Edit: DroneVR - Too cool! [Long first blush review]

[vindibona1]

This is long, so get some coffee and buckle up.... [sorry]

Until this morning I hadn't heard of DroneVR but someone on another thread recommended it. I can't find the thread to thank the member that brought DroneVR to my attention but got me super curious. I've just begun to dabble with Litchi in VR mode and it seems to have a new and fun element to it. I had originally asked if there was an advantage to DroneVR over Litchi (VR) ? At this time neither will work with my Mini 2 but both will work with the Mavic 2. I haven't flown it yet but upon initializing and testing, even before flying with it, I'm stunned. There is still a ton to discover and learn with little documentation that I could find.

I had gotten a set of $20 VR Goggles having returned the $13 cheaper pair that I got last week (Pecosso on Amazon). My biggest initial beef with DroneVR is the lack of detailed instructions. I did manage to find installation instructions on their FAQ page after searching for their web page which didn't populate to the top of the search when I went looking for them. I printed the basic instructions out followed them for which I was prompted to pay $8.99 which I did and got connected right away. I had to do that at home because it requires an internet connection.

There isn't anywhere super close by where I can walk out the door and test fly this thing FPV so that will have to wait. But indoors I found some really cool features that seem to be "Easter Eggs" within the program, one that takes advantage of one of the Pecosso's features.

After getting everything connected and after hitting the "Go Fly" button on the screen pretty much everything shows as described. Unlike Litchi where you have to hit the on-screen button to switch between full screen and VR, you simply tilt the phone fully down then up and it switches. Easy to get things set up before switching over to VR. I installed it into my headset to see what I had.

It was relatively dark in the room I initialized it in so I could see the HUD info and sort of an image behind it (I had forgotten to take my ND filter off). But down in the first corner was a small images of THE ROOM! I took the drone to a window, pointed it outside and adjusted the exposure with the right scroll wheel and I could see what the drone was pointed at. Ok.. I hadn't really adjusted any of the settings, so I looked up and the image scrolled up. Looked down and it looked down too. Then I turned to the left and the image followed what I was looking at! Whahht??? I took the goggles off and turned the goggles... and not only did the gimbal go up and down but pivoted right and left with the turn of the goggles!!!! I think I was lamenting that I had never used that feature manually.

Now the big surprise. Without any mindfulness at all I popped the front magnetized cover off of the headset which intially made no difference as the phone inside was occluding anything outside. I have no idea why I even tried it, but something told me to hit the C2 button... and the phone switched to the camera on the back of the phone and now I was just looking where I was looking- though through the camera!!!! Holy schnikes!!!!!! While of course the spacial awareness is different through the camera if I needed to see something outside of the headset I didn't have to take it off. I have no idea yet what the limitations of that are, but it blew my mind.

One thing about the Pecosso headset is that it's ability to focus for vision is limited. I found that I could pop a set of old reading glasses in there, now semi-velcro'd in place, which made the focus much much better for me. But $20 for this headset? I'm happy. I'm sure younger folks who are not yet suffering presbyopia (needing reading glasses) would probably not have to add any optical helpers. But it was no big deal. These goggles are so much better than the original $13 that I started with last week. Better made and over 3 ounces (85gms) lighter.

So that's my first blush review of this combination.

 

[CADEU]

This is funny. I've also just started looking at this since the whole DJI FPV drone craze (yes i know fpv drones have been around forever).

I have a Mavic Air and DroneVR+ will be by first app since it was last updated March 4, 2021 and good reviews. I saw Litchi VR, and CAVU FPV for DJI GO 4 Drones.

Have you tried it outside yet?
If yes, how gimbal control with your head? I thought that was a really cool feature

 

[MindlessPursuit]

after reading this yesterday I went out and I also bought a pair of goggles and I went to a park. I paid the $8.99 to the Drone VR app and it instantly gave me access to my Mavic air 2. Once I started flying it actually was kind of cool. I did notice some stuff though. First of all I did not notice a RTH button anywhere. I also couldn’t figure out how to change the map to just plain default instead of satellite images. And the last thing was after I hit the record button I do not know how to access the recordings that I took while I was flying using the drone VR app. I will use it again today and post anything else that I may find.

 

[CADEU]

after reading this yesterday I went out and I also bought a pair of goggles and I went to a park. I paid the $8.99 to the Drone VR app and it instantly gave me access to my Mavic air 2. Once I started flying it actually was kind of cool. I did notice some stuff though. First of all I did not notice a RTH button anywhere. I also couldn’t figure out how to change the map to just plain default instead of satellite images. And the last thing was after I hit the record button I do not know how to access the recordings that I took while I was flying using the drone VR app. I will use it again today and post anything else that I may find.

