FPV Racing (First Person View Racing) is a new sport where a pilot fly’s with a drone (mostly quadcopters) around a track. To make that even more fun the pilot wears digital goggles to the view of the drone. Seeing small 5" quads flying 150km/h or faster through the air is pretty common and very entertaining to watch and to fly!
In this sport its all about control. If you lose your consentration you might end ub hitting a pole or a gate. The sport is very new and evolving with the growth of technology. Quads will get faster, lighter and more efficient, what means it will get more and more fun to fly!
Source: Mokaframe
The Drones
As a pilot you either build your own drone or buy one of stock. In my opinion its way better to build one by urself, since you learn more about the different parts. I will post more on that topic soon.
The built drones are powered with Lithium-Polymer batterys which can deliver a very high amount of power to the motors and don't weight that much. Those drones often weight between 500 and 800 grams and got a highspeed to up to 250 km/h.
Racing and Freestyle
Beside Racing there is also the competition category “Freestyle”. Here it doesn’t matter how fast you are, it matters what your drone and your onboard camera image looks like. You basically fly around different objects such as trees, buildings or bridges and try to make as many cool moves you can. Flying through small gaps gives you also bonus points. In competitions there are many objects you can use to combine your tricks and there are almost never two flights identical.
For me this kind of flying is way cooler, since you don’t have to setup a track and you can basically fly wherever you want. One other bonus point is that you don’t have the risk crashing with highspeed in a gate. You often don’t give full throttle which ends in longer flight times and less crashes.
(
Source: Flyduino
What do you need to fly a drone?
The way to get started with the hobby / sport is easy. Every one can join and it is in most countrys legal to fly those things (as long as you don't break the law)
Note:
If you find something interesting you can also find links to one of the cheapest shops out there. Banggood is good known for a very good price and for free shipping. I personally never had problems ordering something there.
First of all you need a Drone
Decide if you want to build one by urself or if you want to buy one. Either way this will cost you from 100$ to 300$.
Eachine Wizard X220- Very good for beginners
SPC Maker 220AR - More like a Racing Drone
HGLRC XJB 145mm - Small but very fast 3" Drone
Next step is the Radio (Controller)
For controlling your drone in the air you have to buy a radio. There are different types of transmitting for example FlySky and FrSky. FlySky Radios are mostly cheaper but FrSky’s are better. I personally use a FlySky radio and don’t have any problems with it. Consider FlySky Radios are cheaper so maybe a better way to start.
The Radio costs between 50$ and 300$
FlySky FS-i6 - FlySky Radio
FrSky ACCST Taranis Q X7 - FrySky Radio
Also very important are the goggles.
There are two types of goggles: Box and classic goggles.
Box goggles.
If you’re completely new to the hobby and won't spend to much money, since you don’t know if you like it / use it that often, these are the types of goggles you should buy. They’re mostly cheap and do their job, but if you wear them all day long the weight is going to hurt a bit and it isn’t that comfortable. They are also not the best-looking goggles.
Eachine VR006 - Very cheap Goggles, perfect for beginners
Eachine VR007 - more comfortable
Classic Goggles:
These Googles are normally better. They are more comfortable, better looking and got better image quality. Often, they have special features just like a fan preventing the goggles fogging or DVR, recording the received image.
But all this glory has one problem. These goggles are way more expensive. They reach between 100$ and 600$ which might be to expensive for newcomers.
(
Fatshark Dominater V3 - Very good and popular Goggles
Aomway Commander V1 - Also very popular Goggles
Eachine EV100 - Cheaper Classic Goggles, perfect for beginners!
These are all necessary things to buy when getting in the hobby. But there are other things that are less expensive but just as necessary. For example a charging unit, solder tools, spare parts for your drone and propellers, many many propellers.
I would say if you start with nothing and wan't to get into the hobby with the cheapest stuff available it will cost you around 250$ - 300$. My personal opinion is, the more you spend for each tool and unit the happier you are and the more you will use it / the longer it will be usable.
What are your opinions? What are you using? Tell me in the comments