Ultimate 2025 FPV Drone Buying Guide | START HERE

If you’re on the fence about whether you should start FPV in 2025, I have the answer for you in today’s video. What is up, guys? Welcome back to another video. This is Mike from Drone Supremacy, and today we will be discussing FPV in 2025. The good news is that if you want to start flying FPV Drones in 2025, the barrier has never been lower. You can start flying and enjoying FPV in quite a small amount of time. But there are so many possibilities that make it a little bit confusing for beginners out there to choose which way to go. So, this video is for you, and hopefully, by the end of it, you will know exactly which way you want to go.

Before You Fly: Simulators and Controllers

Starting out, first, obviously, before you even think about flying the real thing, you need to decide if you are able to. Some people get very nauseous when they start flying FPV. Some people try it and decide, “Yeah, that’s not something that I want to do any longer,” and they get rid of the whole thing after spending a huge amount of money. So, the first thing I would advise you to do is to pick a remote controller and start flying on a simulator. That way, at least you will know to an extent how flying a real FPV drone feels like, and then it will be so much easier for you to decide whether you want to go all in and buy your drones, your gear—everything that needs to be purchased to start flying—or if that’s not something that is really for you and you’re done with it.

The remote controller that I would advise you to buy is a RadioMaster Pocket because it’s quite cheap—it’s about $100, if I’m not mistaken—and it’s the best entry-level remote controller that you can buy. Or, of course, if you want, you can go and buy something like this: the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3. That’s also a good option. I think it’s maybe a little bit more expensive than the RadioMaster Pocket, but it’s also very solid. Both of these radios can be very useful for you down the line if you want to purchase more gear, more drones, and start flying with that.

We have two more options here that I would personally recommend. They are both from RadioMaster. We have the TX16S, which is a huge, huge remote controller. It’s a very comfortable remote controller, but it’s definitely very bulky and quite heavy. So, if you’re carrying a lot of gear with you—which you might be if you’re flying FPV—you will be carrying a lot of batteries, your goggles, remote, drone, action camera, Filters, chargers, all sorts of different things with you. And if you’re carrying a lot of that, you really don’t want to have a super bulky controller. Yes, it’s very comfortable and it’s great in your hands, but I would personally go for something like this: the RadioMaster Boxer. It’s a great middle ground between comfort and portability because it’s a lot smaller than the TX16S but doesn’t miss any of the good features that bring comfort to your overall experience.

As far as simulators, what I would personally recommend is a simulator like Liftoff, VelociDrone, DCL, or Uncrashed. These simulators are among the most popular ones, and personally, I used Liftoff when I started back in 2019. So, Liftoff has been around for a very long time. It’s been updated regularly, and you can do a lot in that sim and practice so many different things—like following cars, diving, racing—everything that you want to do, you can do it in that sim. And of course, that goes the same for the other sims, but personally, I would recommend Liftoff because that’s the one that I personally used when I started, and I keep using it every now and then when I want to fly but it’s raining, or I want to practice a new move or something. It’s still very much current with all the new technology, all the new things that are coming out. It’s being updated regularly, like I said, so Liftoff is definitely the number one sim that I would personally recommend.

A Word from Our Sponsor: BetterHelp

Before we continue any further, I would like to take a second to thank the paid partner for this video, BetterHelp. A lot of people think that therapy is only needed when you have a lot of problems or something really bad has happened. In reality, it’s often way less than that. Having someone to talk to who’s unbiased, who’s a professional, has been trained, and is in your corner really goes a long way. That’s why I love working with BetterHelp. Personally, my guy that I have been talking to at BetterHelp has been great. Just having someone to talk to and share your problems really makes a big difference.

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Choosing Your First FPV Drone

Now that you’re maybe a little bit more familiar with flying in the sim and you have a little bit more stick time with the remote controller, it’s time to think about what drone you want to buy. Here is where it gets very confusing for everyone who is new to the FPV hobby because there are so many different drones. As you can see here on the table, I have just a few of them within the different niches and different sizes that they come with, so it is very confusing which drone you should go for.

I think a smaller quad-type drone is ideal for a beginner. It’s not mandatory to only use that, but it’s recommended because they are ducted, they have protection around the propellers, and they are a lot safer. They are also made in a way that they can withstand a lot of crashes—most of them, at least. So, a good recommendation for a beginner is this one: the DJI Neo. It’s super sturdy, quite strong, it flies great. It’s not the best in terms of camera quality—it still shoots 4K, so that’s good for a beginner. The video quality is something that you can use to share with your friends and family, but it’s not something that I would personally say is very cinematic or very high quality. However, it’s still a great beginner drone that can make you realize what feeling you are going to get when you are flying real FPV drones.

If you’re flying the Neo, you have a lot of flexibility in how you want to fly it because it’s made for beginners who are starting out in FPV. So, for that, you can use just the drone itself—it can track you and fly around you. It can also be flown with this motion controller, which is extremely nice and smooth, also very fun to fly with. You can even give that to your child, and they can get the hang of it very quickly because it’s that easy. And of course, if you want to have the maximum amount of fun, you can fly it with the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3 for full manual FPV flying. So, you have a lot of different ways to control this drone. That’s the number one thing about the Neo: the flexibility, the different ways of controlling it—it’s just unbeatable.

