That's it. Rub it in. I just got word that my Dominator has left Hong Kong and is on its way to JFK.
Do you plan to record the FPV video? If so, what DVR do you plan to use?
Diggin' the googlies, by the way.
Vicariously huh? Let me help you live then.
I tried recording my flights through an old camcorder by way of a AV out cord from the goggles to the camera. This sucks. It ruins the entire benefit of having no wires on the goggles. I placed an order for a second receiver that will be my back up ground station for recording and "giving rides" through either a second set of glasses, or a small tv screen.
I have had SEVERAL flights on these already. It's been awesome. But here's the negatives...
There's no adjustment to the view finders. You can't change the shape of the eye cups to fit your face, and you can't move the screens to adjust for wider or closer set eyes.
There's also no diopter adjustment. Fine for me, I'm still getting 20/20 (as far as I know...
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There's lots of talk about the narrow field of view. As far as I'm concerned, that's just something you have to deal with. I'd like to test out someone else's glasses that have a wider field, but for now, I don't know any better, so I don't feel the need to upgrade yet.
Maybe it would be better with a different camera, but I doubt it. You lose a lot of image when the sun is low in the sky, and you are flying in it's general direction. It washes out image detail. I haven't had a chance to really see what noon time view looks like, but with the sun to your back, the image is quite nice.
Static. You're going to get it. I'm lucky, I'm used to crappy televisions, so fuzz and static pops don't bother me as much I suppose. While flying I hardly notice it, except as a gauge as to potential loss of signal. Watching the recorded video from the transmitter, it's pretty ugly, almost unwatchable.
Flying FPV is disorienting. You can't just turn your head to see what's to the side (unless you have head tracking, but I don't think that would be a good idea on a multi rotor). You also can't see what's under you when you're descending. I've learned this the hard way a few times.
I have also caught myself tilting my head, instead of correcting the angle of flight my aircraft was in. Fortunately I caught myself before I ended up causing a crash.
Those are the cons (that I can think of right now). Knowing that going in, you'll have a better experience.
Pros...
I love this, it's flipping amazing! The Predator V2 kit works, stupid simple, right out of the box. There's no soldering, figuring out wires, trying to match equipment, etc.
I made a tray that I put the equipment on, it just velcros onto the quad. Easy to remove.
It works right off my flight battery. There's a balance connection on it, and I can plug my balance lead from the battery into it. Done.
The goggles are great. Other than not being a quite perfect fit, they're light, simple, and compact. I don't have to do a series of button pushing to get them ready, I just plug in the battery and the antenna. (Actually I do the antenna first, always make sure the antenna is in first before applying power.) Then I slip them over my eyes, and I'm ready to fly.
It takes a few minutes to get used to trusting the image. But once you do, it's amazing. I've flown places I wouldn't fly LOS. I have gone behind trees, and higher than I've trusted myself to go (still not very high, well under the suggested 400' limit...
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Combined with the KK2 board, this has been my best experience with FPV to date.