DJI is one of the leading developers of unmanned aerial vehicles, specifically multirotor craft. Multirotor refers to the design feature that has multiple motors and rotors. One of the most popular multirotor vehicles is the quadcopter. Unlike traditional helicopters, multirotor vehicles have fixed-pitch rotors and maneuver by changing the RPM of the motors individually controlled via a complex flight control board.
DJI has developed very sophisticated flight control software that provides a very stable platform for aerial photography and other applications. The latest entry in the DJI flight line of products is the DJI Phantom Vision. This is the successor to the very popular DJI Phantom. The Phantom was very popular and allowed anyone to fly right out of the box. The Phantom Vision goes a step further by providing a First Person View (FPV) experience by streaming live video from the attached 1080p HD camera via WiFi to your tablet or smartphone. The transmitter has a mount to attach your device so you can see where you’re flying.
The camera is pretty good. It’s not as good as a GoPro, but it does record in 1080p and has a 14MP camera. Its field of view can be switched between 140/120/90 degrees. It can also take photos in RAW format, which is an improvement over GoPro. The device app allows you to change settings while the DJI Phantom Vision is still in the air. You can change the ISO, white balance, set a time interval for photos. The app also shows your altitude, speed, and distance from home. A compass is also used to help you know which direction you’re facing on the way home, and if you run into trouble and crash, the Phantom will send back its last known GPS coordinates so you can retrieve it.
The transmitter has changed to work on 5.8GHz and the WiFi works on 2.4GHz. The distance is advertised to be up to 300m. Battery integration is much improved and the Vision looks much more streamlined. 5200 mAh LiPo batteries provide up to 25 minutes of flight time. Just think of all the amazing pictures you could get with 25 minutes of flying!
Now the Vision isn’t super cheap. It comes in around $1,200. But when you stop and think about everything you get, in one integrated package, it’s not so bad. For example, if you bought the older DJI Phantom, you’d spend $450. So if you wanted to put the latest GoPro on it, you’d spend another $400 to put yourself at $850 already. But that doesn’t give you the FPV capabilities that DJI Phantom Vision has.
So is it worth it? It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a fully integrated and ready to fly FPV quadcopter, I would recommend the Phantom Vision. If you’re not looking for all that, then try the DJI Phantom, or even the Blade mQX.
