Starting out, what to buy and how to start a club!

Joined
Dec 29, 2023
Messages
5
Reaction score
6
Age
45
Location
Lancaster area
So, I'm looking for advice on my first racing/ freestyle setup (I already have a mini 2 which I use for camera and video stuff for my work).. I am a complete noob with regards to fpv tho.

I've bought myself a 'drone mask' headset to use with the mini 2 to give myself a taste of the fpv experience, this only arrived the other day so I'm dying to take the drone out with it but it has rained constantly since it arrived so haven't had chance to even do this yet! However, I'm also aware that although this will give me a great immersive experience, I'll still just be flying my mini 2 camera drone and it won't give me the fpv freestyle/ racing experience, so I'm looking to buy my first proper set up with a view to having some freestyle fun (once I've done the obligatory 10 hours + in the sim of course) and hopefully setting up a little local racing club.

I live in the countryside (in the very top corner of Lancashire, just on the Cumbria and Yorkshire borders), so am surrounded by open space, fields, empty farm buildings- just the perfect place to set up some little race courses. I've even bought some inflatable hoops and drone gates in the hope I can begin flying round them with the mini 2 to capture and upload footage to hopefully attract others to come form a little racing club..

So, alongside this I wanna be putting together a nice little low budget beginners freestyle / racing setup.. This is what I'm looking at now after a lot of chopping and changing my mind on stuff:

1. For freestyle or outdoor racing: This Darwin Baby Ape RTF kit:

[£295.70] Darwinfpv BabyApe Ⅱ Analog 156mm F4 4S 3.5 Inch Freestyle FPV Racing Drone ELRS RTF with VR009 5.8G FPV Goggles Radiomaster TX12 MARK II Radio Transmitter RC Drones from Toys Hobbies and Robot on banggood.com

2. Some kinda whoop as a little indoor racing drone for going round these courses I'm building in the barns - I liked the look of the mobula 6, 7 or 8 (not really sure which would be most suitable)..

My first question is - Would I just be able to get a BNF version of one of these little Mobula things and have it work straight outta the box with the transmitter and goggles from the rtf baby ape? If the answer to this is yes then great, my second question would be which mobula whoop would you guys recommend for my racing round barn buildings scenario?

However, if the answer is no, question number 3 is what would the solution be? I really don't wanna get into too much electronics, soldering etc at this stage as I'm just keen to get started, but would there be another way of maybe buying a tx and goggles seperately, that would be compatible with 2 similar drones..

My budget is £500ish tops for everything which is why the baby ape rtf at £295 and one of the little mobulas for around about the £100 mark seemed ideal..

Also, while I'm on a roll with the questions!..:

Q5. Would the drone mask thing that I've bought for the mini 2 work with any real fpv drones in place of analogue goggles (got a feeling this may be a stupid question but please bear with me as I am admittedly completely clueless at this stage!).

Q6. I know I need to get on the simulator
to get my hours of practice in before I take to the air with either of these things.. I have a mac tho, not a PC.. The main ones I'm hearing of are Liftoff, DRL and velocidrone.. Which would you guys recommend for learning (ideally id like it to have the same drone loaded as im gonna be flying, will all of these have the baby ape and the mobula? Are any of these more suited to mac and will the TX12 transmitter that comes with the babyape rtf have a connector to use with them (does it just use a USB port)..?

That'll do it for now.. Hopefully it will have cured my insomnia as I've written this at 3am after waking up in the night!

Really hope some of you guys will have some advice for me as I feel like I've done hours of researching and video watching already and am dying to get going with this exciting new hobby.. I'll link to the vids of my course building efforts when I get them set up and can meander round them in the mini 2!
 
Last edited:
Welcome from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA.

I am sorry that I cannot answer any of your questions, but it would seem that with your interest that you should start visiting the areas where these events are occurring… If you were interested in getting your pilots license to fly an airplane, you would go visit an airport. Also, YouTube is a good source to see the type of action you are interested in and those videos often have links to get more information.

Good Luck
 
Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!
 
  • Like
Reactions: LoudThunder
Welcome from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA.

I am sorry that I cannot answer any of your questions, but it would seem that with your interest that you should start visiting the areas where these events are occurring… If you were interested in getting your pilots license to fly an airplane, you would go visit an airport. Also, YouTube is a good source to see the type of action you are interested in and those videos often have links to get more information.

