These are box goggles with a built-in Ascent receiver. When Caddx first launched Ascent, these were the only way to fly it. Now that the vRX and vRX Pro exist, you can fly Ascent with any goggles that have an HDMI input, so we’d only buy these if you’re starting from scratch and don’t own goggles yet.

Caddx has promised to release new Ascent goggles that can display 120fps feed and play audio from the vTX. They don’t exist yet, and we never make buying decisions based on promises of future products. For now, this is the only goggle you can buy with built-in Ascent receiver.

The vRX Pro is a standalone receiver for the Ascent system. Its job is to let you fly Ascent with goggles you already own. It works with any goggles that have an HDMI input — or any other display or screen.

The vRX Pro supports up to 720p and 1080p up to 120 fps. No FPV goggle can display 120 fps today, so most people will be flying at 60 or 100 fps, but Caddx has promised a new goggle that will work with the 120fps feed. Or you can use a gaming monitor that supports 120fps.

There’s a 1/4-20 thread on the bottom for mounting it on a tripod, but more likely you’ll find a way to attach it to your goggles (double-sided tape, a 3D print, whatever works). The DVR records to an SD card, and there’s a USB port for firmware updates and offloading footage.

My one gripe is the HDMI cable. The vRX has a full-size HDMI port, which is what you’d expect. But the cable it comes with is short and full-size on both ends. I can’t think of an FPV goggle with a full-size HDMI port, so that cable is basically useless without a mini adapter. Plan on buying a full-to-mini HDMI cable.

This is the standard version of the Ascent standalone receiver. Like the vRX Pro, its job is to let you fly Ascent with goggles you already own — anything with an HDMI input. The main difference between the standard vRX and the vRX Pro is that the vRX Pro supports up to 1080p120 fps while the standard vRX is capped at 1080p60fps. But the standard vRX can output 720p up to 120fps so the distinction really doesn’t seem to be that significant. Maybe more distinctions will appear in the future but for now, the Standard vRX seems like the value play.

The Ascent Lite+ kit is the lightweight vTX and camera for Walksnail’s Ascent video system. It’s tiny! The vTX and camera together weigh 10.2 grams — light enough to use on a 75mm Whoop, or even a 65mm if you’re willing to compromise handling and flight time a bit.

The Lite+ puts out up to 500 mW. (The original Ascent Lite only does 100 mW and is only about $5 cheaper, so we don’t see a point in buying the original Lite at this point).

Audio! The vTX records audio to the DVR, which a lot of people have been asking digital systems for, but it doesn’t transmit audio to the pilot. However, the as-yet-nonexistent new goggle is promised to have audio transmission to the pilot.

Range and penetration are impressive for 500 mW. It held in behind my house and barn better than I expected. I’d give the image quality somewhere around a 6 to 8 out of 10, where DJI is an 11.

This is what makes Caddx Ascent stand out — even compared to “big brother” systems like Avatar and DJI. 4 WATTS OF POWER! Want the most range and penetration you can get from a digital system? I can’t say for sure the GT Pro will beat a DJI O4, but with this much raw power, it seems like it might.

It’s the same Ascent video link as the Lite+, so it works with the Ascent receivers and goggles above. And it’s got the same issue with latency. But if you’re doing long-range, you probably don’t care about that. And even if you’re doing bando-freestyle, it’s hard to argue with the kind of penetration this much power will give you.

For a Whoop or a small quad, get the Lite+. Choose the GT Pro only if you need the range, and you have the room and the battery to run a 4W vTX.

These are BetaFPV’s standalone goggles for the P1 system, with the receiver built in. They’re box goggles. That means there’s one big screen sitting in front of your eyes. As box goggles go, they’re not bad, but box goggles usually don’t fit the face as well as binocular-style.

If you already own goggles with an HDMI input, you don’t need these. The P1 HD vRX will send the P1 signal into the goggles you have.

You should choose these if you’re looking to get into digital FPV as cheaply as possible, and you’ve settled on the P1 system over the Caddx Ascent system.

This is the standalone receiver for BetaFPV’s P1 system. Its job is to let you fly P1 with goggles you already own. It works with any goggles that have an HDMI input. It runs on 2S to 6S, and there’s a 1/4-20 thread for a tripod. This is the receiver I flew in my P1 review, and range and penetration were surprisingly good.

