A number of new FPV techniques launched over the previous few months are based mostly on the Artosyn chipset and share very related efficiency and picture high quality. Certainly one of these is the BetaFPV Artlynk system. Very inexpensive and really light-weight which is ideal for FPV drones. On this evaluation, I’ll take a fast take a look at how the Artlynk performs and whether or not it’s for you.
The place to Purchase
There are presently VTX, FPV goggles, and BNF drones accessible.
P1 Air Unit HD VTX:
VR04 HD FPV Goggles:
Meteor75 Professional with P1 Air Unit:
Aquila20 HD FPV Equipment:
Picture High quality
Artlynk’s picture high quality is noticeably higher than analog. You possibly can see objects farther away and branches extra clearly, and the dynamic vary is sort of good. It’s not on the identical degree as DJI O4, after all, however for a price range system, it’s very spectacular.
I examined the Artlynk system on the Aquila20 HD drone.
Vary
The marketed vary is 400m+ (the Aquila20 drone), however in my testing I used to be in a position to fly past 500m whereas nonetheless sustaining first rate sign. The Aquila20 makes use of a PCB antenna that’s mounted in a considerably questionable and less-than-ideal place, and the goggles include two fundamental dipole antennas.
With higher antennas and improved antenna placement, I’m assured you could possibly obtain nice vary. And that is solely at 200mW—think about higher-power VTX choices are launched sooner or later, long-range efficiency is very potential.
Identical to DJI and Walksnail, when sign will get weak you get yellow/crimson gentle on the edges of the display screen as visible warning which is useful.
Latency
Throughout flight, latency is noticeably increased than analog—and even increased than DJI O4. This forces you to decelerate when doing something that requires precision, resembling flying by way of gaps. I did get used to it after a number of flights, however it undoubtedly makes flying a bit tougher.
While you’re simply cruising, nevertheless, the latency is way much less noticeable and is completely flyable.
To be extra thorough, I measured glass-to-glass latency (digicam to goggles) of some in style FPV techniques utilizing an motion digicam recording at 240fps (outcomes are ± 4ms):
- DJI O4 (100fps): 33ms
- DJI O4 (60fps): 50ms
- Analog: 17ms
- Artlynk: 67ms
As anticipated, Artlynk has the very best latency on this comparability—nearly double that of DJI O4 in 100fps mode. That mentioned, if you happen to usually fly DJI at 60fps, you most likely wouldn’t thoughts the small quantity of further latency.
Because it stands, I feel Artlynk is best fitted to fixed-wing, or slow-cruising FPV drones. It’s not your best option for racing, bando flying, or something time-critical.
Video Recording
Sadly, the P1 Air Unit doesn’t have onboard video recording. The one approach to report footage is by way of the goggles’ DVR. This implies video high quality is immediately affected by sign power—when the sign degrades, the recording can develop into blurry and even stutter. That is clearly not superb for anybody in search of the very best potential high quality footage, however for informal pilots it’s acceptable.
Goggles DVR recordings are captured at 1080p 60fps, and you may choose bitrate between 8Mbps and 24Mbps. The next bitrate improves picture element and readability, however solely marginally, as proven in my zoomed-in comparisons.
Betaflight OSD will not be burned into the DVR footage.
As a substitute, an SRT subtitle file is saved alongside every DVR video. Word that it’s not Betaflight OSD knowledge. This file solely incorporates telemetry knowledge resembling video hyperlink sign power, channel, flight time, VTX enter voltage, goggles battery voltage, bitrate, and estimated distance. You possibly can overlay this SRT file onto your video in submit if you want. This works very equally to the unique DJI FPV system (V1). I hope future firmware updates will permit customers to decide on whether or not Betaflight OSD is burned immediately into the DVR footage, or a minimum of have it saved together with DVR movies.
By the way in which, the system estimates distance (how far the drone is from the pilot) utilizing sign propagation delay, somewhat than GPS. Most digital FPV techniques with two-way communication use this methodology.
VR04 HD FPV Goggles
Presently, just one pair of goggles helps the Artlynk FPV system: the BetaFPV VR04 HD FPV Goggles. They appear nearly similar to the analog VR04 goggles, however the HD model options two antennas.
