Fatshark attitude v5 review: Fatshark + OLED + BUDGET = good combo

If you follow my facebook feeds you may have seen I've treated myself to some new goggles, namely the Fatshark Attitude V5 that I bought from Banggood on pre-order. These are part of the slew of new mid-range binocular goggles from several manufacturers as below:

Aomway Commander V1s $240-$300

Skyzone SKY02c $270-$300

Eachine EV200D $250-$300

The reason I chose to buy these was because:

1. OLED screens!
2. Removable module bay (supports Rapidfire, TBS Fusion, OWLRC, TrueDX etc)
3. Reknowned Fatshark customer service
4. Good antennas included

So, what's in the box?:

• 1x Attitude V5 OLED Headset
• 1x 5.8G diversity receiver with OLED display
• 1x 5.8GHz IRC SpiroNET CP antenna
• 1x 5.8GHz FS RHCP patch antenna
• 1x 18650 Li-ion Battery Case
• 1x Zipper case for carrying

This is all included with the goggle set

Bright OLED screen on the receiver

Lets look at the receiver first of all. It has true diversity, an OLED external display screen and basic menu interface. I'm glad that it's in the kit but it is kinda expected given the competition all include built-in diversity. That said, the Fatshark dominator HD3 core package contains no receiver and the attitude v4 does not have diversity. 

​Next the antennas. Joy! A proper patch and CP antenna is included. These are both good antennas and represent $20-30 worth of additional value when compared to other goggles. For example:

• All Skyzone goggles contain 2 x linear 'rubber ducky' antennas. Why bother?
• Eachine EV200D goggles also contain 2 x linear antennas
• Aomway Commanders have a good CP antenna... but an embarrisingly bad patch

Nice RHCP patch antenna

Reverse of the patch antenna

ImmersionRC SPIRONet RHCP Antenna

Battery case is solid in has a charge indicator

Fatshark 18650 Battery case - to be clear this is a case not a battery itself (2 x 18650 batteries are required). Neither the Aomway Commanders nor Skyzone goggles include a battery or case. The Eachine EV200D does include an 1800mah 2s battery but personally I prefer the case as included in here - the ability to use 18650 batteries is really good because these batteries are much better suited to goggle use. A pair of 18650 batteries will set you back $5-15 depending on capacity, quality and where you live. Note: you cannot balance charge in the case stock but I have written an article on how to mod them to do this here.

Zipper case - yeah fine, whatever! I pefer to carry my goggles with my controller in the Realacc X-lite Transmitter Edition case

Specification
I'm not going to dwell on these because for the most part the specs don't tell the story. All that I will mention are the screens - they are OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) which is the best screen available at present. This technology is used on top of the line mobile phones and the only other FPV goggle it is used on at time of release is the top of the line Fatshark Dominator HDO however at time of writing Skyzone have just released the SKY03O. The other key feature of the screen is the aspect ratio and field of view - 4:3 30°. This is fairly comparable to Skyzone SKY02 (4:3 30°) and Aomway (16:9 32°) goggles but much less than the Eachine EV200D (16:9 42°) Don't read into this too much at this stage... it more comes down to actual use. More on that later.

In use
Firstly the fit is good - the strap feels sturdy and secure and holds the goggle firmly to your face. The vinyl face cushion feels thin but comfortable and I get only a small amount of light leakage through the nose. Although half-asian I have a typical (?) European shaped face but as with all goggles I'd recommend seeing if you can try the fit first. Replacements are available here.

Fake leather has thin padding but is comfortable

Strap is wide and holds tension well

After plugging in and choosing your channel the first thing you notice is the bright, crisp screens. I've come from the Aomway Commander V1s (reviewed here) and immediately noticed how much more vibrant the colours are and also how much more detail I see. It's getting towards the end of winter here so the lack of leaves on many of the trees can be perilous. I feel that the screens on the Attitude V5 give me a little extra ability to see those skinny little branches we so love flying in to. Further more the extra burst of colour just makes the more enjoyable to watch. I noticed no real change in FOV compared to my commanders (32°) and I certainly don't feel wanting for a bigger field of view. I see no edge blur whatsoever.

IPD is easy to adjust with the sliders. These IPD adjusters feel much more sturdy than the Aomway Commander setup and since adjusting when I first tried them on, I haven't need to adjust since.