If you want to get into the P1 video system and you have an existing set of goggles with HDMI input, I would choose this vRX over the VR04 goggles. The latency may be slightly higher, but the ergonomics of your existing goggles are probably a lot better than the VR04.

The P1 is the lightweight vTX and camera for BetaFPV’s P1 digital system. It’s sized for Whoops and other micros.

The image looks good. Maybe not quite DJI good, but for the price, I was impressed. Range and penetration were shockingly good — it held in behind the building where my signal usually breaks up, on an omni antenna. As the signal gets weaker, the image gets blocky (like other digital FPV systems) but the framerate held stable until the signal was almost gone, so it remained fairly flyable.

The big limitation is power. This is a low-power vTX, so it’s for micros and cruising, not for pushing range. (In theory, ArtLynk lets you use a higher-powered vTX from HGLRC with the same goggles, but read the section intro above before you count on that.)

A 4.5-inch screen with a P1 receiver built in. It’s bright (1000 nits), it has a DVR, and it runs on 2S to 6S through an XT30 or a DC plug, so you can power it from a flight battery.

The catch: it has no HDMI output, and the P1 system has no spectator mode. So you can’t use it as a second screen for a friend while you fly off your goggles. You can’t even use it as a temporary screen while you’re working on your drone on the bench unless you re-bind your drone to it — which defeats the whole purpose of a bench screen for taking a quick look without putting on your goggles.

The only thing it’s good for is flying off it as your main screen, and most people won’t want to do that. So basically, you probably don’t want to buy it.

If you already own goggles with an HDMI input, get the P1 HD vRX instead.

In theory, this is the “big boy vTX” for people who’ve bought into the ArtLynk ecosystem. In reality, it just shows how far behind ArtLynk is compared to Caddx Ascent. The Draco only puts out 1W, compared to 4W for the Ascent GT Pro. And the firmware that’s supposed to guarantee cross-compatibility between ArtLynk vendors (BetaFPV goggles binding to HGLRC vTX) is riddled with issues.

If you want a higher-power vTX on a low-cost system, we’d look at Ascent first. Choose the Draco only if you’re already committed to ArtLynk.

The air unit and the receiver must run matching firmware, and the original V1.0 firmware doesn’t work with other ArtLynk gear. Make sure yours is on V2.0 or newer.

This is HGLRC’s standalone vRX for the ArtLynk system. Like the P1 HD vRX, it sends the picture to any goggles or screen with an HDMI input. It runs on 2S to 8S and records DVR to a microSD card. If you’re going to buy the Draco air unit, you might as well buy the Draco ground station, since it maximizes the chances that they’ll be compatible. But expect to run into issues binding to BetaFPV P1 air units on micro drones.

This is an analog vTX from Divimath, HDZero’s sister company. (It’s analog — it doesn’t work with the HDZero digital system.) It puts out up to 4 watts, and it has two outputs: one for 5.8 GHz and one for 3.3 GHz. Yes, 3.3 GHz is legal to use in the USA (for now), but even if you don’t intend to use it, this is still a very reasonably priced 5.8 GHz with a tremendously high output power in a tiny package.

In my testing, it had one of the cleanest and most stable signals I’ve seen.

How can such a powerful vTX be so reasonably priced? Basically every 5.8 GHz analog vTX uses the same RichWave chip, and the price of that chip recently went up about 5x. The days of the $15 analog vTX are gone. The Divimath vTX doesn’t use that chip at all. It uses custom silicon developed by Divimath.

Bonus: you can type in any frequency from about 4900 to 6030 MHz — not just standard ones–and it supports both SmartAudio and Tramp, so it just works with Betaflight.

Every time this cable shows up in one of my videos, people ask where I got it. It’s a power cable for your goggles (or anything with this kind of barrel jack), with a little display that shows your battery voltage and how many amps and watts your goggles are pulling. You’ll never plug in a dead battery without noticing.

It’s legitimately well made: a nice metal case, epoxied (not hot-glued!) strain relief, and a braided or smooth silicone wrap in a ton of colors. There’s no voltage regulator inside — it passes battery voltage straight through — so it won’t help if your goggles can’t take your native battery voltage.

