Drones, drones, and more drones!

catahoula

Caught the Bug
Drones seem to be the popular thing nowadays. Some come with a camera and you can attach your GoPro to them as well. I have seen some use them on their excursions and they produce some awesome shots and views you would not see otherwise. I have been looking at some and want to see yours with your tips, advice and suggestions with some video of your trips. Looking at longer battery life. I did read you need to register with the FAA as well. I am looking at an inexpensive model the Parrot Bebop at under $300. Some are crazy priced and I know the quality goes up too. This one seems to have some good reviews comes with two batteries that run for about 12 minutes each. Thanks in advance!

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So the thing about drones now is its not about the hardware. They are all similar in capability in fly time and speed. What it comes down to is software that is used. Can it track an object, can I plot a route for it to take, is it EASY to fly and not crash. So with that in mind the father of drones right now is DJI. They are expensive, but the crash avoidance, the GPS capability, now the indoor capability is even better, is where you want to go.

So ya you could buy a 300-400 drone, has ok video but is big or difficult to fly and you crash it. Now you hope you can buy parts for it or you get to buy it again. Sometimes it better to spend more upfront to keep your long term cost down and your happiness up.

If you have a hard time flying or the video is poor, you will not use the drone and it was a waste of money.


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So ya you could buy a 300-400 drone, has ok video but is big or difficult to fly and you crash it. Now you hope you can buy parts for it or you get to buy it again. Sometimes it better to spend more upfront to keep your long term cost down and your happiness up.

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Just like buying Jeep parts, right?

I've been looking into these as well but I am within a couple miles of a county airport. Is it true the damn things won't even take off if you are within a certain radius of an airport?
 
My brother has a DJI Phantom 3 pro and man that thing is freaking awesome it's not just an RC quad copper it's pretty much a real air craft. There's a lot of stuff you have to do when you buy one.


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Just like buying Jeep parts, right?
I've been looking into these as well but I am within a couple miles of a county airport. Is it true the damn things won't even take off if you are within a certain radius of an airport?

No, There have been proposals to hard code these dead zones, but the drone would then need a massive database, gps, and extra processing. There may be one or two with this concept available.

Just this week, the GoPro Karma has been recalled because of random power failures. The Mavic Pro is a beautiful design, but it just came out, and is well out of the price range of the average consumer. The Phantoms in my opinion, look too bubbly for me to take serious, despite their ubiquity and how they helped the sport.

When picking a good drone (I prefer quadcopter, Drone is too ambiguous) note that the ones using a tablet or phone run off of wifi and their signal range is as such, not the best. Video quality is another concern. an operator can read through the static, but if you are shooting video, find a rig that records to memory right onboard.

Most of the fancier quadcopters have auto hover and gps tracking, making the sport easy and handy for the average user. But if you are just starting out, and want to practice on something cheaper, I got a Proto-X FPV, It is a small, quick little thing, with onboard recording and a fixed camera. its great for learning how to fly with out all that handicap software.

I can zip that thing around and do tricks, and when you crash it, its light enough to not break anything major.
 
Those DJI's are very expensive and nice. However, some you have to add a GoPro making it even more if you don't have one.
 
Just like buying Jeep parts, right?

I've been looking into these as well but I am within a couple miles of a county airport. Is it true the damn things won't even take off if you are within a certain radius of an airport?

I believe this myth is false. We have plenty of people you venture into the airport airspace near us. Problem is you then violate FAA regulations and are subject to fines or arrest. So yeah, I would stay away from airports.


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I believe this myth is false. We have plenty of people you venture into the airport airspace near us. Problem is you then violate FAA regulations and are subject to fines or arrest. So yeah, I would stay away from airports.


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i believe i did read the Gopro KARMA drone has gps locations programmed for no fly zones build in and will no fly in said areas but not 100% on that :thumb:
 
i believe i did read the Gopro KARMA drone has gps locations programmed for no fly zones build in and will no fly in said areas but not 100% on that :thumb:

I can see that the drone itself is programmed not to fly in certain GPS areas. That makes sense. But as far as the actual airport having technology to stop drones is doubtful.


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I believe this myth is false. We have plenty of people you venture into the airport airspace near us. Problem is you then violate FAA regulations and are subject to fines or arrest. So yeah, I would stay away from airports.

The FAA has put out an iPhone app, B4UFLY, that you should definitely check out. If I open it, it tells me I'm within 5 miles of an airport (which I am) and "by law, you must notify the airport operator and the air traffic control tower ( if one is present) of your flight". It has a map of airport locations and links to additional information.

I found this when I was thinking about a drone. It made me decide I don't want one. If I lived in a more rural area I might have decided differently.


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The FAA has put out an iPhone app, B4UFLY, that you should definitely check out. If I open it, it tells me I'm within 5 miles of an airport (which I am) and "by law, you must notify the airport operator and the air traffic control tower ( if one is present) of your flight". It has a map of airport locations and links to additional information.

I found this when I was thinking about a drone. It made me decide I don't want one. If I lived in a more rural area I might have decided differently.


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Its pretty easy to do. Most of the time we will just tell you thanks and have fun. If you are right next door its a different story. We have flown them at the airport before so we are fine with it. Its the larger commercial drones that will be coming out that we worry about, not the hobbyist versions.
 
I am not near an airport. I would like to use one of these on my travels. Some seem to have a decent camera and video system. One of the big additional costs would be more batteries since they do not last that long.
 
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