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.
Right off the top. the Hoten-X is a fair-weather rig, it flies beautifully and surprisingly smooth in still weather, but it really do not like a lot of wind.
second, The FPV version Walkera sells do NOT work, the DV04 camera is a disgrace to the word FPV. however, it is easy to replace the camera with a KeyCam 808 #16D
Why the Walkera Hoten-X ?
Becuase the brushless version is inexpensive, easy to fix, and flies quite smootly, making it a beginner friendly FPV rig. and the basic components such as camera and VTX can easily be transfered to a new quad in the future.
How expensive is it to start flying FPV.?
When talking about the cost of a aircraft I do only think about the cost of what is flying in the air. The Naked Hoten-X BNF cost about $160 the 600mw FPV kit attached to the Hoten-X cost about $100 so the TOTAL in air cost is about $250+ that is the amount of money you could loose if you land the aircraft in the river. ;-)
In addition to the aircraft and the video system in the aircraft, we also need a radio for controlling the aircraft, a pair of video goggles and a radio reciever for the video (VRX).
Goggles can be had for anywhere from $120 and up. My favorite is FatShark goggles, they use "new wave" radio system, which is shared by Walkera, ImmersionRC, ifTronics and FatShark,
My favorite pair of goggles right now is the FatShark Attitudes which have a wider view screen and beautiful image quality. However all the FatShark goggles is a fine place to start as they are your entry to the best in FPV. Most FatShark goggles is born with a video reciver module (VRX) build in, so there is no cables to mess with, just put on your goggles and start flying. they are powered by a neat little battery that fit in the goggle-strap. I suggest getting a spare battery. The goggle will start beeping when the battery is low and will go black maybe 90sec later, so make sure you land when that happens.. however I find the battery is good for at least 1 hour of flight time, so you should not need to ever run out of battery during a flight.
Walkera's F4 and F7 radios are unique in that they include a video screen and a video out plug option. so you can fly using the screen on the radio. or you can plug in a pair of goggles.
the walkera radios suffer the blue-screen problem, if you fly too far away the video signal will become weak and the reciever will provide a blue screen.. this is not really good. If you fly with goggles to the walkera radios, make sure to stay close ;-)
I prefer the FatShark goggles because they start to get snow instead of a blue screen, so you can still see, and know it is time to turn around when you get snow in your video image.
That said. the Walkera radios with build in screen is great for shooting video, you can fly by eye-contact to the aircraft and use the screen to frame the shot. so if given the choice, I would probably pick a F7 radio, the 7ch version because that is enough for dealing with gimbal's in the future when you want to get more advanced.
Personally I fly most FPV with the Devo6 which is a small compact radio, but with the full feature set fo the latest version of Walkera radios.
More great information on FPV, check out FPVforME.com
Shopping list:
Hoten-X (If you already have a Walkera radio, get the BNF version)
ImmersionRC 5.8g 600mw VTX (FatShark compattible)
FatShark goggles, I suggest getting a startkit with the Predator goggles, a flight camera and the 250mw VTX (we will not use the flight camera for this build but you can substitute the 250mw VTX for the 600mw)
KeyCam 808 #16D
Power adapter cable to split power for the video transmitter on the aircraft. (2mm bulllet plug)
Radio control options
Walkera Devo F4 Cost about $120 - have video build in and video out
Walkera Devo F7 Cost about $ 210 - have video build in and video out
Walkera Devo6 Cost about $250 - do not have video build in.
Goggles
FatShark Attitudes - State of the art for FPV goggles. Cost about $350.
FatShark Predator KIT - Cost about $280 - Predator goggles WITH flight cam and 250mw vtx
FatShark Teleporter V3 KIT - Cost about $200 - Dominator goggles WITH 250mw VTX and FlightCAM - I do not like the flight cam and suggest you get the 808, but you can use the 250mw vtx - this is a good deal on a entry level pair of FatShark goggles, I would get them instead of the Walkera goggles because they are better goggles with build in video reciever and you get the VTX in the kit.
Walkeras budget goggles - Cost about $170 seems a bit pricy but works well
Video transmitters:
Walkeras DEVO TX5803 - Cost about $40 power 200mw FatShark compattible.
ImmersionRC 5.8g 600mw - Cost about $70 power 600mw FatShark compattible.
Antenna
SpiroNET 5.8g antenna kit with two antennas - Cost about $40
Power adapter cable to split power for the video transmitter on the aircraft.
(2mm bulllet plug) to get power for the VTX - cost about $15
@Akos, check out this one http://www.fpvguy.com/2014/05/armattan-freaking-awesomeness.html
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 05/22/2014 at 07:53 PM
Hi!
I'm just getting started with this FPV and quadcopter story, and would like to have my first FPV set to get practiced flying it. After digging on the net for the best and affordable (around 500 - 600 $ including radio as I don't have any equipment yet) FPV set found your suggestion with Hoten X would be optimal choice, especially with your detailed how-to.
To get the best image quality wold this FPV set work with Mobius cam instead of KeyCam 808? I guess Mobius provides even better performance and it has it's own battery so the flying time would be longer with Hoten.
On the other hand maybe there are other possibilities to set up a good FPV set with some new quads since January '14?
Thanks!
Posted by: Akos | 05/21/2014 at 03:32 AM
David, sorry about that.. here is the updated link:
http://www.bophoto.com/_filebin/SYSCFG.TXT simply save as TXT file.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 03/01/2014 at 06:48 PM
The video mentioned a file to update the keycam, but I can't seem to find the link. Can you post it?
Posted by: DavidRyKelly | 03/01/2014 at 01:51 PM