thats important for enthusiast, but this is not dji's market....
their market for the dji fpv was beginners, mavic flyers wanting immersive flying and it hits that well

(of course, some like me, will progress, want more ... but I suspect that is a pretty small percentage)

so what would I like next?

mostly, the same DJI experience but with durability, ability to fix - perhaps multiple drones - racer, freestyle, long range. (oh and cheaper batteries)

will I get it... no! very unlikely.

Id not be surprised if the DJI FPV turns out to be a one-off (or perhaps we might see one iteration),
so Id be quite surprised if there was a dji fpv mini.
(esp, since I dont think the drone is actually a large part of the cost of the package)

I think DJI's main goal is not this market, rather its experimenting on how to get FPV into their top sellers - the Air, the Mavic. thats why they created a hybrid - to play with this N/S/M switch.
they also probably dont care about the crashing/durability - they have DJI care for that.
also, they want to sell you a new drone model in 12 months anyway.

but who knows....

for now why speculate, just enjoy what we have....

getting the 5" freestyle has really made me appreciate how good the DJI FPV really is.
sure its not for everyone, but it is still fantastic.

 

[Kilrah]

I've been doing FPV since 2002 and for me the FPV is literally what I'd been dreaming of since then. I've played with everything in the meantime and got bored of all of it becasue of the lack of progress especially in the video link department.
It's not perfect but very close to it, and nothing is anyway, once you get something you always think of something more you might want. In this case it's really not much.

The lack of repairability isn't a problem for me because even with my custom quads I was always flying with a reasonable balance of fun / daring but keeping the probability of crashing rather low since once I spent many hours getting a machine just right for it to be enjoyable i.e. balanced props, well damped camera not to to have massive vibration etc a crash meant not only the repairs but repeating some of the (for me) extremely tedious hours of fiddling to get it back there.

 

[thetechnobear]

I can already totally understant that view @Kilrah ....

even just sorting out the air unit, and determining which antennas to use... is such a faff.
whilst there is a lot of info on the internet about these drones and how to setup/ resolve issue, which Im really grateful of
BUT... it can be contradictory, misleading, imprecise or out of date.

that said, hats off to Betaflight and OpenTX, both are remarkable pieces of software...really well supported.

also I have to say, if you like tinkering/fine tuning, or learning about how a drone flies - these drones are fantastic.


But, I think this is why the DJI stuff is at a different level, its a level of design/engineering - that requires significant investment, which is just not practical in the DIY sector - the market is just not profitable enough.

as above, I suspect DJI are justifying the costs, as they hope to get it into their main product lines - which sell really.
I think DJI rely on thier user base upgrading every few years...
yet, they realised they were reaching a bit of a plateu, they already perform well, 4k is more than enough for most people, the 'mass market' probably dont **need** 1" sensors... so fpv is the next selling point, to give a more immersive feel.

I suspect, the '3' series (Mavic 3,Air 3, Mini 3(?) ) will in some form or another have fpv abilities - if these helps sales of these, then that new fpv userbase will far outstrip the dji fpv drone sales

there are some interesting challenges though...
if you look at the DJI FPV we can see compromises.

the weight I think largely comes from:
- Battery
its high capacity (they clearly targetted a min of 15 mins flight) , and somewhat protected with plastic shell , and has a proper 'connection'
(I dont think the smart charge pcb weight more than 2-3g)

- Active cooling - fans/heatsink
large amps, means cooling is required to be 'reliable', and safe

Im not sure that DJI can compromise on either of these... unlike DIY quads, if a quad/battery explodes, or falls on someone - they are looking at a multi million dollar lawsuit - similarly, this may also be limiting the repairability, to non-flight components.

these are the kind of things that the fpv community seem to largely ignore...since its not an issue in diy ... the builder/flyer assumes that responsibility.
but its why I dont think DJI would want to release something like the iFlight Nazgul, its too 'risky', and not that profitable.

( I also dont think DJI will move to carbon fibre, since they have so much invested in plastic molding -its also cheaper)

but going back to the series '3' ,
would they be able to carry this extra weight... no one wants a Mavic Air FPV that flies for 4 minutes, their user base expect 15-20 minutes minimum.
also we have to question the rigidity of the current gps drone lineup with collapsable arms, would the handle flips/rolls?
similarly, to be 'camera drones' - they need that 3 axis gimbal, can that lock in a stable enough position for fpv?

my guess is to overcome this, the series 3 will be quite fpv compromised - really focused on the immersive side, so perhaps no/limited acro on the smaller ones.
which would also help differentiate the product line e.g. mini 3 = no acro, air = having acro
(perhaps why DJI didnt really 'push' the acro/racing abilities of the dji fpv drone - since mid-term this is not that important to them)

its interesting for DJI though...
on one hand, fpv goggles add $600 to the price tag... thats, more than the price of the mini 2 kit... how many will be willing to fork that out?

on the other hand... its a great 'add on' accessory, I could see people being tempted 6 months into ownership of a air 3/mini 3.
also, I could see myself buying a mini 3 if its compatible with the DJI FPV combo.
(also dji love selling combo packs, so perhaps a variety of combo packs with mini, air... a bit like Parrot do)

---

what do you all think?

is the DJI FPV the start of a product line?
or is just a development vehicle? (air unit -> dji drone -> gps drone feature)

 

[Kilrah]

I don't think they have any interest in "merging" the functionality, this is just to reach to more people with something different, an attempt at a product line that may or may not last.

