This is just an outstandingly well done review. Everything you said just hit the nail on the head! The 16x16 has always been controversial since the beginning of the #MicroLongRange Project. However, they really are reliable on 4S with those very low kV motors (never burned a single one). To get a 4" with all the capabilities like GPS, buzzer, Vista etc. below 250g AUW really every gram counts. That's the main reason to stick to 16x16. The OSD bugs have been resolved in the meanwhile. It's a Betaflight bug and flashing down to 4.1.1. solves it.
i'm so loving thiss project, i fly like this all the time, still using ev800d box goggles and peter panning till my hearts content. only thing that concerns me is the gps rescue mode, i don't know if i can make it ''active'' while flying out far and then ''inactive'' when i head under some trees, ie just normal failsafe mode. would also love some control over gps rescue altitude gain, not sure if betaflight devs have the energy for that. ps. i think the gps unit might do better above the vtx antenna. think maybe you mentioned that in a vid. anyway, great stuff.
I'm test a slightly more aggressive props for sometimes having a lil more speed. Pulling out mountain dive. Will still be under the total max amps except under brief full throttle maybe
Flashing down to older firmware is not a satisfactory long-term fix. 16x16 seems like a bad choice from the beginning. Some of the newer AIO boards are probably a better choice.
Got mine yesterday. Flew it today with a homemade 4s Li-ion pack. MJ1 cells charged to 4.15V per cell and discharged until I was near the cells continuous 10A rating and got a comfortable 34 mins in 18mph winds just cruising around. Almost too much endurance for my concentration span!
Before buying and flying this I thought no way i can fly 1 hour and have so much fun 30 min is not enough!! After buying and flying for over 10 min: damn i am sleepy...
I removed the copper foil from the V2 Explorer and used faraday tape to protect the GPS. Wrap the wires with the tape and place a small piece of the tape on the back of the gps module. I have gotten up to 18 sats on the explorer within minutes. With the baby croc I did the same but adjusted the baud to 19200 on the soft serial, I have gotten over 20 satellite's consistently. With this fix the RTH works great.
Josh you hit the nail on the head with the intro. I got into fpv late 2015ish. At first I just bought the cheapest walkera p.o.s. drone that I could find, just to try out the hobby. I fell in love with fpv with my first flight. The quad I had was trash but I wanted more. I started learning from fpv TH-camrs and started spending so much time and money on this hobby that I absolutely love. I got myself some awesome gear and built top of the line freestyle quads and had a blast with them for a while. But recently my "flybag" sits alone in the corner of the room. I haven't touched my drones but I'm still so in love with the hobby, but you got it right and I never realized it until now. Flying for me became such a hassle. Charging a dozen batteries for hours on end a, getting all my gear ready and going out to scout out a place to fly and blowing through all my batteries in less than an hour, going no farther than the confines of the park or field I was flying in. Maybe I'll have to try one of these explorers because I truly do miss the feeling that I used to get when I took off into the sky. Maybe this could spark my drive to go out and fly more. I sure hope so. Keep up the great work, Joshua.
I might not watch all of your videos all the way through, but I do listen to them while I’m at work. A lot of the time I am working on machinery, not as a mechanic but driving them from point a to point B and I will have my phone next to me with some Bluetooth headphones on and what I get out of your videos is not always a visual learning experience but it is listened to and absorbed. As of right now, I happen to be one of the lucky ones that has already received my Explorer LR, And I am loving it so far. As you mentioned in your video, just being able to slow down and take a breath and enjoy what you can’t see from the ground is the experience that I was looking for when I stumbled across this model. It was actually nice to see you take a break from your bench and enjoy with this little machine can give you. As always, thank you for another great video. We love you man!
I watched this a while ago and always wanted to congrat you to what has to be one of the best voiceover intros to an FPV video - really well written / said. greets, Mario
My old wood stick tricopter is still one of my absolute favorites. No acro at all, but very soft and swooshy. So enjoyable. It is one of the few FPV vehicles, that give me a sense of birds flight freedom. Kept improving it and added INAV, MC, L9R longe range receiver, baro and GPS over time. With flight times way past 20 minutes it's a beautifully flying long range ship. I'm sure with Lithium Ions this could be pushed a lot further.
After watching most of your videos for a week+ about pretty much everything someone needs to know to get into this hobby I am ready to do my first flight with the explorer tomorrow... Thanks for all the helpful videos to get me in air!
Just a quick note, the DJI goggles keep the last known GPS coordinates until you either get signal back, or you restart the goggles. I find it very useful because I can quickly jot down the coordinates into Google maps on my phone before resetting the goggles.
What i love is the flight time. Long antenna for better range. So basically its like a mavic mini that you can dive and flip and have fun. Plus Dave C been great. Giving to the community. Offering things on thingyverse
Absolutely love this quad! Happy to have added it to my collection, now I’ve got my tinyhawk 2 for rainy days, tinyhawk 2 freestyle to sharpen my acro skills, and this explorer for when I just want to hit the sky’s and cruise!
Congratulations for the introduction thoughts, it was super! It brought out the very inner wish of mankind to be able to fly, the hype we get when the dream "comes true" and then the frustration we feel when the tech limitations remember us that we are actually still standing on the very ground we always have been. It's mithologic!
What you describe in the beginning is exactly what I do, every time I make a video. I just do it with a larger quad :) Mountain Surfing is the most fun I have ever had in this hobby.
