Hello
Just a quick post to say hello 

Hoping to get into the hobby of FPV, after giving up motorcycling for the foreseeable future I need something to fill that gap. I've had a holystone los drone for a while which is fun to fly around but looking for that immersive feeling (hoping to replace the thrill of riding ). I stumbled upon Oscarliang.com and read the page on building your own 5" and it appealed to me immediately! that site in turn led me here.

The plan is to slowly build my FPV drone taking my time and in the mean time try to learn to fly on a sim, I have commandeered my sons old XBOX one and will install liftoff.

I plan on getting a radio TX first, hopefully one that will connect to the XBOX, currently thinking of the Radiomaster Boxer, suites my budget and says it will connect to sims/PC so hopefully will work with XBOX, next thing would be googles, I'm thinking Skyzone Cobra x V2, firstly as my build we be analogue but if the distant future I could possibly add a digital adapter for future builds as it has a HDMI input, also could I view the sim through these goggles using the HDMI from the XBOX? These goggles also look like they will fit over glasses.

That's my plan at the moment, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm a complete novice at this and of course if my plan is a bad one let me know.

All the best

MR

Hello! Lots of super knowledgeable people here. Welcome.

As far as I know, the Xbox only supports Drone Racing League Simulator and does not support Tx control inputs. I believe it has to be a Windows/Mac/Linux OS to run a sim with a Tx.

However, I too started here as it was the easiest accessible option to start out with. The major difference being that your throttle does not start at zero and instead defaults to mid. But the idea of the simulator is to train your brain the stick movements which I think the xbox is fine at. Keep it mind the controls are much different than any first person style game. So the learning curve can take a bit. But once you make it through the training modes on there, you have a good idea if its something you want to stick with or not. 

Before I blew a bunch of money on a complete setup(for me ~900$USD) I grabbed a Tinyhawk Bind n Fly kit(~300$USD) to make sure the sim FPV skills translated into real life before going to a bigger more powerful quad. 5" is no joke and can cause some serious damage to people or stuff if it gets in the way. the Tinyhawk allows for A LOT of crashes. Ask me how I know... but it also saves you money in the sense that you're not in the air for 3 minutes and then down for a week because you broke a part crashing.

My Boxer is ELRS and there is definitely a lot to learn there as well, but the people here are a huge help with stuff like that. Lots of knowledge. Also I think the Boxer lacks some compatibility with Velocidrone but I can't attest to that. I've read that some switch inputs are incorrect but not sure.

Anyways, welcome!

Edit: There's also just something that doesn't quite translate for me in the sims... something about not being worried about your investment maybe? There's a lot more to lose flying for real which makes it more exciting, but also makes you really HAVE to learn the controls.

Welcome to intoFPV!

I get a very similar adrenaline rush flying fpv as I do riding a motorcycle, it’s only missing that “I’m about to die” factor.

Welcome 

I started with "toy" tiny whoops that had proprietary RC links and
cheap transmitters which would NOT connect to any simulator.
Plus, I was never a gamer so, NO Xbox in the house. Consequently,
So from the begging, I learned to fly on the Real Deal in Real Flight.

The tiny whoops are almost indestructible and they don't damage
stuff that they hit. Good thing because I bounced these quads off
of everything in the house. I tried to avoid my lovely Wife   but
when I got too close she just "brushed" them away. Yeah, there are
that light and have guarded props. 

5-inch quads are Dangerous; they Just ARE...and don't believe any
one who says different. I have seen pictures of guys who have had
their face chewed up by the 5 inch props. 

Some will say, sure, just jump right in with a 5-inch, but I believe
that beginners should start smaller; with a quad that is a bit less
dangerous. If you want something larger than a small whoop,
then a 2.5-inch or maybe a 3-inch freestyle. These sizes are just as
fun to fly and are less dangerous should something not go as expected.

Be sure to Read and Understand the laws and regulations for the airspace
where you intend to fly. 

Thanks for the welcome and advice guys, I didn't realise 5" could be that dangerous! Maybe I should put that one on the back burner for now until I get to a decent skill level. Been looking at RTF kits, the Tinyhawk 3 kit has caught my eye. I'll start looking at reviews, any other kits anyone can recommend?

Cheers

---

Thanks for the welcome and advice guys, I didn't realise 5" could be that dangerous! Maybe I should put that one on the back burner for now until I get to a decent skill level. Been looking at RTF kits, the Tinyhawk 3 kit has caught my eye. I'll start looking at reviews, any other kits anyone can recommend?