Good Luck
Thanks,

Yeah I've been looking for local events.. There aren't any! I live quite remote. I'm gonna get myself off to something further afield when I can tho.. And yeah, I've been watching loads of YouTube!

Cheers,
G
 
  • Like
Reactions: LoudThunder
So, I'm looking for advice on my first racing/ freestyle setup (I already have a mini 2 which I use for camera and video stuff for my work).. I am a complete noob with regards to fpv tho.

I've bought myself a 'drone mask' headset to use with the mini 2 to give myself a taste of the fpv experience, this only arrived the other day so I'm dying to take the drone out with it but it has rained constantly since it arrived so haven't had chance to even do this yet! However, I'm also aware that although this will give me a great immersive experience, I'll still just be flying my mini 2 camera drone and it won't give me the fpv freestyle/ racing experience, so I'm looking to buy my first proper set up with a view to having some freestyle fun (once I've done the obligatory 10 hours + in the sim of course) and hopefully setting up a little local racing club.

I live in the countryside (in the very top corner of Lancashire, just on the Cumbria and Yorkshire borders), so am surrounded by open space, fields, empty farm buildings- just the perfect place to set up some little race courses. I've even bought some inflatable hoops and drone gates in the hope I can begin flying round them with the mini 2 to capture and upload footage to hopefully attract others to come form a little racing club..

So, alongside this I wanna be putting together a nice little low budget beginners freestyle / racing setup.. This is what I'm looking at now after a lot of chopping and changing my mind on stuff:

1. For freestyle or outdoor racing: This Darwin Baby Ape RTF kit:

[£295.70] Darwinfpv BabyApe Ⅱ Analog 156mm F4 4S 3.5 Inch Freestyle FPV Racing Drone ELRS RTF with VR009 5.8G FPV Goggles Radiomaster TX12 MARK II Radio Transmitter RC Drones from Toys Hobbies and Robot on banggood.com

2. Some kinda whoop as a little indoor racing drone for going round these courses I'm building in the barns - I liked the look of the mobula 6, 7 or 8 (not really sure which would be most suitable)..

My first question is - Would I just be able to get a BNF version of one of these little Mobula things and have it work straight outta the box with the transmitter and goggles from the rtf baby ape? If the answer to this is yes then great, my second question would be which mobula whoop would you guys recommend for my racing round barn buildings scenario?

However, if the answer is no, question number 3 is what would the solution be? I really don't wanna get into too much electronics, soldering etc at this stage as I'm just keen to get started, but would there be another way of maybe buying a tx and goggles seperately, that would be compatible with 2 similar drones..

My budget is £500ish tops for everything which is why the baby ape rtf at £295 and one of the little mobulas for around about the £100 mark seemed ideal..

Also, while I'm on a roll with the questions!..:

Q5. Would the drone mask thing that I've bought for the mini 2 work with any real fpv drones in place of analogue goggles (got a feeling this may be a stupid question but please bear with me as I am admittedly completely clueless at this stage!).

Q6. I know I need to get on the simulator
to get my hours of practice in before I take to the air with either of these things.. I have a mac tho, not a PC.. The main ones I'm hearing of are Liftoff, DRL and velocidrone.. Which would you guys recommend for learning (ideally id like it to have the same drone loaded as im gonna be flying, will all of these have the baby ape and the mobula? Are any of these more suited to mac and will the TX12 transmitter that comes with the babyape rtf have a connector to use with them (does it just use a USB port)..?

That'll do it for now.. Hopefully it will have cured my insomnia as I've written this at 3am after waking up in the night!

Really hope some of you guys will have some advice for me as I feel like I've done hours of researching and video watching already and am dying to get going with this exciting new hobby.. I'll link to the vids of my course building efforts when I get them set up and can meander round them in the mini 2!
FPV racing is not my thing, but I applaud your energy. Lumping questions 1,2,3 together, I would say yes, go for your suggested kit of drone, transmitter and goggles, but in addition go for 1 or even 2 cheap baby drones which you can crash before starting on the main drone. Have a look at Drone Simulators: A Complete Guide [Updated for 2024] for a review of simulators. Finally, you must obey the law and fly only with an observer present, unless you are in a cordoned-off "sterile" area THE definitive guide to FPV Rules in the UK. Have fun.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
1,286
Messages
3,937
Members
1,581
Latest member
bbaugh66