EPSON Moverio BT-300 Review

[MacIak]

I Copied and pasted from FB group courtesy of Lynh Phan.

Today's Tip

Getting correct Map to display on DJI's GO App.

For Australia and USA

If the BT-300 Language Setting is English: Chinese Maps are displayed & only Chinese Maps can be downloaded

If the BT-300 Language Setting is Japanese: Here Maps are displayed & all world maps can be downloaded

Simply change the BT-300 language setting from English to Japanese, and then back to English, Here maps are shown and all world maps can now be downloaded.

The Map issue only seemed to occur at the first time a user downloads the app, subsequent updates should be fine.

Enjoy and have fun Mapping.

Lynh Phan

No luck. When swithched to Japanese and opened go4/offline maps, a short list is displayed in japanese (maybe continents or regions in Japan? No clue cannot read, my Japanese is not what it used to be).
Switching back to English it's china again.

 

[Evo1668]

When in offline maps - go to bottom Japanese entry and select it. You can then see in English All Countries. Download that selection it's just over 1 GB in size

 

[meens]

Float

 

[MacIak]

When in offline maps - go to bottom Japanese entry and select it. You can then see in English All Countries. Download that selection it's just over 1 GB in size

You sure? Only the Netherlands was over 500mb on my smartphone!

Another question: how do you get the fullscreen in the app when flying (swipe with 1 or 2 fingers on a normal screen) so you do not see all parameters, just the camera view?

1st flight went great with the moverio. Beautiful picture and easy to navigate the menu's. I love it! I will not use a tablet/smartphone anymore unless i forget/break the glasses.
Still need to get those maps running. With longer range flights it helps alot.

 

[MacIak]

Ok, so switched to Japanese, killed the go4 app, also in cache. Otherwise the chinese stuff still displayed. Opened Go4 again and downloaded 1 gb "all countries". Back to English, opened go4/offline maps again.
Now all countries are available for download (just the Netherlands is short of 500mb, no idea what "all countries " was in the Japanese menu...?).

 

[Alex_S]

No luck. When swithched to Japanese and opened go4/offline maps, a short list is displayed in japanese (maybe continents or regions in Japan? No clue cannot read, my Japanese is not what it used to be).
Switching back to English it's china again.

What does it say on the Box? Made in Japan or Made in China ?
This does not sound like an Epson product. I have various Epson products, printers, scanners and they are all excellent products. Epson is an excellent company. Although I don't doubt the reports of a good video quality the low spec android system unable to run PlayStore, requirements of "workarounds" and now a situation that when you go into setup and select English you get Chinese maps and you need to select Japanese ( which not many people can read that well) in order to get English maps ? This is my very personal opinion but this highly priced gadget would drive me nuts.
I am getting the Glyphs tomorrow from Amazon but unfortunately the Nvidia Shield K1 a few days later. I am hoping these glasses work out of the box , plug and play, as they should .

 

[MacIak]

What does it say on the Box? Made in Japan or Made in China ?
This does not sound like an Epson product. I have various Epson products, printers, scanners and they are all excellent products. Epson is an excellent company. Although I don't doubt the reports of a good video quality the low spec android system unable to run PlayStore, requirements of "workarounds" and now a situation that when you go into setup and select English you get Chinese maps and you need to select Japanese ( which not many people can read that well) in order to get English maps ? This is my very personal opinion but this highly priced gadget would drive me nuts.
I am getting the Glyphs tomorrow from Amazon but unfortunately the Nvidia Shield K1 a few days later. I am hoping these glasses work out of the box , plug and play, as they should .

"Made in Phillipines".
It Is a great product, absolutely in love with this already. Does need playstore for sure but it is fast enough. Plays back UHD stuff smoother than my galaxy note4, much smoother. So i need Netflix on this too now.
I played with FPV in the past, racing quad. Had Fatshark dominator/HD goggles. Over €500 and all i could do is use it for that, image was still cr@p. And the thing would suck your eyeballs out when removed..This one is totally different. Quality is well enough to watch a blockbuster.
All things that didn't work out of the box are resolved so im happy. I would recommend it, as you said it's personal prefs.

