Beverly Hills Aerials is an aerial cinematography company that has produced some of the most innovative work in the drone industry. And now they are selling some of their equipment to the public through a new company, BHA Customs. This includes a fantastic custom-built micro first-person-view (FPV) drone.
Earlier this week DRL SIM pilots took the virtual skies to tryout for a spot in the next Drone Racing League racing season. Christian Van Sloun, better known as Amari in the drone racing world, has taken the top spot and today we are asking him a few questions about his big win.
FPV drones seem to move and fly in very different ways than DJI drones, making them different tools for drone applications. The FPV starter kit is a guide to help you get started with FPV drones before investing hundreds or thousands of dollars in them.
As a drone pilot, it can be a little tough to practice our flying when we can’t leave the house to fly. Flight simulators have become increasingly popular, but what is the best, most realistic one?
The DJI Digital FPV system caused a lot of hype for everyone when it originally came out. After flying for months with both digital/analog systems, it has become a lot easier to identify the pros and cons when it comes to analog video transmission and DJI’s new digital HD video transmission.
A drone pilot has taken his FPV drone to his local golf course to show it off in a new and entertaining way. Ross decided to fly his drone alongside a golf ball, getting never before seen angles and making a slow sport look more like an action sport.
Micro racing drones will be taking over the National Museum of the US Air Force in Riverside, Ohio, this Saturday in a race open to registered drone-racing pilots. Spectators will also be able to fly a drone in a designated area along with having a go at the Drone Racing League‘s simulator.
One of the most recent occurrences in the drone industry today is the number of content creators who are adding sounds to their drone footage. This simple hack almost makes it feel like your drone has a microphone, only you choose what the viewer will hear.
The Drone Champions League has released its first drone racing game, giving players the option to play live with others and even qualify for real-life races. The packs include 30 maps, including some of the past courses flown and the ability to fly with up to 29 other people.
Just this morning we came across this video interview in which Joshua Bardwell interviews Dave Messina and Josh Cook from the FPV Freedom Coalition and talks about how the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) proposed rules for Remote ID for drones end the FPV hobby as we know it. If you’re an FPV pilot or if you are interested in learning more about how the NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) is a threat to our ability to fly drones, not just for FPV pilots than this is a great interview to watch or listen to.
Wanraya Wannapong, better known as Milk, has won the women’s division of the FAI World Drone Racing Championship for the second time around. The drone racing competition was held around 93 miles outside of Shanghai near Ningbo.
The Eachine LAL5 is one of the most unique looking drones I’ve ever flown. Its huge shiny gold motors, bright purple bumpers, and its dual-lens camera are all eye-catchers. But it isn’t just the way that this thing looks that is interesting. It has some features that make it truly one of a kind. You can connect to the LAL5 via Bluetooth on your phone to tune it. It will record 4K flight footage. This beast can fly on a 6S battery. Good luck finding this combination of features on a drone at a better price. The best part might be that the LAL5 is part of Banggood’s Black Friday Deals and you can pick one up for only $194.
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The new DJI digital FPV system is an absolute game-changer for anyone interested in drone racing or flying acro. The crystal-clear video is light years better than the absolute best analog system on the market. But is it worth the hefty price tag? The DJI Black Friday Sale just dropped the prices on their goggle kits by $130.
While the DJI Digital FPV Fly More package still isn’t cheap, starting at $779, it is a significant savings from the original $929. Should you invest in DJI or should you stick with analog? What about people looking to break into the FPV hobby? Should they consider DJI?
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The Eachine Tyro 119 is the latest entry to the easy to build Tyro lineup. Eachine has developed a handful of relatively easy to build drone kits that are incredibly inexpensive. With a flight controller that is almost exclusively plug and play Tyro kits are the place to start if you are looking to build your own drone.
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FPV drones race BMW S1000RR motorcycles on Thunderhill Raceway in this amazing video. Sometimes you wonder whether these FPV drone videos can get much better. In my mind, combining action sports with aerial action cameras gets you the best of both worlds. The moving viewpoint that an FPV drone provides not only gets you close to the action, but creates the feeling that you are actually part of the action.
