FPV — What to buy

#fpv/gear · Note 4 of 7 · part of Drones

In order. Do not skip ahead — each stage is useful on its own, and each one tells you whether you want the next.

Stage 1 — the radio

The only thing you need to start. It outlives every other component.

RadioMaster Pocket — small, cheap, ELRS built in. Hard to argue with.
RadioMaster Boxer — full-size gimbals, the sweet spot for most people.
RadioMaster TX16S — big, colour screen, more than a beginner needs.

Get the ELRS version, not the older protocols. Get hall-effect gimbals if the choice exists. Everything runs EdgeTX, which is the same on all of them.

Stage 2 — goggles

The biggest single decision, and the one most worth delaying until you know you are staying.

Analogue (e.g. Eachine EV800D, Skyzone): cheap, universal, ugly picture, fails gracefully — it goes static rather than freezing.
Digital (DJI O4 / Goggles N3, Walksnail, HDZero): dramatically better picture and much more expensive. HDZero fails most gracefully of the three; DJI has the best image; Walksnail sits between.

If the budget is tight, buy analogue and spend the difference on batteries and props. If you already know you love this, buy digital and skip a generation of regret.

Stage 3 — something tiny

A whoop — Meteor75 Pro, Mobula7, or similar. Ducted, sub-30g, safe indoors, and it will teach you more in a week than a month of sim.

Buy it BNF (bind-and-fly) with a receiver matching your radio's protocol.

Stage 4 — a 5"

Either a BNF (iFlight Nazgul, GepRC) or a build — see FPV — The first build.

Buying is not cheating. A BNF gets you flying now, and when you eventually build one you will have a known-good machine to compare against.

The things people forget

These are not optional and they are not in the kit:

A proper charger — ISDT, ToolkitRC. Not the one in the box.
A LiPo bag or ammo tin. Batteries fail rarely and spectacularly.
A smoke stopper. A £5 device that has saved every builder I know from destroying a stack on the first power-up.
Spare props. More than you think. Then more again.
A decent soldering iron. See FPV — The first build.
Batteries — 4 to 6 packs, or you fly for six minutes and drive home.

When not to buy

Before ten hours of sim time.
Before you have somewhere legal to fly. Rules are local and they change — check DGCA / Digital Sky yourself if you are in India, and the equivalent elsewhere. This note is not authority.
6S as a first setup. Start 4S; the extra power buys nothing you can use yet.
The cheapest battery on the listing. Sag ruins a flight and hides as "bad tune".

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