@@mavichavoc8723 I don't think so, i use a cyclops antenna. And i wouldn't trust a controller that is linked to my goggles signal. I need better signal on my controller then on my goggles.
@@peterzingler6221 I usually fly on our own property, in all honesty I need to go out and do more locations. What are they imposing on you guys now as far as rules go?
@Brandon S The DJI system makes it more accessible because it takes the stress out of flying for newbs, the feed is great, the range is great and they can actually see where they are going. Analogue is generally so bad its intimidating to fly by comparison. Also the feature set for the system is extensive, you can change everything about your camera, goggles and VTX options through one system, the interface is intuitive and easy to learn and use as a one stopt for PID's and other commonly used settings. Everything has a visual interface and its very approachable.
But then you start going lower and lower and through more and more challenging tree holes and gates and soon they say you need speed and camera uptilt and range to use it and then you start rolling and looping and diving and then you go acro
You're going to love it man, I haven't flown my other 6 quads since I got it, I'm working on my slow flow freestyle with it, and am having a blast. It's easy to progress when your battery lasts 9-12 minutes!
Iv held my explorer wide open for 20 seconds straight. Iv been very hard on it and the esc never popped. This quad is very reliable i just want everyone to know that! Great video Joshua!
I'm all about this type of drone. I fly GPS cinematic drones because I love the range, flight time and just being up in the air, looking at things. I really enjoy FPV but for me having to land every 3/4 mins and swap batteries and all of the restrictions that come with it I just don't enjoy going out and doing it as much. This for me is the perfect mix and something that I will be investing in for sure. This video just sold this to me perfectly.
I watched this twice, just because this is the kind of flying I enjoy, more than the flippity-floppity-go-fast-turn-my-stomach footage that a lot of people are posting. I'm not a racer, I own a Typhoon H for god sakes! But like you said in the beginning, I would like to fly more and not worry about losing Tilly (my Typhoon H). I'm definately going to look into the 7" or 8" long range quads. Thanks for the Video, JB! and happy flying! Oh, I almost forgot, Yes, I definitely learned something today!
@Joshua Bardwell , yes when you lose the link, the GPS coordinates (and all other OSD elements) will stay frozen on the screen. After 20-30 seconds, the goggles will switch to a static image, but you can press any button to bring back the frozen OSD elements. I usually then take a photo or short video with my phone to record the GPS coordinates. Once you de-power the goggles, all that OSD info is gone for good.
I have a few 5” freestyle quads and also the 5” Diatone Roma L5 and I always enjoy the L5 for long range flying. With a decent 3000mAh LiON battery, I can cruise for 20+ minutes and go far! I love the L5 so much, I have a backup boxed plus a cache of parts.
Dave C fpv is a great channel....lots of experimenting on an engineering level, extremely valuable for everyone who is in to the smaller stuff ! I really hope he gets something out of this cooperation with flywoo, id love to see some more experimenting in the future . Very excited about his 5 inch Lora .
Was just looking around on this, I just got into digital and ordered one of these as my first lr quad. I've always loved the feel of flying fixed wings and honestly despite practice I'm not great with acro in freestyle but the idea of something so portable is too tempting. Plan to put some vistas on a couple quads and planes. This style of relaxed flying and just enjoying the view through a pair of goggles is more of what I like.
As a former light plane pilot, current RC plane pilot, and a relatively new FPV drone pilot, this one looks exactly what I’ve been looking for, for 20+- years. I ordered the analog version with Crossfire a couple of weeks ago. Supposedly they’re going to start shipping tomorrow, which is the end of the Chinese holiday. Can’t wait to try it out.
Thank you for your review. Your reviews are by far the most informative I have seen. I have been on the fence about buying this drone for some time. I have several drones but truly wish I could have had watched a good review such as yours before buying the ones I already have. It could have saved me thousands. I will be buying this drone now knowing what I’m getting. Thank you again.
Hi JB, usually problem with acquiring satellites comes because of “noisy” electronics, specially split cameras but not only, Best way to deal with it is to separate gps unit from the rest with piece of adhesive aluminum foil attached to rear posts like a firewall. Try it, happy flying.
I hope in one day digital fpv will be the norm and cheap as analog now. Imagine even more, Digital fpv in 4k or even in 8k and fpv googles to be like pimak vr with 8k screens and lets say 160 fov ob even more. THANK YOU FOR SHARE THE EXPERIENCE.
14:40 I activated the GPS rescue for the first time with my nazgul evoque above the sea and despite everything I could learn in the field I was not aware that this dumb trap could exist and my quad fell in the water without ever wanting to obey commands, thank you for this information !
I've been looking at getting this as my first fpv drone, although I've previously owned a dji mini 2 se. This seems to be the concept of the mini 2, but way way better. I think this video might have tipped me over the "should i shouldnt i" barrier
I'd love to see and update to this video with the BF 4.1.1 update and download of the CLI from flywoo and how you setup and wire it to power the naked GoPro.
16:45 flight starting with 4S battery. 17:20 battery is nearly empty where you spoke about a full punch out. This full punch looks not like a full punch mine is doing. But difficult to be objective in this case. Next 5 minutes is with the 3S battery. I mixed up and I thought all was done with 3S battery. But Dave already wrote that he recommends a 4S battery.
