Many people started out flying FPV with a small LCD screen eventually moved to FPV goggles mainly because it’s more immersive, and unaffected from bright sunlight. But for those who wear glasses might have trouble using FPV Goggles.
I personally wear glasses too and thought this would be a problem so I started out with a little LCD monitor. I used a hood for the monitor in sunny conditions. My vision is not real bad so I tried a friend’s goggles and they seemed to be usable for me (although the image did look a bit distant and blurry).
I wear glasses, can I use FPV goggles?
When you look through the lenses of a FPV goggles, the screen will be enlarged and appear to be 2-3 meters away (projection), therefore short-sighted (near-sighted) people might have trouble seeing the image clearly. Short-sighted people have trouble seeing distant object clearly, so goggle might not be an option depends on how bad their eyesight is.
Some goggles allow diopter lenses or focal length adjustment. Some even allows you to wear your glasses while using the goggles.
So, I am short-sighted, can I still use goggle?
A simple test you can do at home. Take your glasses off, if you can comfortably see what is on the TV screen from 2 meters away, you should be Okay to use goggles.
If you are very close to see the TV clearly, you can try inserting some diopter lenses which are designed for the short-sighted FPV goggle users. They are available for the Fatsharks and Skyzone goggles and they are around $18 for a set. Usually they come with a pack of three different numbers -2, -4, -6. You can use the one(s) which gives the best focus. For people who have astigmatism, I am not sure if they would help so please do more research or simply try it out.
Big Box Type FPV Goggle
There are also box type FPV headsets that big enough to allow you wear glasses and the goggle at the same time. It’s great for people who absolutely have to wear glasses.
This Hobbyking DIY Goggle is a cheap option to try out.
(This one just cracks me up, it’s a “great” design because it provides excellent head protection from drone crashes. hehe :-D )
I have also seen people use lenses from an old pair of glasses and just hot glue them into their FPV goggles. The only problem I see is you might have a bit of trouble switching between FPV and line of sight (LOS), as you will need to put your glasses back on.
If none of the above works for you, the last resort would be contact lenses.
Anyway, It’s best to just borrow a pair of goggles from someone and try it out for yourself before buying. Maybe you can use goggles, but still prefer monitors. Who knows?
15 comments
What help would a person who is long sighted get with +3 diopter glasses? I find I can see the screen clearly from 3 or 4 inches away but the vision is blurred with or without glasses.
Depends on what goggles you have. Most of the latest goggles have -6 to +2 adjustment built into them. If yours have diopter slots instead, there are also +2 diopters you can purchase, just search on AliExpress.
My eyes have strong astigmatism, so I always need to wear glasses. In addition I’m at that “golden” age when accomodation is nearly nil, so I need glasses for long distance, different glasses for medium distance (computer work), and yet another pair of glasses for reading and closeup work.
I recently bought EV800D goggles, innocently believing all those ads that say that these are comfortable for glasses wearers. I expected to be able to use these goggles over my glasses, and given that I can choose between my three different glasses, one of them should allow me to see the screen sharply, right?
Well – NO.
Firstly, it turned out that the EV800D goggles are tiny, more suitable for children’s faces than adults. NO WAY could they be worn over any normal-sized glasses! Checking the online catalogs of glasses frames, I found that even most children’s glasses are too large to fit inside these goggles!
Secondly, I can confirm what Chris says: The EV800D does definitely NOT put the virtual image at 2-3m distance. It puts it at a VERY short distance! I measured the distance from the eyes to the virtual image as 15-16cm, which agrees totally with Chris’ info about needing 6.5 diopter reading glasses. 6.5 diopters means a focal distance of 15.4cm.
Thirdly, the EV800D uses a single Fresnel lens for both eyes, with its optical center in the middle of the goggles. This equals wearing glasses with zero IPD! The images in both eyes are severely shifted relative to each other. It’s hard for older people to achieve proper convergence to make the two eyes properly overlap the images. Young people are surely more flexible in this.
The EV800D should work well enough for children and young adults who have normal vision or are shortsighted, and who have the wide accomodation range of youth. Older people can use them unmodified only if they are extremely short sighted. People who have strong astigmatism, like me, can’t use them at all, as they come.
