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The author flying a Mavic Pro using Moverio

I of the trickiest parts of flying a drone is trying to look in two directions at once. Looking up at the drone gives you lot a good sense of where it is. Merely you need to await downwardly to see either its location on the map or a view from its photographic camera. For high-end productions, that often means ii operators. But for hobbyists and budget-minded efforts, it'd exist great to have a simpler solution.

That'south where Epson's Moverio BT-300FPV AR glasses come in. A customized version of the standard BT-300, they give you a see-through view of whatsoever would unremarkably exist on your telephone's brandish while you are flying. That way, yous can monitor the drone without looking down.

Getting the Moverio Up and Running

The Moverio definitely adds some complexity to getting aloftThe Moverio BT-300FPV is an Android device that takes the place of your smartphone you'd normally use to control your drone. Typically, you'd attach it to your controller in a like manner–although its unique shape means you lot'll need to get a 3D printed adapter to use it with a Mavic Pro, for instance. It runs a fork of Android that is non Google Play-compatible, so you'll be limited to using apps that Epson provides or that you can figure out how to sideload or get through the Amazon appstore. For flying the Mavic Pro, Epson provides DJI Go 4.

Once you lot have the Moverio command unit clamped into your Mavic's controller, you plug information technology in to the controller the same way you would your smartphone, and adhere the glasses with another (provided) cable. Subsequently that, you operate the Moverio very much like you would your phone–except that instead of having a touch screen, you need to employ the touchpad and control ring on its control unit instead. The spectacles display whatever would normally be on your phone screen. Of grade, for those used to iOS, the switch to an Android device may exist an issue also.

The Payoff: You Well-nigh Experience Like You're Flying!

If you've only flown a drone with your optics or with a video feed to a phone or tablet, start-person-view (FPV) flight is a dissimilar and more immersive feel. For pure immersion, VR goggles like the Cinemizer or DJI'due south own Goggles tin can't be beat. Notwithstanding, since I was flight solo, my experience with the Cinemizer VR headset was marred by having to keep removing the goggles to work with the drone or use the app.

The DJI Goggles provide a more than integrated solution. But obviously you withal tin't see anything other than what is in the headset, which I should probably mention also means that y'all automatically aren't post-obit line-of-sight guidelines. Moverio gives you much of the same feeling of immersion, merely without the same limitations.

For flying in bright light, the FPV version of the Moverio comes with a nighttime shade, which is surprisingly effective. I constitute the image much easier to view than standing in like calorie-free with a smartphone or even a tablet. I haven't gotten a chance to compare it with DJI's own super-bright CrystalSky display, though. It's possible to use the Moverio with spectacles, but you can likewise get custom prescription inserts or higher-quality dark shades from Rochester Optical. Of more business organisation to me is the lack of an IPD (Inter-Pupillary Distance) adjustment, which is plant on many other HMDs. In my case, neither eye could run into the unabridged telephone brandish, no affair how I wrestled the glasses around on my head. That meant the edges of the brandish never seemed sharp. With my Rift, that's addressed by increasing the IPD, but the IPD of the Moverio is fixed.

A Work in Progress

And then far, the only supported flight awarding for the Moverio is DJI's own GO app, and so those using Litchi or other 3rd party apps for automated flying are out of luck. That'due south a real shame equally programmed FPV flying is both immersive and relaxing. Also, electric current apps are designed to be operated with a true touchscreen, not with the trackpad and control band of the Moverio. In detail I establish scrolling (using 2 fingers) glitchy, equally oft the device thought I was trying to click on the screen. Epson has told me they are working to get apps developed that will be designed to exist used with the Moverio, only nada specific has been appear nevertheless. It'd too be overnice to have a better system for mounting the Moverio controller to the Mavic remote, instead of relying on fiddling with a pair of custom-fabricated jigs.

What's Needed in an HMD for Drone Flight

DJI Goggles offer quite a different experienceStart, I'm pretty convinced that AR will be the manner to get for nigh of us. It provides the most flexible solution for flight a Mavic Pro and other drones. It is the easiest to get started with. Certain, for FPV racing or some dedicated flyers, VR is more immersive, simply I recollect that will be more of a niche.

2d, I'd similar to take an HMD that works with my existing telephone and tablet. That manner it has full admission to Google Maps and satellite information for a better flight feel. Hopefully that would mean information technology could also be used with a variety of apps, and could cost a lot less than the current $800.

Tertiary, information technology would take some HMD-optimized apps, then that you're not trying to pretend you lot're using a phone touch screen when you don't have 1. And finally, while the current visual experience on the Moverio BT-300 is quite good, I'd like a picayune larger field of view and an IPD adjustment, so I could come across the unabridged brandish easily.

Determination

At $800, this is an expensive addition to a $1,000 drone. If you lot don't fly a lot, information technology probably doesn't make sense, although if you tin borrow a pair, at least you can go a sense for the experience. If y'all're using your drone to capture serious video using an app like Litchi, then at to the lowest degree for now it won't practise you whatsoever good. If that changes, I call back I'd be happy to use a Moverio instead of a tablet while running my pre-programmed flights.

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