Birds eye view takes on a new meaning

Last week DJI announced an all too cool new product for their Mavic Pro line of drones and while the new product looks like a virtual reality headset it’s actually not, although the similarities both in terms of look, and experience are very similar.

The new headset, dubbed “DJI Goggles” let the drone operator connect wirelessly to the company’s new foldable Mavic Pro drone, giving you a live, bird’s eye view from the camera – in stunning 1080p.

In drone circles it’s pretty common to see bespectacled pilots, especially in racing, where First Person View (FPV) is the only way to fly the drones at such breakneck speed but these are DJI’s, the worlds largest commercial drone manufacturer, stab at bringing those same experiences to the mass market and over time you can expect the headset to support even more of their drones.

As you can see the headset’s pretty chunky but the single adjustable hoop style headband apparently makes them much more comfortable than the typical headband that tends to press VR headsets against your face like some sucker cupped scuba mask.

On the inside are two 1080p panels, rather than one split screen, with an 85 degree field of view which while this is a little less than what you’d find in an Oculus Rift or Vive which offer around 90 to 100 degrees FOV it’s still pretty good.

Watching the demo the displays are incredibly bright and clear and the video feed beaming down from the Mavic soaring above looked crystal clear and the connection was faultless and using them to control your drone, especially when combined with audio commands gives you a much greater sensory experience that flying “stick”.

DJI hasn’t put a price sticker on the Goggles yet, or confirmed a release date, but at least you still have time to change your christmas list…