Getting started

[Gianluca Basile]

i have been flying drones for quite a bit now i have had a phantom and always played around with little drones that my brother had and i found them tonnes of fun, that being said i have discovered the racing scene and i am very interested and want to get more involved. i was looking to build a good starter drone with fpv goggles and transmitter. i am honestly just looking to see if anyone has any suggestions on a good begginer build using for under $450.

Thanks,
gianluca

 

[jlgaustin]

I am interested in the $450-$500 range as well... Could extend to $600 if that meant getting something substantially better.

 

[merdok]

I am brand new myself and the choices out there can be overwhelming. Some of the guys on here have been flying much longer than I have and I am sure they will post as soon as they see it. I went with the ViFly R220 and love it! I have nothing to compare it to but I really like it. I bought the Marvel Vision goggles from them as well and I am trying to learn. The quality of the goggles are good I think. Again, I have nothing to compare to as this is the first I have owned. I bought the R220 RTF, two extra batteries, Goggles, for $466 shipped.

 

[theGreenOrange]

You can get a top quality drone setup for under $500, especially if you build and use parts from a Chinese site like banggood or hobbyking. You can get stuff from Amazon much faster for a little more money. I personally would recommend:

Frame: qav-r or Martian.
Flight Controller: F3 based betaflight one
ESCs: BLHeli 20A or 30A
Motors: 2204 to 2206 with 2300kv
Radio: Radiolink AT9S or AT9
Camera: CCD based one (fs1117 maybe)
VTX: 200mW (Tramp HV for best one)
PDB/OSD: Matek HUBOSD
Antennas: Aomway
Goggles: Eachine EV800

You can change it up but these are my favs right now. If you want RTF or BNF, look at Eachine Wizard.

 

[merdok]

For my next one I will be doing something like what theGreenOrange posted. I want to build the next one.

 

[jlgaustin]

You can get a top quality drone setup for under $500, especially if you build and use parts from a Chinese site like banggood or hobbyking. You can get stuff from Amazon much faster for a little more money. I personally would recommend:

Frame: qav-r or Martian.
Flight Controller: F3 based betaflight one
ESCs: BLHeli 20A or 30A
Motors: 2204 to 2206 with 2300kv
Radio: Radiolink AT9S or AT9
Camera: CCD based one (fs1117 maybe)
VTX: 200mW (Tramp HV for best one)
PDB/OSD: Matek HUBOSD
Antennas: Aomway
Goggles: Eachine EV800

You can change it up but these are my favs right now. If you want RTF or BNF, look at Eachine Wizard.

Can you use the Radiolink receiver and EV800 goggles on a Mac with some of the flight simulators out there? Really want to be able to use at a minimum the radio with the flight sims.

 

[Gianluca Basile]

You can get a top quality drone setup for under $500, especially if you build and use parts from a Chinese site like banggood or hobbyking. You can get stuff from Amazon much faster for a little more money. I personally would recommend:

Frame: qav-r or Martian.
Flight Controller: F3 based betaflight one
ESCs: BLHeli 20A or 30A
Motors: 2204 to 2206 with 2300kv
Radio: Radiolink AT9S or AT9
Camera: CCD based one (fs1117 maybe)
VTX: 200mW (Tramp HV for best one)
PDB/OSD: Matek HUBOSD
Antennas: Aomway
Goggles: Eachine EV800

You can change it up but these are my favs right now. If you want RTF or BNF, look at Eachine Wizard.

are there any differences between 20 amp and 30 amkp esc like performance or lack of power to power certain motors

 

[theGreenOrange]

The Radiolink transmitters have a training port on the back for simulators, you need to buy the special cable for it. I don't know if they have Mac support or not but would guess they do.

30A ESCs can handle more power to each motor. 20A is probably fine, but I like 30A just to be sure I don't have to worry about blowing one.