Good day everyone and welcome back to TMac FPV-your home for your journey to better FPV fun, flights, and racing stuff.Want to have the most fun flying FPV drones at the least cost to you? If so, stick around because today we're going to provide you with the best options available for not only your drone but your transmitter and FPV goggles as well-the whole kit! Let's get to it.

The title of this video is Best Beginner FPV Drone Kit and, as such, is meant for those people that are either new or fairly new to the FPV quadcopter hobby. However, if you happen to be watching this and are a more experienced fpv pilot, we would certainly appreciate you sticking around until the end so that you can share your insights and thoughts on the content of this video in the comments section below and then we can all gain from your experiences as well. As I mentioned earlier, the information provided in this video is based on my own personal beginner's experience and lessons learned along with extensive product reviews and product specifications.

To begin with we need to define what we mean by an FPV drone kit. For our purposes, in this video, the kit we are talking about will consist of a transmitter,, simulator, quadcopter, and FPV goggles-and we're going to go over each of these components in that order. A recommendation to get the best value for your money is to purchase each component of the kit separately from companies specialising in the manufacturing of that particular component. The reason behind that is in today's marketplace there is no one company that makes all of the best value components. So, just as you wouldn't go to a gas station to buy groceries, in today's marketplace to get the best value for your money you might not want to go to an FPV goggle company to purchase a drone nor would you want to go to a company which produces great drones to necessarily purchase a best value transmitter.

For that specific reason, we also recommend avoiding purchasing ready to fly or RTF packages if possible. Today's RTF packages usually consists of a drone and transmitter, neither one of which may be the best value for your money. We believe there's a better money-saving way to make your purchase and get better quality products at the same time. The first component of our kit that we're going to be talking about today will be our transmitter.

For our best value transmitters the four that we'll be looking at are the Taranis QX 7, the FRSKY X-Lite, which is also a Taranis, the FLYSKY Nirvana (and yes FRSKY and FLYSKY are two different companies) and the X9 D Plus. The first thing to take notice of is that you will spend at least fifty five dollars on a radio transmitter. Of course, that amount is going to get you one with limited capabilities which you may outgrow in a short period of time and then need to spend more money on an upgraded transmitter. Some of the parameters I consider to be important when choosing which transmitter to purchase are listed on the left side of the chart-the first being cost. Another parameter which is important is the type of operating system the transmitter uses. Open TX is a very capable and flexible operating system and although there are other transmitters which use different operating systems those are not going to be considered in this video as part of our best value transmitters for beginners.

The next parameter is whether or not the transmitter has the capability for external modules support. Since all transmitters cannot talk using their native protocols, or languages if you will, to all types of receivers on the quadcopters, multi-protocol external modules have been developed to enable this to happen. So you want to make sure the transmitter you're considering to purchase has the ability to use one of those external multi-protocol modules. The transmitter options presented here all have that capability. We also need to consider whether or not our transmitter has the capability to be hooked up to our computer in some way to allow us to use one of the realistic FPV computer simulators to practice our flying skills. In our case, all four of these do. The more channels and switches a transmitter has the more capability and flexibility you're going to have to use those to make your quadcopter do various things.

All four of these transmitters have sufficient channels and switches for that purpose. The type of batteries used for power is one area that differs among our transmitters. Whereas both the QX 7 and the X 90 can use lipo batteries which are the same type of battery used in your quadcopters the X-LIte and the Nirvana use 18500 and 18650 Li-Ion batteries respectively, which for the X-Lite is going to require you to purchase a separate charger to go along with those batteries. This isn't much of an additional cost since you can get two of these batteries with a charger for between 15 and 20 dollars but it is an additional cost you should be aware of.

Note the Nirvana batteries can be charged inside the transmitter with the included micro USB cable whereas the X-Lite currently cannot. Ergonomically or the form factor of the transmitter and how it feels in your hands is pretty much the same between the QX 7 and the X 9D, the X-Lite is more of a smaller, lighter more portable game controller type of a transmitter while the ergonomics of the Nirvana have been described as really nice! The quality of your transmitter gimbals is also important since your gimbals and sticks are what you use to control your quadcopter. Hall gimbles are great and three of the four transmitters come with those. The QX 7 can be upgraded to Hall gimbles and I've done that with mine. The type, size and cost of the receivers that your transmitter talks to on your quadcopter are very important. FRSKY has a wide range of inexpensive micro sized effective receivers such as the R-XSR, XM, and XM+, and most recently for long-range flights the R9.

