Digital or Anologue?

As you know im Looking to try Fpv drone Flying at some point after i have had tons of practice on a sim how long who knows ! i have Ano Goggles and My Jumper Controller which im using on my sim, i have spent about £350 at the moment but still i am attracted to Dji Digital Systems mainly due to its ease of use or so it seems, i am a very practical person due for 1 being a Clockmaker but my time is very limited so learning to fly then just getting a package that works with no problems ?or again so it seems is attractive i know it is a big jump up in cost but for me the plan is to enjoy my free time up in the air, but my Questions are is it a much simpler system or not, i still have a way to go on my sim as at the moment im useless LOL ! any thoughts are appreciated, as i will pull the trigger at some point, i wont be racing its purly for pleasure & Recording things etc so the system appeals on many levels. im interested in the conventional drone type not Djis Fpv drone as it seems to be a bit fragile so dont want to wast cash there, would sooner spend a bit more for a better more practical system

regards john

There is no quick get up in the air and fly package when it comes to FPV it is a hobby and requires a lot of learning it’s not just as simple as buy a drone and fly it like the camera drones (other than the DJI FPV drone, but like you say is way to fragile in my honest opinion)

You really need to sit down in front of a computer and learn about the hobby, what each component does that makes up an fpv drone then learn how they all fit together. Learn about betaflight and all the other operating systems that FPV drones use and learn how to configure them and set them up. Also you’re going to need to learn all about openTX the operating system of most radio controllers.

It’s a huge learning curve that takes a lot of time investment to learn even just the basics.

As for the question of analogue vs digital there is really only one thing that will determine your route and that is your budget. If you can afford to go down the digital route then do it as the experience is far better. Then you need to make the choice of which digital route you want to go down Digital FPV……DJI vs Shark Byte

Hope this helps :+1:t2:

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That is the DJI route. It will be fine for you, but some parts are not in stock. @DeanoG60 knows which parts you can get

My thinking is to learn to fly on my SIM then get a package IE goggles remote drone, I’m ok with the extra money, what seems to be the trend on YouTube is as soon as someone uses digital they don’t go back because of picture quality penatration & just the ease of set up, what I don’t want to do is spend money on Analogue then spend more cash on wanting to go digital just like I already have, can anyone tell me do the books that are currently sold on building drones etc cover digital set ups? Or can someone tell me a good book to get.

This what I did. And yes I wish I’d saved myself the money and gone digital right away.

As for books I have no idea I did all my learning online via YouTube. :+1:t2: done the job and saved me money on buying a book :ok_hand:t2:

I think it’s the way to go, I just like to have things to hand for reference, but all in all seems like few disadvantages all round, have you got any package recommendations Dean ?

Like I said before there isn’t really any packages for 5inch quads.

But if you’re going DJI then obviously that makes things easier purely because there isn’t as many options.

So goggles you’ve got to go with the DJI FPV Goggles V2 as these are the only goggles that you can get new now for the DJI system. You can still get the V1s 2nd hand.

If you want it mega simple then you can get the DJI FPV radio as this will bind with any DJI Air unit or Vista and removes the need for a receiver in the drone.

And then just buy any HD (DJI compatible) bind and fly (BNF) drone. A superb suggestion from me would be the iFlight Nazgul 5 V2 HD.

If you don’t want the DJI radio and want to stick with what you’ve got then you’ll need to have a compatible receiver in the drone.

I will probably just go with the goggles and the DJI controller, start as I mean to go on really, I think I will get a tiny hawk after I use the SIM then get a bit more practical practice then sell that set up hopefully not losing a lot, feel a bit apprehensive about a large drone if the SIM is anything to go by, and then go straight to Digital buying everything I need & enjoy flying as fast as possible, I’m on YouTube at the moment echoes what you have just said :+1::+1:

You could realistically just buy a BNF quad and some goggles and go from there, digital and analogue options are generally available for most of the popular ones.

I’m unsure what you mean, so you could use the remote I have but DJI goggles ?so in affect the camera is digital but the rest is anologe , so you could buy the goggles and an air unit, are there quad’s that the air unit will plug into ?

Yes, potentially - although personally I’d make sure that you are putting a good quality rx on your drone as you wouldn’t want to loose a dji air unit.

BNF stands for bind and fly - usually has everything installed - you just need to choose one with a compatible receiver and connect it to your transmitter. You can get some with the air unit installed so it’s just a case of connecting to your goggles and flying.

