Finding the perfect set of FPV goggles can significantly impact your overall drone piloting experience. In a market where headset prices mostly span from $100 to $600, the challenge lies in choosing a stellar pair of FPV goggles without straining your budget.
In this article, I’ll go through the essential factors to bear in mind before taking the plunge and investing in your new FPV goggles. I’ll also explain the potential drawbacks of opting for the cheapest set available on the market.
If you’re all clued up on FPV goggles and just want to check out what my recommendations are, check out this review of 6 drone headsets.
Choosing Your FPV Transmission System
Digital or Analogue
Digital and analog are the two transmission systems to choose from, FPV drone enthusiasts tend to choose to stick with one or the other. All your FPV components (goggles, drone and controller) need to be the same system to work.
Analog has been around much longer than digital so the technology tends to be more affordable. While digital FPV goggles are newer technology and have better image quality, a lot of drone pilots still prefer analog. This is because of the latency caused by the way digital transmission works.
Digital FPV transmission is encoded before being emitted. When the signal is received by the drone the signal needs to be decoded. This process takes time, causing a small delay between when the camera captures footage and you receive the image on the FPV goggles.
Digital technology is quickly developing but generally, the more you spend on digital FPV goggles, the lower the latency. If price wasn’t an issue, digital is the best option unless racing.
FPV Goggle Design
Box or Low Profile
The design of FPV goggles is one of two types, box or low profile. Box goggles are cheaper, they’re a bulkier design that usually has a single screen in the headset.
Low profile design goggles are also referred to as binocular because they usually have two screens, one for each eye. Low profile FPV goggles are easier to fit into a backpack and more comfortable to wear. Box goggles sit further out from the face and tend to be heavier.
If you wear glasses you’re better off choosing low profile FPV goggles that have diopter adjusters, more on this in wearing FPV goggles with glasses.
Display Type
LCD vs LCOS vs OLED Screens on FPV Goggles
LCD, LCOS and OLED are different types of image display technology. LCD is the lowest quality and OLED is the highest. You may not notice the difference between display types but the higher the quality of the screen, the more accurate the colours and depth of the display.
Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio will either be 4:3 or 16:9. 16:9 is wide screen and cuts out the top and the bottom of the display. Some headsets can switch between the two which is a good option for your first set of FPV goggles to decide which one you like.
I prefer to fly in 4:3 to see the maximum vertical field of view but a lot of videographers prefer to shoot in 16:9 because they want to make sure the field of view captures everything they want in the shot, footage recorded for displaying on TVs will be cropped down vertically.
Feild of View (FOV)
FOV stands for field of view. It typically ranges from 45 to 120 degrees. The best analogy I’ve heard to help explain field of view is sitting in a cinema. If you sit at the front of the cinema, the screen takes up your entire field of view, you might even have to move your head left and right to take it all in. While this can give a highly immersive experience, when you have a large field of view in FPV goggles, your eyes are required to move around a lot more.
A narrower field of view is like sitting at the back of the cinema. You can see the entire screen without having to turn your head or move your eyes around the screen much.
Choosing FOV range is really down to personal preference so if possible, test out a couple of FPV goggles with different FOV to see what feels more comfortable.
Personally, I think a greater FOV isn’t necessarily better. Having a huge FOV can be distracting and tiring on the eyes.
What Determines the Range of FPV Goggles?
Video receiver (VTX)
The VTX or video receiver is the part that limits the maximum range between you and the drone before the video drops out or becomes fuzzy. The cheaper the FPV goggles, the shorter the video range. More expensive models will have a VTX that can be upgraded as new technology is released.
If you’ve started out learning FPV with a simulator, your goggles may not have a built in VTX so aren’t actually compatible for flying a real drone.
Antennae
The other important part when it comes to FPV goggle range is the antennae. Some goggles allow for up to 4 antennae, each antennae can pick up a different signal, allowing automatic switching to the strongest frequency.
If you’re buying an all-in-one kit to get started check if the antennae can be removed, buying higher-quality antennae can be one of the best improvements to FPV flight experience.
Special Features
Some features that can make flying with FPV goggles a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience are anti-fog fans and adjustable settings for your eyes.
- IPD or interpupillary distance is standard for binocular FPV goggles, this adjusts the distance between the two screens to suit your eyes.
- Adjustable focus isn’t standard in all FPV goggles but can be a necessary feature for those with a slight vision impairment.
- Antifog fans help propel moisture out from the goggles to stop them from fogging up. The fans also help keep the electronics from overheating.
The Best FPV Goggles
If price wasn’t an issue, the best FPV goggles are from Walksnail, Fatshark and DJI.
I’ve summarised the 6 best FPV goggles in the article on Drone Headsets but ultimately this depends on your price range, transmission system (digital or analog) and flight purpose (racing or freestyle).
Wearing FPV Goggles with Glasses
According to The Vision Council, 64% of adult Americans wear glasses so it’s pretty important to address this topic.
Trying to fit glasses under FPV goggles can be pretty uncomfortable, not to mention the light leakage it introduces when the face mask can’t seal.
Here are the options when it comes to wearing FPV goggles with glasses :
- Choose box goggles. Box goggles have more space between your eyes and the screen making enough space for your glasses to fit but it’s hard to know which models will fit over your style of glasses. The EV800D Drone Headset is a popular choice for glasses wearers.
- Diopter lens inserts. Some FPV goggles can fit prescription lenses or come with a range of diopters that fit over the eyepieces. This is common in binocular-style FPV goggles rather than the box design. The DJI Integra, for example, comes with a diopter set which includes +2 to -8 lenses.
- The last option is to buy FPV goggles with built in diopter adjustment. This is usually in more expensive binocular FPV goggles but a midrange option with a really good greatest diopter range that I’ve come across is Sky04x drone headset. This model has +6 to -6 diopter range.
The Wrap Up on FPV Goggles
To wrap up, some of the downsides of buying a really cheap set of FPV goggles are :
- Low quality antennas that can’t be removed and upgraded. Low quality antennas means short range and more grainy staticy footage.
- Box design: Some box style goggles are ok for beginners but generally they’re not ideal if you wear glasses.
- Low resolution LCD screen: While some LCD screens are ok, you typically want at least 720p resolution because low quality footage can really ruin the immersive experience.
However, you don’t have to buy the most expensive, digital FPV goggles on the market to invest in something you’ll be happy with for the next 2-3 years. Check out my recommended drone headsets from $50-600 here.
