I have a few quads rigged with HDZero, and I just received my first 1Watt. Although I tend to fly cinnewhoops and I like the clarity of HDZero when I am trying to fly smooth and keep tracking on a subject. Analog still has a place in my toolbox though. I don't actually own any DJI gear so that is a level of built in bias.
Naaaah Monsieur Bardwell. Great video, I'm super interested in the evolution of HdZero, but I have 8 quads and a wing and I'll stick to analog exclusively for the price of digital setups. If I were to choose, I'd choose HdZero mainly because it's not DJI, so you're right about that. I feel like giving my money not to a multimillion dollar multinational but to a company closer to the hobbyists.
Don't worry guys, I recently purchased the dji set up after years of waiting for something better. Since I went all in i'm sure there will be lots of new cheaper digital set ups coming quickly. its my luck.
I think it will last long since hdzero can be compared with DJI, I mean, they are doing and absolutely nice job, but man y saw the dji vs the hdzero and dji is fucking ridiculous how it looks, it's amazing!!! I think you did a good job buying it
Thanks Joshua for your honest review. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages. HDZERO has made a lot of progress, and we can expect to see more progress coming. And thanks a lot for all your great work.
"HDZero wants you to be their customer" And I want to be able to afford to be their customer, but alas, for now I have to be happy with the analog gear I scored for cheap in 2020.
Hard to imagine people are upset with this video. Great work JB. You even go above and beyond reaching out to Ryan to review results first. Fair, Objective, Informative and Detailed. What more can we ask for from JB...
I don't own any FPV... just have a DJI Mini 1.0 with Litchi iOS app in a VR-google solution... I fucking love it! but I wish I had the Mini 2.0 with Ocusync and the same setup... I just can't afford the official DJI FPV stuff... but to me this video also showed there is just ZERO reason for MANY of us to not go for DJI... YES i know WHY and there are situation the other might be prefered... BUT i mean c'mon that amazing quality goodness means barely any eye-cancer!
Okay, as a DJI pilot thank you for including DJI in the garage test. As a former analog pilot, it’s easy to forget how much better HDZero video image quality is.. until you see it back to back with analog footage. God I wanted it to have the penetration capability sooooo flipping bad 😔. I hope it’ll get there with additional development.
Excellent review Joshua! I think you nailed it regarding the cultural choice. At this point in time, for my type of flying, I am without question missing out a bit by deciding to fly HDZero instead of going DJI. However, I am happy to support a company like HDZero as I want to see more competition in the digital space and I think having companies that are fully committed to the FPV hobby will, ultimately, improve things for us. So I decide to take a hit in order to support the potential HDZero has. Hopefully it won't bite me back 😆
I agree with your sentiment, but it's not a "hit" or a downgrade from DJI. Both systems has benefits and drawbacks, people just need to pick the best for them.
@@trekkin_fpv5272 yeah that's 100% fair. I meant it purely for me personally, as for my type of flying I'd likely benefit more with DJI :) Though coming from analog it's still a fantastic upgrade imho.
Been flying analog and have accepted its limitations. I am platform agnostic. But when DJI came along it was expensive to switch. Got on digital cheaply when the SharkByte/HDZero vrx was $99. So far, I like the variants (whoop, freestyle, etc.) offered by HDZero. Also like the transparency of the HDZero development trajectory and its user community. My new builds will have HDZeros.
the houston night spot testing showed we can also go 2 up with the right settings both at 1W at the same time. Pretty nice how this system is evolving so fast.
@@eatyourvegfpv Yea, I accidentally was logged into the wrong account for my comment. But I can see that in the footage and performance. I think if he had the better patches this test would have been much closer, along the lines of what my test results showed. But still I feel it's pretty good and accurate for bone stock out of the box performance.
Too cool. Seriously one of the coolest hobbies out there. Love how you now a days can play with every part of the drones, making your own and modding it to be how you want it. Once I got a house of my own i will dive in to this head first! :D
Well done Joshua, completely fair review I feel. I think I am a fan boy, as DJI and their "crumbs" don't interest me at all, but I don't feel hurt by your video at all. My drive for Digimath is certainly about supporting the underdog that is listening to the community, like you've said. That and this product suits the line of sight/spotter laws in place preventing my need for DJI/penetration. I've now purchased the 1W and am looking forward to installing it in my quad. Thank you JB.
As a radio technician the idea of powering the VTX directly off the battery that is powering 4x motors makes me ill. Snark aside, I don't think the issue with your parking deck test is power, it's other issues. If you can manage to not freeze, I think a 500mW test there would be interesting. When multipathing and electrical service are causing the interference more power won't always fix the problem, and may even exacerbate it. I'd be willing to bet that the DJI link has some very sophisticated signal filtering in play here. Another test you could run would be to leave the transmitter in one spot in the garage, and take a spectrum analyzer around to various points, figure out some SNR and noise floor. This would really help demonstrate multipathing noise.
Fantastic work, Joshua! Really great testing! 😃 You know, for me this system is more than mature enough. Yeah, analog can still be better, but think about it. How many video transmitters and receivers are there? You were using pretty specialized equipment to fly analog! So what we need now is to more companies to jump in and make hardware as well. TBS, Rush FPV, Immersion RC... You know? Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
The reason a lot of people "love" HDZero, is because it's not DJI. For me, it sits bang in the middle between analogue and DJI. It's better image quality (when it's clear) than analogue, and better video latency than DJI. Personally, I would almost categorize it as digital analogue, if that makes sense. I would certainly never compare it to DJI anymore though. That's like comparing a mid sized saloon car which does great mileage, to a supercar. They're not trying to be the same thing and they're both great at what they ARE for.
If anyone is looking for a frame that will fit hdzero freestyle perfectly without going to a 20x20 FC, look no further than the Iflight Cidora sl5v2.1. It comes with a single antenna mount as well as the dual air unit mount in the photos. Make sure you get m3x16 screws to replace the m3x14 screws that hold part of the arms and center standoffs, the ones it comes with aren’t long enough and strip out.