The goggles are powered by an exterior battery mounted on the rear of the scarf. It’s basically a battery holder that takes two 18650 Li-ion cells, with a USB port for charging and a devoted energy button.
The goggles use a single LCD display screen and have a really spacious faceplate—I used to be in a position to put on my glasses comfortably whereas utilizing them.
Betaflight OSD displayed appropriately, and also you get all the standard helpful data on the backside of the display screen: VTX/Goggles enter voltage, bitrate, distance, and accessible SD card storage.
They appear significantly bulkier than the DJI Goggles 3, however that’s anticipated given the considerably cheaper price.
P1 Air Unit VTX
The P1 Air Unit I examined got here from the Aquila20 HD drone, which makes use of a PCB antenna. The standalone P1 VTX you should buy individually has the identical digicam and VTX, however comes with a dipole antenna as a substitute.
The VTX, digicam and PCB antenna weigh 7.1g all collectively, which is extraordinarily light-weight!
It connects to the flight controller utilizing a 6-pin cable with the identical pinout as DJI Air Items, making it appropriate with most flight controllers which have a DJI Air Unit connector.
Digicam Settings
You possibly can’t report the digicam menu within the DVR, so I needed to take pictures of the goggles show to indicate you the menu choices and settings.
The digicam settings are pretty normal, much like most digital FPV techniques. Obtainable choices embrace:
- Sharpness
- Distinction
- Publicity (EV)
- Side Ratio
Sharpness
Sharpness settings 5, 6, or 7 work greatest for me. Setting it increased introduces extreme oversharpening and artifacts, too low it the picture simply look comfortable.
16:9 vs 4:3
The native side ratio is 16:9 which gives the largest discipline of view. You possibly can swap to 4:3, however it merely crops the left and proper sides of the picture, leading to a smaller general FOV.
In observe, there’s no actual benefit to utilizing 4:3 right here. I like to recommend sticking with 16:9.
left: 16:9 mode; proper: 4:3 mode
Transmission Settings
You possibly can alter bitrate, output energy, and channel. The P1 Air Unit helps output energy ranges from 25mW as much as 200mW.
Potential Issues So Far
DVR Video Encoding Points
There look like encoding points with the DVR footage. DaVinci Resolve (my go-to video editor) had issues exporting edited movies. Whereas I might edit them, clicking randomly on the timeline usually resulted in a short “Media Offline” warning as properly, requiring a number of seconds for the footage to load. This conduct additionally occurred in VLC Media Participant—fast-forwarding induced noticeable loading delays.
It may be a codec-related concern. Hopefully, BetaFPV can deal with this in a future firmware replace.
My workaround: Earlier than importing the video in my video editor, I exploit GoPro Participant (free to obtain) to export the footage utilizing a distinct codec on the highest potential bitrate so I don’t lose any high quality.
Video Connection Subject
Sometimes, after crashing distant, the video feed doesn’t reconnect even after I get near the drone. I needed to restart the drone to revive video connection (energy off and energy on once more)
I tried to breed this by strolling away from the drone till video was misplaced, however as quickly as I walked again inside vary, video reconnected instantly. The problem appears to be fairly random.
Replace (04/01/2025): I imagine I’ve recognized the trigger—video doesn’t reconnect when the VTX overheats. This will occur if the drone crashes or sits on the bench powered on for too lengthy with out adequate airflow for cooling.
Remaining Ideas
That is solely an preliminary evaluation, and I’ll proceed updating this submit as I spend extra time with the Artlynk system. Picture high quality is clearly an awesome enchancment from analog. {Hardware} are light-weight which is nice for FPV drones. I hope latency may be decreased additional to make it extra versatile. There are some clear points, however with firmware and {hardware} enhancements, hopefully it should get higher over time.
In the mean time, the Artlynk ecosystem remains to be restricted by way of goggles and VTX choices, and general efficiency doesn’t but match extra established techniques like DJI or Walksnail. That mentioned, Artlynk may be very inexpensive and gives a low-cost entry level into HD FPV for budget-conscious pilots.
I’m excited to see how this platform evolves.
To be taught extra about all FPV techniques and which one may be best for you, take a look at my full evaluation right here: https://oscarliang.com/fpv-system/