There is a RTH button about the left joystick.
If you have google photos all videos automatically end up in there right wirelessly right after you stop recording. I'm not sure what the DJI folder path is but the video is on your phone.

1. How did VR goggle head --> gimbal rotation go? Did it look cool?
2. Could you tilt the drone at all like a bird?
3. Sadly, you can't answer my next question since you have a superior Occusync 2 drone. I have a Mavic air since occusync1. But how was the latency? Was there a big delay and is it even flyable with the delay in FPV?

 

[vindibona1]

This is funny. I've also just started looking at this since the whole DJI FPV drone craze (yes i know fpv drones have been around forever).

I have a Mavic Air and DroneVR+ will be by first app since it was last updated March 4, 2021 and good reviews. I saw Litchi VR, and CAVU FPV for DJI GO 4 Drones.

Have you tried it outside yet?
If yes, how gimbal control with your head? I thought that was a really cool feature

I've tried it outside a two or three times now. As I said it has some really cool features. However, I'm struggling a bit to read the alt, speed and distance as the lettering is so small and the resolution on my phone (iPhone XR) isn't helping. The data readout with Litchi is much more legible. But what I really like about DroneVR is that I can take the partial face plate off, hit C2 and use the phones camera to see what's in front of me, then switch back to FPV mode. For some reason I feel like I need more magnification in the viewfinder for DroneVR as opposed to Litchi.

Does anyone have detailed instructions on how to set up DroneVR? I can't seem to find an instruction manual, only the quickstart basics.

Flying FPV is cool but a little unnerving too. The resolution of the screen magnified in the goggles doesn't pick up the nuances that would help and I'm sure the new DJI goggles would be much much better in that regard. One of the things that I think is easier with FPV is following a path or adjusting directions to certain points of interest.

I'm anxious to hear others' experience with this hacked FPV setup.

 

[TCeeNZ]

Does anyone have detailed instructions on how to set up DroneVR? I can't seem to find an instruction manual, only the quickstart basics.

I'm new here and going through the same the same process of discovering VR for my Mavic Air.
I've just been having a look at the DroneVr site and the "How Tos" section:-HowTos - DroneVR2 gives reasonably detailed instructions of the functions obtainable through the menu which can be activated from your controller.
I'm still awaiting my goggles (the vagaries of NZ Post- more than 5 days to get from Hamilton to Christchurch).
Having already purchased Litchi, I'll give that a trial first, but DroneVR certainly looks worth checking out especially as it's not a great expense and the ability to make changes without removing the goggles could be a plus.
Cheers,
Tony C

 

[vindibona1]

I'm new here and going through the same the same process of discovering VR for my Mavic Air.
I've just been having a look at the DroneVr site and the "How Tos" section:-HowTos - DroneVR2 gives reasonably detailed instructions of the functions obtainable through the menu which can be activated from your controller.
I'm still awaiting my goggles (the vagaries of NZ Post- more than 5 days to get from Hamilton to Christchurch).
Having already purchased Litchi, I'll give that a trial first, but DroneVR certainly looks worth checking out especially as it's not a great expense and the ability to make changes without removing the goggles could be a plus.
Cheers,
Tony C

I have Litchi too and to be honest I haven't explored that in FPV as much as DroneVR. The stats that you need, alt, distance, etc are more readable in Litchi, but DroneVR has some interesting features. Unfortunately only some of the settings you can access without removing the headset. One of the best features of DroneVR is the ability to move the images to accomodate pupilary distance. Both sets of Goggles I tried were at the very limit of adjustment horizontally and Litchi's images were just narrow enough.

The other thing that I noticed with my 2nd headset is that the phone needed to be pushed away a bit. I'd installed reading glasses in the headset and even those didn't quite make the screen sharp with the headset on maximum adjustment. Putting some pads in the appropriate spots really helps. [see photos]

The ability to simply look right, left, up and down and have the camera follow where you're looking at it simply incredible. The trick is to learn to do it smoothly. And if able to pan the camera being able to coordinate the stick yaw with the camera pan gets a little tricky because there are no indicators where 0° is on pitch or pan. If you don't recenter after panning you can end up staring at the props, which also makes it difficult to know where your drone is headed. But I think it has potential.

