Skylark Sunview 7 inch 1000 cd/m2 FPV monitor

[martcerv]

Wondering if anyone is using one of these monitors http://www.skylarkfpv.com/en/product.php?id=41

I have a 7 inch Ari cheapo screen, works good in low light but crap during the day even with a sun shade its not great in bright ambient at 250cd/m2.

I think I may go for this one as its the brightest non blue screen monitor I can find. I bought the cheap screen just to see if FPV with a screen is a good idea and when I can see it I quite like the one I have. But in bright light I may as well not even have it on so I am looking for a good bright screen that isnt a crazy price. Most better ones I have seen are around 400-450cd/m2 at under half the price of this but being visible outdoors is a pretty important part of FPV I think

 

[chad556]

How much is it? Cant find the price anywhere on that site.

 

[martcerv]

If you do a google search it comes up in a few places around $300

http://www.myrcmodel.com/index.php?main ... ts_id=3343

http://www.hobby-wing.com/skylark-7in-monitor.html

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/sunview-7-0- ... ystem.html

There is also a 10.4 inch version but I want to mount to radio and that is a bit too big and heavy. Looks ok for someone with a ground station.

http://www.myrcmodel.com/index.php?main ... ts_id=3340

 

[rmorgan18]

Whats the point of the ground station when you can just use fatshark goggles? I have the fatshark predator V2 connected to my mom's GoPro 3 (I'm 13) and a 600 mw immersion RC transmitter and I have perfect quality video for 500 meters, just get used to the static and it's great to fly with, for much less of a price

 

[chad556]

Whats the point of the ground station when you can just use fatshark goggles? I have the fatshark predator V2 connected to my mom's GoPro 3 (I'm 13) and a 600 mw immersion RC transmitter and I have perfect quality video for 500 meters, just get used to the static and it's great to fly with, for much less of a price

There are many reason why one might prefer a ground station as opposed to goggles. To name a few:
*I like being able to switch from FPV to line of sight visual very quickly. Its safer that way.
*The range you are getting is not normal. If you live in a densely populated area, or have trees, buildings, or rising and falling terrain, the range drop dramatically with the stock receiver (even with the 600w tx)
*Its nice to have the ground station setup so that a group of people can see the fpv all at the same time.
*Some of us don't "want to have to get used to the static" as you put it.

 

[rmorgan18]

Okay
To each is own.
I like my goggles with spironet antennas and 600 mw transmitter, because for me, I'm not going that far out. Maybe 1/2 a mile out, and I'm good. The ground station seems pretty awesome (way better than my goggles), but I don't have the need fore it and its a little pricy. Everyone has there own opinion on things

So... Are futaba mode 1 radios able to switch to mode 3 without opening them up and reversing wiring, or is it possible to get a mode 1 futaba and swap the aileron and rudder cables on the naza (without messing up GPS mode)?

If anyone can answer this I will be extremely happy lol

 

[martcerv]

Whats the point of the ground station when you can just use fatshark goggles? I have the fatshark predator V2 connected to my mom's GoPro 3 (I'm 13) and a 600 mw immersion RC transmitter and I have perfect quality video for 500 meters, just get used to the static and it's great to fly with, for much less of a price

I prefer a screen over goggle's for much the same reason's Chad mentioned, the current screen I am using is not great in daylight so I ended up ordering this one. Will post up what I think of it when I get it but if it matches the specs I will be more then happy with it.

I dont want to be completely blinded to the outside world as you are with goggles and also when doing close flying around objects its good to be able to look up and see what is behind you if you have to. I think a screen is much safer flying then goggles but you need a screen that you can see well enough in bright light to make it truly a good solution.

This may be a bit more expensive then most people want but I dont always go the cheapest route in most things, some cheap things are good but some are total crap and a complete waste of money. My first monitor in the end is wasted money as I am upgrading it already but it was just to see if a screen could be used as well as goggles, when it isnt too bright out I am quite happy with the screen I have but its pretty much rubbish in bright ambient light and I hope this monitor will be all I need.

My Phantom is now close to fully Pimped out only lacking a gimbal



Here is how I have my current screen setup and will do the same with the new one once I get it.

 

[edunwody]

I have question about your current set up.
When my TX is near my monitor I get horizontal lines. I'm assuming the antenna on the monitor is getting interference with the TX antenna. Do you have that issue?

Thx

E


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[martcerv]

I have question about your current set up.
When my TX is near my monitor I get horizontal lines. I'm assuming the antenna on the monitor is getting interference with the TX antenna. Do you have that issue?

Thx

E


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I dont get that with my setup, I did buy this TX RX combo as it was advertised as not getting or causing any interference with the Phantom setup. Your issue is showing that there must be some interference between the 2, which FPV setup and antenna are you using?

I am actually really happy with the performance of the DJI AVL58 FPV setup, its only the screen that isnt quite good enough and why I have ordered the one in this thread. With this FPV setup I have easily done 600m and even today I went about 450m away from my house behind some trees. I lose reception behind some very thick trees and houses at around 200m away but still the screen has never gone blue on me its just not bright enough.

 

[edunwody]

Cloverleaf antenna on Phantom and monitor. 5.8ghz TX and Receiver.
Receiver and antenna mounted to the back of the monitor. TX mounted to the underside of the Phantom.

E
http://www.atlantahobby.com/Store/pc/vi ... tegory=868



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[martcerv]

You may need to ask the guys you got it from if they know what could be causing your issue, do you know anyone else using the same setup? see if they also can do the same. I am using NTSC modes on my phantom as I rarely record in PAL modes maybe try switching to the other mode that your using and see if that helps. I have heard of some people having such issues and switching the video mode has fixed this for some.

 

[edunwody]

Thanks, will switch modes and see if that helps.