I got the Shark Byte bundle last year from Rotor Riot on sale for $169. Considering I already Fatshark goggles it just made sense to me being the cheapest way into digital fpv. Now if I had money to burn sure I would've got DJI, but for people on a budget, for racers, or anyone who already has some analog goggles I feel like you get a good bang for the buck. I just got the new Freestyle VTX in my 5 inch paired with the HDZero Micro V2 cam and it slaps.
Something I would not be interested in. Looks like you will pull the wires off in the first couple of crashes. Then the mounting issues. Not worth it. Plenty of other choices. Great job as always Jashua. You are the best. I will be a patreon after the Holidays. Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow. Happy Holidays.
Eh, I'll stick with analog a little longer. I think HDZero might need to do a few things with their hardware and firmware. Maybe they could make some form of focus mode based on the RSSI of the control signal, sort of like DJI does it. That would probably increase the penetration by quite a bit. Feed this data into the VTX by smart audio, for example.
HDZero will NEVER have the focus mode because it relies on one-way communication and has no data buffer, unlike DJI which retransmits data in case of a damaged packet.
@@nupixelfpv I know, that's why I said that they could potentially send RSSI from the control link (value of 0-1023) to the VTX via Smart Audio. When the quads control link signal starts going down, the VTX alters the way it sends image data to the VRX. This would be a way to actually have two-way communication, even if the VRX can't communicate to the VTX. So you wouldn't have any retransmitting, but with a reduced control signal strength, the VTX could start sending reduced resolution, for example. If the VTX has no image buffer to do encoding on the fly, then it's a problem, of course.
@@thirdpartycookie Maybe they could just make different error correction and resolution profiles that can be switched really fast. So you just have a switch on your controller and can set the parameters you want really fast while flying.
Thanks for this nice test. And you are right - they want to satisfy us with their system but they don't do... Range and penetration still sucks even on this 1watt VTx. There is no reason to buy this at the moment. So analog or dji is still the way to go. Iam flying analog and iam still happy with it. 🍻
Nice and fair review. I think your conclusions are spot on. Parking garage performance is lower than I'd expect, but I also don't fly in that environment. Biggest benefit of HDZero vs other digital options is the breadth of applications (1s whoop to 5" freestyle / race to long range wing) and a healthy community relationship with the owner, Carl. Thanks Carl for working so hard for us!
a bit of after market support, and warranty would be greatly appreciated, a whoop board that stops working after 2 flights on 2s is inacceptable, all the more when Divimath support isn't responding to any email.
Was searching and searching for this comment. Cant believe no one said anything. "Got to get out of here, got to get out of here..." Yeah, I think that had less to do with the cold and a little more to do with what he realized.... Lol
I still don't get why HDZero does not use forward error correction (like Reed-Solomon) to get rid of breakup. I would gladly sacrifice a few pixels of resolution for a more robust connection and there should be more than enough computing power to do FEC.
I’m going to keep analog mostly for price and wait for hdzero to get a little better. The DJI seems great, they look great but if I can get a kwad for $180 with analog but with vista the same kwad is nearly $300. The price difference makes it unappealing to me. This is just my opinion
I've bought 3 BNF's with DJI (Caddx Vistas) built in. All were brand new in sealed boxes with free shipping. One was $175, one was $177.50, and the other was $269 with a $150 gift card to RDQ! So, watch for super sales, they are there, and you can actually buy BNF DJI quads for less than analog ones! ;)
You called it perfectly with the dji peoples thoughts. Thanks for showing that along with the analog and hd zero. I find the downside of dji is if it drops, there’s no recovering it. Other than that I love the dji system.
If you switch back to 25Mbps you'll find that DJI's signal degrades more gracefully (giving you more warning) and recovers from total loss of signal pretty quickly. 50Mbps can take a very long time, to never..
@@revfpv7908 Ya, when it goes it goes, meaning you see a black screen, but if you put analog or HDZero up against DJI at the same power level in the same NLoS situation I think you'd find analog and HDZero have completely "gone" to 100% static well before DJI gives up. At least that's been my experience (I tested it fairly extensively). I find that I just have to be cognizant of the warning signs DJI provides (Focus mode, lower bitrate, a few stutters) and not just keep pushing it deeper out of LoS until it quits. In many hundreds of flights, I've only lost the signal completely about 4-5 times and I'm almost always pushing it at or just beyond LoS. Couple weeks ago I purposely flew behind a huge rock 2.5 miles out, signal cut out for about 1.5 seconds, and recovered, which is to be expected.
Looks like it would be great for cruising around and freestyle in open areas. I wouldn't be a bando or parking garage pilot anyway. Looks good for everything other than that!
a flying buddy of mine just got a HDzero system and i have to say, it looked way, way better than analogue. but the thing we both were amazed of was that he on ch1 400mw with HDzero, me on ch1 DJI 50mbps 700mw we had no interface that would give problems flying. when he passed straight in front of me, i've gotten some micro stutters in my feed, and when i flew straight in front of him he's gotten some minimal lines and a few sprites, when he was flying analogue we had to stay very far apart on channels, and i would still blow his video out if i passed him. so now we can fly together without having to check channels or even announcing plugging in.. i'll stay on DJI for my quads (and analogue for my long range planes for many reasons) but will advice anyone who doesn't want to go DJI digital to ditch analogue and go HD zero..
This is why Amateur Radio operators talk around the world in disaster situations on Analog HF frequencies. Digital is fun, but it either works, or it doesn't. There isn't any gray area, where Analog gives a lot more room for error to get the signal through. 73 Jacques Redmond - WW1ZRD
Great video. Been holding out for a long time for HDzero to catch-up. The outcome of the parking garage testing was really disappointing. For me the cost outweighs the benefits of buying in. Think its time to either bite the bullet and go DJI or just stick with analog...