Brightness and contrast are easily adjustable using the joystick on the left size. You get feedback through a basic OSD.

IPD adjustment is a lot more sturdy than on the Aomway Commanders

Joystick on the right controls brightness and contrast

I won't go into detail about the DVR as this is the same unit and specs as those found on every other goggle. Micro SD slot is at the bridge of the nose and it's honestly not that hard to take in or out. Put it this way if you can change the prop on a micro you can definitely get the SD card in and out easily! You can set this to record automatically with power on which is what I use. Standard playback features are also available.

SD card is out

SD card is in

Red light shows recording. Can't see it when wearing. [sigh]

Now on to the receiver. Like other recent fatshark products, the attitude V5 uses the modular receiver. This can easily be upgraded to the Rapidfire, TBS Fusion, OWLRC etc if desired but hold on a minute - the stock one is actually pretty good! The little monochrome OLED screen on the receiver shows RSSI for each antenna in bar format and the auto scan function shows a simple spectrograph when it works. You can easily skip between channels with the wheel on top of the goggle. It's a bit disappointing you don't get feedback (Channel or RSSI) in an OSD as this feature is common on all the other goggles in this segment. However, when it comes to performance this little receiver unit is actually really good. I get much less break-up compared to my Aomway Commanders, better range and when the receiver switches between antennas there is much less breakup. Put it this way - I almost placed an order for a Rapidfire unit when I ordered my goggles but now I feel I don't need to. Of course it doesn't manage multipathing like rapidfire does but it does perform on a par with the previous top-end receivers like LaForge, TrueD, Achilles etc.

Wheel switch controls the channel

Receiver module can be turned off if using a ground station

Button controls band/scan

I did notice that with these goggles that the fan needed to be used more than with my commanders - they were more likely to fog up. That's no problem, the fan works well but I'm surprised that you need to plug in the balance connector to power the fan (in addition to the barrel connector to the goggles). It's a minor complaint but just feels a little lazy on the design front. Which brings me to...

Need to plug in balance connector if you want the fan

Fan works well and is quiet but has one speed only

A note on (lack of) integration
You can probably tell by now I really like these goggles but I'll tell you what bothers me about them - lack of integration. This is a minor detail but something that Aomway, Skyzone, and Eachine all manage better. For example:

• Receiver lacks feedback in the OSD about which channel you are on, RSSI
• DVR menu is a distinctly different system to brightness/contrast OSD
• Fan draws power from a different connector to the rest of the goggle.

​
Again, none of these are a deal breaker but you'd think that having been through 5 revisions for the attitude alone you'd think there would be some better integration of features? /rant over.

Summary and Recommendation
Unlike my usual ramblings I'll keep this one short and to the point. These are the best goggles I've tried in the $250 - $350 range and they are now my regular goggles. Here is why:

• OLED screens are very clear and bright. These are the only goggles that have OLED screens in this price range
• On board receiver is works well, is esay to use and is upgradable if you wish to use Rapidfire or the like
• Fatshark are meant to have the best customer support in the biz but I'm yet to test it
• A good set of anntenna and 18650 battery box means there is little more that is needed when you purchase these - just a pair of 18650 batteries.

For completeness you may not like:

• Lack of OSD for receiver
• Lack design integration
• Moderate field of view (however this wasn't an issue for me)

As I mentioned these are my daily goggles now which is perhaps the strongest praise I can give. For reference my goggle history includes the Turnigy Cyclops, Eachine EV100 (yuck), Aomway Commander V1, Aomway Commanders V2, Aomway Commanders V1s.

I bought my goggles from Banggood who shipped them promptly. I managed to get them at a discount using the code Aff7off (7% off i.e. $279). You can buy them here as well if you wish:

Fatshark Attitude V5 OLED FPV Goggles 5.8Ghz True Diversity RF Support DVR AV-IN/OUT for RC Drone

​Thanks for reading, if you found this article useful please feel free to like or share, the facebook links below directly link/like this article. Links are affiliated and help me buy the bits I need to produce this type of content. If you are looking for quads or parts check out my coupons and discounts pagewhich I keep updated with only the parts and quads I like at a proper discount.

This is my grab kit that comes with me everywhere.