Is a HT Pan/Tilt worth it?

[HerkyBird]

I'm just getting the gear ready for my first fixed wing FPV foray (a Skywalker 1880) and I've realised as I'm using Attitudes and a ExUHF I could go for a Head Tracked Pan/Tilt set-up. Is it worth it for a newbie? Will I regret not giving it a go? Should I keep it simple and just go fixed?

[stevec]

Keep it simples to start off mate.
It can be a bit overwhelming if you are flying in a different direction to where you are looking.  In my opinion you should be able to fly without thinking too much about it before you add HT you will find you curl up when you are flying with goggles on until you can keep straight you will be fighting it.

Cheers Steve

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[FlightyFishcake]

Yes, but... I'd suggest starting with fixed and then moving to pan / tilt when you're ready.

Speaking from experience, thinking pan and tilt would be really cool. Spending ages faffing round getting it set up. Then discovering it added a load more complexity than I could handle.  :+

I needed to sort out a bunch of other things first. Like learning to fly properly and getting used to everything else that's going on.

[MarkLloyd]

I found pan and tilt a great help right from the very start.  The ability to pick out landmarks and identify where you are just by turning your head instead of having to turn the plane has been a great help many times, especially when I was starting to get lost.  It seems so natural. 

When I'm driving my car I turn my head to look at things around me.  Once,  to test which was best, I did try keeping my head rigidly fixed pointing straight forward, turning the car instead,  left and right to look at things around me.  When I got out of hospital I swore I'd always use the head turning method, for both FPV and driving.

[subarubren]

no harm in putting it on, at least its there if you want it,,, if you dont just leave it alone

[Coyote]

I wouldn`t at first, it just throws you off and can get you into trouble trying to fly a plane when the horizon is all over the place because of your head tracker.

I like head tracking, its OK, but the novelty wore off pretty quick and now I don`t use it any more 

[rob.thomson]

Agreed.  I have taken it off my models.  Just more to go wrong!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Ynot6]

how about pan on aileron, tilt on elevator. that should give just enough extra vision. i did it on my buggy, it's a bit much to pan manually, but a mix from the steering is spot on.

[_tj_]

Another factor.

If you do put it on.
Use a smooth servo.

Nothing worse, including remote pan n tilt, than a jittery servo.
Bouncing the view whilst it rotates.

Mind you.

I tend to only use pan.
I like to look around, but not worried a about tilt.
I'll look up when I pull up etc lol

[Loopdreams]

I only have pan on mine which I operate manually with the rudder stick, I have a mix to turn it off when I want rudder control instead.  I love it though, looking straight down at the ground through steep turns or out to the left watching the horizon spin round through loops.  It just reminds me more of flying full size planes and adds loads to the atmosphere of it all.

[BlueFlyer]

Once,  to test which was best, I did try keeping my head rigidly fixed pointing straight forward, turning the car instead,  left and right to look at things around me.  When I got out of hospital I swore I'd always use the head turning method, for both FPV and driving.

not sure if that's a joke or whether it really happened. either way... more fool you.

driving a car and flying a RC foam aircraft are 2 extremely different things, no where near comparable.

I'm like loopdreams, I have pan only and on the rudder stick, with a programmed switch to swap between rudder control and camera panning.

I only use pan when I'm flying high and slow, for a look around, just for the fun of it most of the time, but rarely for navigation purposes.

I find my head ends up in a comfortable slightly angled down position when flying, if I had a head tracker the camera would be all over the place lol.

[MarkLloyd]

Crikey, it's the humour police...... no, in case you're really not sure and might be actually be daft enough to try it, it was a joke...... I'll use a smiley next time so you know! :D   

Anyway, I wouldn't say driving a car, walking or flying a plane fpv are incomparible in that the simple point I'm making is that it is the most natural thing, from millions of years of evolution to just turn your head,  IF you should feel the need to look around or see which way to go.

Of course not everyone chooses to use pan or pan & tilt and I tend to use it most on my slow easystar when I'm pottering around and want to enjoy the view, but I think it's worth trying early on to see whether one finds it useful or not or how else will you know ?  Then it's down to personal preference.

With the attitude goggles and others I presume, it's easy to activate / deactivate/ centre  at the push of a button on the goggles without having to program it to a stick which in my opinion adds another level of complication and something else for fingers and thumbs....  I find there's no complication or even a seconds thought with moving my head left and right... so long as you can program it in the first place.

I agree with the point made about getting a good quality , non jittery servo there's nothing worse than having the thing wobbling around and it's better if there's a point of reference for the centre ie the nose of the plane.  It's a minor thing but I like on the flight vids getting a nice shot looking around to review the scenery or a good down the wing shot,  it just adds a bit to the vid and gives more of a feeling of having a bird's eye view.

End of the day, it's down to personal preference.

For those who haven't tried it ....a bit of pan and tilt on this long boring vid ..... skip to about 5 mins for pure pan and tilt adrenaline (joke)   :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoxLMephVu8

Regards

Mark

[BlueFlyer]

yup, the inability to understand the correct tone from the typed word has caused many spats on here... apologies for jumping on you. :)

I see what you're saying in terms of what comes natural, but then I also agree with what you went on to say about personal preference... many people fine FPV so natural because we're of the playstation generation... i.e. flight simulators, console games and the like... the view one gets from the fixed camera on a skywalker for example is the same as the one you invariably get from one of these games, only recently have they brought head tracking movement in computer games to the mainstream (occulus rift).

Personally, I'm used to moving a thumb/joy stick around to take a look at my environment as I play a lot of computer games. The older generation (no offence guys lol ;) ) may lean toward Head Tracking because they're not used to that sensation of keeping their head still and using manual commands to look around.

[dogzilla]

I haven't got a pan tilt yet but I voted yes because I'm dying to get one now having flown for some years without. Now I need to get on the bandwagon big time :)

However if you are just starting out, no. Before you start messing with head tracking I think you really need to be comfortable with flying and get some experience under your belt in my opinion, that isn't to say you need to take years, just that you should fly with out first once you are comfortable flying and think you are ready to add the pan/tilt in.

[FPVSteve]

I have pan only, on one of the dials on my 9x ...

I use the left one because I have to take my finger off the throttle to use it, and I figure my right hand should stay on the sticks so that I still have control over pitch + roll while I'm panning around, the throttle stays stuck wherever I leave it so I can look around at will ;)