Entry level FPV Equipment

[Apex Raizex]

Hello pilots and such, I'm rather new to FPV racing and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction of a quad-copter that doesn't burn my wallet but worth every penny. I'm hoping towards being able to fly in the next coming months and thank you to whoever can assist me.

 

[PsyBorg]

Its always best to start small. Jumping into a "Racing" quad will be a nightmare if you have never flown. I suggest you look into a radio you can grow with and use that on the many flight sims available while you further research what it is you want to do and what gear you want.

I suggest getting something like a blade inductrix or a nano to start. they seem very crash resilient and both can be outfitted in time to do FPV with.

If you are full on going to "dive right in" there are a few decent rtf drones but they have major draw backs to go with convenience. First they all use proprietary parts which will be expensive as well as having longer wait times for replacements. Second depending how deep into racing you want to go like competing in organized racing they will not be enough to get you anywhere without major upgrading.

Building your own is always best as you can save money in the long run and get a better machine if you source the right parts and not just the cheapest you can find as that to will cost you more in the long run. The thing with the radio and the sims is that you can fly and get practice without repair costs and that will also give you time to learn more about what the racing drone thing is all about other then just being cool. You will have plenty of time to learn build techniques from watching the many build videos and you will be able to save money to get proper gear to support the build, repairs and actual flying.

No matter what route you go plan on between 500 dollars or more even if you get a rtf quad as you will need tools, spare parts, batteries and above all a decent charger that wont burn your house down or puff your batteries.

 

[c/f]

Beginer route

44 years RC, three grandsons and one grandaughter under age of 12, all fly FPV for fun, started them all on Graupner 110FPV and cheap moniter for video, the graupner 110 is durable and gets the First person, vision flying perspective down indoors and out close proximity and lots of fun, they come up with some crazy challenges for each other and use their phones to time them. I also have 4 of these for outdoors learning line of sight flying with a removable video setup, they do enjoy LOS racing as well:

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76_600&products_id=4025

4mm arms are key for sub 400g RTF minus Battery frames IMHO, and can be bought via china for cheap, 150-170 gram battery, reguardless of cell count, is sweet spot for 180-300 sized quads for speed and flight time. I swap out props and cell count to configure to each ones progression, one grandsons goes fast on 4s and a 4:30min timer on TX. the others are 3s, 6:30min on TX timers as they are progressing.

 

[c/f]

Graupner 110

Other item to consider using the Graupner 110 is it uses modes and flies identical to flight controller that is used in their team factory pilots race quads, The feel and modes are a big bonus as one progresses thru the ranks and learns the proper setups of FPV racers. IT actually will program thru Graupner radios. Proprietary and open source flight controllers where driving me nuts with laptops and versions and learning new software, having the right cable, bluetooth pairing on and on for the last 8 years of quads , I finally jumped in with Graupner, it has made this facet of the hobby much less frustrating, calibrating ESC's and FC with touch of buttons on TX and no external cables Ahhh

 

[Nerobro]

The answer to "get me flying quads cheap" is Hubsan. You can pick up a x4 107d, that will have a transmitter with built in video display. And the quadcopter itself for $120-150. Batteries are cheap, you can pick up spare parts at microcenter, so... when you do break it, you can fix it "tonight."

If you like it, you're in for a real trip. You then need to think about what radio family you're going to dive into (frsky, spektrum, graunper,) And pick up a ~real~ battery charger. And you'll need to decide how you're going to do FPV. Monitor, goggles, big screen based, or individual eye based...

Welcome to the fold...