Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “DJI FPV drone review: fast and furious”.
[ Applause ], all right. I got to the park and i’m about to have my very first flight with a dji fpv. It happened, it had to happen. I don’t think it was entirely my fault, but let’s, let’s just get into it. This is the dji fpv.
So ever since drones reached the mainstream, it became an easy way for videographers and photographers to get perspectives they could have only dreamed of, or you know would need to rent a helicopter for at the same time, the first person view or fpv drones and race endurance Were slowly establishing their presence, we live in the age of drones. A new sport is emerging at breakneck speed. It was a niche diy community at first then drone racing leagues started popping all over the place, eventually got picked up by espn, but that diy culture still remained a big part of the sport. Nowadays, fpv racers started using their hard-earned skills also for filming purposes and creating this new trend among drone pilots which cinematic fpv’s now the world’s biggest consumer drone company dji, is ready to hop on that trend and is releasing its first fpv drone.
The drone is bundled together with dji’s existing goggles and a brand new controller. The whole 1300 kit is tailored towards experienced fpv pilots, but also newcomers like myself, looking to up their drone game. So, let’s take a look at how dji’s fpv kit compares to the rest of the market and also, let’s find out how easy or hard it is to learn to fly fpvs in less than two weeks. So the first selling print of this system is the simplicity.
No need to know how to build your own drone, calibrate motors. Get the transmitters right get the balance right. It really is as plug and play as it gets. The drone is heavier than most fpv drones and that’s due to this hefty battery, but the battery is also a big selling port for dji.
It has a run time of 20 minutes and if you’re used to standard drones like your mavics or phantoms or parrots, you might think that this is short. But if you’re used to fpv drones, this is actually a significant upgrade from what you normally get, which varies from three minutes for very tiny drones to around 10 to 15 minutes for larger activities. It’S also dji’s intelligent battery, meaning it discharges after a few days when not in use to maximize its lifespan, another plus for users who just don’t want to deal with proper battery etiquette. So usually in my drone reviews, i often spend a lot of time.
Pixel peeping talk about image, quality of drone cameras. What you need to know is that it shares the same sensor as the mini 2, except this fpv can film 4k at 60 frames per second instead of 24 frames per second, so you can slow down footage for those thrilling, close calls and, if you ever want It even slower you can also shoot slow motion at 120 frames per second at 1080p and overall, the camera is really good. It is great in good light and not so great in low light. Also it has electronic image stabilizer built in.
I do wish it used a better camera with a larger sensor, but i get it it’s dji’s first f3 drone and if it ends up being successful, it’s safe to assume we’ll see a more diverse lineup in the future. The camera is mounted on a one axis gimbal and it has a super wide view of 150 degrees compared to 83 degrees that you normally get on the mavic 2. For example. You can also actually see the ends of your propellers in your footage, which is great for gauging how close you are to certain obstacles where flying, but obviously knots are great for overall aesthetic in your final clip. You can either choose to remove it in post-production or apply lens correction in the menu in the goggles, which will also get rid of these very, very distorted edges. But i personally kind of like that. Look even with propellers in there the biggest difference between djs fpv and most other fpvs is the image transmission. First, the jfp drone is relying on digital transmission, which it introduced in the summer 2019., most starter, fpv drones. They rely on analog transmission.
The downside of analog transmission is that it doesn’t allow for long distance flying, but it is very low latency which takes precedence over range. However, dji is using its augustine technology here and from my experience over the past few weeks. Like always, it’s been great, but it actually hasn’t been as good as with some of the other dji drones.
At a few random points, i did notice some sort of interference with the image where the image would get pixelated and i would just have to stop for a few beats before i continue flying and these goggles were introduced last year too, and they look interesting. I’M getting a very christopher nolan, neo batmanesque vibe from it. I can’t help feeling like a complete idiot wearing them, but leader said it looks badass. So i’ll.
Just trust him on that one. There’S the joystick and a back button and the record button and the display is 810p at 120 frames per second, it really looks crisp and smooth. Lastly, there’s this new controller, that is almost half the size of other fpv controllers and it looks good and it feels good you can pop the back, so you can adjust the tightness of the joysticks as well and there’s this optional motion controller, which i’ll be honest. I didn’t have time to test or any interest in testing it. I just feel more comfortable with a standard controller at this point, but there is one thing i can tell you about both of these is that neither charge with a usbc to usbc, cable, just usb8 or usbc cable, and it’s infuriating – i i just don’t get it So, once again, this whole kit will cost around thirteen hundred dollars compared to some other options online.
You can definitely get away with spending a lot less until you feel more comfortable flying at tv. Tiny hawk makes some of the best beginner fpv drones and their start at 99 dollars without controlling goggles. That is, but if you’re at the level, where you feel already comfortable flying, i think that this price is comparable for what’s out there.
Okay, that should cover all the hardware things you need to know if you have more questions, be sure to drop them below, but uh yeah. Let’S talk about the flying experience of this thing, so there are three modes: you can fly this drone in normal sport and fully manual. Normal is basically how you fly any other dji drones and the speed is capped at 50 kilometers per hour conversion.
