Fat Shark announced a new goggles – the Dominator HD last week that will be using Walksnail’s Avatar digital FPV system. From the sample footage we have seen so far, it seems comparable to the popular DJI FPV system in terms of image quality, it even has the potential to outcompete in the future with 1080p resolution.
Table of Contents
Where to Buy?
GetFPV:
- Dominator HD FPV System Buddle: https://oscarliang.com/product-k1pf
- FPV Goggles:
- VTX/Camera Kit: https://oscarliang.com/product-supk
Banggood:
- Dominator HD Goggles: https://oscarliang.com/product-ccsj
Currently (May 2022) Walksnail is still working on the firmware for the Avatar FPV system, but they have already started manufacturing the products as we speak. They are aiming to get the firmware ready by the time they start shipping them out to customers in about two months. It’s still too early to judge how good this system is compared to DJI FPV system or HDZero, but I will keep an close eye and update this post with further review and testing.
Avatar FPV System Hardware
When it comes to hardware, so far we know there are the Fatshark Dominator HD Goggles and a VTX that has a black heatsink on it.
The Dominator HD Goggles have similar weight and dimensions to the Fatshark HDO2 goggles. However they don’t support analogue FPV system – no receiver module bay nor AV input. They are purely for the Dominator digital FPV system.
Fatshark Dominator HD FPV Goggles Specs:
- Screen Resolution: 1080p 90FPS (the system can transmit up to 120FPS)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- FOV: 46°
- Adjustable IPD: 56-70mm
- Adjustable Focus Range: +2 to -6 diopter
- Has a power button
- Built-in anti fog fan
- USB-C port for firmware update and HDMI video output
- 4 RP-SMA antenna connectors
- Removable faceplate
- Velcro faceplate foam padding
- Input Voltage: 7-21V (2S-5S)
The Avatar VTX has a single board design, appears to be easy to install just like an ordinary analogue VTX. It weights only 16g, uses H.265 encoding and can provide up to 1080p HD FPV image resolution with 22ms ultra-low latency. It also supports canvas mode and distance detection and with dual-antenna.
Detailed VTX specs is currently unknow.
Here’s the VTX and Camera combo. Camera specs currently unknown, but it appears to be a micro camera.
Video Quality
The first video that showcases the video quality of the new Walksnail Avatar digital FPV system is from Joshua Bardwell. Some images in this post are taken from JB’s video, so make sure to check out his video if you want to learn more.
What Is the Fatshark Dominator Digital FPV System Really?
In Greg French’s interview, he insists that this is “Fat Shark’s new digital FPV system”, and it has nothing to do with DJI.
However, Carl Zhou, the owner of HDZero speculated that the Fat Shark Dominator HD digital FPV system could be DJI rebranded, a workaround for DJI to sell to the US since they are prohibited to do so [source].
Note: Teal is also owned by Redcat, same as Fatshark and Rotor Riot.
If you look at the setting menu of the Fat Shark Dominator HD goggles, the options are almost identical to the ones in the DJI FPV Goggles. They have the same “low power mode” prompt, the latency and bitrate displayed at the bottom of the screen. The exact same power levels, low latency and high quality modes.
Image quality looks similar to the DJI system. The OSD also looks familiar. Latency is not fixed like HDZero, it has the same variable latency as DJI, if you fly too far away or the signal is weak. Also, just like DJI, maximum frame rate is 120fps.
So many similarities to DJI, what Carl said kind of makes sense…
Anyway, it’s good there’s a new option on the market. I will keep this post updated as I learn more.
Walksnail / Avatar FPV System?
A member on our forum found this website [source] called Avatar HD Digital FPV system by Walksnail. It shows identical FPV goggles and VTX as the Fatshark Dominator system. They could be the same system, and might support 1080p in the future according to the specs.
Note: if you google the phone number on Walksnail’s website, it belongs to someone who works at Caddx…
Is this the same system as the Fatshark Dominator HD? (Edit: Yes)
Update (17 May 2022): Fatshark announced today that the digital FPV system used in their Dominator HD FPV Goggles is in fact called Avatar, which is developed by a company called Walksnail. I have changed the name of the system in the subject and content of this post.
11 comments
Biggest Question: Will the sad 13.x KM Range Limit of DJI finally go? This would be THE reason for me to change…
I bet you have never gotten anywhere near the 13.5 km limit lol
Thank you
VTx is 16g !!! I use analog Vtx’s that weigh 2g.
It’s either the most bone headed product release in recent fpv history or the most brilliant, since everyone’s talking about it. My uninformed opinion is it’s the former.
This product screams DJI.
Everything from the fpv cameras on the Avatar, to the osd font, to the osd voltage placement.
This sounds like this is DJI’s way to sell to the US since it was prohibited to do so awhile back.
This may also be DJI’s way to avoid making a DJI v3 goggle system.
Although what i find surprising is that smaller vtx on the Avatar system still requires 2 antenna’s.
I wonder if this new Dominator HD goggle will have 2,4 and 5.8 Ghz.
I guess all be be revealed when they release the specifications for the new Dominator goggle.
The two antenna design is probably just for diversity similar to the full size air unit.
Here’s how Walksnail’s website looked earlier today, before it was conveniently taken offline: web.archive.org/web/20220513135937/https://walksnail.com/
Hi, what the difference with the one on the flywoo website do you know? It has avatar name on it
Super appreciative of all that you’ve done informing & educating the fpv community, I hope the vtx comes with the ability to be put in a whoop like Geprc’s Thinking P16 & essentially anywhere the dji vista/dji air light vtx can be installed. I’ll go checkout the data on the vtx 👍🤞
This is undoubtedly Caddx striking off on its own… either borrowing heavily from DJI and others, or using some DJI IP entirely. We don’t know DJI’s role in this, but considering Caddx’s strong relationship with DJI, it’s more than a coincidence.