Cheers

Avoid Emax drones. All proprietary tech, expensive to replace, nothing standardised like very other manufacturer. Unless it's cheap. i know HobbyRC had TH3 on offer recently, if that is what you were looking at, then yes, enjoy. But if you are looking at full price stuff, don't bother. Go Happymodel Crux or Mobula, try and get something that does 2S (and 1S). The 1S is good for a lot of stuff, but 2S is better in worse conditions, outside (wind being a major example).

If you want a build yourself kit, UnmannedTech's CineFlea is a good kit. I have two of them. If you put it on a BetaFPV Twiglet frame (look on ebay for a JMT Twiglet 2.5 frame) if you want something that flies really well, weighs a lot less than the original kit and can do pretty much most freestyle tricks and runs happily on both 2S and 3S Lipos. Or build it as a Cinewhoop. You can get the original version as well, ie, the Happymodel Cine8. Exactly the same except the TPU frame is orange and it costs about £20 more.

Also i will second iFly on 5" being dangerous. Even 3" is dangerous if you do anything unusually stupid. If you spin up the motors and touch the props you are looking at stitches at the bare minimum, possibly amputation at the worst, but don't know if it would fully sever on a 3", on a 5" I would say it's definitely possible. When you do your failsafe tests, wear a t-shirt. I did mine (when I first started and was overly stupid) while slightly drunk, without one and it immediately took off and managed to cause me some pain. But a 5", lol, someone suggested to someone they get in a wardrobe before doing tests with a 5". Risk of serious injury is a very real thing if you are a complete beginner and just bought a 5". If you are doing a flight test in a room, be in a different one or maybe just leave the door to the room open a little bit so if it flies up at 50 mph towards you it hits the door and not you. Drones can be fixed/replaced and you will learn a valuable lesson while not dying, which is always good.

Happy flying.

I hide behind my metal shelving and peak through a crack while doing hover tests on 3” and larger. I’ve found out first hand what kind of damage they can do to property.

I’ve also got some scars on my hands from when I was being stupid and plugged in a battery with my fingers in the way and my transmitter twisted on its lanyard and hit the arm switch…

So, I guess there is still some of that danger thrill in fpv.

…I just got a flashback to starting nitro rc plane engines with my fingers or a stick when I was younger. That was pretty sketchy too.

Great replies guys   sounds like the danger element isn't a million miles away for motorcycling!
Thanks for the recommendations Pathfinder, I'm going to have a rethink about my plan and do some research into the 2 - 2.5" kit
What a great forum, so glad I joined up. You guys have already saved me from possible finger loss and lacerations.

I'll post further questions in the appropriate sections

Cheers all

Welcome to FPV!
Very good idea starting with a sim first!
Personally I don't find using goggles in sim to be as beneficial as one might think. Using a monitor is totally fine and makes the setup simpler and easier.
I think danger is relative if you have space, 5" are totally fine for beginners. Smaller drones are probably safer and more suited for smaller space, but they could be harder to repair/build for beginners because they are so much smaller physically, you need really good soldering skills and steady hands when dealing with the smaller components.

(26-May-2023, 10:45 AM)MaxRock Wrote: Great replies guys   sounds like the danger element isn't a million miles away for motorcycling!
Thanks for the recommendations Pathfinder, I'm going to have a rethink about my plan and do some research into the 2 - 2.5" kit
What a great forum, so glad I joined up. You guys have already saved me from possible finger loss and lacerations.

I'll post further questions in the appropriate sections

Cheers all

For the radio for a sim, try the Radiomaster T8 Lite.  Also works well for D8 whoops and the UMT CineFlea.  As much as people almost slag off potentiometer based radios, I find my T8 lite to be really good for what i use it for, which is sims and my Flea quads.  Oh and it costs about £30, which is probably the best part.  Yes it doesn't have expensive gimbals, doesn't do ELRS, but it easily flies as well as my Jumper T-Pro.

Thanks again all. I've done a bit more thinking and research and thought more about where I can practice my flying, the advice on here has helped immensely. I'm definitely putting the 5" off for now as I'll be practicing my flying around the office at work ( it's a big office with only me and one other guy) so something smaller with prop guards to start off. Also I got Liftoff for the Xbox and that was quite the eye opener on how difficult FPV flying is at first but I'm slowing getting through the tutorial and enjoying it so far. Will see how I progress.
Again I'll say thanks, as without checking in here I could of easily just ploughed in and cost myself a shed load of cash, frustration and heartache ( and maybe a digit or two )
Cheers all