 

[TCeeNZ]

Thanks vindibona1 for all of the above. It's good stuff!! I was especially interested in how you were getting on with the Pecosso glasses. The cheap ones I ordered I suspect will be much the same as your returned $13 ones. (They are still missing in the post). Amazon will send the Pecosso ones to New Zealand, but it'll cost me about NZ$54 and I'd want to be sure I'd get my moneys-worth out of them. At least from your experimentation, they look versatile enough to make adjustments. The ones like I've ordered, the phone slides in on a rack.
regards,

 

[vindibona1]

Thanks vindibona1 for all of the above. It's good stuff!! I was especially interested in how you were getting on with the Pecosso glasses. The cheap ones I ordered I suspect will be much the same as your returned $13 ones. (They are still missing in the post). Amazon will send the Pecosso ones to New Zealand, but it'll cost me about NZ$54 and I'd want to be sure I'd get my moneys-worth out of them. At least from your experimentation, they look versatile enough to make adjustments. The ones like I've ordered, the phone slides in on a rack.
regards,

There are pros and cons to both systems of phone installation. The one benefit to the slide-in type is that if you slide it out for some reason it auto-positions when you slide it back in. With the hinged door model you have to make sure you put it back in alignment which can take some time. OTOH, sometimes I can just open the door and lean the phone back to make adjustments. The other thing with the Pecosso is that they are 3 ounces lighter than the first VR goggles I had. With the Pecosso goggles I also had to contour and pad the nose area better as the ledge just sat on my nose bone.

Flying with goggles is a whole 'nother experience. I wish the restrictions for maintaining VLOS weren't so strict. Right now I'm only flying at super low levels, near the ground to try to get comfortable flying inbetween things, something that I find very difficult when the phone is in my hand. I'll be curious to hear how you make out when the NZ delivery service finally gets it together.

 

[TCeeNZ]

Exactly 2 weeks after ordering it, the VRBox arrived. I'd given up and ordered a Shinecon with the flip down face which arrived the next day after ordering it from Auckland.
I'm pleased I did as the VRBox is pretty useless and probably the same as the one you returned. I can't return it, so it just gets chalked up to bad experience!! Anyone going down the same track as me....... my advice is avoid the VRBox and go for one with a flip-down lid. It allows more flexibility for those with challenging eyesight!
I've done a test flight with Litchi and the focus isn't too bad. Like you, I've needed to stop the phone from moving and I've glued in some supports, but the distance to the lenses at full adjustment means I don't have to pad it out. I'll also fix in some cheap (x2.0) reading glasses. Thanks for all the tips.
Is there some way to turn off the camera exposure settings which are in centre screen while leaving the rest of the OSD displaying at the bottom? I believe they were added in the last update, but I find them annoying.
I have download DroneVR, but I think I'll get used to flying with Litchi, before taking the next step. I'm fortunate that we have much open space here with no unfriendly neighbours or flight restrictions.
As far as my first flight went...... I set the drone up - green to go.... launched litchi on the phone and connected....... I then launched the Mavic Air using the controller and set it hovering at 5 metres. I then inserted the phone into the goggles.... put the googles on.... picked up the controller and away we went for a flight round our 3 acre paddock. Not bad for a first timer!! Some fine tuning required on the goggles, but otherwise a satisfactory outcome.
Couldn't have done it without the help of Vindibona1. Thank you.

 

[vindibona1]

Exactly 2 weeks after ordering it, the VRBox arrived. I'd given up and ordered a Shinecon with the flip down face which arrived the next day after ordering it from Auckland.
I'm pleased I did as the VRBox is pretty useless and probably the same as the one you returned. I can't return it, so it just gets chalked up to bad experience!! Anyone going down the same track as me....... my advice is avoid the VRBox and go for one with a flip-down lid. It allows more flexibility for those with challenging eyesight!
I've done a test flight with Litchi and the focus isn't too bad. Like you, I've needed to stop the phone from moving and I've glued in some supports, but the distance to the lenses at full adjustment means I don't have to pad it out. I'll also fix in some cheap (x2.0) reading glasses. Thanks for all the tips.
Is there some way to turn off the camera exposure settings which are in centre screen while leaving the rest of the OSD displaying at the bottom? I believe they were added in the last update, but I find them annoying.
I have download DroneVR, but I think I'll get used to flying with Litchi, before taking the next step. I'm fortunate that we have much open space here with no unfriendly neighbours or flight restrictions.
As far as my first flight went...... I set the drone up - green to go.... launched litchi on the phone and connected....... I then launched the Mavic Air using the controller and set it hovering at 5 metres. I then inserted the phone into the goggles.... put the googles on.... picked up the controller and away we went for a flight round our 3 acre paddock. Not bad for a first timer!! Some fine tuning required on the goggles, but otherwise a satisfactory outcome.
Couldn't have done it without the help of Vindibona1. Thank you.

