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New to FPV, Build/etc Advice

Fiddlebog

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Howdy y'all,
Let me just start by saying that I'm very excited about starting this hobby. There are a lot of aspects that attract me to it that have attracted me to other hobbies. In addition y'all have a great community here, which is not something I've always seen other places. Looking through these forums has been very constructive and I've already gathered a lot of useful information. I've had some experience with basic quadcopters as well as some computer building and programming, so I'm hoping that experience will be somewhat relevant in this endeavor.

Anyways, here is what I'm looking for:
I'm wanting to get a full setup so that I can start flying. I have a budget of around $500-$600 for what I am comfortable spending on my first setup. I want something that will be able to act similarly to a higher end drone (minus the performance of course) so that I can have some fun with basic freestyle and racing. I would also ideally like something that I can modify in the future so that when I do want something higher-performance I don't have to just start over with a new build (obviously to a certain extent).

What I've been looking at:
I was planning on buying a Wizard X220 from Grayson Hobby (gold tuned) with the Goggles2 and the antenna upgrade, as this is a setup combination that I have heard good things about and I can trust to act reliably before I start really looking into specific components. I was also considering getting a Runcam to upgrade it (what sort of difference would that make?). Unfortunately, it went out of stock before I could order it, but waiting will give me more time to look around anyways. I would appreciate any advice or recommendations in regard to this decision.

Currently, I've been playing around with FPV Freerider on my Xbox controller (which is admittedly a little awkward due to the springs in the left stick; I'm considering modifying the controller), and I've actually found acro mode to be somewhat easier than the autolevel mode, so I'm probably just going to continue using that. I've read on here that this is a pretty good way to get a feel for things and get my rookie crashes out of the way.

Do y'all have any recommendations on what should be my next step forward?
Thanks in advance.
 
Order yourself a transmitter and keep on the simulator until you decide and order the rest of your equipment. For your transmitter, i like and recomend the turnigy evolution as it is ergonomic,cheap, plugs right into your computer, and works great.
 
Seems like you have a pretty good plan. I have Goggles Two and love them.

For the drone, you are on the right track. But if it was me, I would rather get a normal un-tuned drone with better parts. Check out the awesome new Diatone Tyrant series (diatoneusa.com) and the Wizard X220S which is about to be released. Eachine Wizard X220S FPV Racer Omnibus F4 5.8G 72CH VTX 30A Dshot600 800TVL CCD iRangeX iRX-i6X RTF Sale - Banggood Mobile

There are some guys on here who love grayson hobby and I am sure they do a great job. But nowadays the default betaflight PIDs are very good for just about any normal drone. So personally I would rather have better parts and a stock tune.

Now for the scandalous part... Seriously consider getting a 3" prop drone in the 130mm frame size range rather than a 5" in the 220mm neighborhood. They are the future of drone racing IMO for many reasons. It is easier to find a place to fly, quieter, less dangerous, more agile, less intimidating etc... It will very much reduce the pucker factor for your first 20 flights or so. And they feel SO FAST!

Good luck!
 
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Thanks for the feedback.

For my transmitter I am looking at getting either a Flysky FS-i6S or the Turnigy Evolution which VirtueViolater recommended. I do like the idea of it feeling like a game controller, and it is very important to me that I can plug it into my computer for using a simulator.

After looking at the Diatone Tyrant I am quite sold. I hadn't seen this before and it looks to be very versatile and resilient. Plus it can get some serious speed.

In the past I have had bad experiences with wholesale China shops (one of which was specifically with banggood-never received a quadcopter I ordered), so I am somewhat hesitant to order from one again. Maybe I just had bad luck, but I tend to pay the extra $10 or so it often costs to get it from the US. Are there any sites you would recommend to buy from, or should I give banggood another shot? Because although I can buy the quad from Diatone directly, I will still need to find somewhere else to get my batteries, transmitter, gogles, etc.
 
Diatoneusa.com has some stuff, but there are tons of good online USA shops like:

getfpv.com
readymaderc.com
rc-drones.com
Many more

and some Chinese ones (maybe with some US stock if lucky)

Hobbyking.com
Gearbest.com
 
The evolution looks nice. I do pinch grip so it may not work great for me, but I will probably give it a try. I use a Radiolink AT9S that I still really like.
 
I went ahead and ordered a Flysky FS-i6S and Goggles Two. I'm pretty excited to hook those up to the simulator and get some real practice in. Next I'm planning on getting the Diatone Tyrant kit, but I'm not sure what sort of batteries to get. I have heard that 4s are better? Any specific brand recommendations? What about chargers? I see UAVfutures uses the Turnigy Accucell-6, so I figured that may be a good way to go.
Also for replacement props, I see that Diatone doesn't carry the 5045 3-blades that come with the kit, and I'm sure the pitch from other 5045s won't match up, so should I just get something else entirely? I've considered buying a few different styles to test them out, but I also don't want to pointlessly throw my money at things I won't use.
 

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