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Progression

DanijelT

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After two months of ownership and about 3 hours of flying this video shows my current flying skills.


I am happy with my progression and been having a blast! This thing is fragile and I have experienced that myself by totaling it during a crash. But that does not stop me from having a lot of fun with it!

I have considered selling it and buying a traditional drone but the immersive experience and the convenience is just
to good!
 
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after a couple of months of flying the DJI FPV, I've just done my first flights with my first traditional fpv drone.

I'm going to make a video about the journey of dji fpv to traditional drone, and was it a good route, will i keep the dji.
but spoiler alert - yes, I think it is a very valid route, its made the journey much more enjoyable for me - and yes, i'll keep the DJI as is a very different bird.
... so don't doubt the DJI, yeah its a bit fragile, but as you say convenience, immersion and fun factor is really high !
 
after a couple of months of flying the DJI FPV, I've just done my first flights with my first traditional fpv drone.

I'm going to make a video about the journey of dji fpv to traditional drone, and was it a good route, will i keep the dji.
but spoiler alert - yes, I think it is a very valid route, its made the journey much more enjoyable for me - and yes, i'll keep the DJI as is a very different bird.
... so don't doubt the DJI, yeah its a bit fragile, but as you say convenience, immersion and fun factor is really high !
Very cool! What drone did you get? I was looking in to the nazgul 5 HD. I really hope that DJI release an AIR unit with upgraded specs and support for the V2 controller. If they do that I will definitely get it.
 
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I was going to get a Diatone F5 ...
but someone locally was selling a custom build , which had everything I was considering

Diatone F5 frame
DJI Air Unit
Tmotor F7 HD F55A PRO II. (FC/ESC)
Tmotor F60 PRO IV V2
Tmotor props 4943
GPS/ Buzzer
Crossfire Nano RX

Radiomaster TX16S + Crossfire Micro v2

its a bit of a beast :) - though, it's a 6s build, I've started off on some 4s batteries, to tame it in a little.
that said, the DJI FPV seems to have prepped me well, in fact i was super happy at how easy it felt to fly.

I could already switch to my 6s batteries, but I'll probably run for a few more days on 4s just to gain confidence.

the one 'scary' bit is landing.... I always switch to N/S to land the DJI FPV (due to its fragility)
but this you have to bring in on acro, so thats a new experience.
however, im starting to realise this drone is so tough, you dont really need to worry too much about a 'rough' landing ;)

two things that really have help me transition.
I did alot of practice hovering in M mode on the DJI FPV, if anything Im finding hovering a bit easier on this freestyle drone.
the other thing is, Ive put a nice shallow camera angle on the F5, ths along with my hovering, means that I feel nicely in control when landing.
(theres some complications around airmode/throttle/disarming - but that'll come with practice)

I do kind of wish I was using the djI controller (from dji fpv) the TX16s is pretty big, and its taking me a while to get used to all the switches, and configuring it.... long term i think its a good move, but beginning it would have been one less thing to 'learn'

I was going to wait to see if DJI released support for controller v2, but in the end it was partly opportunity ( a local seller) , and also partly I was taking a few too many risks with the DJI, and I could see myself crashing it... thats $100-200 that could be used to buy this drone ;) ( * )

the Nazgul 5 HD was also on my short list... honestly, Id have probably bought whichever became available first ;)


------


( * ) I've got skills to repair this F5 drone, so even if/when i damage it - it'll be cheap/quick to repair.
 
the one 'scary' bit is landing.... I always switch to N/S to land the DJI FPV (due to its fragility)
but this you have to bring in on acro, so thats a new experience.
It's running Betaflight firmware, right?

You should be able to put it in angle mode for t.o. and landing. Assign a switch on your RC.

I configured BF so that my A85 won't arm unless the switch is in angle mode.

Not as easy as the DJI with all the sensors and assists, but angle mode is a lot easier to hover in one place than rate mode.
 
I do kind of wish I was using the djI controller (from dji fpv) the TX16s is pretty big, and its taking me a while to get used to all the switches, and configuring it.... long term i think its a good move, but beginning it would have been one less thing to 'learn'
If You can stomach spending another $70, I'd highly recommend picking up the Jumper T-lite controller, that's what I have, and it's the same form factor gamepad as the DJI controller from the V2 FPV system.

Uses the Open TX firmware, so has all the functionality necessary. I'm quite happy with it.
 
