Until recently, FPV (first-person view) drones were a bit of a novelty, used mainly for racing and aerial cinematography. But for run-of-the-mill drone-loving flying enthusiasts? Not so much. The gear, which includes VR-like goggles that put video from the drone camera in your eyeballs and let you fly as if you’re seated in the drone, is typically too complicated for casual users. Even so, DJI has dipped its toes in the FPV business with last year’s racing-focused FPV Combo. But DJI is back with the all-new Avata, much more mellow aircraft that’s designed for the average drone enthusiast—the sort of person who loved flying radio controlled airplanes as a kid, and now wants to steer a drone around in the sky.

The DJI Avata puts you in the driver's seat with a VR-like headset. Drone Com Gps

The DJI Avata feels ground-breaking in a lot of ways. Its one-handed motion controller is intuitive enough to master in minutes, making it virtually effortless to fly. It includes a gimballed 4K camera that delivers excellent aerial video. And while $1,388 isn’t pocket change, the all-in cost is within reach of motivated enthusiasts with disposable income who want to take to the skies in first-person perspective. I’ve spent a month with DJI’s newest FPV drone and flown it in two states—California and Michigan. Read on for my review of the DJI Avata.

Dimensions: 3.2 x 7.1 x 7.1 inches | Weight: 14.3 ounces | Camera: 4K video, 12 megapixel still | Gimbal: 1-axis | Collision avoidance: None | Flight time: up to 18 minutes | Speed: 30mph (60mph in manual mode) | Storage: microSD, 20GB internal

The Avata comes in a couple of configurations, but most people should opt for the version I am reviewing here: The Pro-View Combo. That gives you everything you need to fly, including the drone, goggles and motion controller. The drone is also compatible with less expensive goggles, which you can find in the more modestly priced Fly Smart Combo.

The drone itself is squat and compact, looking a bit like an airborne pickup truck—the rotors are on the bottom and support a frame that’s almost entirely dedicated to the 2420-mAh brick-shaped battery. And it’s seemingly designed from the ground up to stand up to abuse. The beefy prop guards allow it to tolerate moderately high speed collisions without catastrophe, and even the battery has survivability in mind. The electrical attachment is flexible in a way that suggests it might allow the battery to be thrown clear without tearing the drone to pieces in the process.

The goggles are lightweight and comfortable thanks to the offboard battery—you connect it via a dangly USB cable and tuck it in your pocket. You will look like a dork while wearing them—that’s unavoidable—but they feature a sharp 1080p, 100 fps display and generous diopter controls. If the diopter range is insufficient for your particular eyesight, you can pop prescription lenses into the included removable frames. I wear glasses, and the diopter control was more than sufficient for my needs.

The business end of the Avata has a crisp, high-quality 4K camera.

The last major piece of the puzzle is the one-handed motion controller. It works like a joystick—move it forward and back or twist left and right to control the drone, and squeeze the very satisfying trigger to accelerate. There are a smattering of other buttons and controls on board, which you quickly learn to find by feel. You can start and strop video recording, for example, pause flight more or less on a dime with the Hold button, and of course return home and land automatically from anywhere during your sortie. And fear not—if you ignore the warnings and run the battery critically low, it’ll try to return home on its own before the battery gives out completely.

Because the Avata is focused on more casual flyers, I had hoped for a better out-of-box experience. But I’ll be honest: getting started with the Avata is a little intimidating. There’s no glossy quick-start guide, for example; just a brief set of instructions in an illegibly small font (seriously–I have no idea what any of it says) and a QR code to a collection of getting started videos. The videos are really good, though the main video you need to watch is way too long, and I had to watch it several times to make sure I understood everything I needed to know to get up and running.

Perhaps worse, DJI wedged the microSD card slot between the blades of one of the rotors. I cannot convey how challenging it is to insert and remove that memory card, or access the nearby USB-C port to transfer video to your computer after a flight.

Once you figure out how it all works, though, the Avata becomes a lot of fun. You manage most of the drone’s settings through an on-screen menu in the goggles, which you control by touch on the side of the googles. And the motion controller is pretty intuitive if you have any experience playing video games—just treat it like a joystick to go up, down, left and right. As the video emphasizes, you need to get used to controlling it by pivoting your wrist, rather than raising your arm up and down, but it’s a technique that’s easily mastered. And if you’ve never flown FPV before, you’re in for a treat. Point the small reticle where you want to go—like you’re in a fighter jet—and a small H overlays the scenery, always marking your take-off point so it’s almost impossible to get lost. The video is sharp and smooth, and other data, like battery remaining and recording status, always appear in the heads-up display as well.

The Motion Controller is like holding a wireless joystick.

The Avata seems born to fly low and (relatively) fast; you can certainly ascend to the heavens for a god’s eye view of your neighborhood, but the small airframe and 30 mph speeds beg you to weave through the trees like you're on Luke Skywalker’s speeder bike, and it’s genuinely small enough to thread through some tight spaces. I’ve always been wary of flying over water with other drones, but I now skim right over the surface of the local lake near my new home in Michigan and the resulting video is stunning.

If you do collide with something, the Avata can brush off some accidents and keep on chugging, though if it falls to the ground, there’s a clever “turtle” mode that can flip the drone over automatically if it lands upside down, and then take off again.

You get north of 15 minutes per charge, which might not sound like a lot, but it’s actually better than average for drones like this. The the Fly More Kit adds two additional batteries and a charging dock that can top off four batteries at once.

Of course, keep in mind that there are a lot of things to keep charged for a day in the air with Avata; in addition to the drone battery (and spares), there’s also the goggles and motion controller to top off as well, though both of those accessories will hold a charge for a full day of flying no matter how many spares you own for the Avata.

You might want the Avata just for buzzing around the skies, but you probably want to record some video, too. The drone is equipped with a 4K camera in the nose, and it has a 1-axis gimbal that you can control from the motion controller. The camera shoots very respectable video. It has a wide-angle 12mm focal length and a wide F2.8 aperture, making it versatile enough to handle a wide range of lighting conditions without generating a lot of noise. The video looks good, with lifelike and natural colors that should satisfy enthusiasts (but might leave pro cinematographers wanting more).

I had hoped to convey some of the thrill of flying the Avata in this review, but I can see that the words can’t possibly do justice to the thrill of zipping a few feet off the ground at 25 mph, dashing over a lake and flying past sailboats, then lifting high in the air and swooping back down towards the water. Or any other airborne adventure. There’s a real excitement to flying the Avata, all the more compelling because of the controls’ simplicity.

But the Avata is purpose-built around FPV, which means there are some common features you won’t find here. Don’t look for one-touch cinematic modes, for example, like the ability to track and follow a subject on the ground or to orbit a location. Likewise, it’s a good thing that this drone is built like a tank, because there’s no collision avoidance sensors, either. Want to fly directly into a tree or the broad side of a barn? Avata won’t stop you.

Which means you also need to fly this drone with care. It won’t pull its punches, so an irresponsible pilot can cause property damage or even collide with people on the ground. I’d advise flying away from city buildings, traffic and people. And of course, this is a DJI product, so it won’t even let you take off if you’re inside a known no-fly zone, such as within five miles of an airport. While I’m on the subject, this drone is heavy enough that it is subject to FAA registration. To avoid an eye-watering $250,000 fine, be sure you register your drone. It only costs $5.

Drone Camera For Photography All that said, this is a great little drone, ideal to give flying enthusiasts and homemade drone video shooters a really compelling flying machine. It’s not cheap, but if you are eager to fly a drone (safely and legally) and see the world through its eyes as if you were personally flying, I can’t think of a better option.