We tested this ‘toy’, the DJI drone for ‘First Person View’ experiences that delight content creators and FVP racing pilots thanks to its stability, ease of handling, and comfort of use when Pairing with the glasses and the controller.
“Born to fly” is the slogan that the DJI brand uses to present its Avata model. After trying it for a few months, the phrase lives up to the experience.
Flying a drone in first person view – what in industry jargon is called FPV, which stands for First Person View – is quite impressive. In every sense. But if you also do it using the latest in technology, even more so.
In Spain it is not as common as in other countries and, even so, the recording of content or FPV races has a large audience. For this reason, DJI, one of the most important companies when it comes to drones, launched its Avata model on the market accompanied by the Goggles 2 piloting glasses and the remote control, ideal for first-person flight and of course to squeeze the experience of this unmanned vehicle.
I’ll tell you what the experience is like in this analysis, but I’ll leave you a sentence as a preview: the DJI Avata could be defined as a very fun expensive toy.
DJI Avata Review
From the point of view of an experienced FPV fan with several years in the business, the DJI Avata could be defined as a very fun expensive toy.
We are faced with a 4” to 4S Cinewhoop with all the luxury of technology, a joystick-type haptic transmitter – here we could call it a ‘controller’ without being reprimanded by the fans of the sector – and, of course, transmitter and glasses with a digital receiver. Nothing less could be expected from DJI’s first Cinewhoop, especially in the digital video format.
The chassis is made of high-resistance injected hard plastic, duct type, with a hole inside to avoid gaining weight and give it a premium touch. We are talking about a very light drone since it only weighs 410 grams and measures 180 × 180 × 80 mm.
In the field of design, it could have been expected that the brand would opt for the classic 3mm carbon fiber for this type of drone. However, after having tested it on several occasions and having crashed the vehicle at full power against branches or the ground, I must admit that the structure has surprised me for the better.
It is striking that the engines are placed upside down, and downwards, and have 5-blade, 4” propellers. We have not found information on the official DJI website about the pitch of the blades or the KV of the motors, but I estimate that with 5 blades per propeller and the pitch they have, they will be around 3200KV – 3500KV, which is not bad at all. for 4” 4S propellers with Li-ion.
Li-ion, yes. It does not use Li-Po batteries, something strange in the sector, but not unreasonable since it is a cinewhoop. They have given up power in favor of flight time — we have about 10 or 12 real minutes of flight.
The DJI Avata features 2,420 mAh Li-ion batteries at 4S (14.76V). In addition, they are smart batteries, that is, regardless of whether we are going to store them, if we charge them to the maximum, they will discharge themselves until they reach the optimal voltage. Goodbye to controlling the mAh on the charger to leave them in storage mode. It has a special charger that regulates the voltage and connects to power via USB-C.
On the negative side, the charging time is longer: forget about charging the batteries in 45 minutes and flying… it takes between two and three hours to charge a single battery.
Gimbal, optics, and CMOS sensor with videos of up to 2.7K at 100fps in slow motion with the Google 2 – which are the ones we have been able to test – are almost distinctive features of the latest DJI models.
Motion controller is the name that DJI has given to a haptic joystick with which at first glance you don’t quite believe that you are going to be able to control a drone, but personally: it surprises you. It is true that with this controller the Avata can only go in stable mode, but it doesn’t matter, the experience is incredible.
Navigation with the drone is super intuitive since all you have to do is tilt the controller to change the aim of the drone and accelerate to move in the direction in which our aim is pointing.
We have not been lucky enough to have a DJI FPV Controller 2, therefore, we have not been able to test this drone in Acro mode without stabilizers or sensors like an X-shaped drone in the pure Betaflight style, but the experience with the Motion Controller has really been so different and rewarding that we stayed with that.
The glasses, the Google 2 that we have been able to test, are smaller than the Google V2, more ergonomic, and less heavy, which in theory makes them more comfortable. In general, FPV viewers tend to be uncomfortable, but the truth is that in this case the ergonomics are very well worked out and they do not bother excessively.
In my opinion, the downside is that the battery of the glasses is hanging with a very long cable and I didn’t see how to attach it to the rubber of the glasses as is usually done. I understand that it is something that has been thought out for the good, but in my case, it was uncomfortable due to the habit of doing it the other way.
They have HD micro-OLED screens that offer very good sharpness and a refresh rate of up to 100 Hz. They also have a side touch panel that will allow you to navigate the interface to start recording, take photos, or adjust the parameters. All this makes them a real joy.
They come with a 5.8Gh receiver, which is normal. In this area, something that has surprised me – not pleasantly – is that they get very hot despite hearing the fan and not fogging up, more than what I am used to with a Fatshark HDO2 with an analog receiver.
Functions such as returning to the point of origin with the push of a button – or if the battery is low, a very reliable emergency brake even in extreme situations, hovering over a point or the DJI Rocksteady video mode that minimizes shaking make This machine is a very fun premium toy for adults and possibly an indoor recording method that more than one has already used in their audiovisual creations.
In addition to this, the DJI Avata includes GPS and the brand’s ADS-B AirSense system to warn the pilot when there are planes or helicopters nearby – or even tell you if you are in an area with flight restrictions – very useful services when you are flying…
If you are a drone enthusiast and like video recording, the DJI Avata is for you. If you are an experienced FPV pilot, you will miss the previous manual work, configuration, PIDS, and rates, although you will find it extremely fun and easy to use.