 

[JoostGT3]

How is the experience? As in; from the footage I saw, I found it very confusing to have both the feed from the camera and the direct view on the drone overlapping eachother... or do you just adjust the brightness of the display layer to your liking to focus on either of the two?

Thanks for your feedback!
-Joost-

 

[MacIak]

Well, im not used to this at all but already comfy using this.
My wife says i "disappear" from time to time when i use them.
To answer your question: Yes. The "picture" brightness you can adjust to your liking. It becomes more transparent when low brightness. If you want a more "traditional" view you just boost up the brightness (easy access on a side button, also switches 2d/3d) or look at your pants or something else with less texture when sitting in the sun or put on one of the sunshades. Then the picture is pretty crisp. Way better than my smartphone/phablet in any condition.

Edit: one shortcoming and off course due to the resolution is if you for instance surf the web viewing a full webpage (eg dji.com) i found it hard to read the small items such as "downloads" without zooming (like the details under your avatar on this page, zooming works like on tablet).
No issues reading stuff on the go4 app by the way. Subtitles etc also no problem.

 

[JoostGT3]

Well, im not used to this at all but already comfy using this.
My wife says i "disappear" from time to time when i use them.
To answer your question: Yes. The "picture" brightness you can adjust to your liking. It becomes more transparent when low brightness. If you want a more "traditional" view you just boost up the brightness (easy access on a side button, also switches 2d/3d) or look at your pants or something else with less texture when sitting in the sun or put on one of the sunshades. Then the picture is pretty crisp. Way better than my smartphone/phablet in any condition.

Edit: one shortcoming and off course due to the resolution is if you for instance surf the web viewing a full webpage (eg dji.com) i found it hard to read the small items such as "downloads" without zooming (like the details under your avatar on this page, zooming works like on tablet).
No issues reading stuff on the go4 app by the way. Subtitles etc also no problem.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense!
D*mn, I 'm afraid this is going to be an expensive hobby! Well, you gotta do something with your hard-earned cash, better have fun while spending it!

 

[MacIak]

Thanks, that makes perfect sense!
D*mn, I 'm afraid this is going to be an expensive hobby! Well, you gotta do something with your hard-earned cash, better have fun while spending it!

Yep! I didn't think the Mavic was too expensive seeing how fantastic it is. By now I spent way more on support stuff. No regrets though, i discovered a brand new hobby instead of just another RCFO and still cheaper than crashing 1 of my heli's.
Still do consider comparing to these " Glyph" thingy. Seems worth the effort too. Im in the Netherlands, unfortunately no Glyph nor Moverio to hold, try and compare that way..

 

[Alex_S]

Good to hear you are happy with the BT300. If you get them going the picture quality is what counts in the end. That seems to be very good with these glasses.
They were on my list to buy but changed in the last moment to the Avegant Glyphs which arrived today.
Unpacked them, connected to a HDMI device and bingo, they worked perfectly. Sharp bright HD picture after adjusting the left and right eye optics.
I need reading glasses , but no need as you can adjust the optics for long and short sighted situations. The BT 300 will have the same.
However, I tried them also on with my reading glasses, no problems ! That might be interesting to know for people with glasses.
If you look straight you see the video, if you look up you see the sky loud and clear and when you look down you see your controller. Easy to look around you.
You are not isolated like in these VR boxes. I have not flown the Mavic with it yet as I have to wait for the Nvidia Shield K1 which is on its way. It has a proper HDMI out port.
I will try it later with the Google Chromecast 2 though. That should work as well.
Its the shame we live all so far apart otherwise we could swap and compare these two glasses.
Its fair to say that there are now 2 very usable HD picture quality glasses on the market suitable for DJI drones as long as HDMI connections can be established.
Price wise to make them work they are roughly the same as you need something like the Nvidia Shield K1 for the Avegant Glyphs.
Amazon has the Moverio BT300 for about US$ 770 plus you need an adapter to hold the BT300 control unit in the Mavic RC unit.
The Glyphs are at 499.00 at Amazon plus you need the Nvidia Shield K1 which needs to run on Android 6 by the way. Its about $240.00. You need a tablet adapter for the RC unit.
I will report the test results of the Glyphs with the Chromecast 2. That would make it indeed cheaper. I am not overly optimistic with this idea though. Expect lag.