Here, sport mode is simplified, fpv mode and it’s a lot faster than normal mode, which speeds up to 97 kilometers per hour, and the drone would hold altitude in both of these modes and kind of balance itself out and, lastly, there’s this manual mode, which allows you To do things like this, it can reach speeds up to 140 kilometers per hour, and it has acceleration of zero to 60 in under two seconds here. You’Ll have to get comfortable controlling your altitude and the throttle yourself, which is what fpv collets call acro mode and i’m nowhere near being good at okay before we go any further. I have to stress this again.
This is my first time flying in fpv. I always had an interest in it, especially once i started seeing ftv racers transitioning into the cinematic fpv world, like that footage looks so cool and dji isn’t aiming this drone at racers, but for people either comfortable with fvs or trying to make that step into the F3 world, but we’re maybe discouraged by the diy aspect of it all like myself and dj, is really trying to kind of hold your hand throughout this whole process. Until you become more comfortable with flying in fully manual mode, which obviously takes hours and days and weeks of flying to just master it, but it’s not to say that you cannot have fun with other modes.
In my past two weeks with it, i’ve been making baby steps getting more comfortable with the manual mode. So, instead of me telling you about it, we’ll talk to someone who’s actually good at this stuff. The pacing of it felt actually pretty on point.
That’S reza kurniaman he’s been flying fpv drones since 2017 around bay area. It’S it feels surprisingly similar. It’S about the same weight as my usual drone has really good forward flight characteristics. I would say, i think, that’s due to the aerodynamics of the body, but yeah it felt pretty good in terms of fpv. The digital transmission is working great um for the area that we’re flying in even behind some trees compared to analog it’s pretty clean, great, being able to fly uh 20 minutes compared to the usual three to five. So what do you get on your drone about three to five minutes and maxing out at about the same speed as well? So it’s impressive that you can reach the same speed but achieve 20 minutes.
I think there were a few differences that were not really flight characteristic related, but mainly just the buttons and switches and setting all that up, but once i think they allow a bit more options to kind of mimic what we’re usually used to. I think then it’ll probably be just about perfect. One thing i forgot to mention is that this drone also has obstacle avoidance sensor, which is not that common for fpvs, but they only work in manual mode as you’re getting more comfortable with flying and they don’t work in sport mode, as you can tell by that Crash and if you lose control or need to come to a full stop, there is an emergency brake on the controller which i obviously didn’t have time to press here and it’s entirely my fault for crashing the drone. I went around the tree without knowing what’s on the other side, and i am surprised, though, that the drone didn’t automatically turn off the motors, but it kept ramming itself into the ground and i think most damage came out of that. Djs tell me that this shouldn’t be the case, and hopefully it’s just an early software bug, but it’s a pretty serious one. Nonetheless, and if you’re like me and you wreck this drone, you can replace a lot of the items yourself.
That includes the top housing shelf which you get in the box, arms, propellers and gimbal and camera module. I replaced all of them except the gimbal and the arm since i didn’t have extra ones and all of those replaceable parts can be ordered from dji directly. Actually, i think it’s easier if i just show you this list, which has every accessory and every itemized part you can buy separately from dji and the prices too and overall, the drone feels extremely responsive, like an fpv drop for someone who loves their mini tube because Of its size and how it feels in the air, especially in sport mode, the transition to fpv didn’t actually feel that daunting again, i’m nowhere near the level i want to be, but my initial anxiousness disappeared rather quickly.
So i have to admit i’m completely hooked like every time i walk around the city or go anywhere. All i can think about is where i can fly this drone, which little nook i can try to squeeze it in and so forth. But it sounds to me that i’m more hooked into the idea of flying any fpv not exclusively this drone.
Will i get this myself is actually a loaded question. Yes, it’s very pricey for it to be my starter drum, but again dji accumulated some of its best tech in it. It is such a simple system to use and for a newcomer it is much more approachable than some of the other options out there, and there are also other standard issues when it comes to any drone laws in your country, the area you live in. How much you actually get used out of it and you’ll need a few more batteries, so the price goes up. Also, you probably assumed this already, but i should point it out just in case the system isn’t really portable, i’m actually surprised dji isn’t selling a carrying case already if you’re familiar with f3 drones. I think you cannot go wrong with the dji fpv. It does everything right and it’ll also largely depend on your preference.
Do you like mounting a gopro instead of using the built-in dji camera, or maybe you just enjoy the diy aspect of customizing, your quads? For me, it’s been an absolute blast to fly this around and yeah. Sometimes it’s also been very stressful but rewarding, but for many of you, myself included, it might be worth spending a little bit more time in fpv simulators before spending a little bit more money on this whole kit. But once i feel ready, dj f3 is going to be on top of my list. Hey everyone. Thank you for watching the video that’s first and second, is that i have crashed my second review unit of dji fpv and i feel absolutely terrible and sad and demoralized, but yeah ama in the comments.
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