I'd love to see some pics TC.
The Pecosso box that I have has a front plate that is removable so the phone's camera can also see outside. DroneVR uses the C2 button to switch between the drone view, camera view and map view. So if I need to peek outside without removing goggles I just hit the C2 button. Not as realistic as direct sight but helpful because when the goggles are on all outside orientation is lost. Also my box is 4 ounces (113grams) lighter than the VR box. That's a lot that isn't pushing on my nose and pulling on my head.

The one thing I like about DroneVR over Litchi FPV is the ability to adjust the pupilary distance, the magnification and the image positioning as well as distortion correction. But the pupilary distance IMO is the critical one because it makes it easy on the eyes to see inside the box. The box's adjustment isn't quite good enough for me when I use Litchi. The one nicer thing about Litchi is that the data is big and easily readable. I had to experiment with DroneVR's color for more contrast. But again, you can adjust the magnification so that the numbers are more readable. Below is an image of what the pupilary distance adjustment screen looks like. The only downside is that I have to flip the works down out of the goggles to exit the customization screens. I think the only thing missing from Drone VR is the ability to pop in and out of the settings menus without removing the phone.

 

[TCeeNZ]

As you can see the Shinecon front flips down easily and I would imagine when using it with DroneVR it's easy enough to drop the front down for camera view. The Mavic Air controller does not have C1 or C2 buttons, but I believe the Fn button does the same thing.
I have been given heaps of perspex of different thickness (up to 10mm) which served me well when I built drones from scratch. I've used a few pieces to lock the phone into position using double sided adhesive tape which means they can be removed if need be without too much damage to the goggles. The phone (in my case a Redmi Note 7) is held in with a velco strap (provided) and the perspex stops any phone movement.


The same with the spectacles. I hot glued them to a piece of perspex which was affixed with double side tape so they could be removed for cleaning if necessary.

 

[vindibona1]

So I'm not crazy and the only one that needs more magnification than the adjustments provide. I suppose if I were younger than 43 I'd be ok without them ? .

For $9 USD you should give DroneVR a try. It's different than Litchi and because I can adjust the width of the invididual screens and magnify the image to my liking in many ways I prefer it to Litchi FPV. But to be honest I haven't done as much testing in Litchi FPV mode. I do love Litchi for planned auto-flight missions.

 

[TCeeNZ]

I turn 75 in June. I don't need distance glasses only for reading. I will give DroneVR a go eventually. Google was asking a bit more than $9 probably because NZ tax gets added and the conversion rate is about $US69c for NZ$1. That said, for less than $20 it's worth a try. I have to say that I was quite impressed with the longer flight I had this morning using Litchi and I'll use it to get comfortable with VR flying.

 

[TCeeNZ]

OK! You talked me into it.............. and it came to NZ$13.99 for any kiwis looking at this.
I guess your phone is an Apple. That IOS App has a different method of adjusting lens adjustment.
The Android setup for focus and eye distance isn't as sophisticated as the Apple one. I've had problems with my Redmi MUii/Android OS where the navigation buttons disappear and you can't exit the setup screen or the program for that matter. I think I may have found the problem in the phone settings. I was blaming DroneVR! This is the third edit of this post!
I do like being able to call up the menu while still wearing the goggles. The Fn button on the Mavic Air does activate it.

 

[Van Belle Jean Marc]

This is long, so get some coffee and buckle up.... [sorry]

Until this morning I hadn't heard of DroneVR but someone on another thread recommended it. I can't find the thread to thank the member that brought DroneVR to my attention but got me super curious. I've just begun to dabble with Litchi in VR mode and it seems to have a new and fun element to it. I had originally asked if there was an advantage to DroneVR over Litchi (VR) ? At this time neither will work with my Mini 2 but both will work with the Mavic 2. I haven't flown it yet but upon initializing and testing, even before flying with it, I'm stunned. There is still a ton to discover and learn with little documentation that I could find.

I had gotten a set of $20 VR Goggles having returned the $13 cheaper pair that I got last week (Pecosso on Amazon). My biggest initial beef with DroneVR is the lack of detailed instructions. I did manage to find installation instructions on their FAQ page after searching for their web page which didn't populate to the top of the search when I went looking for them. I printed the basic instructions out followed them for which I was prompted to pay $8.99 which I did and got connected right away. I had to do that at home because it requires an internet connection.