I have come to FPV drones after flying full size aircraft for the very reason of flying without flying. Looking forward to the Explorer arriving 😀 Many thanks for your splendidly informative, interesting and entertaining videos.
Twig XL has 3" long range potential, running the 20A aio, stock betafpv 3800kv 1404 motors, gemfan windancer props 3blade 3"x2.8", on tattu or RDQ 650mah 4s. I get minimum of 6mins of pretty hard flying. Iv had 11+min flights just cruising around, cruises at about 2.5A if im careful..end cell voltage @3.55v
I'm so glad you finally left your back yard! Do some distance trials, let's see how far out you can get. My 7" is limited to around 2.5 miles by its 2200mah lipo, i wonder if the Explorer could get further.
Very excited. Should be receiving mine this week. I enjoy the cruising style, which I have always called "flowing" for a long time. Now I just have to get those 3S 18650 batteries to give me long enjoyable flights.
I ordered the same Caddx version the moment it became available. Then I decided to make videos since it's amazing. And at the beginning, the one pre-release question I wanted answered was, "Can it freestyle?" So I made that video and crashed it. Lol. The quad is fine, but one bad motor and they've been out-of-stock forever. Geez I miss flying that quad. Hehheh. I'm thinking I should see if I can repair the motor now.... Great review, JB.
Ordered one as soon as David posted it on his channel. Also ordered the naked gopro. Cannot wait! Great video. Hate to mention it, but after Davids release and the fan hype, it seems like many other drone companies are getting into the mix!
DJI GPS OSD shows the last coordinates (accuracy varies) in case of a crash, or even after pulling put the lipo batt. I still keep it on my OSD as well as speed and home direction (most important).
160$ is very tempting and I've heard nothing but good things from this quad. The only downside so far is no one in the states carries the analog version that I know of, at least at the time of this video
Whats nice is you can strap on a light high quality battery down to 4s 650 and still get more flight time than usual. It gives you a sportier feel. I have been flying it with a 850 Rline for over 12 minutes with room to spare. Its fantastic. I plan on buying several battery sizes to see where the nice spot is for 10 minutes and sporty flying.
Im building a quad to shoot under the 250 mark and have a decent range , and just chill in the sky , it will be my first fpv but not my first quad. If i knew this existed before i spent my money i would have defiantly got this and may be interested in the future.
JB you must point out that even though DJI does not record GPS coordinates on the DVR, in the event of the drone falling off the sky for whatever reason, you will see on the screen the last OSD information. So you CAN take a picture of the screen with your mobile phone and go to find your kwad.
Unbelievable test run man!!!!👍I have learned the most I have ever learned so far from watching and listening to you man im just getting into fpv and I'm completely undecided on what to get and I mean from EVERYTHING!!!! GOGGLES, CAMERA, RADIO....I would get a message to check into nearest hospital immediately if I were to do a "sanity" check lol I want agility and definitely range for sure but I think I'm more into wanting the best visuals....so with that said I currently own a dji phantom 3 and I love it as far as the visual aspect but I want to graduate to fpv and freestyle sorta speak....SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED IS A MUST!!!! So as you can see I don't know what the hell I want lol....I'm so freakin lost as to what to get to be completely satisfied....I would love to get your opinion as to what I should start off with yet get at least "some" of what I want out of the set up....👍 by the way 8:28 is when your drone is smart enough to mock you 🤣 absolutely love the video man👍and thanks for making it alot harder to decide on what drone I want since there is literally hundreds of them to choose from lol
Nice review and flying. Cruising has always been my favorite type of FPV, fixed wing especially, but it's fun to cruise with quads too and they're easier to take on holiday.
Thanks for this nice review. I just got my HD version after a 6 weeks waiting period. Flywoo was very professional and reactive answering my questions about the delays. I don’t have the OSD bug, probably because I did not upgrade Betaflight to the latest release. And you’re right, flying this drone makes you feel like a bird, no stress, no noise, perfectly smooth and still decently agile with a 4S battery.
@@jackjohnson5024 Mavic flight tends to be very rigid and almost procedural compared to these racing mutlirotors/miniquads and/or fixed wing flight. Unless you have a head tracker, gimbals tend to detract from the immersive feeling.
My kind of flying. I'm older with slower reflexes and the the sensation of flight is what I enjoy.I agree with some other commentators that it would be great for you to compile a parts list to closely duplicate a quad with similar characteristics.I would like to buy a prebuilt,and give Dave_C the credit,but 3 and 4 months is a long wait.
I was one of those who cancelled their PREORDER. Decided to stick with one of my iFLIGHT DC3 frames as an explorer running EMAX 1306 4000kv motors and weighs the exact same as the Flywoo Explorer and i'm running 20x20 stack F7 and Vista. I'm already getting over 10 minutes flight with a Tattu 1050 4s battery and have a 3s 3500 Lithium battery arriving soon which only weighs about 45 grams more than the 1050mah Tattu. Can't wait to see how much flight time I get on this already excellent flier.
I'm saving up for the dji goggles to fly this bad boy, But I might actually get the analog version to hold me over till then. The abscense of a long range cruiser type quad is exactly why I was initially going with flying wings instead of quads. Now all that's left is to make them look cooler.