I'm perfectly happy with the radiomaster tx16s, its a great feel - i just have to get used to the form factor.
I think, basically, I'll transition from a 'hybrid pincher' to a pincher.. due to the taller sticks (or shorten the sticks)

(i think it just would be create if DJI added v2 controller support to ease transition, and one less thing to buy !)

landing, yeah, ive got switches set up for angle mode and also to disable airmode, which I could use for landing.
but, after a few flights, I think Ive come to the conclusion that its easier to just learn to deal with it,

that said, I did have one flight where it got really windy/gusty just as I was coming into land...
that got pretty hairy in rate mote - so I probably should have switched to angle to land it.

but overall, my landings in rate mode have been fine, and the quad seems not mind the odd bumpy one ;)
 
Well I can't land worth caca in rate mode, having little practice at it, relying on the angle mode crutch ;)
 
I was going to get a Diatone F5 ...
but someone locally was selling a custom build , which had everything I was considering

Diatone F5 frame
DJI Air Unit
Tmotor F7 HD F55A PRO II. (FC/ESC)
Tmotor F60 PRO IV V2
Tmotor props 4943
GPS/ Buzzer
Crossfire Nano RX

Radiomaster TX16S + Crossfire Micro v2

its a bit of a beast :) - though, it's a 6s build, I've started off on some 4s batteries, to tame it in a little.
that said, the DJI FPV seems to have prepped me well, in fact i was super happy at how easy it felt to fly.

I could already switch to my 6s batteries, but I'll probably run for a few more days on 4s just to gain confidence.

the one 'scary' bit is landing.... I always switch to N/S to land the DJI FPV (due to its fragility)
but this you have to bring in on acro, so thats a new experience.
however, im starting to realise this drone is so tough, you dont really need to worry too much about a 'rough' landing ;)

two things that really have help me transition.
I did alot of practice hovering in M mode on the DJI FPV, if anything Im finding hovering a bit easier on this freestyle drone.
the other thing is, Ive put a nice shallow camera angle on the F5, ths along with my hovering, means that I feel nicely in control when landing.
(theres some complications around airmode/throttle/disarming - but that'll come with practice)

I do kind of wish I was using the djI controller (from dji fpv) the TX16s is pretty big, and its taking me a while to get used to all the switches, and configuring it.... long term i think its a good move, but beginning it would have been one less thing to 'learn'

I was going to wait to see if DJI released support for controller v2, but in the end it was partly opportunity ( a local seller) , and also partly I was taking a few too many risks with the DJI, and I could see myself crashing it... thats $100-200 that could be used to buy this drone ;) ( * )

the Nazgul 5 HD was also on my short list... honestly, Id have probably bought whichever became available first ;)


------


( * ) I've got skills to repair this F5 drone, so even if/when i damage it - it'll be cheap/quick to repair.
That sounds like a great experience! How does the drone fly? A lot of people say that a well tuned traditional drone flies a lot smoother than the DJI drone. The tune on the DJI drone is supposed to be bad but I don't have any reference. I have never flown another drone.

How is the video quality in the goggle? And how is the range? Is it similar to the DJI drone?

One of the biggest things for me would be changing batteries often. I have heard that flight time with normal 6s drones is between 2.5 and 5min. How has your experience been so far?
 
yeah, smoother is exactly how I describe it... it reacts quicker, and just seems to 'float'.

i dont know if the dji fpv tune is 'bad', or if its just this has less weight, and bigger props.

video is pretty good, though not as good as the dji fpv - it feels like its more aimed at flying, than filming.
Ive not played with settings yet, and Ive not recorded on the air unit yet - which may be slightly different?.

one thing i did notice that was better (on the air unit) was flying in low light, it really turned the gain up and contrast up (it'd be 'unusable' as a video) so i could see much better than I could with the dji fpv in similar conditions - again, I think thats because its not trying to be 'cinematic'

range, Im still playing with this ...
it looks like my (controller) crossfire is performing very well.
however, the dji air unit (even with hacks) seems to be quite a bit less reliable than the dji fpv, i think this is because its locked to 5.8ghz, which I noticed with the dji fpv was not great, so I switch to 2.4... which you cant do with the air unit - however... Im looking into this, to see if I can improve somehow. (possibly antennas)

Im getting about 4 mins, which is pretty low, considering im just cruising around gently,
however, Im currently running some 4s batteries - I think this will go up a bit when I switch to the 6s.
(im running 4s 1500mA, and my 6s are 1300mA... for longer range you could use bigger still)
... of course, the batteries are also SO cheap, even the decent ones im buying are around 30 euros each!


overall, Id say , its is fantastic, it flies really nicely, and its nice being able to customise things in betaflight and opentx - also there is no doubt, its more durable, and easier to fix.
I bought it, because i wanted to be able to take a few more risks (proximity/low level flying) to improve my skills, and I think its definitely going to enable me to do this.