The catch is the price: about $60, depending on options, at the time of writing. I bought two. Is it worth it, or is that stupid? You decide.

This is my ultimate travel iron. It takes standard JBC C245 tips, which have amazing heat performance, and it runs them at full power (about 140 W) off USB-PD or DC through its USB-C port. I run mine off a 6S LiPo with a USB-C to XT60 cable, and it heats up crazy fast. It’s beautifully built, too.

Two things to know. If you run it off a LiPo, go into the settings and set Work Vol to max — on Auto, mine limited itself to about 68 W. From the wall, you’ll need a 140 W USB-PD charger for full power (but it will still work great on lower-power USB-PD adapters). And the tips my kit came with are tiny, so pick up some beefier C245 tips if you’re going to work on larger wires and pads.

My kit didn’t come with a USB-C to XT60 cable, and I couldn’t easily find one to buy. So I bought a bare-wire USB-C cable and soldered my own XT60 to it. It’s linked below.

JBC makes some of the best soldering irons you can buy. What makes them so special is their tip design. The heater and temperature sensor are built right into the tip, and the heat delivery is incredible. It wakes from sleep and is back at temperature in about three seconds, and it tins a 12-gauge wire at just 325°C.

Problem is, JBC irons are $600+. But there are a bunch of Chinese irons that use the same tip design — or even authentic JBC tips — and have nearly-equal performance! The Sugon T21 runs about $100 (if you buy it from AliExpress; it’s more on Amazon). Honestly, it made me better at soldering. It’s my new daily driver.

If you work on anything but micro drones, make sure your kit comes with the C245 handle. It has higher wattage and uses larger tips. The tips that came with my T21 kit were too small for my use, so I bought some aftermarket C245 tips. You can spend $50 on authentic JBC tips if you want to. They’ll probably last longer, but oof the price.

The links below are to several irons, not just the T21. They all use JBC-style tips and have equal performance. The T21 is my daily driver, but I don’t like that its brass bristle is permanently affixed to the base. If I were buying today, I’d look hard at the Sugon A9, which is a much more faithful copy of the JBC base design — but I haven’t personally used it.

The TX16S Mk3 is RadioMaster’s flagship, and the biggest radio they make. It’s the most like a “traditional” RC controller. It has more switches, knobs, and sliders than any of RadioMaster’s other radios. If you fly planes with retracts, flaps, and lights, it has enough controls to do it. For FPV drones, it may be overkill, depending on how complicated your setup is.

The big 5″ color touchscreen makes configuring the radio faster and more convenient, and you can set up your own screens of widgets. On the flip-side, lots of people get on just fine with the smaller black and white displays on other radios. And the larger screen runs the battery down faster.

The Mk3 has a built in ExpressLRS module. For any other protocol, you’ll need to use its external module bay. Its built-in module is dual-band — 2.4 GHz and 900 MHz — with Gemini-X up to 1W. It’s also got dual cross-polarized antennas (one is in the handle!). It’ll give as much range and penetration as almost any ELRS radio made today.

The standard Mk3 has Hall effect gimbals. They’re “fine” but not “premium”. The Max upgrades to AG02 gimbals, with a CNC metal frame, so they feel weighty and have zero play at the end points. My opinion is that premium gimbals are like leather upholstery in a car. They don’t make you a better pilot, but it sure feels nice every time you interact with them. If you can’t afford them, you’ll still be able to do everything you want with the standard gimbals.

If you don’t need all those controls, we think the GX15 or the Boxer Crush will serve most pilots better, in a smaller package and at a lower price.

The GX12 is my daily driver. But it might not be yours. One reason I love it is its size. The gimbals and antenna fold, and it’s short enough to slide into a standard backpack without a dedicated compartment. But it doesn’t give up controls to get there. It has plenty of switches, sliders you can reach while flying, a 6-position button bank, and extra momentary switches that I use a lot. The catch: to make it compact, the switches are micro-size, and the screen is a small black and white OLED. I’m fine with these tradeoffs to clear up a bunch of space in my backpack.

The built-in ELRS module has two dual-band, 1W radios with Gemini. It can run on 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz. The built-in, foldable antennas give up performance for size, and I’ve noticed some reduction in range compared to radios with a full size antenna.