Yeah I was wanted the dji so bad but couldn't get quad and goggles Sametime so. I got analog for now. Maybe by time quad comes in I'll get dji goggles and Vista lol (been waiting 50days so far) great product so backorder
I have both and that would be a killer setup for your first digital rig. Just be careful because when you only have one Digital quad its a bummer if or when it breaks. But do to the cruising nature of this guy you could get insane times and crystal clear video. The 50mbts mode is just awesome. Most of the time I cant even tell if there is any pixelation period.
Became a fatshark owner after the stimulus checks in the US over this summer...now I want dji quads ): but I’m gonna hold out through the whoop & sim season. Always wanted to do long range, that’s what attracted me to drones. But I became a freestyle pilot
I love this sort of flying, my newest build (2.5", 16x16 stack, Tyro69 frame) gives me 8 to 9 minutes on 2S 450s, it's so relaxing cruising around like that.
couple of things. 1. I use LAT/LONG in the OSD because when I crash or loose signal, those coordinates stay in the goggles until I power down. So I keep a cell phone 'memo' app handy to bark the coordinates so I'll have a location reference. 2. The LR OSD problem is with BetaFlight. Oddly, all the OSD drop outs and fluctuations occur with BF 4.2...the version the quad ships with!...go figure! If you flash to 4.1...problem solved. Several tutorials online plus the Flywoo FB page address the issue. I think I'll spring for one eventually.
Sweet and smooth flying, Joshua! Really nice! 😃 About the OSD issue, looks like it's a Betaflight 4.2 bug. They recommend Albert Kim to go back to 4.1 and it seems to solve the issue. 😊 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
I keep the lat/lon enabled on the OSD, as long as you keep the goggles turned on the last OSD stuff stays onscreen, its really the only way to record it when using the DJI controller, to read it out from your goggles.. until DJI feels the need to record it in the goggles.
Ordered the geprc, as I waited too long on the backordered flywhoo, so I cancelled that. Hopefully the crock will arrive this year! Looking forward to that review
The DJI DVR does not record the Lat. & Long (5-2020) It does hold the last frame from the drone video on the screen after drone loses power/connection. ** the Lat. is missing a digit in the display. 47.394607 = 47.0394607 (The missing digit can be figured out by placing a pin in Google maps in the area you are flying in) *** it's like the number of digits required for both Lat & Long is reversed. Lat. needs 7 digits after the decimal place and Long needs 6.
This is just an outstandingly well done review. Everything you said just hit the nail on the head!
The 16x16 has always been controversial since the beginning of the #MicroLongRange Project.
However, they really are reliable on 4S with those very low kV motors (never burned a single one).
To get a 4" with all the capabilities like GPS, buzzer, Vista etc. below 250g AUW really every gram counts.
That's the main reason to stick to 16x16. The OSD bugs have been resolved in the meanwhile. It's a Betaflight bug and flashing down to 4.1.1. solves it.
i'm so loving thiss project, i fly like this all the time, still using ev800d box goggles and peter panning till my hearts content. only thing that concerns me is the gps rescue mode, i don't know if i can make it ''active'' while flying out far and then ''inactive'' when i head under some trees, ie just normal failsafe mode. would also love some control over gps rescue altitude gain, not sure if betaflight devs have the energy for that. ps. i think the gps unit might do better above the vtx antenna. think maybe you mentioned that in a vid. anyway, great stuff.
So don't flash to 4.2?
I'm test a slightly more aggressive props for sometimes having a lil more speed. Pulling out mountain dive. Will still be under the total max amps except under brief full throttle maybe
Flashing down to older firmware is not a satisfactory long-term fix. 16x16 seems like a bad choice from the beginning. Some of the newer AIO boards are probably a better choice.
Ive been running 4s on 16x16 and running good for a while.
21:39 dont fly too long in that spot or you'll be reset back to your front lawn.
i see you are also a man of the sim
Hahahaha so true please take my upvote
Lol
Got mine yesterday. Flew it today with a homemade 4s Li-ion pack. MJ1 cells charged to 4.15V per cell and discharged until I was near the cells continuous 10A rating and got a comfortable 34 mins in 18mph winds just cruising around. Almost too much endurance for my concentration span!
Before buying and flying this I thought no way i can fly 1 hour and have so much fun 30 min is not enough!! After buying and flying for over 10 min: damn i am sleepy...
I think this is what I want to build
Can u share photo or video of the 4s Li ion battery
@@Flyfpv143 there are plenty of videos on TH-cam about making them
Bardwell is the Bob Ross of FPV! So soothing
Bob Ross
Joshua Bardwell
The Crafsman
…ASMR background videos that are a must watch
His voice is like nails on chalk. Not soothing to me, but if you like it go for it
I removed the copper foil from the V2 Explorer and used faraday tape to protect the GPS. Wrap the wires with the tape and place a small piece of the tape on the back of the gps module. I have gotten up to 18 sats on the explorer within minutes. With the baby croc I did the same but adjusted the baud to 19200 on the soft serial, I have gotten over 20 satellite's consistently. With this fix the RTH works great.
Josh you hit the nail on the head with the intro. I got into fpv late 2015ish. At first I just bought the cheapest walkera p.o.s. drone that I could find, just to try out the hobby. I fell in love with fpv with my first flight. The quad I had was trash but I wanted more. I started learning from fpv TH-camrs and started spending so much time and money on this hobby that I absolutely love. I got myself some awesome gear and built top of the line freestyle quads and had a blast with them for a while. But recently my "flybag" sits alone in the corner of the room. I haven't touched my drones but I'm still so in love with the hobby, but you got it right and I never realized it until now. Flying for me became such a hassle. Charging a dozen batteries for hours on end a, getting all my gear ready and going out to scout out a place to fly and blowing through all my batteries in less than an hour, going no farther than the confines of the park or field I was flying in.
