Dumb question

[Ccase39]

I’ve been a casual drone pilot for 4 years and have had every Phantom with the exception of Original Mavic and Mavic 3.
Now I have the air so I feel silly I haven’t found out what the difference is between FPV and just looking down in the phone. Either way you see what the drone sees. What is difference?

 

[calmar81]

First of all: There are no dumb questions here... mostly ;-)

Of course, you're right... but when you have FPV-Goggles before your eyes, you see just the picture in front of you and everything else is hidden in this small box. You see even more "First Person View" from the bird's eye, when you hide all the telemetry data and controls (app user interface), shown around the live-feed of the drone.

Flying that way is a lot more immersive and you are more convinced that you are actually "in the drone" than seeing your phone and everything around it, when looking at its screen.

 

[msinger]

I haven’t found out what the difference is between FPV and just looking down in the phone

In addition to what @calmar81 noted above:

• Some googles are a lot more immersive than others. For example, the Fat Shark Dominator V3 looks like you're holding a mobile phone screen in front of your face. While the DJI Goggles look like you're watching a large screen TV.
  
  
• Most goggles block all (or most) of the outside light out. That makes it a lot easier to see the screen (when compared to looking down at a phone).
  
  
• Since the screen is a lot larger, it's easier to see small details. That might help you frame your shots when shooting video or taking photos.
  
  
• Since your eyes are completely covered, you can only see what's directly in front of the drone. That can make things like taking off, landing, or flying near obstacles more dangerous.

 

[Mike Shock]

Flying FPV is much more impressive than talking about it. One should try it!