Should have learned my lesson with starting cheap

[NorcoT]

So a while back i bought some fatshark predators v2 and they worked a treat on my 450. Ended up selling them as im not sure i enjoyed the goggles.

So i recently built a 250 and thought it was so much fun to fly i wanted to try fpv again. Except this time i went cheap and bought eachine vtx 200 combo and a £30 monitor woth a £15 boscam vrx from banggood. The range is poor compared to my 25mw fatshraks, signal keeps breaking up at about 100m, i can just about get 150m if i fly straight out with antenna in clear view. Some circular polarized antenna from Phil at make it build it helped but range is still not really good.

You get what you pay for. So now i need some thoughts about what to do next. Do i buy the predator v2 set again and try goggles again with a 250? Im a lot more confident with tbe 250 in comparson to the 450. Could always plug it into the monitor too.

Or is there a better priced option if i just buy a new vrx vtx camera set up? Looking to spend about £200 max. Would prefere less.

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[kilby]

One of the problems with goggles & screens is that it';s a very personal experience, some people hate fatshark and love Boscam & vice versa.

With all the variables like perceived screen size, eye cups and everything else.

Personally I would say to try and meet up with some other flyers and try other kit, I absolutely loathed the Fatshark Base goggles (didn';t like the fit or the display) and preferred the £20 HK thing but I love the Attitude V2';s that are currently sitting in the car.

[nub]

if i could get a pair of better goggles for around £150 new or 2nd hand then maybe i';d go that way and buy a 1/2 decent cheap VTx and FPV camera.

[NorcoT]

So the predators v2 again then? Will take a look for second hand but preds v2 are only £170 for the rtf kit from HK. The reason i didnt get on first time round was more the experience of not being able to see around me, much more confident with the 250 though as first time around i was flying my loaded out 450 with go pro and gimbal. Dont mind crashing the 250 as much [emoji14]

[JT]

A pair of quality antennas will make a huge difference, Gavs skews are top notch, those cheap chinese sets that you have bought are very hit and miss, my mate(forum member ';flyinghippy' had a set and they were absolutely awful, he started making his own but only does his,mine and another mates but are miles ahead of those awful chinese things. As said though Gav';s are top notch, I';ve been out to 1.5km with a pair of his without much issue at all 
The eachine combo isn';t bad as far as I';ve heard and should do a km+ easy with decent antennas(most important part).
As for goggles they are worth persevering with, strange at first to be cut off from reality but you really do soon get used to them, I have attitude v2 and love them

[kilby]

Well the eachine transmitters get a pretty decent rep for a 200mW item (especially for the price)

The camera usually gets a fairly decent statements made about it

[Paul01]

Another thumbs up for a pair of Gav';s antennas, until you buy a good pair of antennas you';ll never know if the cheap chinese fpv gear is any good or not, I have one of those eachine T200 vtx and is going back as it faulty I think they are very hit and miss.

[NorcoT]

Hmm starting to think my antennas are possibly not very good then.. Kit from Phil tends to be pretty good though.. Anyone else have experience with the antennas from makeitbuildit?

I mean compared with the whip antenna they are pretty good as the reception is pretty clear until it cuts out, where as the whips get interference before it totally cuts.

I just cant help but think I could keep experimenting with setups or just buy a fatshark setup and get on with it.

[JT]

 A pair of Gav';s will improve your setup whatever it is!! If you get some more fatsharks, which is probably better in the long run, you still need the quality antennas(different connectors for fatshark and boscam etc gear though). 
I have broken 3 immersion/fatshark vtx';s and moved onto cheap chinese vtx';s, they have every bit as much range and picture quality
As said though a pair of Gav';s skews will sort out the stuff you have a treat so if you are comfortable with the monitor you will be good to go

[NorcoT]

Ok thats fair point, so seems the advice that everyone is recommending here is to invest in some money in good antenna from Gav, but the VTX should be alright though for range.

Does the VRx make a big difference? I have a cheap Boscam R305. Or is the majority of the range in the Vtx and the antenna?

[JT]

Mostly the antennas, the boscam vrx';s are fine

[DarkButterfly]

I started with fatshark teleporters, hated them, display was too small, fixed IPD, changed to a homemade crash helmet and monitor with flying wings foam goggle set, it worked for a while but it';s a bit clumsy to take to the field, so I upgraded again to a pair of fatshark dominator V2.2, I really like them, major improvement, big screen, adjustable IPD and DVR, it';s all I use now.

[NorcoT]

Ok, my faith in cheap equipment may yet be restored, I think I made a schoolboy error.. So I checked the Channels on the VTx and VRx yesterday and they may have possibly been on the wrong channels  My bad!

I thought that wrong channels would have been more noticeable than still being able to fly 150m or so.. I guess the frequencies are close enough together for it still to work badly..

I';ve switched them to what I think are the same channels, and from the basic around the house test it seems the feed is a little stronger. Hopefully a lot better outdoors.

To sanity check, these are the frequency tables from Banggood for the RC305 (RX) and ET200 (TX). The VRx table is simple but the ET200 table doesnt have corresponding ';channels';. Its currently set to band E and I am assuming that the channels are the columns from left to right, numbered 1 to 8?..

[bazzerh]

i think nearly all the different brand stuff has quirky band and channel designations. I use aomway vtx and skyzone goggles and only one band is the same on both. it must be the most confusing combo out there.

best thing to do is spend a bit of time with the instructions for your gear and make up a quick reference guide. although if you just fly with a few regular cronies then get a channel each which works together and stick to it.