Out now! Head straight to our DJI FPV drone review.
Today marks the unveiling of a new DJI drone, and from the look of it, the brand is not in danger of losing its reputation as the best drone maker any time soon. The DJI FPV is designed to deliver the most immersive, cinematic experience yet: it works with a headset to make it feel like you're actually flying.
So far, proper, high-speed FPV drones have been pretty much confined to the drone racing industry, and the remit of seriously dedicated flyers only (not to mention typically needing to be hand-built from a million different components). The new DJI FPV is ready to go out of the box, and can do all the tricks a pro FPV can – high-speed flight, agile maneuvering – but with added usability and safety features taken from DJI's Mavic drone range. Essentially, this drone is the first to enable any Tom, Dick or Harriet to experience the high-octane thrills of first-person view flying. There's plenty to tempt drone veterans, too, including the ability to perform aerobatic tricks, and a motion-activated controller option (more on that below).
The DJI FPV is available to buy now from store.dji.com and select retail partners, with prices starting from £1,249 (not one for the best cheap drone list, then). We're in the process of testing one out and a full review will follow, but until then read on for a closer look at the headline features.
"The DJI FPV combines the best available technology for a hybrid drone like no other. It can fly like a racer, hover like a traditional drone, accelerate like a homebuilt project and stop faster than any of them," says DJI Europe Creative Director Ferdinand Wolf.
The DJI FPV Goggles V2 are designed to deliver a crystal clear live view at 810p/120fps (our reviewer reports superb image quality with a nice wide field of view). DJI promises a "consistently stable, low-latency" connection – because nothing will jolt you out of that flying illusion quicker than a laggy feed or jittery picture. The only slight downside is that officially you'll need someone to spot you as you fly, so hopefully you have an interested buddy in your lockdown bubble.
Another notable addition is a new single-handed controller option. As standard, the DJI FPV comes with a remote control that's similar to the ones you'd use with other consumer drones. However, there's also the option of a one-handed, motion-operated controller (sold separately), which steers the drone based on the movement of your hand.
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The motion controller (sold separately) can be used to steer the drone based on hand movement
A maximum of 20 minutes' battery life – intelligently optimised to maximise charge – gives you plenty of time to explore, and there's a HD signal range of up to a whopping 10km. This nifty drone has a maximum speed of 87 mph and a maximum acceleration of 0-62mph in two seconds.
A 4K action cam on a 1-axis gimbal, with built-in image stabilisation and an ultra-wide field of view enables you to capture cinematic drone footage (60fps at 120mbps) while you're in the air. Activate the slo-mo mode to inject some extra drama as required.
DJI FPV drone: Flight modes and safety features
The DJI FPV comes fully built and ready to fly, straight out of the box. Safety features include an emergency brake and hover mode, and takeoff and landing assistance, to lessen the chance of you crashing your new drone into a wall mid-flight. There's also a return to home function that'll deliver your drone to a safe and accessible landing location near where it took off.
DJI has built in three flight modes to cater for different experience levels. In Normal mode, sensors in the front of the drone automatically reduce speed when an obstacle is detected, to lessen the likelihood of collisions. The flight controls in this mode are similar to those you'll find in other DJI drones, further flattening the learning curve if you're already a DJI flier.
For experienced users, Manual mode offers complete control of absolutely everything, including customisable flight controls and parameters. Finally, Sport mode sits somewhere between the two, for more confident fliers who aren't ready to abandon the backup safety features entirely.
DJI FPV drone: Price and availability
The DJI FPV is available to buy today from store.dji.com and select retail partners. The price depends on which bundle you go for.
The standard DJI FPV Combo includes the FPV drone, remote controller 2, FPV Goggles V2, all the cables you need and one battery. This costs £1,249 GBP, or from €1,349 EUR (dependent on VAT).
Alternatively, you can opt for the souped-up DJI FPV Fly More Kit. Here, you get two additional Intelligent Flight Batteries and a dedicated charging hub, for a retail price of £259 GBP/ from €279 EUR.
Finally, if you want to try the Motion Controller, this is sold separately and costs £139 GBP/ from €149 EUR.