@@JoshuaBardwell ahh nice. He did you hear about that DJI leak? They going to release a mini drone some time this year. Maybe in the next 2 months it's rumored. I think it's called DJI avata or something like that
Man it looks so good now. They should try to break down the color to grey when it is loosing signal, I'd rather have slightly no colors than to have colored snow, or try to add another antenna and do multi band crossing.
Nice review. I dont fly bandos or parking garages and almost only micros so HD Zero would be my preference also becouse they care about the fpv community that goes a long way is what i think. And you always have the same latency with hd zero like analog thats also a big plus for me.And a lot of antennas to upgrade.
⚠️ QUESTION .. HDMI ONLY GOGGLES. (No RF or analog anything required) Hi Joshua and UA-cam world. I am NOT a legit FPV pilot. I am more of DJI camera drone hobbyist. (Air 2s and Mavic 2 zoom and soon a Mavic-3) I do have a DJI FPV Racer drone and Goggles v2. The dilemma is…. I want to use the Goggles v2 with the Mavic drones but they have locked out that feature and probably do not plan on development. I have the DJI Goggles RE and used to use them and was very happy with the performance and picture. (bound to the Mavic-2 and with the Air-2s using both the original Smart Controller and now the RC-Pro to feed HDMI out from th controller to the micro HDMI input on the Goggles RE. Problem - I have a pretty severe form of spondyloarthritis (ankylosing spondylitis) which has fused my entire spine. I just cannot tolerate the weight of the Goggles RE but CAN easily handle the Goggles v2. As a “workaround”, I tried taking the HDMI output of the smart controller (and RC-Pro) and sent through an HDMI to A/V converter and fed that signal through the 3.5mm A/V input on the goggles. The picture quality was horrible ! And the aspect ratio all messed up. So.. I am thinking of going with a lightweight set of goggles fed directly from the HDMI output of either smart controller. What would you recommend? I do not need analog at all. I don’t need any receivers or anything on the RF side of things either. I just want the best quality picture as I can achieve at a low weight. (While cost is not terribly important at this point… i WOULD like to stay below $700 or so.) Any recommendations? THANK YOU !!! (and thanks to you / Ken Heron / Originaldobo for getting me somewhat into a hobby that has made me incredibly happy and frees me from my decrepit and failing body. LOL ) Btw: if you ever need to use a spectrum analyzer for any reason, reach out and I’d be more than happy to send you my Agilent portable (30mhz- 6GHz) spectrum analyzer w/tracking generator. Same goes for any filter or duplexer tuning. 73. KD2MKZ
Great review. I gotta say though, I've flown dji more than a few times (buddy's quad) and the footage from the dji system in this test looks waaay better than irl (*in my experience!*). I'm really confused.. he was definitely using 50mbps and 1w. If It really looked like THAT in the goggles, I would seriously just go dji all the way!
It does look like that in the goggles, something is wrong with your buddy's setup if it doesn't. I fly a lot of bandos and DJI has been a tremendous upgrade and confidence boost for me.
Its good, and I appreciate the effort for all the same reasons as you. They are really upping the offerings at breakneck speed. Now for me, as a bundle, its still a bit pricey for me as a racing option. I smash a lot of $17 cameras. Smashing a $50 camera and possibly a big $60 VTX is not worth the difference in image quality to me. Where I do see it as a great option is on my Prig. A lot of folks are moving into Street/DRL Spec racing, and the drones are far more durable. With less worry about replacement costs, I'm far more inclined to make the switch. I don't deny the picture is better. For me its a matter of 'at what cost'. So I'm sold, just not for racing. Almost certainly Prig will be my first point of entry to the HD game and is probably the perfect niche for HDZero.
Still waiting for the next gen VRX and parts to be consistently in-stock before switching to HDZero. VTX size is another reason I’m not switching from analog yet, as well as the cost to convert 5 quads. For racing, analog still works great. If I was just starting out though I’d probably start with HDZero since the switching cost (time and money) would be largely irrelevant.
Great review! Is the 500mw double-decker vtx not considered an HDZero product? We have a bunch of those (8? 10?) so your statement about the 200mw limit to HDZero products before this vtx is confusing.
The 500 mW vTX was only made in a limited run at the beginning of SharkByte's release and then no more. So I carefully worded it as, "... that you can buy," to cover that base.
HDZero is and will be cheaper. And seeing the quality difference between analog and hdzero. DJI is overpriced for my purposes. DJI is the drone comany of Apple. No community implementations.
It really is incredible how well a signal can be received 3 floors down through concrete and rebar. HD Zero ain't for me and I don't think it'll actually look good any time soon either. I hope I'm wrong though, I don't love the idea of giving my money to DJI for any and all HD needs. Great review JB, this is exactly what we need to see!
The biggest draw for me to HDZero is what you mentioned towards the end, the involvement with the community and the fact they're actually listening. Secondary would be that I fly a lot of micros/whoops and DJI is simply not going to compete when it comes to weight savings. With that said, the parking lot penetration test was pretty disappointing. I really hope something can be done to get performance better without increasing power.
Check the DJI whoop playlist on my channel, it can absolutely compete even with analog and you still even can't build a lighter HDZero whoop than that at the moment (you will be able to when the new whoop board is finally out, but still, DJI is so much better I'll happily carry a few extra grams).
@@FilipRadelic checked a couple of your DJI vids and it's definitely respectable, but still wouldn't be on par with people running whoops in the sub 22g dry weight range. Every turn is an extra tenth of a second or so. It's absolutely good enough for fun races but I think a competitive racer would pick analog every time for weight savings. I know I might sound pedantic but every gram matters so much.
I'm impatiently waiting on sharkbyte to restock (if they ever will) or a vrx module alike it from HDzero. Will definitely keep my analog gear though. So far I've only seen a vrx monitor combo upcoming on their website. I hesitated on getting a sharkbyte while it was still available now I regret it. Also....with some parts of China gone back into COVID confinement isn't gonna help with my impatience either lol
I think it is fairly accurate. It's just that HDZero is measuring the full channel-width area under the curve power, and the IRC meter is measuring peak power (as you normally do for analog vTX).