There isn't anywhere super close by where I can walk out the door and test fly this thing FPV so that will have to wait. But indoors I found some really cool features that seem to be "Easter Eggs" within the program, one that takes advantage of one of the Pecosso's features.

After getting everything connected and after hitting the "Go Fly" button on the screen pretty much everything shows as described. Unlike Litchi where you have to hit the on-screen button to switch between full screen and VR, you simply tilt the phone fully down then up and it switches. Easy to get things set up before switching over to VR. I installed it into my headset to see what I had.

It was relatively dark in the room I initialized it in so I could see the HUD info and sort of an image behind it (I had forgotten to take my ND filter off). But down in the first corner was a small images of THE ROOM! I took the drone to a window, pointed it outside and adjusted the exposure with the right scroll wheel and I could see what the drone was pointed at. Ok.. I hadn't really adjusted any of the settings, so I looked up and the image scrolled up. Looked down and it looked down too. Then I turned to the left and the image followed what I was looking at! Whahht??? I took the goggles off and turned the goggles... and not only did the gimbal go up and down but pivoted right and left with the turn of the goggles!!!! I think I was lamenting that I had never used that feature manually.

Now the big surprise. Without any mindfulness at all I popped the front magnetized cover off of the headset which intially made no difference as the phone inside was occluding anything outside. I have no idea why I even tried it, but something told me to hit the C2 button... and the phone switched to the camera on the back of the phone and now I was just looking where I was looking- though through the camera!!!! Holy schnikes!!!!!! While of course the spacial awareness is different through the camera if I needed to see something outside of the headset I didn't have to take it off. I have no idea yet what the limitations of that are, but it blew my mind.

One thing about the Pecosso headset is that it's ability to focus for vision is limited. I found that I could pop a set of old reading glasses in there, now semi-velcro'd in place, which made the focus much much better for me. But $20 for this headset? I'm happy. I'm sure younger folks who are not yet suffering presbyopia (needing reading glasses) would probably not have to add any optical helpers. But it was no big deal. These goggles are so much better than the original $13 that I started with last week. Better made and over 3 ounces (85gms) lighter.

So that's my first blush review of this combination.

View attachment 125977View attachment 125978View attachment 125979

Will try this as well, i think. With Mavic Pro. Thx! +je

 

[Bussty]

You might like to try this option. Twice the resolution and works with any drone. It's basically allowing you to see you phone full screen in a totally shaded mask very close to your eyes. Couple it with a blutooth mouse and you have total control and you can see your whole phone screen so clearly in any lighting condition. Just use it in Normal Mode not VR.
MagiMask

 

[TCeeNZ]

You might like to try this option. Twice the resolution and works with any drone. It's basically allowing you to see you phone full screen in a totally shaded mask very close to your eyes. Couple it with a blutooth mouse and you have total control and you can see your whole phone screen so clearly in any lighting condition. Just use it in Normal Mode not VR.
MagiMask

Looking at one particular review, the weight and bulkiness of this mask seems to be a bit of a problem. Also the US$129 plus taxes would put it over NZ$200.
I've just tried a pair of Fitt AR-X which cost me NZ$54 to import which allows you to use the DJIGo4 app and I'm having a play with it at present. (It's winter here, so suitable flying weather is rare). Not convinced they are the answer either and it's the third pair of different goggles I've tried.
Won't be long and I will have spent the equivalent of a S/H pair of DJI goggles!!

 

[Bussty]

Must have picked it up when cheaper, I'm down in Queenstown and picked it up for $99USD delivered. Given it's only on the face for a maximum of 25mins at a time don't find the weight an issue and quality is perfect. With a Blutooth mouse nothing you can't do still wearing the mask. Even enough room in there to put prescription glasses if you need them but adjustment has pretty good coverage if you have younger eyes

 

[TCeeNZ]

Must have picked it up when cheaper, I'm down in Queenstown and picked it up for $99USD delivered. Given it's only on the face for a maximum of 25mins at a time don't find the weight an issue and quality is perfect. With a Blutooth mouse nothing you can't do still wearing the mask. Even enough room in there to put prescription glasses if you need them but adjustment has pretty good coverage if you have younger eyes

They were going cheap @ around $89 last year, but no one seems to have any stock at that price. At US$100 freight free I might have given them a go. Are they the only goggles you've tried?
cheers
TC