I am looking for a low-cost FPV drone with a DVR. Would the following combination work well together?
BetaFPV VR03 FPV Goggles with DVR: https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/product/betafpv-vr03-fpv-goggles-w-dvr/ £64.95
BetaFPV Cetus Lite Basic Drone Starter Kit: https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/product/betafpv-cetus-lite-basic-drone-starter-kit/ £57.95
Although I am not a great pilot (I have a Mavic Mini), I need goggles that I can wear over my glasses. Without glasses, I can’t see much. However, I do have a 3D printer with plenty of printing time and can flash firmware.
Starting off with a Transmitter and a simulator is always the safer and recommended route.
What type of flying and location are you interested in ?
A kit such as the one you showed has its benefits on the short term, but if you’re keen on sticking on the hobby for a while, then I’d suggest you to get a decent budget goggle and receiver and the drone of choice. Reason being, the goggles and transmitter will last longer and you won’t feel the need to change so soon, where as with the kits, people usually swap those very soon and if you do the math, that tends to be more expensive route.
For starters, buy the transmitter, I recommend one that has an internal ELRS receiver and module bay at the back for not being limited. There are a few options under between 50-100 ish mark. A lot of people recommend the Jumper line, seems to work fine, Zorro is pretty good as well, a bit more expensive though… Have a look at whats within your budget and available…
For goggles it might get a bit tricky to find some available, but the Evo??? are know to be cheap and quite good, the skyzone cobraS/X are a good choice too… People have reported good things about the Betafpv vr03… All have their pros and cons, and some cheaper than others.
Drone wise, really depends on the flying that you intend to do…
Buy a transmitter such as Jumper T - lite.
They’re pretty cheap and will be able to use with a sim to get a feel for flying fpv.
I’d then look for some used analogue goggles.
Box type tend to be better for those who wear glasses. Most goggles have a dvr fitted, do check first but the dvr will have nothing to do with the drone as a beginner and the goggles will be usable with any drone pretty much.
I’d then look for a drone.
Tiny hawk freestyle 2 is a good option to start with.
Can be modified and rebuilt easily when crashed (I’ve totally rebuilt mine lots) you will crash lots when learning that’s pretty normal.
Weirdly it’s easier to fly a larger drone like a 5 inch but it’s totally up to you and I guess will depend on your budget.
Like most of us on here - once you have the bug, you will upgrade and buy more kit.
I hope this helps, I bought a kit and quickly bought more and feel this route would have been better imo.
What type of flying and location are you interested in ?
I seen some of the star-wars like fying down gulley and valleys. Which I would, but very short distance, (I have the Mavic if I want nice photos from far away). Something that gives the adrenalin rush without the fear of losing a drone. So local park kind of thing, in and out of trees and maybe down the side of a house.
The items you listed will get you in the air no problem and will work together.
It will be capable of fancy flip flops if you learn it, but be prepared to crash and maybe repair it.
Seems like outdoors then… I would go for a open prop drone then. There are quite a few small ones you can choose from, different size of props and lipos. @Howard78 suggestion above would fit the bill quite nicely. There are also toothpick style such as the crux3, or maybe the bassline.
The 1s variants will fly nicely but my suggestion is to aim for a 2s drone, it handles better and gives you more authority and overall more fun to fly (nothing wrong with 1s though).
Now its a matter of choosing the best fit based on your budget and store’s availability.
The Darwin Baby Ape is an absolute steal - ~£75 for an ELRS BnF (Bind ‘n’ Fly), 3", sub-250g, 3S.
That’s the v1 version. There are upgraded versions that are slightly more expensive.
@bmsleight another thing to keep in mind with goggles and increased usage of it, is its resolution and input options, such as mini hdmi. With this you can add a digital vrx in the future should you choose to go on that route, without having to buy a new set just for that protocol.
Another vote for CobraX for a “cheap” (read good value) analogue goggle. Only ones I’d change to are the HDZero ones, at their silly price (it’s not silly, but too much for me!)
I have one of these. A great price and a great little flyer.
Your original choice has brushed motors. Try and get something with brushless. They handle the wind better as they are more responsive / more torque
If I was starting out today, with the knowledge I have gained over the past 2 years, my ideal, budget starting setup would be:
Darwin BabyApe v1 (ELRS BnF) ~£75
It’s small (~120g inc. 3S 450mAh LiPo), flies nicely (similar to the 5" Nazgul) but isn’t horribly over-powered. The NanoHawk (1" tiny whoop) I started with took me 18 months to gain the knowledge required to be able to tune/mod it into a state that I was finally able to fly it indoors. The 4" Geprc Long Range I got after that was a little too frisky. The 5" Nazgul (as @Howard78 has mentioned) was probably the easiest to fly, but it’s a beast and requires acres of space in the hands of a noob.
Radiomaster TX12 Mk2 (ELRS) £100
I bought the TX12, but I needed the FrSky version for the NanoHawk. Many months of FrSky-induced pain later, I converted to TBS Crossfire and had to spend nearly as much again on a TX module and receivers. If I was starting again, I’d choose a better protocol to start with, and I think ELRS is probably it, given the current availability of “ready-to-go” compatible hardware.
Eachine EV800D Goggles ~£90 (if you can find them - these seem to be a rebranded copy)
Box goggles because of my specs, but these are true diversity and have DVR. Plus, the added advantage of being able to remove the screen and use it as a small monitor on the bench.
This will set you back about 50% more than something like the Cetus Pro RTF kit, but everything will absolutely be suitable for your expanding fleet, should you decide to stick with it.
Additional: FPV Freerider has a linux version. You can try for free, and it’s very cheap to buy. I’ve not tried it on Linux, but I have to admit it’s one of my least favourite on Windows.
Those are some nice options for a budget beginning.
Also he’ll need some lipos and a charger. that should be and additional 50-100 depending on how many lipos and which charger. (don’t get a cheapo generic brand charger, there are a few options from reputable/known brands such as ISDT, ToolkitRC and Skyrc, which you can get for under 50).
I have a low spec PC and have been flying the FPV Freerider Recharged version mostly lately, its not bad. You can get the FPV Skydive from Orca for free on Steam, although on my pc at least, this one is not running well after they updated it not to long ago, but it was a very decent experience.
Not recommended for glasses wearers… However this can be fixed by printing one of the many conversion pieces. I used the one that was based on an Oculus Rift. I don’t have it any more and can’t find the stl.
Yeah I found wearing the ToolkitRC chargers didn’t fit well either, although have the same issue with any charger I’ve tried to wear!
In response to cst3x6 asking why ISDT better, I do agree with @Yith . Had 1 ToolkitRC charger, and one battery checker, and both have shown issues, where as my ISDT’s been a lot more solid. I don’t think ToolkitRC are “bad” per se, just think for the similar money ISDT had better luck with (and might just be luck!)
(it’s not silly, but too much for me!)