Yo Joshua I just got my nazgul evoque f5X for 6s and was wondering if you have some prop recommendations if there’s anything better for freestyle than the ones on it and one set for cruising more efficiency
Flying underneath yourself in a parking garage is a special kind of a torture test for video - is it possible the directional antennas on the HD zero vrx hamstrung it a little more than the competition? Regardless you pushed me over the edge on trying one of those 1W vtx’s on a proper 5” freestyler…currently I’m only starting to experiment with ultralights and HDZ
I'll just go ahead and admit it. From this video DJI is far far better from a results perspective. Better penetration and better video quality. I will not go DJI though because DJI how you can't upgrade V2 goggles anymore and i prefer HDZero as a company and i'm looking forward to better miniaturization before making the jump. Maybe Carl can switch to a smaller process node to get the power use and size down idk. Also HDZ should implement a TCP style mode as an option at the expense of having variable latnecy like DJI so we don't get so much breakup
Not sure about HDzero just yet, I have one DJI quad and 2 analog. They all serve a purpose. I have to admit that I like flying my digital wad much better but I do enjoy flying my analog quad at longer distances.
Sounds like someone should make hand warmers for RC controllers. Gloveless soft IR reflective enclosure that uses a LiPo for resistive heat and maybe small fan to circulate.
I imagine, if HDZERO were to provide frequency matched antennas, penetration and whatnot would improve lots. Antennas really are too important to not consider matching them.
It's funny how after going on top of the parking garage the 2nd time with hd0 you say hey look snow, and wind and water like you didn't see it on analog when you were just there. So that does show the difference in image quality but is the weird bad break up worth the quality. That's for each pilot to decide... Me I love them dji crumbs but I can't afford them so I fly analog mod in my dji goggles currently since my Vista and air units stopped working 😅
Really good video dude. I race analogue/HDZero and freestyle dji. You probably went easy on hdzero and I love HDZero 😂 Clear fair test, I think for penetration it went dji, analogue, hdzero.
![☀ Крутая цифровая FPV система не для меня (и не для тебя) [HDZero Goggle]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xueKjeK0Iqg/mqdefault.jpg)
Are you ready to give up analog now?
Noo I think analog for racing ist the best way. Cheap and with a good camera the best choice. And for freestyle also best choice. And Longrange also..
I have a few quads rigged with HDZero, and I just received my first 1Watt. Although I tend to fly cinnewhoops and I like the clarity of HDZero when I am trying to fly smooth and keep tracking on a subject. Analog still has a place in my toolbox though. I don't actually own any DJI gear so that is a level of built in bias.
No, because of the price.
i'm ready. take my money gimme a vrx
Naaaah Monsieur Bardwell. Great video, I'm super interested in the evolution of HdZero, but I have 8 quads and a wing and I'll stick to analog exclusively for the price of digital setups. If I were to choose, I'd choose HdZero mainly because it's not DJI, so you're right about that. I feel like giving my money not to a multimillion dollar multinational but to a company closer to the hobbyists.
Don't worry guys, I recently purchased the dji set up after years of waiting for something better. Since I went all in i'm sure there will be lots of new cheaper digital set ups coming quickly. its my luck.
Dude same......i just got dji 2 weeks ago
Isnt orqa somewhat close to releasing theirs?
I think it will last long since hdzero can be compared with DJI, I mean, they are doing and absolutely nice job, but man y saw the dji vs the hdzero and dji is fucking ridiculous how it looks, it's amazing!!! I think you did a good job buying it
Yeah, I feel your pain. 😬
Thank you good man.
Thanks Joshua for your honest review. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages. HDZERO has made a lot of progress, and we can expect to see more progress coming.
And thanks a lot for all your great work.
"HDZero wants you to be their customer"
And I want to be able to afford to be their customer, but alas, for now I have to be happy with the analog gear I scored for cheap in 2020.
You're lucky to not have purchased hdzero and stick with analog it seems. And for the price to performance comparison, I will stick with analog also.
Hard to imagine people are upset with this video. Great work JB. You even go above and beyond reaching out to Ryan to review results first. Fair, Objective, Informative and Detailed. What more can we ask for from JB...
I’ve given up analog a while ago but I’m not going to give up my DJI digital HD anytime soon…. That last flight of yours kind of proved my point
I don't own any FPV... just have a DJI Mini 1.0 with Litchi iOS app in a VR-google solution... I fucking love it!
but I wish I had the Mini 2.0 with Ocusync and the same setup... I just can't afford the official DJI FPV stuff...
but to me this video also showed there is just ZERO reason for MANY of us to not go for DJI...
YES i know WHY and there are situation the other might be prefered...
BUT i mean c'mon that amazing quality goodness means barely any eye-cancer!
Okay, as a DJI pilot thank you for including DJI in the garage test. As a former analog pilot, it’s easy to forget how much better HDZero video image quality is.. until you see it back to back with analog footage. God I wanted it to have the penetration capability sooooo flipping bad 😔. I hope it’ll get there with additional development.
Excellent review Joshua! I think you nailed it regarding the cultural choice. At this point in time, for my type of flying, I am without question missing out a bit by deciding to fly HDZero instead of going DJI. However, I am happy to support a company like HDZero as I want to see more competition in the digital space and I think having companies that are fully committed to the FPV hobby will, ultimately, improve things for us. So I decide to take a hit in order to support the potential HDZero has. Hopefully it won't bite me back 😆
I agree with your sentiment, but it's not a "hit" or a downgrade from DJI. Both systems has benefits and drawbacks, people just need to pick the best for them.
I'm sticking to my DJI set up this is for the others that haven't made the switch to digital. I'm %100 satisfied with DJI goggles
@@trekkin_fpv5272 yeah that's 100% fair. I meant it purely for me personally, as for my type of flying I'd likely benefit more with DJI :) Though coming from analog it's still a fantastic upgrade imho.
@@trekkin_fpv5272 Oh, but it is huge hit! It's not even close! Did you watch the video? DJI was crystal clear on every floor!