The GX12 has its own CNC metal Hall effect gimbals, and they’re okay, but you can’t get AG01 or AG02 gimbals for it.

If you want one radio that does everything and still fits in your bag, this is the one we recommend. If you want a color touchscreen, look at the TX15 or the TX16S.

The Boxer is one of my favorite radios. It was my daily driver for about 2 years. It’s much more compact than the TX16S, while still being big enough to not feel like a “game controller” style radio in the hand. It feels solid, especially when combined with the AG01 gimbals. It has a mid-sized B&W screen–much smaller than the TX16S, but larger than the tiny screen on radios like the GX12. The battery bay is big enough to hold a 5000 mAh LiPo (sold by Radiomaster) so it lasts for a LONG time. And it can be purchased with a 1W built-in 2.4 GHz ELRS module, so you can get just about the most range you can possibly get on ELRS, without having to put an external module into your module bay.

What’s to dislike? The radio has four toggle switches on the front face, but the two shoulder switches are flat and press into the body of the controller. To me, this makes the left shoulder switch unsuitable for use as an arming switch, because to disarm, you have to push in, then release. In my opinion, arming and disarming should always be a single movement, so you can disarm as quickly as possible. On top of this, I find it difficult to press the shoulder switch without repositioning my hand off the gimbal.

Speaking of missing controls, the Boxer has no sliders that are accessible during flight. There are two potentiometer knobs on the face of the radio, but you can’t easily access them without taking your hand of the stick. So if you wanted to adjust a camera gimbal while flying you’d have a difficult time.

I’m also frustrated by the Boxer’s antenna. It comes with a very high-quality antenna that screws onto an plug on top of the radio. But the antenna eventually got damaged because every time I put the radio in my backpack, it bent over. I ended up using a 3D print to put the Pocket’s folding antenna onto my Boxer and, although I did see some reduction in range, the convenience was more than worth it.

The Boxer Crush adds AG01 gimbals and, somehow, lowers the price compared to the original Boxer. So umm. Yeah. Buy that instead. But carefully compare vs. the TX15 first!

The TX15 is about the size of the Boxer Crush, but with a big color touchscreen instead of the Crush’s small black-and-white screen. The TX15’s ergonomics are damn near perfect. It’s more rounded, while the Crush is more angular. I love how the TX15 fits my hand.

The built-in ELRS module does both 2.4 GHz and 900 MHz, so it’ll bind with basically any ELRS receiver. It’s only got one radio though, so it can’t do Gemini. We don’t think that’s a big deal for most hobbyists. It has the same 1W max power as most other ELRS radios. The antenna folds, making it easier to pack.

The TX15 is missing some controls. There are no sliders and only one momentary switch, so if you run a complicated setup, you may run out. The shoulder switches are flat, like the Boxer Crush’s, but plates in the box let you swap in standard toggle switches.

Like other RadioMaster radios, the Max version adds AG02 gimbals and metal buttons. The standard version has Hall effect gimbals, which are fine, if a little less premium.

If you want a color touchscreen in a mid-size radio, this is a great choice. If you want more controls in a smaller radio, or Gemini, get the GX12. If you want everything this radio has and MORE, in a larger package, get the TX16S Mk3.

The main selling point of the GX15 is its color touchscreen, located at the top of the radio, where it’s easy to read while you fly. That matters most if you fly line of sight, and RadioMaster built this radio with traditional RC pilots in mind. The other change they made was to limit its ELRS output power to 250 mW, which means you’ll get about half the range of a typical 1W ELRS radio. And it’s 2.4 GHz only. Based on that, we don’t think this radio is ideal for FPV pilots, and it’s certainly not for long-range pilots. But it’ll be fine if you’ve decided you HAVE TO have it.

The GX15 looks like it’s the same size as the GX12, but it isn’t. When you take into account the screen on top, it’s almost the size of the TX16S Mk3. And that determines how much space it’ll take up in your pack. That extra size gets you full-size switches, a two-position switch on the left shoulder for arming, and the option of AG02 gimbals.

The Max has AG02 gimbals and metal buttons and knobs. Like leather upholstery in your car, they’re nice to have, but won’t make you a better pilot. The standard version does exactly the same things for less money.