Maybe I'll have to try one of these explorers because I truly do miss the feeling that I used to get when I took off into the sky. Maybe this could spark my drive to go out and fly more. I sure hope so.
Keep up the great work, Joshua.
You can tell how relaxing an experience this was, you can literally hear the serenity in JB's voice.
Yeah.. im going to play it in my sound machine at night.. 🤣 might 💤 like a baby!
Drone reviews ASMR
@@thisisfromage haha.. had to go look that one up..
@@upnorthFPVandEUC haha did anything show up? If not, someone should make it a thing ;)
@@thisisfromage not for drones..👍
I might not watch all of your videos all the way through, but I do listen to them while I’m at work. A lot of the time I am working on machinery, not as a mechanic but driving them from point a to point B and I will have my phone next to me with some Bluetooth headphones on and what I get out of your videos is not always a visual learning experience but it is listened to and absorbed.
As of right now, I happen to be one of the lucky ones that has already received my Explorer LR, And I am loving it so far. As you mentioned in your video, just being able to slow down and take a breath and enjoy what you can’t see from the ground is the experience that I was looking for when I stumbled across this model. It was actually nice to see you take a break from your bench and enjoy with this little machine can give you.
As always, thank you for another great video.
We love you man!
I watched this a while ago and always wanted to congrat you to what has to be one of the best voiceover intros to an FPV video - really well written / said. greets, Mario
My old wood stick tricopter is still one of my absolute favorites. No acro at all, but very soft and swooshy. So enjoyable. It is one of the few FPV vehicles, that give me a sense of birds flight freedom. Kept improving it and added INAV, MC, L9R longe range receiver, baro and GPS over time. With flight times way past 20 minutes it's a beautifully flying long range ship. I'm sure with Lithium Ions this could be pushed a lot further.
The way you did the intro, I was so immersed in your flying and your voice, very nicely done !
After watching most of your videos for a week+ about pretty much everything someone needs to know to get into this hobby I am ready to do my first flight with the explorer tomorrow...
Thanks for all the helpful videos to get me in air!
Just a quick note, the DJI goggles keep the last known GPS coordinates until you either get signal back, or you restart the goggles. I find it very useful because I can quickly jot down the coordinates into Google maps on my phone before resetting the goggles.
What i love is the flight time. Long antenna for better range. So basically its like a mavic mini that you can dive and flip and have fun.
Plus Dave C been great. Giving to the community. Offering things on thingyverse
Absolutely love this quad! Happy to have added it to my collection, now I’ve got my tinyhawk 2 for rainy days, tinyhawk 2 freestyle to sharpen my acro skills, and this explorer for when I just want to hit the sky’s and cruise!
Congratulations for the introduction thoughts, it was super! It brought out the very inner wish of mankind to be able to fly, the hype we get when the dream "comes true" and then the frustration we feel when the tech limitations remember us that we are actually still standing on the very ground we always have been. It's mithologic!
What you describe in the beginning is exactly what I do, every time I make a video. I just do it with a larger quad :)
Mountain Surfing is the most fun I have ever had in this hobby.
What kind of quad? You running crossfire?
@@mavichavoc8723 iFlight DC7, crossfire diversity nano yea.
@@MountainSurfer is the DJI FPV digitial system capable of mountain surfing? Or is the distance just not capable?
@@MountainSurfer you can fly 10km with the DJI FPV Digital goggles and DJI controller? the stock versions?
@@mavichavoc8723 I don't think so, i use a cyclops antenna. And i wouldn't trust a controller that is linked to my goggles signal. I need better signal on my controller then on my goggles.
Bought one after this review and so happy. Thanks!
This is a great video and commentary. I feel like i am discovering FPV at the right time!
Welcome!!
Yeah its a great time to get in...its never been this accessible and with DJI fpv gear its never been this good.
@@joshuasterling2144 also rules like never before. 2021 fpv flying in Europe will be impossible
@@peterzingler6221 I usually fly on our own property, in all honesty I need to go out and do more locations. What are they imposing on you guys now as far as rules go?
@Brandon S The DJI system makes it more accessible because it takes the stress out of flying for newbs, the feed is great, the range is great and they can actually see where they are going. Analogue is generally so bad its intimidating to fly by comparison. Also the feature set for the system is extensive, you can change everything about your camera, goggles and VTX options through one system, the interface is intuitive and easy to learn and use as a one stopt for PID's and other commonly used settings. Everything has a visual interface and its very approachable.
Yes! This is what I imagine FPV to be! Just cruising around enjoying flying through the scene. Glad to see this emerging now. :)
But then you start going lower and lower and through more and more challenging tree holes and gates and soon they say you need speed and camera uptilt and range to use it and then you start rolling and looping and diving and then you go acro
The vibe of the intro, we need more jb and I hope your movie has some of this speaking from the heart in it.
I was waiting for this video for a bit. Im glad the wait paid off. amazing video Joshua
mine is supposed to be here today! im pretty excited for it!