@@LehtusBphree2flyFPV Right on, Bro! The others aren't remotely close!
A huge like for using the quad for selfie camera! I am also doing it sometimes and this should be default from now on :D
Been flying analog and have accepted its limitations. I am platform agnostic. But when DJI came along it was expensive to switch. Got on digital cheaply when the SharkByte/HDZero vrx was $99. So far, I like the variants (whoop, freestyle, etc.) offered by HDZero. Also like the transparency of the HDZero development trajectory and its user community. My new builds will have HDZeros.
2:52 As engineer I recommend keeping those two board apart lest you get more noise. Turn that into a tailfin if you must.
Great video Joshua! Very helpful info and thanks for the analogies.
Really grateful that you eventually did compare them with DJI ).
the houston night spot testing showed we can also go 2 up with the right settings both at 1W at the same time. Pretty nice how this system is evolving so fast.
@Joseph Carbone He said in reply to another comment here that his DJI goggles were fitted with iFlight Crystal patches.
@@eatyourvegfpv Yea, I accidentally was logged into the wrong account for my comment. But I can see that in the footage and performance. I think if he had the better patches this test would have been much closer, along the lines of what my test results showed. But still I feel it's pretty good and accurate for bone stock out of the box performance.
@@JoeMommaFPV so with aftermarket antennas hdzero way better?
@@eatyourvegfpv Yeah, those work great and for not much dough either! :)
@@TheBlaznbowls Not even close! lol
Too cool. Seriously one of the coolest hobbies out there. Love how you now a days can play with every part of the drones, making your own and modding it to be how you want it. Once I got a house of my own i will dive in to this head first! :D
Well done Joshua, completely fair review I feel. I think I am a fan boy, as DJI and their "crumbs" don't interest me at all, but I don't feel hurt by your video at all. My drive for Digimath is certainly about supporting the underdog that is listening to the community, like you've said. That and this product suits the line of sight/spotter laws in place preventing my need for DJI/penetration. I've now purchased the 1W and am looking forward to installing it in my quad. Thank you JB.
Thanks. A great video to understand the actual performance directly.
As a radio technician the idea of powering the VTX directly off the battery that is powering 4x motors makes me ill.
Snark aside, I don't think the issue with your parking deck test is power, it's other issues. If you can manage to not freeze, I think a 500mW test there would be interesting. When multipathing and electrical service are causing the interference more power won't always fix the problem, and may even exacerbate it.
I'd be willing to bet that the DJI link has some very sophisticated signal filtering in play here.
Another test you could run would be to leave the transmitter in one spot in the garage, and take a spectrum analyzer around to various points, figure out some SNR and noise floor. This would really help demonstrate multipathing noise.
jus throw a cap on ther bruh it'll be fiiine
I think Joshua works on wifi so he may cringe a bit himself too
Fantastic work, Joshua! Really great testing! 😃
You know, for me this system is more than mature enough. Yeah, analog can still be better, but think about it. How many video transmitters and receivers are there? You were using pretty specialized equipment to fly analog!
So what we need now is to more companies to jump in and make hardware as well. TBS, Rush FPV, Immersion RC... You know?
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
The reason a lot of people "love" HDZero, is because it's not DJI.
For me, it sits bang in the middle between analogue and DJI. It's better image quality (when it's clear) than analogue, and better video latency than DJI.
Personally, I would almost categorize it as digital analogue, if that makes sense.
I would certainly never compare it to DJI anymore though. That's like comparing a mid sized saloon car which does great mileage, to a supercar. They're not trying to be the same thing and they're both great at what they ARE for.
it's digital, but it doesn't deal with errors the same way DJI does, so it looks very similar to analog at times.
that comparing is good, because there is a lot of people, who dont know, if they want mid sized saloon car or supercar.
This is worse than analog.
@@boobo well that's just not true at all if you've seen any direct comparisons.
If anyone is looking for a frame that will fit hdzero freestyle perfectly without going to a 20x20 FC, look no further than the Iflight Cidora sl5v2.1. It comes with a single antenna mount as well as the dual air unit mount in the photos. Make sure you get m3x16 screws to replace the m3x14 screws that hold part of the arms and center standoffs, the ones it comes with aren’t long enough and strip out.
My freestyle vtx and Micro cam should arrive today or tomorrow. Can't wait to try it out.
Nice "crumbs" analogy, Joshua Shakespeare.23:33
I'm very happy with the dji I'm running but its awesome to see how far hdzero is coming along so great watch!!!
I got the Shark Byte bundle last year from Rotor Riot on sale for $169. Considering I already Fatshark goggles it just made sense to me being the cheapest way into digital fpv. Now if I had money to burn sure I would've got DJI, but for people on a budget, for racers, or anyone who already has some analog goggles I feel like you get a good bang for the buck. I just got the new Freestyle VTX in my 5 inch paired with the HDZero Micro V2 cam and it slaps.
Too big and too expensive..
Something I would not be interested in. Looks like you will pull the wires off in the first couple of crashes. Then the mounting issues. Not worth it. Plenty of other choices. Great job as always Jashua. You are the best. I will be a patreon after the Holidays. Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow. Happy Holidays.
You can add 5.8G ampliefer to 4 or 8 w for more range.
Awesome overview I'm kind of surprised with the parking garage test great content as usual 👍🔥
Eh, I'll stick with analog a little longer. I think HDZero might need to do a few things with their hardware and firmware. Maybe they could make some form of focus mode based on the RSSI of the control signal, sort of like DJI does it. That would probably increase the penetration by quite a bit. Feed this data into the VTX by smart audio, for example.
HDZero will NEVER have the focus mode because it relies on one-way communication and has no data buffer, unlike DJI which retransmits data in case of a damaged packet.