FLYSKY has recently come out with – the IA 8X and the IA 8S and one of each of these receivers is included with the purchase of the Nirvana transmitter. As of the time of this video being recorded, the FLYSKY Nirvana transmitter is brand new and the first production models of this transmitter have not been put in use by the public. There may be other things to consider when purchasing a transmitter such as the X-Lite has a modification package available for pilots to install shorter or longer stick ends and and a brace to the transmitter which can hold a neck strap, the Nirvana has a three and a half inch color touchscreen and the X9D comes with a wall charger. So, which one of these transmitters gets the TMac Thumbs Up award for the best value beginner FPV transmitter? That would be the Taraniss X-Lite.

Next, we'll briefly consider simulators. We've included Sims in our best beginner FPV kit because we feel they're the best way for a beginner to quickly and inexpensively learn how to fly a quadcopter initially whether it's through Line-of-Sight (LoS) or FPV. Also a Sim is something that you're going to use even after you've learned how to fly because you're gonna want to practice new maneuvers on the Sim before you actually go out and try them with your quad. By doing this, you'll be less likely to crash your quad as often-you will crash that's just part of the hobby-but you'll probably do it less often, you'll save money on the quadcopter parts because of this and you'll attempt new moves with your quadcopter with more confidence after having practiced those same moves on a Sim beforehand.

We've listed here five Sims and their associated costs. I have four of these-I personally have not flown the DRL simulator yet. Of the four I have flown on my non-gaming computer, which is a lower-end type computer, the two that work on my computer the best and have the most realistic flight physics to simulate flying a real quad are Velocidrone and FPV Air. FPV Air can be found on Steampowered.com and Velocidrone can be found on Velocidrone.com. So, which of these Sims get the TMac Thumbs Up award for best value? Both Velocidrone and FPV Air! Velocidrone has more features so it gets a bigger thumbs up. Now, let's talk quads! The first type of quadcopter class that we're going to go over-and we will go over five total classes of quads-is the Whoop-type quadcopter and there's a reason for that. With this type of quadcopter you can fly it both outdoors and indoors without breaking anything which means you can practice and have fun anywhere at any time.

This class is the most affordable type of quad for the actual price of the quad itself and its spare parts, batteries, and battery chargers because all of those things add up in cost. Also, Whoop class quads have the same BASIC flight capabilities as larger quads and are therefore ideal to learn how to fly FPV. Besides that, they can fly through narrower gaps and are just a blast to fly. The main two we'll consider in this video are the UR65 and the Snapper 7. As we go over each of the quadcopter classes we'll not go into detail on each of the parameters just to save time. If you want you can always pause the video and go back to an item for further review. What we will do is our best to highlight the main differences between the quads in each class before we give our Thumbs Up recommendation.

As always, if you ever have any questions or comments concerning the subject matter please put them in the Comments Section below the video and I'll do my best to get back with each and every one of you-and you can always email me at TMavFPV@gmail.com. As you can see from our comparison chart, the main differences between the UR65 and the Snapper 7 are the flight time, construction of the frame, spare parts cost-should you break something on the quad-the weight, and the size of the battery-both which affect flight time. The UR65 is lighter and smaller which make more suitable for indoor flight whereas the Snapper 7 is heavier and bigger with more powerful motors and a larger battery which means it's more likely to handle the outdoors better. A newcomer in this class listed on the left is the US 65 and there's also a UK version of it as well and I believe they're producing other flag colors. It has the same dimension-size motors as the UR65 but with higher kV which means it's flight time will most likely be less than the UR65.

However, it does have what's called Smart Audio capabilities which means you can change the video transmitter frequency and power through your goggle's on-screen display using your transmitter without having to push buttons and watch LED lights on your video transmitter to figure out what power and frequency you're on. It IS a nice feature to have, especially if you'll be flying with other people. So,. who gets the TMac Thumbs Up? Both quads are good-UR65 if you're gonna do more indoor flying- Snapper 7 if you plan on flying more outdoors. The next class of quads that will look into are those that have the capability to fly with 2 inch sized props. Our two contenders in this class for the TMac Thumbs Up award are the EMAX BabyHawk R and the Diatone GT M 205. The main differences between these two are the price and note that the only place I could find the M 205 as a bind and fly which is with the receiver already installed for you is at Grayson Hobby. Their price for the BNF version is 210 dollars and as of August 30th, 2018 their website is showing it as out of stock.