E


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[martcerv]

I finally got my screen, a word of warning avoid the free shipping from China as it took just under a month to get here. I got it from goodluck buy for just under $300 but didnt see any shipping options and got stuck with free that got here fine just very slow. Would rather have paid for DHL to get here about 3 weeks faster had I seen the option.

I have had one days test flight session with the screen and am much happier with this then my old one. It wasnt the brightest day out but I only had the brightness set at 10-15% today as it was more then enough. On my old screen 100% brightness was pretty much the same as 0% on this screen in the same light and useless with any ambient light. At 100% this gets a bit too bright and washes out the screen quite a bit though I doubt it would ever need to be so bright, on a bright day the much more power will be handy.

Here is a pic, though it looks much worse in the pic as it did, this is at the 15% brightness level with the gopro feed in cam raw PT so its going to be a little flat and low contrast anyway.

The screen comes with its own mount, which doesnt exactly fit the stock transmitter but it can still be mounted with a couple very basic mods I did. I removed one piece at the back not sure of its purpose but it really wasnt needed, also the way the screen mounts to its bracket I needed to use a couple washers in order to lift the screen high enough to get it above the IOC and Mode switches to enable me to flick them easily and give clearance.

Here is a pic of how I have mounted it with my battery cables and RX mounted to the frame. You can see on the bottom only 3 of these screws are used, there should be 4 but the phantom metal bar is narrower then most I assume and so the 4th screw hole is blocked by the bar. Its on very solid and wont move so this is fine, All up this full setup with battery weights 1568 grams fitted on the radio.

A couple more pics.

The all important disconnect RX gets pure noise no blue or black screen so its great for FPV

I needed to buy a 2.1 to 1.3mm DC power adapter in order to connect power using the cables that I got with my other monitor. This comes with a power cable and xt60 connector but my other cable had a power splitter so I could power both the RX and screen with it.

Flew 6 battery trying out FPV and had no issues at all with the video or my TX RX setup, I thought the way it shield a bit of the DJI radio antenna may cause an issue but it was fine.

Battery life I had the screen on the full time I did 6 battery flights over 1 1/12 hrs and according to my charger used 720mah out of my 2700mah battery. I used a big one thinking it may suck more power being brighter but after seeing how much it uses I will leave the bigger one for the Phantom.

 

[edunwody]

I'm getting a lot of interference from my TX with flying with FPV. How did you fix that or did you never have that issue?
When my TX gets close to the monitor it really gives bad video. My antenna is in the same position as yours.



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[martcerv]

Mine has never had any issues, at first when I fired this new screen up on the first flight I lost video very early within a 100m or so but came back and changed frequency on both video RX and TX and it was fine. Must have just been interference on that channel so you can try flicking through the available frequencies and see if there is a cleaner one for you.

I am really quite surprised how good my reception is for video with the DJI TX RX and better then I woul have expected out of 5.8GHZ. No break up at all where I was flying and I was mostly only a meter or so off the ground on one flight pretty much full speed til I got too close to the groun AKA crashed into it :lol: I will post a video of that flight soon and it will show that I need a good video feed as I flew it like I stole it with a couple close calls. The crash at the end was really just stupid as I got distracted by someone and looked up. Not a good idea when flying centimeters off the ground.

 

[edunwody]

Thanks for your reply. I will check other frequencies.

 

[martcerv]

Here is one of the flights from my first days new monitor flight testing, image is clear enough and visible enough even though it was overcast but only thin cloud cover. I am impressed the video feed stays clear with this sort of flying so if anyone is looking for a fpv setup the DJI AVL tx rx and antennas with either goggles or a good screen is a pretty good 5.8ghz option.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOopiBu3CCE[/youtube]

 

[kazkioken]

Thanks so much for posting your review! I was looking into this as my current monitor is good but not great in very bright conditions. Have you been able to test it the brightest daylight possible? High noon where the light is coming from everywhere, even almost hitting the screen directly? It's a hard torture test but I couldn't fly the other day with my current monitor it was just overpowered. Thanks again this is very helpful...about to hit the buy button

 

[martcerv]

Not yet haven't had a clear day as yet since I got it, its meant to get sunny today with medium winds so will try and get a flight around lunch if I can.

 

[martcerv]

Just did a quick FPV flight around lunchtime, mostly clear sky pretty bright and if the screen get direct sunlight it does glare up and is no good but with the provided sunshade this does more then enough by just blocking direct sun onto the screen and was quite useable. I had brightness at 50% beyond that it tends to get a bit washed out white and 100% brightness this does make the backlight overpower the LCD quite a bit. Comparing to my other screen this is way better and useable in any light with the provided sunshade I would think and going to full static instead of blue or black screen makes it ideal as an FPV screen. Ideal screen would be an OLED like on my galaxy s4 as this has a better image overall but its also only 5 inches and 1080p with the great contrast provided by OLED's.

At the moment I think this is the screen I will stick with and compared to my other screen that was completely useless in daytime that is no longer an issue. That screen also went blue at complete signal loss but went to static until pretty much all useable signal was gone. It did regain picture quick but this screen does better in that respect and coming with its own hood and transmitter mount is a plus.

The transmitter mount even though it isnt a perfect fit for the DJI radio stays put and is very solid. The other mount I had for my last screen was better in that you could configure it in more ways but I could never quite get it lock into position properly. A fast tilt of the radio and it sometimes would loosen the screen making it flop around which was far from ideal.

The price of this is a bit on the high side so wont be for everyone but anyone not wanting to use goggles its definitely one of the best options available. I will post some video of the screen in action later though going by photos I took of it its pretty hard to get a true impression of the screen through photos and videos as it looks much better in use then how it looks captured in use by a camera.