@@nupixelfpv I know, that's why I said that they could potentially send RSSI from the control link (value of 0-1023) to the VTX via Smart Audio. When the quads control link signal starts going down, the VTX alters the way it sends image data to the VRX. This would be a way to actually have two-way communication, even if the VRX can't communicate to the VTX. So you wouldn't have any retransmitting, but with a reduced control signal strength, the VTX could start sending reduced resolution, for example. If the VTX has no image buffer to do encoding on the fly, then it's a problem, of course.
@@ojkolsrud1 they don’t have a frame buffer. There is also no encoding.
@@thirdpartycookie I see - then forget it=P
@@thirdpartycookie Maybe they could just make different error correction and resolution profiles that can be switched really fast. So you just have a switch on your controller and can set the parameters you want really fast while flying.
Thanks for the interesting comparison!
Thanks for this nice test. And you are right - they want to satisfy us with their system but they don't do... Range and penetration still sucks even on this 1watt VTx. There is no reason to buy this at the moment. So analog or dji is still the way to go. Iam flying analog and iam still happy with it. 🍻
You saw that parking garage? I have seen people on DJI clear three whole floors with far less interference and on less power.
Nice and fair review. I think your conclusions are spot on. Parking garage performance is lower than I'd expect, but I also don't fly in that environment. Biggest benefit of HDZero vs other digital options is the breadth of applications (1s whoop to 5" freestyle / race to long range wing) and a healthy community relationship with the owner, Carl. Thanks Carl for working so hard for us!
a bit of after market support, and warranty would be greatly appreciated, a whoop board that stops working after 2 flights on 2s is inacceptable, all the more when Divimath support isn't responding to any email.
Breadth of application really is the key, I do a little bit of everything, HDZero allows me todo that and then some!
@@cedricgrandseigne keep trying. I know the support team works hard to help people. Carl himself often does direct support
The DJI video really brought out some great details on that SUV you went by a couple times... @21:00 it sure looks like a cop...
Was searching and searching for this comment. Cant believe no one said anything. "Got to get out of here, got to get out of here..." Yeah, I think that had less to do with the cold and a little more to do with what he realized.... Lol
I still don't get why HDZero does not use forward error correction (like Reed-Solomon) to get rid of breakup. I would gladly sacrifice a few pixels of resolution for a more robust connection and there should be more than enough computing power to do FEC.
Awsome video
I’m going to keep analog mostly for price and wait for hdzero to get a little better. The DJI seems great, they look great but if I can get a kwad for $180 with analog but with vista the same kwad is nearly $300. The price difference makes it unappealing to me. This is just my opinion
I felt this same way until i flew DJI. you get what you pay for. ive not gone back to analog since, 2yrs now.
I've bought 3 BNF's with DJI (Caddx Vistas) built in. All were brand new in sealed boxes with free shipping. One was $175, one was $177.50, and the other was $269 with a $150 gift card to RDQ! So, watch for super sales, they are there, and you can actually buy BNF DJI quads for less than analog ones! ;)
@@KOrnhOliO1 hey ! On what website did you get the bnf for around 175$ ?
@@aymen3962 They don't carry squat in DJI BNF's anymore! bummer.
@@KOrnhOliO1 so why you say to watch for sales lmaooo
You called it perfectly with the dji peoples thoughts. Thanks for showing that along with the analog and hd zero. I find the downside of dji is if it drops, there’s no recovering it. Other than that I love the dji system.
If you switch back to 25Mbps you'll find that DJI's signal degrades more gracefully (giving you more warning) and recovers from total loss of signal pretty quickly. 50Mbps can take a very long time, to never..
@@daemn42 I’m always on 25mb but it seems that when it goes it goes.
@@revfpv7908 Ya, when it goes it goes, meaning you see a black screen, but if you put analog or HDZero up against DJI at the same power level in the same NLoS situation I think you'd find analog and HDZero have completely "gone" to 100% static well before DJI gives up. At least that's been my experience (I tested it fairly extensively). I find that I just have to be cognizant of the warning signs DJI provides (Focus mode, lower bitrate, a few stutters) and not just keep pushing it deeper out of LoS until it quits. In many hundreds of flights, I've only lost the signal completely about 4-5 times and I'm almost always pushing it at or just beyond LoS. Couple weeks ago I purposely flew behind a huge rock 2.5 miles out, signal cut out for about 1.5 seconds, and recovered, which is to be expected.
@@daemn42 I agree! DJI simply doesn't hardly ever completely cut out. I don't do long range, so it
s never happened once to me.
I might buy the hdzero system just to help fund their innovation of it
Looks like it would be great for cruising around and freestyle in open areas. I wouldn't be a bando or parking garage pilot anyway. Looks good for everything other than that!
I wonder if Carl has a setting that would improve multipath performance. It could be a setting for people who frequently fly near concrete
a flying buddy of mine just got a HDzero system and i have to say, it looked way, way better than analogue.
but the thing we both were amazed of was that he on ch1 400mw with HDzero, me on ch1 DJI 50mbps 700mw we had no interface that would give problems flying. when he passed straight in front of me, i've gotten some micro stutters in my feed, and when i flew straight in front of him he's gotten some minimal lines and a few sprites, when he was flying analogue we had to stay very far apart on channels, and i would still blow his video out if i passed him.
so now we can fly together without having to check channels or even announcing plugging in..
i'll stay on DJI for my quads (and analogue for my long range planes for many reasons) but will advice anyone who doesn't want to go DJI digital to ditch analogue and go HD zero..
This is why Amateur Radio operators talk around the world in disaster situations on Analog HF frequencies. Digital is fun, but it either works, or it doesn't. There isn't any gray area, where Analog gives a lot more room for error to get the signal through.
73
Jacques Redmond - WW1ZRD
When we talked 2 and a 1/2 years ago about digital receiver for Fatshark,,, you said it would never happen,,,,, well look it now! 😉
I gave up anolog for DJI... I was planning on getting hdzero but I am glad I didn't.. And I don't think I ever will.
Great video. Been holding out for a long time for HDzero to catch-up. The outcome of the parking garage testing was really disappointing. For me the cost outweighs the benefits of buying in. Think its time to either bite the bullet and go DJI or just stick with analog...
