It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that Hobbyking first brought out their initial version of the cheap, foam clamshell goggles.
Then it was followed by the more designed V2 and then the first version of the Cyclops goggles appeared on the market in June 2016. Now they have released the Quanum Cyclops Diversity FPV Goggles. That first version was a first in the market and gave a much more finished feel with the plastic enclosure, built-in FPV receiver with a handy auto scan button, and a three-point head strap. The main feedback on those was the need for buttons to manually select the channels and have ports for AV in and out too. 
So, listening again (well-done HobbyKing!), the V2 came out with exactly those features. A little more money this time but again a great performing set of goggles for around £45 (at the time of launch, the price had dropped well below that level now). I reviewed them in February 2017 and commented on a few things that had been molded into the revised plastic case. The main one was another position for a second antenna. “Was diversity planned in a future version?” I asked, “Will it also get a DVR too?” Guess what - it has both and a few more things too;
- Plug & Play
- Pure Diversity Receiver (two receivers)
- Digital Video Recorder (DVR) (micro SD)
- 5” TFT Monitor with 3X magnification acrylic lens
- 800 X 480 non-blue screen monitor
- Focal length adjustment
- The design allows use with glasses
- Durable lightweight plastic molded shell
- Extra comfortable sponge rubber cushioning strips for facial comfort
- Adjustable elastic head strap with the battery pouch
- On-Screen Menu with adjustable contrast and brightness controls
- One-touch automatic channel scanning or manual selection
- 40 channels covering A, B, E, F, and Race band
- AV in & RX Out
- Audio Out
- Mount for Quanum Head Tracker (Head Tracker sold separately)
- 7.4 to 12.6V input range
- 3 Types of battery connections
This latest version of the goggles comes in the same cardboard box as the last version but this time includes a soft carrying bag too. I like the cardboard box as it’s handy to keep the goggles safe when you’re not using them. You’ll find another lens in the package and two antennas ready to fit. Supplied is one of the new Pagoda antennas from HobbyKing and the AOMWAY patch antenna. Together they provide a perfect start to the use of a diverse set of goggles. Also in the package is the bag of bits. Here are your AV cables, adapters for both XT60 and JST battery connectors, an extra piece of foam for the nose area, and the mounting hardware and foam for the Quanum Head Tracker unit (available separately). 
Unlike a lot of the goggles coming out of China at the moment, these fit a western shaped face with a decent recess for the bridge of your nose (that’s what that extra piece of foam is for in the kit if you’re lucky enough to have a petite nose). Talking of foam it’s been changed on this latest model, the foam on the original was fine but this new foam has a softer feel and is even more comfortable to wear. The goggles feature the same three-point harness as the originals so you mount the battery pack at the rear of the head strap and the strap that runs over the head helps keep the weight off your face. Compared with the last set of goggles these diversity Cyclops are only an extra 34g heavier at 434g with the supplied antennas fitted. Operating the goggles is the same as last time. One side is all the controls for the FPV channels and bands, the other side gives you controls for the screen to change brightness, contrast, and aspect ratio too. 
There are extra buttons here too and these are for the DVR function. The buttons at the top will start and stop recording as well as allow you to playback recordings in the goggles too. The recording and playback buttons are backlit so you can see what mode you’re in. There isn’t a ‘REC’ indicator on the display of the goggles but I found that the confirmation beeps and flashing red record button worked great in practice. The only other extra switch is found underneath by the SD card slot. That turns off the feed from the receivers so you can see the DVR clearly. Interestingly that is how much more expensive Fat Shark goggles do it too. The opening of the foam is wide enough to accept most reading glasses, so if you need spectacles to see then these should still work for you.
So what are they like to use?
The screen is as bright and clear as it’s always been in these goggles. Even at the default levels of brightness and contrast, it looks great. I’m not exactly sure what they have done with the new lens (it’s not a Fresnel) but it produces a clear, focused image and a wide amount of focusing range. Overlaid on that screen is the basic OSD information that now includes signal strength for the two antennas/receivers. If you change a channel using the buttons or auto-scan feature and the channel and band will be displayed on the screen but disappear after a short delay to keep the screen uncluttered. Very nice. I didn’t find a way to change that OSD setup as I would have liked the options to move it on the screen as it did interfere with a few of my models where the Betaflight OSD had some content in the same place in the FPV image. 
The sensitivity of the receiver and diversity seems to work very well. I’ve flown it in park environments and had clear images all around. There isn’t a USB port on these goggles so I guess that means no firmware upgrades or tools to change the defaults and settings. Maybe next time! The DVR works well and the controls once mastered, are easy to use. I tend to watch the video back on the PC anyway so didn’t use the playback function too much on the goggles themselves. I did find on mine that the recordings could appear a little dark when compared to the image in the goggles but a quick tweak to the levels and brightness in your video editing software should fix that. The menu for the DVR looks the same as pretty much all the others about so will look familiar to anyone who has used a cheap SD DVR device. For around $40 more you’re getting true diversity, antennas, and a DVR too over the previous version. That may seem like a lot but the previous version was a mature product and had seen a few price reductions over its life. Goggles with these features from some other vendors will set you back about three times more. The only other goggles I’ve used that I actually like with similar specs to these was the AOMWAY Commander V1 goggles that had all of these features (including a fixed FPV diversity receiver) and cost almost four times as much as these. If you don’t like the style of goggles then I’m not going to change your mind here, but if you want all these features but didn’t want to spend over $300 to get them - then these will fit the bill perfectly. Remember that they don’t come with a battery or SD card so you’ll need to order those too (if you haven’t got a spare!)
Quanum Cyclops Diversity DVR FPV Goggle is available for purchase on HobbyKing now.
Written by Painless360
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