10 Best Drones (2025): Flight Tested and Reviewed

By transmitting a very low-latency live feed from its camera directly into a pair of glasses, a first-person view (FPV) drone puts you directly in the cockpit of a small, nimble aircraft capable of passing through the smallest of spaces and performing breathtaking moves like flips, rolls, loops and vertical dives. These aren’t drones you buy to get pristine shots of sweeping views, but rather to experience (and document) an adrenaline-inducing roller coaster ride in a tight, obstacle-filled environment.

As such, flying an FPV drone is a completely different kettle of fish and much more difficult than flying a standard camera drone. Not only do you lose the crash guardrails used by many drones, but you fly at a higher speed, with less time to react. THE DJI Avata 2 (8/10, WIRED recommends) takes the required skills to a more beginner-friendly level, while capturing video at 4K/60fps or 2.7K/120fps. Although it doesn’t have automatic obstacle avoidance, the Avata 2’s motion-sensitive controller and its ability to quickly brake and hover in the air make it much more forgiving than the dual-stick hand controls used by most FPV drones.

The Avata 2’s glasses are also fantastic, pairing with the drone and providing a crystal clear image thanks to its pair of micro OLED displays. They are even comfortable for the visually impaired, like me, thanks to adjustable eyepieces for inter-pupillary distance and a diopter to correct vision.

I would compare flying the Avata 2 to riding a bike with the training wheels, because there are some movements you can’t achieve with the motion controller, like steep dives, where the motors stop completely and the drone drops like a stone. If you want to perform those riskier stunts, gamepad style DJI Remote 3 is available as an optional add-on.