The Eachine Twig is an interesting 3″ FPV drone. It is a bit larger than a standard toothpick drone and is part of the growing “Twig” class. Think of the twig class as a slightly larger toothpick on steroids. Most toothpick quads are less than 50 grams and fly on 1S or 2S batteries. A twig will typically be heavier than 50 grams and can fly on a 2S-4S battery. This twig is different than most because you can get one with an HD camera. It is one of the many items that are part of Banggood’s 11.11 lucky sale. They have tons of great drones on sale from the Tello to ready-made DJI FPV drones. It’s definitely worth checking out.
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The HGLRC Parrot 120 is another twig class FPV drone. A twig is somewhere in between a toothpick and a micro FPV quad. Twigs are typically between 50 and 100 grams and can fly 2-4S batteries. This HGLRC Parrot is one of the better twig class drones I’ve flown.
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If you are new to flying FPV drones then you very well may be wondering what the heck everyone is talking about. There are cinewhoops, tiny whoops, and power whoops. There are toothpicks and twigs. A five-inch drone is clearly bigger than five inches. What are people talking about? There seem to be endless drone options. And FPV pilots rarely refer to their crafts as drones. They are quads or sometimes kwads.
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Johannes Fischbach’s attempt to set a world record for the longest jump on a mountain bike resulted in a ‘super crash’ from which he luckily walked away in one piece. The incredible jump was recorded from a number of different angles, the most spectacular one, in my opinion, is the FPV drone footage. Check out the video below.
The Cinewhoop is an awesome style of drone that can capture crisp HD footage that a machine like the DJI Mavic 2 just wouldn’t be capable of producing. They are small, stable, and safer than your typical FPV drone, and you can capture some pretty amazing cinematic footage. There are some small inexpensive options out there like the Eachine Cinecan, but those little drones can’t carry a GoPro or Osmo Action camera. The best ready-made option might be the iFlight Megabee, but it is $285. I figured I could do it for less and I was right. I’ll show you how to get it done for about $150.
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The new Emax Babyhawk R Pro 4″ drone is one of a few new products Emax has been working on. The company has been busy lately producing quality drones at seemingly every niche of the FPV market. Their Tinyhawk and Tinyhawk 2S are absolutely the best indoor FPV drones you can buy. The Tinyhawk Freestyle is one of the best toothpick style drones on the market. Now they have released a 4″ capable of competing with larger 5″ quads. And just for good measure, they decided to release two new 5″ drones. Let’s take a closer look at my new favorite FPV drone, the $179 Emax Babyhawk R Pro 4″.
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The Happymodel Larva X is another fun little toothpick drone. Like most toothpick quads, it is a small but powerful little quad capable of acrobatic moves and FPV racing. It won’t compete with the big 5-inch race quads, but it can do a lot of what they can do, just on a smaller scale. I personally prefer flying these small little FPV quads to their bigger counterparts for a handful of different reasons. They are easier to pack and go, they typically withstand crashes better, and they don’t draw attention when you are flying. Let’s take a look a the Lava X and see if this quad is worth your hard-earned $97.
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The new Diatone GTB229 is an excellent toothpick-style drone. This is a 2s version with 2.5-inch props and was a collaboration with KababFPV, aka the inventor of the toothpick class. The carbon fiber frame is a box-style frame and is surprisingly rigid. The components inside are top-notch. This little quad is a micro FPV beast. At $129.99, is it worth it over the Emax Freestyle? Let’s take a closer look.
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The Eachine Tyro69 is a low-cost brushless toothpick-style quadcopter. It comes as kit that is fairly simple and is nearly plug-and-play. If you haven’t built a drone before, the Tyro series are probably the easiest to learn on. While the Tyro 69 is typically a low $69, right now it is on sale for just $60. Is that too good to be true?
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