 

[macinfosys]

One of the main reasons I would not consider the Shield K1 and Glyphs is the fact you now have to carry an 8" tablet, a larger mount for it and the larger Glyph glasses. I like my portability and ease of connectivity once everything is dialed in. I just take my BT-300 out of its small pouch and hook it up and go. No tablets to mount with the extra bulk both when carrying or mounted on my Mavic controller.

I'm sure the quality is great but one main reason I bought the Mavic over 4 pro is less hardware and baggage. As you start adding more and more bulky hardware to the Mavic it starts to loose its portability.

 

[hornseeker]

Newbie here,

I have wanted to acquire some goggles or glasses for my Mavic,
I would be using these to located items on the floor from 100-150 ft, is the resolution or picture quality good enough for this purpose? I am locating smaller animals and shed antlers. Thank s for any help.

 

[Alex_S]

One of the main reasons I would not consider the Shield K1 and Glyphs is the fact you now have to carry an 8" tablet, a larger mount for it and the larger Glyph glasses. I like my portability and ease of connectivity once everything is dialed in. I just take my BT-300 out of its small pouch and hook it up and go. No tablets to mount with the extra bulk both when carrying or mounted on my Mavic controller.

I'm sure the quality is great but one main reason I bought the Mavic over 4 pro is less hardware and baggage. As you start adding more and more bulky hardware to the Mavic it starts to loose its portability.

Yes that is true. I have no idea how how big / small the BT 300 folds up to. What I wanted to have is flexibility, I am still ok with my Samsung Note 4 or Xiaomi MiMax which both fit the RC
and can still be stored in the small DJI bag with 3 batteries etc. That is my portability pack and for travel. The glyphs still fit easily into luggage and I always have a tab with me anyway. Now its an 8 inch Nvidia instead of a 7 inch Samsung. I drive to many interesting places by car or go by boat. Space there is not an issue. I would say most people most of the time go by car to their intended flight area.
--------------------
However, this afternoon I tried out something quite interesting. I connected a small Google Chromecast to the Glyphs. Powered the Chromecast with a small USB battery bank not much bigger than the Chromecast itself.. The Chromecast is then connected to the Glyphs via HDMI. Put both the Chromecast and USB battery into a chest pocket in the jacket and suddenly it felt like I had wireless glasses as no wire is connected to the phone/tablet or controller.
Absolutely beautiful HD picture and what you see is exactly as on the phone screen. Looking up over the glasses I can see the drone, looking down I see the phone / RC unit.
I am sort of regretting now I ordered the Nvidia K1. The new Chromecast V2 seem to be much better with streaming in HD. I can see a tiny bit of lag, but that is in the millisecond range.
I will explore that a bit more tomorrow but I have a good feeling about this option. I will look for a possibility to attach the tiny Chromecast and the small USB battery bank to the Glyphs. Somewhere on the headphone cup area. True wireless HD FPV goggles !

 

[Alex_S]

Newbie here,

I have wanted to acquire some goggles or glasses for my Mavic,
I would be using these to located items on the floor from 100-150 ft, is the resolution or picture quality good enough for this purpose? I am locating smaller animals and shed antlers. Thank s for any help.

