Black Pearl 7" diversity FPV screen in the sun!

[The Editor]

For you guys that actually own a BP 7" diversity screen......

Just how good/bad are they on a very sunny day? I have trawled the internet but the reviews are not that specific on viewability in the sun!

I KNOW they are never going to be perfect but the 7" screen I have at the moment is rated at 450cd brightness and 500:1 contrast ratio but....... I'm not all that happy with it on a sunny day (even with the sunshield in place.

Does the rated extra 200:1 contrast on the Black Pearl make it useable and bearable in the midday sun?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pull_Up]

I have used it in bright conditions and it's pretty good if you ramp the brightness up - with at least one omnidirectional antenna you can always adjust your physical position to put the sun in the least worse position for the screen (if you know what I mean). The screen itself has a good matte finish so environmental reflections (usually from your skin or clothing) are minimised. Higher brightness levels mean I don't get much more than three flights worth of use per charge out of it, so worth buying an extra Black Pearl battery and taking it with you or rigging it up to run off a standalone lipo with the included power cables.

HTH

 

[The Editor]

That's great thanks.

So... is it useable in the sun WITHOUT the sunshade or is the shade really needed?

I have my trusty Circular Wireless 7.5 turn helical which I would use on it as one of the antennas

 

[Pull_Up]

I use the Horizon FPV Antennas Black Pearl kit with skew planar on the aircraft and matched SP on the Pearl for closer in and a 9dB helical for a little further and stronger - not really beyond line of sight, but it does keep the image sharp and clear with any aircraft orientation and even with a bit of ground clutter.

I never run it without the sunshade - it's quick enough to put it on once you've got the hang of it and it works very well along with the highly recommended (if a bit expensive now, strong pound!) Rave Creative monitor mount ( http://uav.ravecreative.co.uk/ ) - it balances nicely and sits at a good angle for the shade to minimise glare.

 

[The Editor]

Thanks for that - I think I'll try and see one in the flesh so to speak to see if I'm gaining anything over my Foxtech 7" diversity before I click "add to basket"

Don't want to spend £150 to not get a noticeable improvement.

Cheers

 

[octap]

When there is strong sunlight the screen is not easy to read. It's far from a disaster but it's not also it's strong point. You need to place yourself to a certain angle to reduce the effect. An in all, I am not satisfied with the performance in these conditions, but I guess there is no screen that can do miracles.
I wish I knew how the screen you have now performs to tell you if there's going to be signigficant improvement with a BP.


EDIT: I would like to correct the above post. I have experimented with "user" setttings this weekend in very sunny conditions and I must say I was wrong. You can se the BP to be super bright and be totally visible (loosing of course a lot of the contrast).

 

[xgeek]

I find it okay if you turn the brightness up. The default profiles suck in the sun.

 

[Pull_Up]

Oh definitely crank the brightness. I did a video review of it which looked terrible until I realised I was filming it indoors but I had set it up for outdoor brightness so was blowing everything out. I've never found I was unable to see at all - as has been said sometimes a small angle change might be required to get the best view. You can crank the brightness up pretty far, but obviously at the expense of battery life...

 

[octap]

Can u please share your settings? I guess you mean setting settings to "user" and then....?
I tried setting brightness to high levels but there's the lose in constrast becomes a major issue then.