😁👍 lit 🔥
You're going to love it man, I haven't flown my other 6 quads since I got it, I'm working on my slow flow freestyle with it, and am having a blast. It's easy to progress when your battery lasts 9-12 minutes!
Annnnnd its gone hahaha
@@steve_beatty hahahaha but it happened though, he got it back.
@@steve_beatty I'm right there with him, I don't really enjoy DJI either hahaha. Like the image is good but once I'm going fast its meh
Iv held my explorer wide open for 20 seconds straight. Iv been very hard on it and the esc never popped. This quad is very reliable i just want everyone to know that! Great video Joshua!
It’s that gentle voice again. I’m saving this video for my bedtime story!
This is the first real feel good video you have made in about a year.
I'm all about this type of drone. I fly GPS cinematic drones because I love the range, flight time and just being up in the air, looking at things. I really enjoy FPV but for me having to land every 3/4 mins and swap batteries and all of the restrictions that come with it I just don't enjoy going out and doing it as much. This for me is the perfect mix and something that I will be investing in for sure. This video just sold this to me perfectly.
I watched this twice, just because this is the kind of flying I enjoy, more than the flippity-floppity-go-fast-turn-my-stomach footage that a lot of people are posting. I'm not a racer, I own a Typhoon H for god sakes! But like you said in the beginning, I would like to fly more and not worry about losing Tilly (my Typhoon H). I'm definately going to look into the 7" or 8" long range quads. Thanks for the Video, JB! and happy flying!
Oh, I almost forgot, Yes, I definitely learned something today!
You just became the Bob Ross of FPV...
I love it man! What you are describing is exactly what got me into building and flying back in the early days.
@Joshua Bardwell , yes when you lose the link, the GPS coordinates (and all other OSD elements) will stay frozen on the screen. After 20-30 seconds, the goggles will switch to a static image, but you can press any button to bring back the frozen OSD elements.
I usually then take a photo or short video with my phone to record the GPS coordinates. Once you de-power the goggles, all that OSD info is gone for good.
I have a few 5” freestyle quads and also the 5” Diatone Roma L5 and I always enjoy the L5 for long range flying. With a decent 3000mAh LiON battery, I can cruise for 20+ minutes and go far! I love the L5 so much, I have a backup boxed plus a cache of parts.
This is what attracts me to FPV as well. Keep us updated on this class of drones. Thanks!
Everytime he flies outside of his yard, I'm waiting for the "liftoff" turn around osd notification. Great Video as always!
When he flew back I recognized the way back to his house. Creepy.
I bought one of these, I can't wait to see how she flies!
Got real Bob Ross like on the last part of the video. Smooth and relaxing.
Dave C fpv is a great channel....lots of experimenting on an engineering level, extremely valuable for everyone who is in to the smaller stuff ! I really hope he gets something out of this cooperation with flywoo, id love to see some more experimenting in the future . Very excited about his 5 inch Lora .
Was just looking around on this, I just got into digital and ordered one of these as my first lr quad. I've always loved the feel of flying fixed wings and honestly despite practice I'm not great with acro in freestyle but the idea of something so portable is too tempting. Plan to put some vistas on a couple quads and planes. This style of relaxed flying and just enjoying the view through a pair of goggles is more of what I like.
As a former light plane pilot, current RC plane pilot, and a relatively new FPV drone pilot, this one looks exactly what I’ve been looking for, for 20+- years. I ordered the analog version with Crossfire a couple of weeks ago. Supposedly they’re going to start shipping tomorrow, which is the end of the Chinese holiday. Can’t wait to try it out.
So how is it after a year :D
Thank you for your review. Your reviews are by far the most informative I have seen. I have been on the fence about buying this drone for some time. I have several drones but truly wish I could have had watched a good review such as yours before buying the ones I already have. It could have saved me thousands. I will be buying this drone now knowing what I’m getting. Thank you again.
Great video JB! I remember having dreams as a little boy of soaring past the treetops.... dreams are coming true!
Hi JB, usually problem with acquiring satellites comes because of “noisy” electronics, specially split cameras but not only,
Best way to deal with it is to separate gps unit from the rest with piece of adhesive aluminum foil attached to rear posts like a firewall.
Try it, happy flying.
I hope in one day digital fpv will be the norm and cheap as analog now. Imagine even more, Digital fpv in 4k or even in 8k and fpv googles to be like pimak vr with 8k screens and lets say 160 fov ob even more.
THANK YOU FOR SHARE THE EXPERIENCE.
14:40 I activated the GPS rescue for the first time with my nazgul evoque above the sea and despite everything I could learn in the field I was not aware that this dumb trap could exist and my quad fell in the water without ever wanting to obey commands, thank you for this information !
I've been looking at getting this as my first fpv drone, although I've previously owned a dji mini 2 se. This seems to be the concept of the mini 2, but way way better. I think this video might have tipped me over the "should i shouldnt i" barrier
I'd love to see and update to this video with the BF 4.1.1 update and download of the CLI from flywoo and how you setup and wire it to power the naked GoPro.
16:45 flight starting with 4S battery. 17:20 battery is nearly empty where you spoke about a full punch out. This full punch looks not like a full punch mine is doing. But difficult to be objective in this case. Next 5 minutes is with the 3S battery. I mixed up and I thought all was done with 3S battery. But Dave already wrote that he recommends a 4S battery.
Mine just arrived today, thanks for the review and to @Dave_C FPV for the frame design.