We have used drones for a long time in the Australian outback to look for certain geological formations, white quartz areas in the search for Gold. That we could see very well from 100 m height.
When located, fly the drone over it and you have the exact GPS location to go there by 4WD. That was done with larger tablets under shades. Now these glasses open up other possibilities. The main thing is they work in bright sunlight when it becomes almost impossible to work with phone or tablet screens. The glyphs pictures are very sharp and you get the effect of a 55 inch tv from a 3 m distance if I remember that right. If you would see dropped antlers from 50m height I can't say. A cat sized animal moving over the ground you would see for sure.

 

[JoostGT3]

Yes that is true. I have no idea how how big / small the BT 300 folds up to. What I wanted to have is flexibility, I am still ok with my Samsung Note 4 or Xiaomi MiMax which both fit the RC
and can still be stored in the small DJI bag with 3 batteries etc. That is my portability pack and for travel. The glyphs still fit easily into luggage and I always have a tab with me anyway. Now its an 8 inch Nvidia instead of a 7 inch Samsung. I drive to many interesting places by car or go by boat. Space there is not an issue. I would say most people most of the time go by car to their intended flight area.
--------------------
However, this afternoon I tried out something quite interesting. I connected a small Google Chromecast to the Glyphs. Powered the Chromecast with a small USB battery bank not much bigger than the Chromecast itself.. The Chromecast is then connected to the Glyphs via HDMI. Put both the Chromecast and USB battery into a chest pocket in the jacket and suddenly it felt like I had wireless glasses as no wire is connected to the phone/tablet or controller.
Absolutely beautiful HD picture and what you see is exactly as on the phone screen. Looking up over the glasses I can see the drone, looking down I see the phone / RC unit.
I am sort of regretting now I ordered the Nvidia K1. The new Chromecast V2 seem to be much better with streaming in HD. I can see a tiny bit of lag, but that is in the millisecond range.
I will explore that a bit more tomorrow but I have a good feeling about this option. I will look for a possibility to attach the tiny Chromecast and the small USB battery bank to the Glyphs. Somewhere on the headphone cup area. True wireless HD FPV goggles !

Thát would be awesome! Both wireless, quite a bit cheaper than the Epson and more portable than the glyph +shield combo...

BTW; what are you guys using for transmission settings? As I had quite a bit of lag in my test flights (settings: I don't remember, out of the box), I would like to use the settings that are most likely to yield the least lag... any tips?

 

[Alex_S]

No specific settings that I noticed. The V2 of Chromecast uses an app called Google home. You tell the Chromecast to cast the phone screen and thats it.
I have no other major software loaded . The phone is very clean software wise. Make sure the phone/ tablet you use has good amounts of ram. My Note 4 has 3 GB of ram und when I tested
a phone with 4 GB of ram I thought I noticed even less lag. When we took a tablet with 2 GB of ram the lag seemed more pronounced. I think you need a good phone with a fast processor as well.

 

[JoostGT3]

Thanks for the detailed feedback!
I use the Nexus 5x, which I think should be perfectly capable of streaming the video, other than that my storage is quite full, and I might have had a number of apps open at the time... will look into it a bit more and experiment with the different settings.

 

[MacIak]

Just need to inform that BT300 is connected via USB, not HDMI.
Some things to consider when choosing:

- Dedicated: how will the system perform isolated (airplane mode/no wifi).
- Reliability: More components= higher failure rate.
- Interface: Using a tablet/phone as interface mounted on the remote still requires inputs there. The sun will still spoil operations here.
- Portability: speaks for itself.

@Alex_S : Im actually considering a Glyph as well with the Chromecast option, just curious want to try. This is hobby... right?! As I ve never used chromecast before: Does this device make a direct connection with the smartphone (say in the middle of nowhere) to display the picture in the Glyph?
I do not like the idea to drag around a tablet+mount but attaching a chromecast+power to the glasses could be useful. Smartphone I carry arund anyway..

@hornseeker: I can confirm the BT300 picture is pretty sharp. You will be able to see the critters.