FPV - Getting started on a small budget

Hi everyone!

So you want to get started with FPV but don't have a lot of money to spend on the hobby? That's no problem. There are a lot of cheap ways to get started with FPV and really if you don't want to do completely crazy stuff and just like to cruise through the house after a hard day of work this is ally you need.

I will post more and more videos and blog entries to this topic as time goes on so stay with me here :)

But now without any further unneccessary text, lets get started!

1. Getting a copter
   To fly FPV you will need a copter that is able to lift itself, a camera, a video transmitter and a power source.
   Now this might sound as if you need a big copter with strong motors and what not. But that's a wrong impression. Really all you need is a small thing like an Eachine E010. I own one of theses myself and whoever asks me I recommend this one to them because it can be found very cheap on amazon and is great for upgrades.

1. Basic flying
   Before even thinking about FPV I recommend you get at least a week of training flying Line-Of-Sight. LOS is, when you look directly at your copter while you fly.

2. Camera and Goggles
   The next thing you'll need is the camera system and goggles to view the images you get from that. Since this is a low budget start I will recommend the Eachine VTX as a camera. It also includes the transmitter for the video signal and is very lightweight. In fact it's that light that even the small copter can lift it without much loss of agility. You would have to solder it on the copter yourself tho. If you don't have the tools to do so, there are a lost of other cheap small copters (from Eachine) with the camera already included.
   It may sound as if I am from Eachine but I just like the quality to price ratio their models offer.
   In case you decide to solder the camera on yourself, you just have to connect it's wires directly to the pins of the connector for the battery. I will soon post a video showing how I did it.
   The goggles are really the most expensive part here. There are some good ones for about 70-100€ (I'm from germany) but if you want a really decent pait, look at the ones from FatShark. Ok, those don't really fall in the budget for most but they are currently the leading brand there. You will have to decide how much you can spend.

3. Flying FPV
   Now with the camera mounted there is nothing to stop you from experiencing the joy FPV will bring you. If you live in germany the basic equipment should cost you about 110€ from nothing to FPV.

A simulator, at leats for me, isn't rellay an option. There is no simulator able to beat the adrenalin when you take off for the first time. And with the copter I recommended you have to try really hard to break it. And now - go and fly!

Max