FPV simulator recommendations and DJI FPV alternative recommendations

Questions & Answers
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Hello fellow droners

My son and I have both owned DJI drones for a few years now. He’s decided he wants to get into FPV drones now. For his 16th birthday he asked for and received;
DJI FPV Remote Controller 3
DJI Goggles Integra

However, he’s not sure what drone to buy, or what simulator to use to learn to fly. The DJI kit works nicely together, but DJI FPV drone = £££

So I have two questions;

  1. Can anyone recommend a good simulator he can learn to fly using his goggles/ controller?
  2. Can anyone recommend any alternative FPV drone to the DJI / good video / docs for using DJI kit with a non DJI drone? (Preferably where no degree in electronics is required to build?)

Cheers
Toby

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Not aware of any decent sims on a pc or Mac that let you use the goggles but LiftOff and Uncrash via the steam platform are very good.

Dji do offer a sim that runs on your phone but I felt its was hopeless.

Is the fpv controller 3 compatible with the drone you plan to use? I thought it was only compatible with the new Avata 2.

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Thanks for the reply.

I think that’s the point… he doesn’t know what drone he plans to use. I’m sure the DJI drone would work well, but it’s expensive.

Be good if there was a cheaper FPV drone alternative, that’s compatible with his controller and goggles.

Cheers
Toby

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Think the controller 3 will be the issue as its new and there is not a bare bone dji flight system for it yet. The controller 2 will work out the googles and the o3 flight / camera system that can go onto a load of fpv frames.

Look at a used Avata - loads around and it could be the gateway to getting fully into FPV.

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@T0bster hi, i leant how to fly manually by using fpvSKY dive. Its free on steam. I still play it. The graphics arnt as attractive as other sims but the more i play it the more i find little things to explore and fly around which is what sims are about. Find new paths and routes. Im actually downloading liftoff right now. Its got more features and different game modes. There will be lots of people on here that can add to this. Ive got an avata 2 and use the fpv controller. So i fly with the drone and then use the same controller for the sim.

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Thank you :pray:

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Thanks new wave. Very helpful :+1::+1::+1:

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Lift off is still downloading! My interwebs isnt great :pensive:

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Did it ever finish? Any good?

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Liftoff and velocidrone the best Sims IMO.

You will struggle to use the RC3 with anything that’s not an avata 2 or mini 4 (and think the latest air).

For “cheaper” FPV you want an ELRS controller look after radio master pocket, Zorro or boxer really. Boxer probably the one to get if you wanna have it last with everything in the hobby.

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Yup, like Gunja said.

There is a discord server around here somewhere (we don’t use enough of but does exist…) for flying with other GADC members in sims. Typically, if you wave in there someone will appear.

In addition to Liftoff and Velocidrone, there’s also Tryp FPV, Uncrashed, and FreeRider on steam:

image

For solo’s, I typically fly Tryp because it’s the prettiest. Uncrashed and Liftoff have similar graphics & feel, FreeRider I don’t actually remember so it probably wasn’t as good.

However, all of these sims expect a normal radio controller (not motion). If you’re going to stick with a motion controller, I suspect you’ll need to stick with the weird DJI mobile sim thingy.

The Avata 2 does cost a lot, but unless you’re building your own FPV drones (which requires a lot of watching Joshua Bardwell research), a decent “bind-n-fly” (pre-built, just bind it to your radio/goggles and fly) is only marginally cheaper. I own and recommend the Flywoo LR4 (for longer range/smooth flying) and the CineRace20 (for flying tracks/through obstacles), both set you back £390. In addition, you’d need more batteries (FPV batteries don’t last nearly as long as an Avata 2 battery would) and a charger for those batteries (they would not be charged by USB like the Avata 2’s are I believe).

Neither of the above would work with your motion controller, they’d need something like the RM Zorro/Boxer (or any other ELRS 2.4g radio), however they would work with the Integra Goggles.

My 2pence, if this is likely to be a 6-12 month “phase”, you may be better off staying with the DJI eco-system/Avata. If you/your son are likely to stick with it, return that motion controller if you can, get yourself a Boxer, get some stick time in the sims, pick a Bind n Fly sub-250g to get in the air, and build outwards on that initial gear (once you have radio, goggles, and charger, adding drones to your fleet is wayyyy easier).

If you have an xbox/Ps5 controller, you can play the sims with that, but there is a significant difference (throttle/left-vertical does not centre on a radio, but would centre on a game-controller).

EDIT: The discord server I mentioned; details and more sim recommendations here: Simulator Rip (Lift off, Velocidrone) Evenings 9/9:30pm

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This sounds like excellent advice. Thank you so much for your response @smudge202 . Really appreciated.

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On top of all the excellent stuff above, here’s an amusing read I turned up while looking for my thread which listed all the currently (then) available PC FPV simulators. I still haven’t found that, but this may be food for thought. While reading (if you do), bear in mind that prices have inflated considerably since I wrote this nearly 3 years ago.

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Excellent post @Earwig, thank you.

The cost / entertainment ratio is pretty poor from what you’ve described!

At least he can get started learning on the sims until he figures everything else out.

Thanks again to everyone for the great advice and guidance in this thread.

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While that’s a true account of my journey into FPV, I do think I had it particularly bad and I don’t think it took many others quite so long.

One big factor was the FrSky control system that my second quad came with. It was an absolute nightmare to set up, literally taking about 3 months for me to get working. These days, most “bind and fly” (BNF) quads will either be TBS Crossfire or ELRS, which are both infinitely easier to deal with.

To give the polar opposite experience, when my son (24yo) wanted to give it a go, we got him a Jumper T-Lite, an analog Darwin Baby Ape (both ELRS) and Fat Shark Recon v2 goggles for a total outlay of around £300.

He spent a couple of hours with the FPV.SkyDive simulator (free on Steam) and did this…

So don’t take the account of an old dog learning new tricks to be the norm. :laughing:

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UPDATE:
The boy is thinking of buying this drone from this website;

With the logic being that batteries for the Avata are very expensive, so this one would be cheaper to run.

Any thoughts / advice?

Thanks again!
Toby

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And you have not even mentioned your journey to digital!

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Beast of a machine to start with. Has GPS (but no buzzer). Make sure have Lua Scripts on remore controller set-up to help you find the crashed drone.

Video: DJI system vs Walksnail v HD Zero is for another thread.

You have gone for the receiver DJI, rather than ELRS ?

This is 350g, without battery. Consider a less than 250g drone ?

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Thanks @bmsleight

The equipment he’s got is in the original post.

Think he’s quite limited on the drones he can choose given the DJI controller & goggles.

Great point about the weight though. Will
Let him know.

Cheers,
Toby

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Yeah. Adds a bit of *ker-ching!* factor, too. But nobody will be telling you to upgrade, at least. :laughing:

That’s something I rarely consider with my FPV quads. Mostly because I’m rarely flying them anywhere that the weight would make any difference. Your situations may vary of course.