dji googles

dji googles

Before the DJI Mavic Pro was even available for purchase, DJI teased us with the DJI Goggles – a VR headset that can be used as an FPV display while flying your drone. One of the early intro videos for the Mavic Pro showed the goggles in action, but that was about all we got.

Several months later, DJI made them official. Starting May 20, 2017, your very own set of DJI Goggles can be in the mail for $449 or less. We’ve got our set, and we’re itching to put them to use. Join us for our DJI Goggles review.

Several months in, we are still using our Goggles faithfully. Thing is, we use them for other things more than we do to fly our Mavic Pro, I suppose that’s the value of this purchase. A great new price and great new drones to work with your Goggles.

Buy DJI Goggles

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New DJI Goggles Racing Edition

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That’s right, DJI is supporting the racing crowd with an updated version of their Goggles. It’s the same great base headset that you’re about to read about below, but add in mount for racing antenna, racing frequencies, a camera and transmitter for your drone and, most importantly, reduced latency. If you need the improved performance for the race track, can can handle the exta hundred dollars to the price tag, the DJI Goggles RE could be the ticket.

DJI Goggles RE announced

We went hands-on with the DJI Goggles back at the NAB Show 2017 in Las Vegas in April. DJI had the headset at their booth the day they were announced to the public. We got to see how they worked with a Mavic Pro, but that was about all.

Our set of DJI Goggles arrived the same day as the launch event for the DJI Spark. As you can imagine, it was one crazy fun week.

Overview

The DJI Goggles are a VR headset that, in the words of our Joshua Vergara, “look just like the Sony Playstation VR Headset.” There is some truth to this, and we think that’s a good thing. Primarily, we love that both headsets clamp to your head, allowing the display unit to hang in front of your face. This, instead of clamping to your face directly, adds to the comfort, making it easier to wear the headset longer.

Functionality is the key to the DJI Goggles. FPV goggles, or VR headsets if you will, are fairly common in the drone market. Players like Fat Shark have been key in the racing circuit, and manufacturers like Parrot and Yuneec have their own branded headsets to accompany their drones. These offerings have been, with few exceptions, a one-to-one connection, drone to headset, but DJI has more to offer.

OcuSync is the name of the connection technology DJI uses. It’s a proprietary setup that allows a drone like the Mavic Pro to connect to more than one peripheral, and at great lengths. Specifically, you connect the Mavic Pro to two DJI Goggles, enjoying HD livestreaming video over short distances, or 720p video at a mile or more out.

What you see inside the goggles is as a massive display. A Full HD resolution image is put in front of each eye with a combined experience as a 1080p display. The image is, as I say, massive. DJI says it is like looking at a 216-inch panel at just 3 meters away from you. I can certainly confirm that you must actively move your eyes to see corner to corner, it’s not a stretch, but it’s certainly immersive.

One of our favorite features, the DJI Goggles can be used to control the Mavic Pro. Perhaps not the entire drone, but you can control the gimbal and even turn the craft all with your head movement. Head Tracking allows the camera to point where your head points, but the pilot with remote control still flies the craft.

Finally, after we talk about connecting wirelessly to your Mavic Pro, or to the new Spark, we should mention that there is an HDMI port. That’s right, the DJI Goggles can be used as a monitor for near any video source. We’ve tested with our computers and are just waiting on the connector cable to try out the Chromecast.

Safety

Please note, while the DJI Goggles are a great way to experience your drone flight, it is still unlawful in the United States, and now Canada, to fly without direct line-of-sight to your drone. You will want to share the Goggles with a friend or find a trusted spotter to fly legally.