I will need to have very special glasses made, having my prescription with an addition of +6.5 diopters, in an exceptionally small frame, and extra short IPD, and then cut off their legs and install them inside the goggles. Or else have similar glasses made, without a restriction on size, and build them into a homemade face box, to which I attach the detachable monitor section of the EV800D. That should work – but my expectation was to buy the EV800D and use them over my existing glasses, without a problem. And that didn’t work at all.
I’m extremely near sighted, like minus a thousand, and use a set of goggles from E max. I don’t know how, but, without my glasses they work just fine. In fact, they are the only kind that work for me. The came with the Tiny Hawk I bought at my local hobby shop. Nothing else he has in the shop will work for me. I’d like to get some better goggles, as these are very basic, but nothing else works.
When I got into FPV I bought the ev800. I didn’t really think about how I was going to see the screen even though I wear -6 dioptre glasses. Welp it turns out I can see just fine. Do you think this is just dumb luck and the ev800 fit me perfectly or do you think that there is a possibility that I simply see well in FPV goggles.
Hi Oscar,
Recently a quite new option for glass-wearers appeared – FXT Viper box boggles with periscope.
I use it since a few weeks and I’m very glad with it.
Do you plan to add information about it to your article?
Best regards.
eachine ev800 goggles: went to the local drug store to try various readers as my prescription glasses are progressive to cover both near and far and holding them up to the goggles didn’t work out. With my glasses I could read the screen numbers from about a foot away. The drug store had 1.25 through 3.50 readers and none of them cut it either. I already had an eye doctor appointment so brought the goggles in. 6.50 readers is what I needed. $125USD for the lenses and then I’d need either old frames to put them in or perhaps sunglass type clips for another $95. Checking Amazon they had 6.50 readers for $16 plus shipping. Problem solved. I’ll clip off the ear stems and insert them into the goggles.
The problem with inserts is, that they come usually only in specific diopter strengths and may not fit everyone’s needs. What I did to solve the problem with my aomway goggles was to make my own inserts. Luckily there are slots to fit some inserts in there already but I didn’t have the patience to wait for china shipping when they don’t match my perscription anyway. So I took the (plastic!) lenses from my old frames and carefully used a rotary cutting tool to cut them to shape. With some careful grinding it isn’t hard to make them fit perfectly and stay in by friction. They took under an hour to make and were essentially free.
There are opticians around the world who make google fatshark lens insers made *exactly* for your needs. You just need to send them prescription for your regular correction glasses and they make fatshark lens inserts with the same parameters.
Just google for custom fatshark lenses optic or something similar.
Hi Oscar,
I use the Boscam AIO GS920, which has a rubber cup which goes over my glasses. I prefer glasses over contacts because most of my flying spots are quite dust/ sand and insect rich, and I prefer my eyes non-irritated ;)
The image is pretty good, going at 640 x 480, has built in 5.8GHz 8ch (E band/ boscam) vRX, and a 2.4GHz vRX.
Headtracker also built in… It has 2 power ports, a small 12v plug underneath, and the headtracker port has power in also. I use the headtracker port for aesthetic reasons, powering the goggles with 3s.
It’s a lot cheaper than for instance a Fatshark with comparable image quality, but it only has the 8ch vRX built in- but you could hook it up to a different vRX via Video In. I’ve bought it because it gives me very good image, fits over my glasses, and for the low profile factor on my face. And just to mess with the Fatshark users around here- I used my cutting plotter and stickered the Dutch translation of FatShark on my goggles- Dikke Haai ;)
Thanks Mark! that’s very good to know! If i have a chance I would love try out this goggle too! wearing it over glasses sounds great!
Hi Oscar
I wear thick glasses for see near and far. How can I use FPV Glasses?
but are you far sighted or near sighted? like i said in the article there are near sighted lenses for FPV goggle and it doesn’t affect long sighted people. Anyway pop into a local RC shop and try them out if possible.
Hi Oscar
I just want to mention that if you are long sighted to the extreme it is a problem viewing things too close up. I have a strong prescription, am long sighted and struggle to view through goggles without my specs on. Its a shame but I wonder if there are extension products that can increase the opening to allow for specs? I dare say the demand will be high for a DIY mod to make good. Heres hoping. :)
Steve Aplin
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