A Mavic wouldn't be a good FPV craft, while what makes the FPV what it is wouldn't work for what you use a Mavic for. Different qualities.

the weight I think largely comes from:

DJI aircraft have always been heavy with the exception of the minis. Probably for robustness, although with the energy levels involved on the FPV it doesn't make much sense at least once you go manual. Maybe it's saving some newbies who crash low and slow at the beginning in normal mode...
The weight is kinda cool for the inertia though.

 

[A.O.]

I like reading all your guys stuff, your ideas and adventures with these things! I've only been flying drones at all since November of 2020 (my 65th b-day), started with a MA2 and then got this DJI FPV and loving it. I am sure I am part of the mainstream target market from DJI on this thing. I myself like the immersive part of this quad, like being in the cockpit and tooling around! I have not even tried the Manual mode yet! I dont get to fly enough to get good enough at it to try, and I dont really do the sim, just a couple times, someday I'll give it all a try but for me for now this thing is just about the perfect bird! A mini would be appealing to me if you could just buy the bird and it would work with the controller and goggles I already have.

 

[Halifax]

I've been doing FPV since 2002 and for me the FPV is literally what I'd been dreaming of since then. I've played with everything in the meantime and got bored of all of it becasue of the lack of progress especially in the video link department.
It's not perfect but very close to it, and nothing is anyway, once you get something you always think of something more you might want. In this case it's really not much.

The lack of repairability isn't a problem for me because even with my custom quads I was always flying with a reasonable balance of fun / daring but keeping the probability of crashing rather low since once I spent many hours getting a machine just right for it to be enjoyable i.e. balanced props, well damped camera not to to have massive vibration etc a crash meant not only the repairs but repeating some of the (for me) extremely tedious hours of fiddling to get it back there.

Same here. I've been flying FPV for close to 20 years, first with fixed wing (and still with fixed wing), then with homebuilt drones, then with production FPV and DJI drones. I'll take the DJI gear any day. Too many hours of life burned up trying to tweak PIDs and all that. I do like the building part, but the controller stuff... nope. I wish that DJI would make a fixed-wing FPV plane at the level of engineering and quality that they put into their multirotors ... that would be wicked amazing.

 

[dougcjohn]

@thetechnobear , continuing your "possible" path of merging cinematic & FPV into one of the "3 Series".
I personally feel DJI saw a lucrative potential market that needed to be explored, adding a version 2 FPV will depend on the success of version 1 FPV... which appears to be off to a great start after much negative predictions in the FPV & YouTube Reviewers... so far it looks like it'll exceed their expectations.

I do agree with you, there will be a level of merge or sharing technologies between platforms. The merge may be more adding features between platforms vs merging platforms. The addition of incorporating an FPV camera, similar to the "Pilots" camera on an Inspire 2 would allow for FPV flying while maintaining a 3 axis larger sensor payloads. They've essentially already performed the inverse... bringing multiple features over to the FPV arena: GPS, Smart Batteries, HD transmission, User modes, stability & hover, etc; not marketed to compete with Racing FPV, more to add FPV cinematography and provide more simplistic options to enjoy FPV.

The non-VLOS of FPV would be a problem on job sites, but introducing a similar technology similar to an Epson BT-300 HUD with selectable FPV or Camera allowing FPV and Line of Sight. Their designers could make an a HUD glasses that would probably exceed the BT300 for Drones. With the ability to see physical drone & surroundings while viewing a PIP overlay screen of FPV... that would provide another "new feature" future separating them from other Brands. The added HUD would be great for Thermal inspections, etc.

They intentionally stayed away from the FPV Racers and light weight crafts. Targeting more new non-FPV Pilots than I think existing FPV Pilots, the price point for Kit, batteries, accessories are all higher than many find acceptable. Add a few more cinematography features might be nice, but I'd prefer it not become an "over featured" craft and loose it's intended market. I'd agree, a Ver2 will probably become a reality enhancing Ver1 but mostly likely not within 12-18 months... version 1 is a hot item even at the high price point!

 

[thetechnobear]

indeed, and of course, whatever DJI's intentions were at launch, they will change their plans depending on sales, and how they see the market develop.

I suspect DJI just sitting back, and watching how this all develops over the summer - what sales do after all the hype and expectations.
how many just pick it up at wallmart (or wherever) because it seems like a fun, immersive thing.

it seems DJI are busy with thier other products (mavic 3?) and global chip shortages are causing manufacturing delays - so a bit of wait n' see feels almost inevitable, and frankly quite a wise move.

as I said, I think cross-over is inevitable... DJI sold this primarily as FPV = First Person View = Immersive, and not acro/racing.
so, Series 3, do not have to provide acro/racing (and likely won't) , just that immersive experience.... as I said, its an 'add-on' for a camera drone, a different way of flying. ( haven't Parrot already done this with the Anafi?)

I've seen plenty of people with the DJI FPV already happy to fly this in N/S mode... not M, and I can see why, its fun... so this demostrates there is a ripe market for that immersive (non-acro) feature.

I do hope, DJI see a market in developing the 'pure fpv' drone - perhaps something more sporty, more acro...
only, time will tell

 

[Anzacjack]

I’d like to see the ability to use the controller and a screen as a “buddy box” type setup. Let someone be able to get some “hands on” with the goggles and motion controller while having the ability to take over if needed. This would make this a great drone for training