u/Kababinator

Hi!

I am new to the hobby and looking to get my first drone. I put over 20 hours on the simulator with my radio controller and I think I am ready for a 3.5" drone.

I put together (with the help of ChatGPT) a list of stuff to get for a decent start with future-proof items that should include anything I need to start flying (I believe in buy-once-cry-once). In the future, I'd also like to fly FPV planes (hence the big radio controller and head-tracking capable goggles). The analog goggles I chose can also be upgraded later with a digital system.

I'd appreciate any feedback on this list. What's missing, what can be better for the price, what's overkill, etc...

Question: the drone comes with the Caddx Ant camera and I want to swap it out for the Foxeer Nano Predator 5. Is that an easy unplug-plug-in swap, or is there soldering involved?

Thank you in advance!

General items, needed for both FPV drone and FPV Plane:

• Battery charger (Drone, plane, & goggles batteries) - ISDT D2 Mark 2 LiPo Battery Balance Charger Duo Discharger Dual 200W 12A2 AC Dual Channel Output 1-6S Li-ion Life NiCd NiMH LiHV PB Smart Battery - $89
• Parallel charging board - HGLRC Thor 6 Port Lipo Battery Balance Charger Board Pro 40A XT60 XT30 Plug 2-6S Integrated with Lipo Discharger for IMAX B6 ISDT Q6 Nano HOTA D6 Pro P6 - $39
• Controller - Radiomaster TX16S mk III - $220
• Batteries for Controller - RADIOMASTER TX16S Battey 5000mAh 2S 7.4V XT30 - $25
• FPV Goggles - Skyzine Sky04X Pro - $520
• Batteries for Goggles - Explorer 4S 3000mAh 18650 Li-Ion Battery with XT30 Connector - $64
• Omni antenna for goggles (2 pack) - FOXEER FPV Antenna Lollipop 4 Updated Version 5.8GHz RHCP 2.5Dbi SMA - $20
• Patch antenna for goggles - TrueRC X-AIR MK. II 5.8GHz Antenna - RHCP - 0.9 - $30
• LiPo battery bag - Tenergy - $10 for 2 bags
• LiPo Voltage checker - RC Cellmeter 8 Digital Battery Capacity Checker Controller * Tester Voltage Tester for LiPo Life Li-ion NiMH Nicd Cell Meter (8 in 1 cellmeter) - $12
• Smoke Stopper - VIFLY ShortSaver V2 Smart Smoke Stopper - $12

$1041 of "reusable" stuff

Drone specific items:

• Drone - DarwinFPV BabyApe Ⅲ Pro 3.5 Inch ELRS - $193
  • Includes:
    • Camera (will be immediately upgraded) - Caddx Ant 
    • VTX - DarwinFPV 5.8G 1.2W 
    • VTX Antenna - DarwinFPV 5.8G "Quantum"

   

• X4 Batteries for drone, 150C - Tattu 850mAh 150C 14.8V 4S Lipo Battery XT30U-F Plug - $84
• X2 Batteries for drone, 95C - TATTU R-Line 850mAh 14.8V 95C 4S LiPo Battery Pack with XT30 Plug - $44
• X16 pairs Drone props - Gemfan Hurricane 3520 - $42
• X4 pairs Drone props (extra, different kind) -  8pcs HQProp T3.5X2.5X3 3.5 Inch- $11
• Drone camera upgrade -  Foxeer Nano Predator 5 - $49
• Battery straps - 5 pack of 220x20mm - $11

$434 of drone specific stuff 

Misc

• Toolkit, including small bits of all relevant kinds and torque driver
• Zipties