DJI's Goggles N3 for FPV drones improve comfort and allow eyeglasses

DJI's has introduced a new affordable headset for FPV drones designed to address complaints about its previous model. The $229 Goggles N3 offers improved comfort over the Goggles 3 and allows users to wear their eyeglasses, all at less than half the price — albeit with a downgrade to the OLED displays and a limited selection of drones.

The Goggles 3 could cause discomfort due to insufficient padding and excessive weight that's poorly distributed. The Goggles N3 largely eliminates this problem with a design that's larger yet somehow lighter, with extra cushioning and excellent balance. At the same time, it can accommodate even fairly large eyeglasses, so you no longer need to make diopter adjustments or order special lenses for conditions like astigmatism.

It comes with a 1080p display and wider field of view than the Goggles 3, at 54 instead of 44 degrees. Image quality isn't technically as good, though, as the display is downgraded to a single LCD instead of dual Micro-OLED screens as before.

The Goggles N3 use DJI's O4 transmission system with a bitrate up to 60 Mbps. The battery is integrated into the headphone as before and can run it for up to 2.7 hours, down a bit from 3 hours on the Goggles 3. It only offers live feed sharing to a smartphone over USB-C, with Wi-Fi sharing not available. You can use it with just two drones now, the DJI Neo and Avata 2, where the previous model also worked with the Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro.

As for controllers, it supports DJI's RC Motion 3 or FPV Remote Controller 3. As with the Goggles 3, it allows head tracking for camera control and comes with a new feature, an augmented reality cursor that can be used when paired with the RC Motion 3. You can also do one-tap power loops, flips, rolls and other tricks. Finally, it offers a new one-tap defogging feature that activates a fan to instantly clear any mist.

I tried the Goggles N3 with both the Avata 2 and Neo, and was impressed. Comfort was far better than before, with none of the forehead pinching that bordered on painful after less than an hour of use. Rather, it felt like it was barely there and remained comfy even after an hour or so of use. Better still, I could remove the headset when I needed to see the environment without having to fumble for my eyeglasses. Image quality was sharp and bright, and didn't feel like a huge downgrade from the Goggles 3.

The Goggles N3 headset is now on pre-order for $229, a huge discount over the Goggles 3 without a lot of downside that I can see. You can also order it (in Europe only for now at €529 or £449) as part of the DJI Neo Motion Fly More Combo, which includes the Neo drone, Goggles N3, RC Remote 3, three batteries and a charging hub. Shipping will start later this month, with hopefully no delays stateside.