If money is not that tight and you want to get something a little bit better, this is the bigger brother of the Neo: the DJI Avata 2. This is probably the number one drone that I would recommend to 90% of the people out there because it’s stronger, faster, flies better than the Neo, has a lot better quality here on the camera. You can buy ND filters for it and get really high-quality cinematic footage with it, and all around, it’s just an amazing drone. The one thing that it’s not perfect at is flying very quickly, of course, because it’s a quad. So, for that, you will need something a little bit more powerful. But still, for 90% of the people out there, the Avata 2 from DJI is probably the safest bet when you are starting FPV and you want to have high-quality footage straight away.

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Diving Deeper into FPV: Custom Drones

Now, those are typical DJI drones that you don’t really have to think about that much when you fly because they have their own batteries, they have their own chargers, they come with everything you need—they’re pretty much set up straight from day one. Now, if you want to get into the real FPV hobby, I would recommend something like this. This is still a quad, it’s still small, very portable, lightweight, fast, nimble, but it is a real FPV quad—not to say that these are not real, but those are the traditional drones that you can build yourself. You can tinker with them, you can replace parts, you can upgrade parts when they break or if you want to have better performance. This is the GRC Calyx 30 V3. This is a new drone that I’m actually flying right now to make a Review on, so you will see that on the channel very soon. But this is an amazing piece of kit that is very similar to the Avata 2 in terms of performance, but this can be upgraded in a lot of ways. You can exchange all the components, you can add components, you can add new features to the drone, and you can really tinker with it. Whereas with those two, you really don’t have any options to upgrade or replace things yourself—you have to send them to DJI, which is a big hurdle sometimes. So, I would personally recommend something like this if you like to tinker, if you want to build your own stuff every now and then, if you want to replace parts. This is a great alternative.

By the way, everything that I’m talking about will be linked down in the description so you can find it very easily. Of course, we can’t go without the traditional 5-inch drone, and this is the GRC Vapor X. This is the drone that I’ve been flying for a very long time. Currently, it doesn’t have a VTX inside because I’ve swapped that to another drone, but I just had to show it to you because a 5-inch drone is kind of like the staple when it comes to FPV. Those are the traditional FPV drones that everyone knows and loves. These are extremely fast, extremely powerful, very punchy, and super fun to fly. But those obviously come to people who have a little bit more skill to control them because they are super fast. So, you have to be a little bit more familiar with the controls before you get into a drone like this. Or, if you still want to go for this straight away, I would advise you to at least fly in large open areas, like large fields, for the first month or so until you get the real hang of it. Because this can really damage someone or something—it’s really harmful if it crashes into something.

So, my number one recommendation would be to be careful with a drone like this, especially if it’s your first-ever drone. Don’t go fly around buildings and do dives and fly around people with this because it’s very easy to lose control, it’s very easy to lose connectivity and just have, you know, a black screen in your goggles, and you don’t know what the drone is going to do next. They fall out of the sky when they lose connection, so it’s a little bit more dangerous and complicated to fly a drone like this. So, you really have to be careful.

After the 5-inch comes the 7-inch. Personally, something that I love flying—I have the iFlight Spectre 7 here, another drone that I’m currently flying for review. But this thing is huge—in a good way. So, this has a lot of thrust, it has a lot of power, it’s super smooth, has the O4 Air Unit inside so it can record internally—you don’t have to put an additional action camera on top of it—and it can fly super long-range with those huge antennas here. You can go really far with it and still have crystal-clear feed in your goggles. So, this is something that I’m personally leaning towards for most of my flights because I’m enjoying the long-range FPV flying a lot lately. And I think, personally, this is some of the best types of flying that you can do with an FPV drone—just exploring, enjoying the scenery, and flying close to obstacles far away from you, and still having that crystal-clear feed in your goggles. That’s unbeatable.

Essential Gear: Goggles, Cameras, and Batteries

Now, when it comes to goggles, I only have one pair of goggles here because this is the only thing that I would recommend—maybe with something budget-friendly as a second option. But these are the DJI Goggles 3. These are the best goggles that you can buy right now, and I think the goggles are the biggest investment, but they are also the best return for your money. Because this is what you are using to fly FPV, this is what you are using to see what the FPV drone is seeing when you fly it. So, of course, this is the most important thing. And Goggles 3 are extremely—and I say it with 100% confidence—extremely comfortable on your face. They are very lightweight, they’re very portable, they are small, they fit great, they have these little curtains around your eyes so you don’t have any light leaks, and they are just perfect in my mind.

DJI Goggles N3 are again a good budget option. They’re a little bit bulkier, they’re much cheaper than the Goggles 3, but they lack a few of the premium features that the Goggles 3 have. Of course, they have to sacrifice a few features so they can offer them for a little bit of a cheaper price. So, they are a good replacement if you don’t want to invest in the Goggles 3, but those two are the only options that I think are worthy in 2025.