I have come to FPV drones after flying full size aircraft for the very reason of flying without flying. Looking forward to the Explorer arriving 😀 Many thanks for your splendidly informative, interesting and entertaining videos.
Twig XL has 3" long range potential, running the 20A aio, stock betafpv 3800kv 1404 motors, gemfan windancer props 3blade 3"x2.8", on tattu or RDQ 650mah 4s. I get minimum of 6mins of pretty hard flying. Iv had 11+min flights just cruising around, cruises at about 2.5A if im careful..end cell voltage @3.55v
LR cruisers exactly what I've been looking for
I'm so glad you finally left your back yard! Do some distance trials, let's see how far out you can get. My 7" is limited to around 2.5 miles by its 2200mah lipo, i wonder if the Explorer could get further.
6S li-ion 6000mAh lol
I really like the monologue in the beginning JB. you should do more things like this. it is really cool
Very excited.
Should be receiving mine this week.
I enjoy the cruising style, which I have always called "flowing" for a long time.
Now I just have to get those 3S 18650 batteries to give me long enjoyable flights.
I ordered the same Caddx version the moment it became available. Then I decided to make videos since it's amazing. And at the beginning, the one pre-release question I wanted answered was, "Can it freestyle?" So I made that video and crashed it. Lol. The quad is fine, but one bad motor and they've been out-of-stock forever. Geez I miss flying that quad. Hehheh. I'm thinking I should see if I can repair the motor now.... Great review, JB.
Ordered one as soon as David posted it on his channel. Also ordered the naked gopro. Cannot wait! Great video. Hate to mention it, but after Davids release and the fan hype, it seems like many other drone companies are getting into the mix!
That intro could easily turn into an fpv rap video. Keep up the good work sir!
I am building a 4" LR quad just exactly for these type of flights. Just awesome.
😢 i almost teared up during that intro. I was throwing my wallet at LR builds and scowering the internet for my next LR build 😆 great vid, bardwell
DJI GPS OSD shows the last coordinates (accuracy varies) in case of a crash, or even after pulling put the lipo batt. I still keep it on my OSD as well as speed and home direction (most important).
Loved my phantom 3 advanced for years. Think this will be my first fpv. Thanks
yes/ all way to end! Excited! on the fence.. if i should wait! thinking 20 stack version be better and i deal with the rest!
Yes we watch yu ou rhe whole way. Ordered one with complete dji system thanks etais1 week I have tracking and ccx an see it moving. Love this cstegory
Ypu got all dji no crossfire im asking bc thats the setup id like just wonder if itd give the same range as crossfire
This is my favorite style. Nice and smooth… forget about it all.
Chill fpv is the future. Sooooooooo cool.
That intro made me start charging batteries...Great video JB!
Are you more excited about the Flywoo Explorer, or will the iFlight and GEPRC versions tempt you?
How long does the iflight stay up
Nope!!
All of them? 😬
@@jakekisiel7399 Welcome to the club, dude. 😬
160$ is very tempting and I've heard nothing but good things from this quad. The only downside so far is no one in the states carries the analog version that I know of, at least at the time of this video
Thanks!
Whats nice is you can strap on a light high quality battery down to 4s 650 and still get more flight time than usual. It gives you a sportier feel. I have been flying it with a 850 Rline for over 12 minutes with room to spare. Its fantastic. I plan on buying several battery sizes to see where the nice spot is for 10 minutes and sporty flying.
Im building a quad to shoot under the 250 mark and have a decent range , and just chill in the sky , it will be my first fpv but not my first quad. If i knew this existed before i spent my money i would have defiantly got this and may be interested in the future.
JB you must point out that even though DJI does not record GPS coordinates on the DVR, in the event of the drone falling off the sky for whatever reason, you will see on the screen the last OSD information. So you CAN take a picture of the screen with your mobile phone and go to find your kwad.
BJ this is your best video in my opinion .. Thank you for your hard work.
Unbelievable test run man!!!!👍I have learned the most I have ever learned so far from watching and listening to you man im just getting into fpv and I'm completely undecided on what to get and I mean from EVERYTHING!!!! GOGGLES, CAMERA, RADIO....I would get a message to check into nearest hospital immediately if I were to do a "sanity" check lol I want agility and definitely range for sure but I think I'm more into wanting the best visuals....so with that said I currently own a dji phantom 3 and I love it as far as the visual aspect but I want to graduate to fpv and freestyle sorta speak....SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED IS A MUST!!!! So as you can see I don't know what the hell I want lol....I'm so freakin lost as to what to get to be completely satisfied....I would love to get your opinion as to what I should start off with yet get at least "some" of what I want out of the set up....👍 by the way 8:28 is when your drone is smart enough to mock you 🤣 absolutely love the video man👍and thanks for making it alot harder to decide on what drone I want since there is literally hundreds of them to choose from lol
yes you should buy it and yes they are having probs getting the cadet vista and yes im still waiting for mine…thanks for the video...
ur house and surroundings is very beautiful place to fly sir!!
Nice review and flying. Cruising has always been my favorite type of FPV, fixed wing especially, but it's fun to cruise with quads too and they're easier to take on holiday.