However, their site does show they have the plug-and-play version in stock, without the receiver, so if you're interested in a BNF version you may be able to get them to install the receiver in one of their plug-and-play versions for you if you contact them. The frame construction, or more accurately, the construction of the protective cage is of different material, the Baby Hawk R has bigger motors, the cameras are different-although both are good-the Diatone has that nice Smart Audio feature whereas the Baby Hawk R has an installed beeper. Which, by the way, I find to be very important to have a beeper on your quad especially a smaller quad because that will give you the capability to find it should you accidentally–shall we say–"land" in an unintended location. The BabyHawk R gets the TMac Thumbs Up in this case.

Next is the two and a half inch class. In our two and a half inch class our three main contenders are the Leader 120, the Diatone M 2.5 X, and the GEPRC Phoenix. Costs range from 160 to $200. Flight time is about the same and now is a good time to point out your flight time on quads is going to vary depending upon how aggressively you fly them. The more aggressively you fly them the less your flight time will be. So, from this point on the flight times of each of the quads in the classes mentioned is going to be very similar. It's all going to depend on how you fly them.

The protective cage material on these three is different for each, the spare parts price varies and on the GEPRC Phoenix I couldn't find anywhere that was selling a spare frame for that although in this size quad it's somewhat unlikely you would break the frame. All three have different size motors and two of the three have Smart Audio capability. So, which of these three gets our best value Thumbs Up? Well, let me introduce you to a different option. If you had purchased the BabyHawk R as a two inch quad, there does exist a conversion kit for it which would allow you to convert it to be able to fly two and a half inch props. Why would you do that? More power and maneuverability. It also gives you more choices in the type and style of props to fly. This kit comes in at $12.99 at various locations-by the way-I've included links for most of the products covered in this video in the video's description below for your convenience-just scroll down to access them. If you don't purchase the BabyHawk R as a two inch we would recommend skipping this class as a best value and go on to the three inch class because there is a much better option there for you.

Otherwise, conversion kit gets our TMac Thumbs Up. Our 3 inch class contenders are the FullSpeedRC Leader 3, HGLRC XJB 145 and the Diatone GT M3. Of note, the Diatone GT M3, the only place I could find the bind and fly version of that was at Grayson Hobby and as of 30 August 2018 their website is showing that it is out of stock-which leaves the FullSpeedRC Leader 3 and the HGLRC XJB 145. All three of these quads are great quads I'll just say that up front, however, we're not going to spend a lot of time on the specs on this particular class because for me there's a clear and decisive winner for the best value Thumbs Up award. That goes to the Leader 3. When you think you're ready to tackle the 5 inch class of quads there's really only two contenders-the EMAX Hawk 5 and the HGLRC Batman 220 and actually if we stuck straight to bind and flies only there's only one and that would be the Emax Hawk 5.

However, by the time you get to this point and you're ready for a 5 inch class quadcopter I'm thinking you probably know by then how to solder in your own receiver which is all that is necessary to make a plug-and-play a binding fly. So, in this case, I've included the HGLRC Batman 220 for a price of $299.99 for the plug-and-play version plus another $14 for the XM+ receiver and that would give you your total cost. The main differences between these two are the spare frames are a little bit different in price, motors are a little bit different in size, the video transmitter clear winner on this one is the HGLRC Batman, the EMAX Hawk 5 is lighter in weight, which is good for flight time however, the Batman 220 can take 6S batteries which is also great for flight time and it also has smart audio! The Hawk 5 has a beeper but once again if you're ready for a 5 inch quad you probably know how to install a beeper on a quadcopter by that point.

Of note, the Hawk 5 does come with a spare arm. Having said all of that, once again both of these quads are outstanding! You'll get a lot of fun out of flying them and our TMac Thumbs Up best value award is gonna go to the Hawk 5. Alright folks, we are down to our last component in our Best Beginner FPV Drone Kit-those being FPV goggles. Now there are two types of goggles that we'll cover here very quickly-one is the Box style and the other is compact style. We'll go ahead and start with the Box style goggles and our two contenders for those are the FXT Viper 2.0 version and the Eachine 800D.

Here are the specs for those. They're a little bit different in price about 60 dollars-65. They both have removable displays which are-which is important. Now to be honest with you, if you get the compact style goggles, you're gonna have a much better FPV experience. However, they're about twice the price of box goggles and the box goggles design has come a long way over the past couple years so getting a box style goggle is not a bad thing. In fact, these two types of goggles-the Viper 2.0 and the Eachine EV800D are good box box style goggles. The fact that they both have removable displays is a good thing because if and when you want to upgrade to the compact style of goggles that does not mean that these become useless.

