Need help deciding which FPV sytem to buy

[htownphantom]

Hello.I'm George,live just outside Houston,Tx.The Phantom is by far most sophisticated RC I've had.I've bought syma,airhogs,WL Toys,similar RC's like that in the past.I'm enjoying the Phantom very much.I've crashed it a couple times because of depth perception,couldnt tell how close I was to something because it was too far away.So I'd like to get a FPV system and my funds are limited.These are 3 that ive found.2 have goggles,one doesnt.I dont know what the difference is between the v2 and v3 goggles? also If I buy one of these systems what else would I need to go with it? The fatshark systems already come with a camera,but I do have a GoPro Hero 3 silver edition.Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331097873497?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251386039871?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... 8G_TX.html

 

[rstekeur]

I personally don't like flying with a monitor, I tried it and sold it. I do like the goggles. The fatshark with the 5.8 rx in the goggles and the 250mw vtx is all you need. You don't have to carry around a bunch of junk, just grab the goggles and your quad and go. I would think about getting a better camera though as the one that comes with the Predator leaves a little to be desired. I have a piece of velcro on the bottom of my Phantom that I mount the VTX on and connect it to the Accessory wire that comes out by the landing gear with a jst connector so I can take it off if I'm not flying fpv. I wouldn't trust the gopro as a fpv camera, as I've had my 3+ lock up on me a couple of times, and if you have to pull off the goggles it's going to be hard to find. Make sure your return to home is working.

 

[htownphantom]

I personally don't like flying with a monitor, I tried it and sold it. I do like the goggles. The fatshark with the 5.8 rx in the goggles and the 250mw vtx is all you need. You don't have to carry around a bunch of junk, just grab the goggles and your quad and go. I would think about getting a better camera though as the one that comes with the Predator leaves a little to be desired. I have a piece of velcro on the bottom of my Phantom that I mount the VTX on and connect it to the Accessory wire that comes out by the landing gear with a jst connector so I can take it off if I'm not flying fpv. I wouldn't trust the gopro as a fpv camera, as I've had my 3+ lock up on me a couple of times, and if you have to pull off the goggles it's going to be hard to find. Make sure your return to home is working.

Thanks for reply.Looks like the 3rd link I put up there is not working,heres the working link
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... 8G_TX.html
The hobby king fat shark says its v2 while the ebay says its v3,whats the difference? Will i have to buy other stuff to get any of those systems to work,accessory cables,antennas,stuff like that?
The camera will have to be the gopro or the one that comes with syatem I buy.
Without ever having flown fpv,my guess is the person flying probably sees better with the goggles but if you have the monitor then other people can see whats happening also

 

[TechJunkieRC]

I personally don't like flying with a monitor, I tried it and sold it. I do like the goggles. The fatshark with the 5.8 rx in the goggles and the 250mw vtx is all you need. You don't have to carry around a bunch of junk, just grab the goggles and your quad and go. I would think about getting a better camera though as the one that comes with the Predator leaves a little to be desired. I have a piece of velcro on the bottom of my Phantom that I mount the VTX on and connect it to the Accessory wire that comes out by the landing gear with a jst connector so I can take it off if I'm not flying fpv. I wouldn't trust the gopro as a fpv camera, as I've had my 3+ lock up on me a couple of times, and if you have to pull off the goggles it's going to be hard to find. Make sure your return to home is working.

This is the route I went. I bought this setup: http://www.getfpv.com/fatshark-predator-v2-video-glasses-w-transmitter-and-camera.html. I also bought the SpiroNet Antennas for it: http://www.getfpv.com/5-8-ghz-spironet-antenna-set-sma.html. Not necessary if you are keeping it close. I just wanted the best video possible. I have had the Phantom out right at 800 Meters with this setup and had video and full control. Not saying you should, just that you could!

I used the accessory lead on the Phantom. I installed a plug on the end and one one the cable that comes with the filtered power supply. I also used velcro on the VTX and on the filtered power supply and stuck them underneath the phantom towards the back behind my anti vibration mount. I stuck the filtered power supply on the side. The only real trick is coming up with a good way to mount the camera. Like I said, I have an anti vibration mount for my Mobius camera so I made my own mount for the 600TVL flight camera. The setup works great and I think it looks good!

 

[htownphantom]

I personally don't like flying with a monitor, I tried it and sold it. I do like the goggles. The fatshark with the 5.8 rx in the goggles and the 250mw vtx is all you need. You don't have to carry around a bunch of junk, just grab the goggles and your quad and go. I would think about getting a better camera though as the one that comes with the Predator leaves a little to be desired. I have a piece of velcro on the bottom of my Phantom that I mount the VTX on and connect it to the Accessory wire that comes out by the landing gear with a jst connector so I can take it off if I'm not flying fpv. I wouldn't trust the gopro as a fpv camera, as I've had my 3+ lock up on me a couple of times, and if you have to pull off the goggles it's going to be hard to find. Make sure your return to home is working.

This is the route I went. I bought this setup: http://www.getfpv.com/fatshark-predator-v2-video-glasses-w-transmitter-and-camera.html. I also bought the SpiroNet Antennas for it: http://www.getfpv.com/5-8-ghz-spironet-antenna-set-sma.html. Not necessary if you are keeping it close. I just wanted the best video possible. I have had the Phantom out right at 800 Meters with this setup and had video and full control. Not saying you should, just that you could!