Still happy I'm on DJI, been having great video for a while now where people are still waiting for HDZero to be comparable.
great video,its your facial expressions that show your opinions,for me anyway,for example at 26:21 made me chuckle lol
Good job. Hdzero biggest issue is the unfortunate timing of these supply issues driving up cost.
The last video was the DJI FPV drone? Man that thing can penetrate and keep video quality.
No it was the DJI Air Unit on an FPV drone
@@JoshuaBardwell ahh nice. He did you hear about that DJI leak? They going to release a mini drone some time this year. Maybe in the next 2 months it's rumored. I think it's called DJI avata or something like that
You looked weird in the parking garage.
I like that style 🤣
There's a bad guy on this channel ! He wants a recall.
Be careful
70 to below zero is brutal!!!!!
How come we won't see the "jitters" in the DVR? :( Is the onboard recording only?
Too early for me to jump in and the cost of living here has gone stupid. Definetely interested in this system over DJI.
Man it looks so good now.
They should try to break down the color to grey when it is loosing signal, I'd rather have slightly no colors than to have colored snow, or try to add another antenna and do multi band crossing.
I'm just getting into drones but the video looks better on DJI same as range
Thanks for continuing to cover HDZero Mr. Bardwell.
Nice review. I dont fly bandos or parking garages and almost only micros so HD Zero would be my preference also becouse they care about the fpv community that goes a long way is what i think. And you always have the same latency with hd zero like analog thats also a big plus for me.And a lot of antennas to upgrade.
⚠️ QUESTION .. HDMI ONLY GOGGLES. (No RF or analog anything required)
Hi Joshua and UA-cam world.
I am NOT a legit FPV pilot. I am more of DJI camera drone hobbyist. (Air 2s and Mavic 2 zoom and soon a Mavic-3)
I do have a DJI FPV Racer drone and Goggles v2.
The dilemma is….
I want to use the Goggles v2 with the Mavic drones but they have locked out that feature and probably do not plan on development.
I have the DJI Goggles RE and used to use them and was very happy with the performance and picture.
(bound to the Mavic-2 and with the Air-2s using both the original Smart Controller and now the RC-Pro to feed HDMI out from th controller to the micro HDMI input on the Goggles RE.
Problem - I have a pretty severe form of spondyloarthritis (ankylosing spondylitis) which has fused my entire spine.
I just cannot tolerate the weight of the Goggles RE but CAN easily handle the Goggles v2.
As a “workaround”, I tried taking the HDMI output of the smart controller (and RC-Pro) and sent through an HDMI to A/V converter and fed that signal through the 3.5mm A/V input on the goggles. The picture quality was horrible ! And the aspect ratio all messed up.
So.. I am thinking of going with a lightweight set of goggles fed directly from the HDMI output of either smart controller.
What would you recommend?
I do not need analog at all. I don’t need any receivers or anything on the RF side of things either.
I just want the best quality picture as I can achieve at a low weight.
(While cost is not terribly important at this point… i WOULD like to stay below $700 or so.)
Any recommendations?
THANK YOU !!!
(and thanks to you / Ken Heron / Originaldobo for getting me somewhat into a hobby that has made me incredibly happy and frees me from my decrepit and failing body. LOL )
Btw: if you ever need to use a spectrum analyzer for any reason, reach out and I’d be more than happy to send you
my Agilent portable (30mhz- 6GHz) spectrum analyzer w/tracking generator. Same goes for any filter or duplexer tuning.
73.
KD2MKZ
Great review. I gotta say though, I've flown dji more than a few times (buddy's quad) and the footage from the dji system in this test looks waaay better than irl (*in my experience!*). I'm really confused.. he was definitely using 50mbps and 1w. If It really looked like THAT in the goggles, I would seriously just go dji all the way!
It does look like that in the goggles, something is wrong with your buddy's setup if it doesn't. I fly a lot of bandos and DJI has been a tremendous upgrade and confidence boost for me.
Its good, and I appreciate the effort for all the same reasons as you. They are really upping the offerings at breakneck speed. Now for me, as a bundle, its still a bit pricey for me as a racing option. I smash a lot of $17 cameras. Smashing a $50 camera and possibly a big $60 VTX is not worth the difference in image quality to me. Where I do see it as a great option is on my Prig. A lot of folks are moving into Street/DRL Spec racing, and the drones are far more durable. With less worry about replacement costs, I'm far more inclined to make the switch. I don't deny the picture is better. For me its a matter of 'at what cost'. So I'm sold, just not for racing. Almost certainly Prig will be my first point of entry to the HD game and is probably the perfect niche for HDZero.
Still waiting for the next gen VRX and parts to be consistently in-stock before switching to HDZero. VTX size is another reason I’m not switching from analog yet, as well as the cost to convert 5 quads. For racing, analog still works great. If I was just starting out though I’d probably start with HDZero since the switching cost (time and money) would be largely irrelevant.
Jb I must say your the truth!!!!!
Love it , been watching so many Videos on HDzero and I finally ordered the vtx 🤩
Great review! Is the 500mw double-decker vtx not considered an HDZero product? We have a bunch of those (8? 10?) so your statement about the 200mw limit to HDZero products before this vtx is confusing.
The 500 mW vTX was only made in a limited run at the beginning of SharkByte's release and then no more. So I carefully worded it as, "... that you can buy," to cover that base.
@@JoshuaBardwell I've almost got the 1watt version ready to test. It'll be interesting to see how it does against our 500mw units.
I'm glad i chosen For dji last winter instead of waiting for sharkbyte. I still have analog to. And love it for His simplicity to.
I love the DJI interface. You can basically change anything about the video system and the quad no problem.
the more HD zero i see the more i feel i made the right choice with DJI
HDZero is and will be cheaper. And seeing the quality difference between analog and hdzero. DJI is overpriced for my purposes.
DJI is the drone comany of Apple. No community implementations.