You can actually remove the display from them and use them as, and use the removable display as another display for various purposes. You don't have to have it on your head-you can use it as a workbench display. In the case of the EV 800D it's got a tripod mount on it so you could actually mount it on a tripod without any modifications to it and you can have other people watching the display on the tripod as you're wearing your compact goggles which you've upgraded to.

I'm sure you could do some sort of modification to the display on the Viper 2.0 to do the same thing but the point is they both have removable displays which is a good thing. They both have diversity, screen size is the same, resolution is a little bit different, but they both have 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. The Viper 2.0 weighs more however because of its design it apparently doesn't feel heavy on your head. The big difference between the Viper 2.0 and the Eachine is the Viper 2.0 you can wear your glasses with them if you happen to wear glasses and don't wear contacts and you want the box style goggles then you could actually use the Viper 2.0 while wearing glasses.

Also, the FXT Viper has got an integrated refractor which basically means there's little-to-no eye strain because you're not looking directly at the screen. It's, it's a way to reduce eye strain in the box style goggles. Eachine EV800D does not have that so you might experience some eye strain if you're wearing the Eachine goggles on your head for an extended period of time. Also, the power range on the FXT Viper is better-you can use it, you can use lipo batteries with an xt60 connector to power the FXT Viper whereas the Eachine 800D has an internal battery which you need to charge via a cable plugged into some sort of wall charger device.

Based on those things, TMac best value Thumbs Up award goes to FXT Viper 2.0. Next, we'll go on to the compact style goggles. Our contenders in the compact style goggles class are the Commander V1s, the SkyZone Sky 02s, the Eachine EV200Ds. These are the specs on each of them. Really for me the choice is between the Aomway Commander V1s and the Eachine EV200Ds primarily because of comfort. I own the Aomway Commander V1s and I know for a fact that they are very comfortable. They're lightweight, I don't have the weight parameter listed here but the Commander V1s are the lightest in weight. Eachine EV200Ds resolution is outstanding, both the Commanders and the EV200Ds have aspect ratios which are changeable, the field of view on the 200Ds is larger. Eachine 200Ds primary benefit is that it comes with quad diversity. Basically it allows you to use four different antennas to get better reception.

The power on the Aomway Commander V1s can be powered from a 2S to 4S lipo, and both the aAomway Commander V1s and the Eachine 200Ds have a fan. One of the main considerations that I have between the Commander V1s and the Eachine EV200Ds is the fact that the Commander V1s have been around for a while I'll say, about a year to a year and a half maybe. The easy the Eachine EV 200 Ds have just come out this year. As a matter of fact, within the past- it's a month or two-so the durability of the 200Ds and the warranty and the repairability and things of that nature for the 200Ds, for me as of yet is unproven. So the Commander V1s are a known factor-I know that they're comfortable, I know that they work, I've had no problems with them. Because of those sorts of things, the Aomway Commander V1 gets our TMac Thumbs Up award for best value. And I mentioned this earlier, don't forget about spare parts-things like batteries, props, you'll need a battery charger, parallel plates to go with a battery charger if you plan on charging multiple batteries at the same time.

This is a list of stuff I use. The best value batteries that I've come across that I personally use are Tattus, RaceDayQuads batteries and the GNB's. There's my battery chargers and the charging plates to go along with them. On the props what I found after trying several different brands of props and types of props three blades and four blades on my micros the Gemfan Flash 2040s and 2540s seemed to be the most durable ones that I've come across myself. And that ladies and gentlemen brings us to TMac's Best Beginner FPV drum Kit recommendation 2018. Transmitter we have the FRSKY X-Lite, Simulator Velocidrone, Quadcopter-I recommend going with Whoop class-either the UR65 or the Snapper 7 to begin with and then progress your way through the various classes. FullSpeedRC Leader 3 looks to be an excellent best value choice in the 3 inch class. For the goggles, if you're going box goggles, I'd go with the FXT Viper 2.0s or the Aomway Commander V1s.

We hope you enjoyed the video and found the information to be useful. We wanted to pass on some of the information we've learned since starting up FPV so that you can make better value purchases, quickly advancing your FPV flying skills, and have a whole ton of fun! If you liked the video, click on the "thumbs up" button below. Click on the "Subscribe" button to become a full-fledged member of the TMac FPV team, ring the bell below for future notifications of new videos posted. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or are just completely overwhelmed with a sense of awe at the exceptional quality of the information provided as well as the outstanding video production, please express yourself in the "Comments Section" below. Share this video with the folks you know who may be interested in learning about the FPV hobby and starting on their own "Journey to Better FTV Fun, Flights, and Racing Stuff!" See you next video-Happy Flying!