CAMERA CAR
Spektrum FPV on the Trail
Chances are you’ve already heard of “FPV” or first-person view, since it’s been a big hit for years with fly guys and especially drone pilots—the whole drone-racing scene is built around the concept of “first-person” flight. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from strapping an FPV system into a car or truck, and as I discovered when reviewing the Spektrum rig here, it’s surprisingly easy to install the gear and get behind a set of goggles. Here’s how it went…
THE GOGGLES: FOCAL V2 FPV WIRELESS HEADSET
Spektrum tapped popular FPV gear maker Fat Shark to develop the Focal V2 headset, and it’s a sturdy but not-heavy-feeling unit that includes a 2S 1800mah Lipo for power. A charger is not provided, but the pack’s standard balance plug makes it easy to use an RC battery charger to juice it up. You’ll also need to stick the fabriccovered-foam comfort padding into place and install the mushroom-shaped antenna, which simply threads onto a jack in the headset. The final step is setting the interpupillary distance (IPD)—A fancy term for how far apart your eyeballs are. Just move the sliders on the headset to position the tiny screens so that they line up with your eyes—nothing to it. I took the extra step of installing the optional Diopter Lens Kit, which allows nearsighted Mr. Magoo types (like me) to see the FPV images clearly. The kit includes three sets of slip-in lenses (–2, –4, and –6), which install in a few seconds. I’m very nearsighted, but the –6 lenses sharpened everything right up.
THE CAMERA: SPEKTRUM VA2510
As you can see from the shots of the camera installed on my Vaterra Ascender, the VA2510 doesn’t need a lot of room. It can be servotaped into place, but I opted for the security of Spektrum’s optional heavy-duty Cage Mount, which secures the camera with three screws and provides rollover protection. I mounted the camera on top of the roof to take in more of the terrain, but the mount can also be used to suspend the camera within the body to look through the wind-