Why You Should (and Shouldn’t) Get an FPV Drone

The great thing about an FPV drone that has goggles is the immersive sense of flight. It’s about the closest you can come to the experience of soaring above the treetops at high speed with few limitations, relatively safely, and at an affordable price. A small FPV drone with goggles and intuitive controls, like the DJI Avata, might make it easier to pilot through small spaces in calm conditions.

That said, some FPV drones are difficult to master. Being fully in the moment, while enjoying soaring like a bird, only comes after many hours of practice. The initial experience will more likely be filled with frustration, delays, and unexpected expenses as trial and error take a toll on components, leading to ongoing maintenance costs.

FPV drones, even those from DJI, ship with cameras that can’t compete with the best drones on the market. Many FPV drones come without a camera or ship with a 1080p camera. The Avata and DJI FPV have 4K resolution but narrower apertures and smaller sensors than the Mini 3 Pro, for example. Special features like RAW mode photography and hyperlapse video are uncommon in an FPV drone.

Another downside with FPV drones is the added cost of the goggles. The DJI FPV is $999 and the Avata is $1,388. The price is understandable, given the amount of technology packed into these systems but it’s much higher than other DJI drones with better cameras. A pilot of a small FPV drone can navigate tight spaces with relative ease as seen in this YouTube video by AvataTime of a trip through a forest of dappled light.

The great thing about the DJI FPV and Avata is that their incredible speed and maneuverability are still available, albeit at lower top speeds, in these easy-to-fly modes. There’s room to grow as a pilot and assume full manual control when you’re ready to pilot a drone without DJI’s robust flight assistance software.

Besides assisted flight and manual control, DJI offers a third option for the Avata and FPV drone that’s unique, the Motion Controller. Shaped like an infrared temperature gun, this advanced remote control detects your hand movements, rotating the drone and tilting the camera accordingly. It’s surprisingly intuitive since DJI shows a white circle in the goggles display that indicates the direction that the drone will fly when the trigger is squeezed.