FPVguy - Trusted Drone Reviews

Panono - the Spherical camera I love

A bit of a backgrounder on my Panono camera review and why I would be writing about this camera in the first place.   Aside from being a part107 commercial drone pilot, I have been shooting panoramas and spherical panoramas since the nineties,  for commercial entries like car companies and hotel chains.  back in the "old days" this involved shooting a series of images around in multiple layers which we then stitched painstakingly into a sphere,  specialized tools, lots of experience, skill and patience was involved in getting a perfect result.   You know where Im going with this right?    

Hubsan X4 FPV installing a snap-on lens

Very simple but effective install of a 0.5X magnetic lens on the Hubsan X4 FPV (h170d)    
Click through for pictures and step-by-step.

BOOST your power - Impress your girlfriend..?

My favorite pastime is proximity FPV, thats flying low-lever buzzing stuff and zig-zagging in the forest... yahoooo... Good clean fun.   until you run out of control coverage and crash into something.

So I have been wondering if I could stick a Dragon-Link on my favorite Devo6 radio... answer was no..

But it turns out things are not as complicated as it seems,  because your 2.4G radio system is living in the same spectrum as WiFi routers..   Seems you can take the 2.4G output and simply plug it into a WiFi Antenna booster..  

And 3D Robotics sell a fine $55 WiFi booster for exactly this.

Click through for build pictures and parts links.

Hubsan X4 FPV 107D - the new king of Micro FPV ?

Hubsan have been releasing a whole string of little X4 multirotors the last year.  

First they released a straight microrotor, next they added a camera to that, make that a couple of revisions of the camera equipped X4.   in October they released the latest revision of the X4 FPV,  the h107D (the 4th micro X?)  

Click through for 360 spin of the X4FPX - Video UN-BOX and review

Entry Level FPV quad build

Today I'm building and telling you bit for bit what you need to turn a Hoten-X into a sweet little beginner FPV rig.  Click through for parts list and details.

  

Flying the lighter Pandora Warrior

Maybe I should call this post "Fixing the Pandora Warrior"
 Having experienced it being bloated and not particularly responsive,  it is time to remove some weight and fix the flight camera.
Click through for details, how the Warrior flies and naturally a flight video.
(spoiler alert  there will be more weight loss in the future) 

Beholder Lite - $175 Brushless Gimbal Build

The guys at TeamRebelDesign.com was kind enough to send me a review copy of their new "Beholder Lite" brushless gimbal.   To save shipping cost the gimbal arrive in a few parts which you can assemble in less than 30 minutes.    The build-quality is outstanding and the packaging the nicest I have seen on a brushless gimbal so far.  My initial impressions are sky high, but only building the gimbal and taking it for a test flight will reveal the truth.. is its beauty for real or only skin deep?  Read on for the gory details.

GoPro Hero3 on the Walkera Hoten - Yes it flies but is it right.?

Just got the Walkera Hoten FPV.  not being particularly impressed with the factory installed camera, I did what every guy would do.. tore it appart and installed a GoPro Hero3, I used my 3D printer to make new parts for a easy fit. the result both flies and is quite smooth, but is too heavy.  Read on for pictures of the setup and test video and a 360spin of the rig.

Walkera F4 FPV - UPGRADE your radio with a external antenna.

Walkera have been releasing cool new RTF - Ready To Fly - FPV "toys"   and radios with build in video screen for flying these FPV devices. the biggest problem.  particularly with the smaller versions, is the short reach of the video link.    FIX this by modifying the radio to use external video antennas.

In this post, I give basic instructions for upgrading the video antenna on your F4 or F7 FPV radio so you can fly further with clear video.