Mate the intro to this is absolutely fantastic 👍😎🤝 thanks for making this- it’s awesome 👏
Thanks for this nice review. I just got my HD version after a 6 weeks waiting period. Flywoo was very professional and reactive answering my questions about the delays. I don’t have the OSD bug, probably because I did not upgrade Betaflight to the latest release. And you’re right, flying this drone makes you feel like a bird, no stress, no noise, perfectly smooth and still decently agile with a 4S battery.
♥️ the channel. Thx 4 all the time you put into helping us all be in the know. 💡
What a scenery you live in! Blown away 😍
Waiting several weeks now for my pre-order. And that's ok. Good things come to those that wait.
If you like the feeling of just floating and flying around effortlessly, I strongly recommend trying fixed wing FPV.
What about a mavic?
@@jackjohnson5024 Mavic flight tends to be very rigid and almost procedural compared to these racing mutlirotors/miniquads and/or fixed wing flight. Unless you have a head tracker, gimbals tend to detract from the immersive feeling.
This was an art piece my guy, really good video
My kind of flying. I'm older with slower reflexes and the the sensation of flight is what I enjoy.I agree with some other commentators that it would be great for you to compile a parts list to closely duplicate a quad with similar characteristics.I would like to buy a prebuilt,and give Dave_C the credit,but 3 and 4 months is a long wait.
DC smith go to Flywoo.net and get one without the DJI digital unit!
I was one of those who cancelled their PREORDER. Decided to stick with one of my iFLIGHT DC3 frames as an explorer running EMAX 1306 4000kv motors and weighs the exact same as the Flywoo Explorer and i'm running 20x20 stack F7 and Vista. I'm already getting over 10 minutes flight with a Tattu 1050 4s battery and have a 3s 3500 Lithium battery arriving soon which only weighs about 45 grams more than the 1050mah Tattu. Can't wait to see how much flight time I get on this already excellent flier.
@@karoo_bushman6880 I'm running the EMAX Avan Mini 3x2.4x3 Tri-Blades and I have my GPS mounted on the top plate at the rear of the quad. Works great!
I'm saving up for the dji goggles to fly this bad boy, But I might actually get the analog version to hold me over till then. The abscense of a long range cruiser type quad is exactly why I was initially going with flying wings instead of quads. Now all that's left is to make them look cooler.
Yeah I was wanted the dji so bad but couldn't get quad and goggles Sametime so. I got analog for now. Maybe by time quad comes in I'll get dji goggles and Vista lol (been waiting 50days so far) great product so backorder
I have both and that would be a killer setup for your first digital rig. Just be careful because when you only have one Digital quad its a bummer if or when it breaks. But do to the cruising nature of this guy you could get insane times and crystal clear video. The 50mbts mode is just awesome. Most of the time I cant even tell if there is any pixelation period.
Osd locking up is purely a dji issue. Getting it on my titan dc5 all the time
You're a fine wine, Sir Bardwell. Keep on evolving!
Became a fatshark owner after the stimulus checks in the US over this summer...now I want dji quads ): but I’m gonna hold out through the whoop & sim season. Always wanted to do long range, that’s what attracted me to drones. But I became a freestyle pilot
I'm really thinking about buying one of this. This is my style of drone 😎🤙
I love this sort of flying, my newest build (2.5", 16x16 stack, Tyro69 frame) gives me 8 to 9 minutes on 2S 450s, it's so relaxing cruising around like that.
couple of things. 1. I use LAT/LONG in the OSD because when I crash or loose signal, those coordinates stay in the goggles until I power down. So I keep a cell phone 'memo' app handy to bark the coordinates so I'll have a location reference. 2. The LR OSD problem is with BetaFlight. Oddly, all the OSD drop outs and fluctuations occur with BF 4.2...the version the quad ships with!...go figure! If you flash to 4.1...problem solved. Several tutorials online plus the Flywoo FB page address the issue. I think I'll spring for one eventually.
Very very cool, that’s my preference over analog vision on an overactive flight. Out of body flight was a great description.. Thanks👍
Sweet and smooth flying, Joshua! Really nice! 😃
About the OSD issue, looks like it's a Betaflight 4.2 bug. They recommend Albert Kim to go back to 4.1 and it seems to solve the issue. 😊
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
That's the experience I was expecting with my start to fpv. One day when it's affordable, I will fly
I really like the intro from Joshua, very honest!
I use this F745 nano on my helicopter because the extra S5 output controls the tail. Most other quad FCs only have S1 to S4.
Absolutely beautiful, I feel like my life is completed after watching this 🤗🤗😚🤗
I keep the lat/lon enabled on the OSD, as long as you keep the goggles turned on the last OSD stuff stays onscreen, its really the only way to record it when using the DJI controller, to read it out from your goggles.. until DJI feels the need to record it in the goggles.
Yes exactly what I do. Works perfect!
Does it stay on in the gogles even after you lost video link?
@@jgrudnicki Correct, you can test by just powering off your air unit/vista with the custom osd visible.
Ordered the geprc, as I waited too long on the backordered flywhoo, so I cancelled that. Hopefully the crock will arrive this year! Looking forward to that review
Review is here, haha
The DJI DVR does not record the Lat. & Long (5-2020) It does hold the last frame from the drone video on the screen after drone loses power/connection.
** the Lat. is missing a digit in the display. 47.394607 = 47.0394607
(The missing digit can be figured out by placing a pin in Google maps in the area you are flying in)
*** it's like the number of digits required for both Lat & Long is reversed. Lat. needs 7 digits after the decimal place and Long needs 6.