however, at the same time, it really is a good demostration of why the DJI FPV is so good!
Ive spent quite a lot of time setting things up (like gps rescue, timers, controllers) to get to a system that is nearly but not quite where the dji fpv is 'out of the box' :)
its given me an appreciation for how well thought out the dji fpv is.

its early days, but at the moment, I do feel that if I wanted to do a long flight (distance) or there were tricky conditions - Id trust the dji fpv that bit more... the pause/rth are second to none.


so for now, Im definitely happy having both... I think they will complment each other nicely
 
yeah, smoother is exactly how I describe it... it reacts quicker, and just seems to 'float'.

i dont know if the dji fpv tune is 'bad', or if its just this has less weight, and bigger props.

video is pretty good, though not as good as the dji fpv - it feels like its more aimed at flying, than filming.
Ive not played with settings yet, and Ive not recorded on the air unit yet - which may be slightly different?.

one thing i did notice that was better (on the air unit) was flying in low light, it really turned the gain up and contrast up (it'd be 'unusable' as a video) so i could see much better than I could with the dji fpv in similar conditions - again, I think thats because its not trying to be 'cinematic'

range, Im still playing with this ...
it looks like my (controller) crossfire is performing very well.
however, the dji air unit (even with hacks) seems to be quite a bit less reliable than the dji fpv, i think this is because its locked to 5.8ghz, which I noticed with the dji fpv was not great, so I switch to 2.4... which you cant do with the air unit - however... Im looking into this, to see if I can improve somehow. (possibly antennas)

Im getting about 4 mins, which is pretty low, considering im just cruising around gently,
however, Im currently running some 4s batteries - I think this will go up a bit when I switch to the 6s.
(im running 4s 1500mA, and my 6s are 1300mA... for longer range you could use bigger still)
... of course, the batteries are also SO cheap, even the decent ones im buying are around 30 euros each!


overall, Id say , its is fantastic, it flies really nicely, and its nice being able to customise things in betaflight and opentx - also there is no doubt, its more durable, and easier to fix.
I bought it, because i wanted to be able to take a few more risks (proximity/low level flying) to improve my skills, and I think its definitely going to enable me to do this.


however, at the same time, it really is a good demostration of why the DJI FPV is so good!
Ive spent quite a lot of time setting things up (like gps rescue, timers, controllers) to get to a system that is nearly but not quite where the dji fpv is 'out of the box' :)
its given me an appreciation for how well thought out the dji fpv is.

its early days, but at the moment, I do feel that if I wanted to do a long flight (distance) or there were tricky conditions - Id trust the dji fpv that bit more... the pause/rth are second to none.


so for now, Im definitely happy having both... I think they will complment each other nicely
That sounds great. Just the battery life....and charging all these packs everytime i go flying seems cumbersome.

But i will definetely be buying a traditional drone in the near by future when DJI release an updated air unit. I can see the charme in tuning and building myself.

I hope to see your video up soon!
 
the charging is not so time consuming as the DJI charger.
you can parallel charge multiple batteries,they also only take about 30-40 mins.

my charger does 2 at a time, but I might look at a parallel board or another one, as it'd be nice to do 4 at a time.


the landing after 4 mins is a bit of a pain, partly because I land so slowly/conservatively at the moment,
I guess if it was 4 mins actual flight, with 10 seconds landing, it would not be so bad... as you can turn around quickly and get back up

however, Im hoping my 6s / 1300mA will last more like 5-6 mins, which woud be fine.
( I get about 8-10 mins on the DJI, and I find that is enough)

Im planning on getting some more 6s, but I want to test the 6s/1300mA,
see how the flight feels (due to weight) and actual flight time - I might get some bigger ones if I feel its not too heavy, and want more flight time.
 
the charging is not so time consuming as the DJI charger.
you can parallel charge multiple batteries,they also only take about 30-40 mins.

my charger does 2 at a time, but I might look at a parallel board or another one, as it'd be nice to do 4 at a time.


the landing after 4 mins is a bit of a pain, partly because I land so slowly/conservatively at the moment,
I guess if it was 4 mins actual flight, with 10 seconds landing, it would not be so bad... as you can turn around quickly and get back up

however, Im hoping my 6s / 1300mA will last more like 5-6 mins, which woud be fine.
( I get about 8-10 mins on the DJI, and I find that is enough)

Im planning on getting some more 6s, but I want to test the 6s/1300mA,
see how the flight feels (due to weight) and actual flight time - I might get some bigger ones if I feel its not too heavy, and want more flight time.
5-6 mins with 40min charge time for 2 packs sounds pretty good! This is starting to sound very compelling....
 

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