I used the accessory lead on the Phantom. I installed a plug on the end and one one the cable that comes with the filtered power supply. I also used velcro on the VTX and on the filtered power supply and stuck them underneath the phantom towards the back behind my anti vibration mount. I stuck the filtered power supply on the side. The only real trick is coming up with a good way to mount the camera. Like I said, I have an anti vibration mount for my Mobius camera so I made my own mount for the 600TVL flight camera. The setup works great and I think it looks good!

So if I'm understanding you correctly your using 1 camera to see where your flying with the goggles and a separate camera to film the scenery?

 

[TechJunkieRC]

So if I'm understanding you correctly your using 1 camera to see where your flying with the goggles and a separate camera to film the scenery?

That is how I do it and many others. You can use the video out on the Mobius as your flight camera too, however, I may want to point the Mobius down and not straight ahead. The separate flight camera is always pointed straight ahead. Now if I was flying with a GoPro on a gimbal I would have a switch so I could move between the flight camera and the GoPro to frame shots. If I ever put a gimbal on my Phantom for the Mobius I might also go this route. I like the separate flight camera also because it is setup and tuned for the best picture in varying light conditions. The GoPro and Mobius are setup for the best picture quality. When looking at really bright sky the ground can become very dark and it can be difficult to see where you are going. The flight camera seems to do a much better job of in this lighting condition. The flight camera, however, is definitely not HD quality and cannot touch the quality of the GoPro or Mobius for final footage.

 

[htownphantom]

can anyone tell what the difference is between the fatshark v3 and the v2?

 

[TechJunkieRC]

can anyone tell what the difference is between the fatshark v3 and the v2?

I assume you are referring to the Teleporter V3 vs the Predator V2?

If so the Teleporter goggles are QVGA at 320X240 and the Predator goggels are VGA at 640X480. The Teleporter comes with a Pilot HD camera which will record flight video with Micro SD card. Predator comes with a 600TVL camera. I can speak to the quality of the 600TVL IMHO, however, I have not had personal experience with the Pilot HD camera.

Brian
TechJunkieRC

 

[htownphantom]

can anyone tell what the difference is between the fatshark v3 and the v2?

I assume you are referring to the Teleporter V3 vs the Predator V2?

If so the Teleporter goggles are QVGA at 320X240 and the Predator goggels are VGA at 640X480. The Teleporter comes with a Pilot HD camera which will record flight video with Micro SD card. Predator comes with a 600TVL camera. I can speak to the quality of the 600TVL IMHO, however, I have not had personal experience with the Pilot HD camera.

Brian
TechJunkieRC

Yes I was,thanks for reply.I found a chart comparing all of them and their features and it looks like the V3 was basic and the V2 was a little better.Best price I could find on a system was 289 and that was for the V3 and it was in the UK.
Im going on a trip to Grand Canyon Mar 1 so i wanted to get something up and running before the trip.I think I might have liked the goggles better but couldnt find anyone in USA to sell them for the price I wanted to pay and i was afraid if I ordered something that had to come from overseas it wouldnt be here in time.
So I ended up buying this system and these other accessories.He gave me a good deal bundling these all together.Should be here next week.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FPV-Video-Combo ... RTM1562569

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251273655123?ss ... 1555.l2649

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1309028319

 

[htownphantom]

Well got my system in yesterday and got it wired up today.Not that happy with it,the range sucks.Using the helical antenna on the monitor that was supposed to make the range better it had a range of about 6 feet before picture went out.So I put the cloverleaf antenna on the monitor{already had one on transmitter}and that extended the range but only to about 50 yards tops.Do you think the cloverleaf antennas are too cheap? Or is it the transmitter that makes the difference in the range?

 

[ElGuano]

Well got my system in yesterday and got it wired up today.Not that happy with it,the range sucks.Using the helical antenna on the monitor that was supposed to make the range better it had a range of about 6 feet before picture went out.So I put the cloverleaf antenna on the monitor{already had one on transmitter}and that extended the range but only to about 50 yards tops.Do you think the cloverleaf antennas are too cheap? Or is it the transmitter that makes the difference in the range?

Did you ever turn on your video receiver or your transmitter without the antennas attached?doing so burns out a circuit and drastically reduces range. There's no rc fpv system that doesn't work past 50m, let alone 2m.

Typically, the vrx and its antenna make the biggest difference in range.

 

[htownphantom]

Well got my system in yesterday and got it wired up today.Not that happy with it,the range sucks.Using the helical antenna on the monitor that was supposed to make the range better it had a range of about 6 feet before picture went out.So I put the cloverleaf antenna on the monitor{already had one on transmitter}and that extended the range but only to about 50 yards tops.Do you think the cloverleaf antennas are too cheap? Or is it the transmitter that makes the difference in the range?

Did you ever turn on your video receiver or your transmitter without the antennas attached?doing so burns out a circuit and drastically reduces range. There's no rc fpv system that doesn't work past 50m, let alone 2m.

Typically, the vrx and its antenna make the biggest difference in range.

No I havent turned them on without antenna,luckily I had read that fact before messing with them.I contacted the seller and he told me the way the monitor is setup the channels are opposite of what they look like,I thought I was on channel 1,same as transmitter but I wasnt.Switched the channels on monitor and now its working better.i'm still disappointed in the range of it though.Its a 400 mw:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251423967554&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123
Doesnt work much past 100 yards and thats with a helical antenna on the monitor and cloverleaf antenna on transmitter.
Maybe switching to another channel might help the range? Seller claims in optimal conditions 3 mile range! I'd be ecstatic with a mile