It really is incredible how well a signal can be received 3 floors down through concrete and rebar. HD Zero ain't for me and I don't think it'll actually look good any time soon either. I hope I'm wrong though, I don't love the idea of giving my money to DJI for any and all HD needs. Great review JB, this is exactly what we need to see!
I have been planning on jumping to hd zero for a while now. It will happen soon but now it's out of stock pretty much everywhere...
Thank you for helping me get my drone in the air
The biggest draw for me to HDZero is what you mentioned towards the end, the involvement with the community and the fact they're actually listening. Secondary would be that I fly a lot of micros/whoops and DJI is simply not going to compete when it comes to weight savings. With that said, the parking lot penetration test was pretty disappointing. I really hope something can be done to get performance better without increasing power.
You can: get some upgraded antennas like the truerc patches along with dual axiis, that should improve things!
Check the DJI whoop playlist on my channel, it can absolutely compete even with analog and you still even can't build a lighter HDZero whoop than that at the moment (you will be able to when the new whoop board is finally out, but still, DJI is so much better I'll happily carry a few extra grams).
@@FilipRadelic checked a couple of your DJI vids and it's definitely respectable, but still wouldn't be on par with people running whoops in the sub 22g dry weight range. Every turn is an extra tenth of a second or so. It's absolutely good enough for fun races but I think a competitive racer would pick analog every time for weight savings. I know I might sound pedantic but every gram matters so much.
@@d3c0deFPV for competitive races they wouldn’t let you use dji anyway 🙁
@@FilipRadelic The rules for MultiGP used to be stricter, but now it's just
I'm impatiently waiting on sharkbyte to restock (if they ever will) or a vrx module alike it from HDzero. Will definitely keep my analog gear though. So far I've only seen a vrx monitor combo upcoming on their website. I hesitated on getting a sharkbyte while it was still available now I regret it. Also....with some parts of China gone back into COVID confinement isn't gonna help with my impatience either lol
I'm ready to give up analog because I've never started with it. Hahaha
I like it when you show the raw video instead of the GoPro footage.
As long as that IRC meter is consistent, then it's still good for comparisons. It's a shame that's it's not accurate though.
I think it is fairly accurate. It's just that HDZero is measuring the full channel-width area under the curve power, and the IRC meter is measuring peak power (as you normally do for analog vTX).
Great video!
Yo Joshua I just got my nazgul evoque f5X for 6s and was wondering if you have some prop recommendations if there’s anything better for freestyle than the ones on it and one set for cruising more efficiency
Flying underneath yourself in a parking garage is a special kind of a torture test for video - is it possible the directional antennas on the HD zero vrx hamstrung it a little more than the competition? Regardless you pushed me over the edge on trying one of those 1W vtx’s on a proper 5” freestyler…currently I’m only starting to experiment with ultralights and HDZ
I'll just go ahead and admit it. From this video DJI is far far better from a results perspective. Better penetration and better video quality. I will not go DJI though because DJI how you can't upgrade V2 goggles anymore and i prefer HDZero as a company and i'm looking forward to better miniaturization before making the jump. Maybe Carl can switch to a smaller process node to get the power use and size down idk. Also HDZ should implement a TCP style mode as an option at the expense of having variable latnecy like DJI so we don't get so much breakup
10:08 30+ km? O_0 wow that's really far. I thought the farthest a drone could fly is like 3 miles.
Not sure about HDzero just yet, I have one DJI quad and 2 analog. They all serve a purpose. I have to admit that I like flying my digital wad much better but I do enjoy flying my analog quad at longer distances.
I tried to like this video three separate times. That's how comprehensive this video is.
I'm glad I got Dji as much as I'm not a fan of Dji
Sounds like someone should make hand warmers for RC controllers. Gloveless soft IR reflective enclosure that uses a LiPo for resistive heat and maybe small fan to circulate.
21:00 I don't want to go near that car. You mean the Cop? Solid video and super informative. Thank you.
Perfect, now lets just get an announcement of a new vrx and some availability!
I imagine, if HDZERO were to provide frequency matched antennas, penetration and whatnot would improve lots. Antennas really are too important to not consider matching them.
Why do you think they're not tuning their antennas correctly?
A tantalum capacitor across the +5/Gnd DC line on the VTX can reduce the glitch noise.
Thanks, I only fly long range & I'd love some better quality!
Why not keep both! I have Attitude V6 goggles with an HDZero VRX.
Flywoo Mr Croc has 20x20 30x30 x 3 might be a good fit
My word that thing is gigantic, im still not sold on HDZero. I really want to though.
Seems like a good review. I have invested in HDzero mostly because I’m betting on the future, hopefully it will keep improving.
Resolution looks only slightly better than good analog however HDZ doesn’t seem to have the annoying color bands and flashing that plaque’s analog.
I feel hdzero is new and just getting started. Its only going to get better, and i can't wait to see whats coming down the pike.
Analog isn’t replaced until there is a non proprietary or open spec for something better.
Whoops and toothpicks
It doesn't ship with 1 Watt output because it is illegal to run it at 1 Watt unless you are a licensed ham radio operator.
It's funny how after going on top of the parking garage the 2nd time with hd0 you say hey look snow, and wind and water like you didn't see it on analog when you were just there. So that does show the difference in image quality but is the weird bad break up worth the quality. That's for each pilot to decide...
Me I love them dji crumbs but I can't afford them so I fly analog mod in my dji goggles currently since my Vista and air units stopped working 😅
Did your dji go to the ground floor and above ? Or was it not necessary to test because it was obvious the penetration was hands down won by dji???
DJI went the exact same path as the other two.
Great job! But ill stick with my DJI,even knowing there is zero support.
Is it not possible to implement a fusion type function for HDzero which combines the best signal from each antenna?
It's absolutely doing that behind the scenes.
Really good video dude. I race analogue/HDZero and freestyle dji. You probably went easy on hdzero and I love HDZero 😂
Clear fair test, I think for penetration it went dji, analogue, hdzero.
very good and helpful video. made my choice so much easier. much appreciated and please keep up with the channel