Next, we need to talk about action cameras and VTXs because most of these drones have great VTXs—the O3 Air Unit or the O4 Air Unit Pro. And the O4 Air Unit Pro is the newest VTX that DJI came out with recently, just a couple of months ago. And this VTX offers amazing quality. The VTX is that connection—the camera and the little boxy thing that is behind the drone, which is the connection between the goggles and the drone. This is what you’re using to not only see what the drone is seeing but also to record footage with. So, the new O4 Air Unit Pro now is so good that you don’t really need an additional action camera when you fly with it. So, you can use that to record all of your footage standalone on the drone—you don’t have to put anything else. But if you’re using another VTX or the O3 Air Unit, which is again quite good but maybe lacks a few premium features in terms of camera specs, then you might want to invest in a good action camera.

Personally, I would advise you to buy either a GoPro 12, 13, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2, or the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro. Those are the only options that I think are worthy in 2025. Personally, I’m using the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro if I’m using an additional action camera on my drones. I’m not a huge fan of GoPro anymore—I used to be, but I know there’s some die-hard fans out there who really love GoPros. If you’re one of them, I have nothing against using a GoPro—they have great quality during the day if you have nice sunlight. If not, they are kind of so-so, so I wouldn’t really recommend them. The stabilization is great, but the two options that I have here on the table—the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 and the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro—are the actual two action cameras that I would personally recommend for anyone looking to use an action camera on their FPV drone in 2025.

Next, we need to talk about batteries and chargers. These are some of the batteries that I have, depending on what size I’m running. So, I have one of each to show you. Starting from the biggest one, I have the Fullsend 5600 milliamp-hours, 95C, iFlight battery for the Helion 10, and I’m also using it on the Spectre 7. This is a huge battery that is, of course, used for long-range flying, and of course, adds a lot of weight to your total setup. But it’s a great one—it gives you a flight time of about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how much you’re using it, how much throttle you’re using, so it’s great. The other batteries that I’m using are either the 1500 or the 1300 milliamp-hours from CNHL (China Hobby Line). These are great for regular drones—5-inch, 6-inch drones. They’re good, they have high-quality batteries. I’ve been using them for years, and they’re very good. They give you a flight time of about 5, 6, 7 minutes, depending on, again, which drone you’re using them on, how much throttle you’re using, and so on.

And for the smaller drones, I’m using all sorts of different batteries, but I have mostly CNHL batteries here. They’re not sponsoring me or anything—I’m just a fan of their batteries. But of course, everyone has different tastes. I just think they offer great quality and good price when it comes to batteries, so that’s why I’m using them. And when it comes to the charger, I’m using this—it’s by Hobbymate, it’s called the D6 Dual Lite. And I’m a big fan of this because it’s so portable, it’s magnetic. So, this is the actual AC, so you don’t have to look for an additional AC—you can just power it through this, and it just snaps magnetically to the charger itself. And it’s a very small and portable setup. You can charge two batteries at the same time. I’m not using any parallel charging boards anymore because they’re a huge hazard, and I just don’t want to risk it. I’m charging two batteries simultaneously—it might be a little bit slower, but I prefer to do it like this so I have a little bit more peace of mind.

Charging batteries is another whole topic that I am not going to get into in today’s video, but this is the charger that I recommend because it’s small, it’s portable, like I said, it’s magnetic, it can charge two batteries at the same time, it has this built-in AC, which is a huge thing because otherwise, other ACs are just huge, and they require a lot of space. They’re just bulky and annoying to carry around. And with this, I can put it in my backpack and have this with me and have my charger with me at all times. This is definitely something that I recommend.

Final Thoughts on the FPV Drone Buying Guide

Lastly, something else which you will need if you want to get into FPV for 2025 is tools—things like screwdrivers with different extensions, heat shrinks, zip ties, Scotch tape—all sorts of little things that you might want to carry with you. They will save the day if you have them with you. They have rescued me so many times—it’s impossible to be thankful enough for these tools. Because if you go without your tools and something breaks or something snaps or something happens and you’re not prepared for it, you just have to stop flying and go home. So, it’s always good to have them with you and just be prepared for pretty much anything.

With that being said, guys, this is everything I have for you from today’s video. I know it’s all over the place, and you might have a lot of questions, so I’m ready to answer everyone in the comment section below. Feel free to ask anything you might think I might have missed in the video, and I’ll make sure to reply if I know the answer to your question. But with that being said, I hope this was informative and entertaining for you to watch, and you’re prepared to get into FPV in 2025. Don’t hesitate because it’s an amazing hobby—it’s something so rewarding. When you fly, you feel so amazing when you are in the air, when you’re controlling your drone, and I highly encourage you to get into it if you’re still on the fence about whether you should.

With that being said, this is everything I have for you from today’s video. This is Mike from Drone Supremacy. Take care, and I’ll catch you in the next one very soon. Ciao!