Yes it’s a way to go, my reservation with this it I have a jumper tlite and as I scroll through the drones on line then the set up on the t lite I’m finding the receiver is not listed or so it seems ? Then I pop on line or the web and people shugest turning things off on the controller like Telemetry and this will make it work ? It’s all heading to another Anologe remote, but this does give me options on other drones and Anologe receiver options I suppose but then my thoughts think is a complete Digital system better for distance etc not that I want to fly miles or anything but as you said if the receiver is not up to it it’s bye bye drone, also from what I’m seeing it may not be in the immediate future but digital will really kick off then Anologe drones will be cheap as chips,my own industry Clockmaking experienced this in the 80s with quartz and with in a few years there where very few mechanical clockmakers still working, it completely dedicated the American and Swiss watchmaking industry, I still feel it’s a bit away but I’m certain it will happen, don’t mean to be doom and gloom just went off on my soap box LOL Anyway back to my problems, it’s probably cheaper in the long run just to dish out the extra cash although we all like to save a bit I’m just unsure about the Anologe receivers and transmitters , this is why I was after a book that would give me good solid information, I’m much better with reading things, big learning curve.

It’s pretty confusing and I went down a similar route.

I bought the jumper t lite as it worked with my first drone but as I found that the range was limiting I added in a crossfire module to the back of the jumper t and bought another drone that had a crossfire rx fitted.

I later upgraded my tx to a Tango 2 due to preference after trying @notveryprettyboy 's at a meet.

Now all of my drones were either purchased with crossfire rx’s fitted or I have added them.
I’d say that for an analogue set up that is the best way to go.

It’s very possible to have a digital camera /vtx set up and still use something like crossfire instead of going fully digital. Usually its either down to cost or preference.

Both @DeanoG60 & @notveryprettyboy have digital and crossfire and i’d suggest that way gives you more options that just digital.

Hope that helps a little

It does, I still have a bit to learn but honk I’m getting there, still need to learn to fly or neither digital or Anologe will be of any use but getting my homework done never know may bag a bargain .

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Hi John, Iv been flying for around a 8 months now and still very much a beginner. I get where your coming from, I’m 50 years young and come from a Engineering/Electrical back ground so thought all this Betaflight, Rx, Tx,Pids would be a doddle to get my head round, how bloody wrong was I :man_facepalming:t3:

But with help from the guys on here Iv managed to weather a number of storms that may of ended my flying career.

I went down the full Dji route from the word go, ie V2 goggles and Dji controller with a Iflight Protek25 hd. I have been more than happy with my choices the Protek,s are pretty bomb proof, I can personally vouch for that :rofl: hence Ideal to learn with.

Alternatively you could go with what Dean has suggestions in the way of a Nazgul5 along with a heap of props as you will need them. I recently brought 1 and they are amazing, so easy fly, here is a link to the Iflight website where you can buy a tailor-made package.

https://shop.iflight-rc.com/iflight-quads-cat25/freestyle-quads-cat29/nazgul-xl-series-cat101/Nazgul5-HD-with-Caddx-Polar-Vista-Digital-HD-System-BNF-DJI-Goggle-V2-pro1554

I don’t really like giving advice at the moment due to not being knowledgeable enough, but can offer a couple of web sites that helped me especially when deciding on what to buy…

This guy is as mad as a box’s of frogs :frog: but he did 9 episodes on FPV for beginners, hope some of this helps :+1:t3:

I think what would help you a lot is getting this “digital or analogue drones” thing out of your head, mostly because its nonsense and you seem to be fixated on it.

The digital or analogue portion is only relevant to the FPV video feed. If you want clearer HD (720p) video feed into your goggles rather than analogue that’s what you are paying for.
The decision you need to make is whether the pros/cons of digital video are worth the extra money compared to the pros/cons of analogue video.
Actually controlling the drone isn’t really a factor in this part, when it comes to that you just buy a BNF with a receiver that your tranny can speak to already installed, or buy a PnP and get a compatible RX and stick it in. Just find out which RXs are compatible with your tranny, if you want long range you have options like TBS or Immersion Ghost but your generic Spektrum/Futaba/Frsky RXs are going to be fine for most people unless you are having issues with range/penetration.

Have not flown anything yet, but am trying to avoid cock ups as much as possible having things that are not compatible with each other.

Thanks I’ll have a look :+1::+1:

Ditto. :rofl: Engineering degree and nearly 30 years in IT. I build PCs, so this shouldn’t be much different.
Trouble is, you forget that there’s a learning curve with anything new and most of your years of experience don’t count for the new stuff.
Biggest issue I have is getting my head around all the compatibilities. And even when you think you’re there on paper, there’s always the issue of firmware versions and other options to trip you up. :slight_smile:

It’ll all come, eventually. I hope. :grin:

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