Drone Experience

[cqaigy2]

Richard- Thanks. You may soon think otherwise

One of my finer moments with the "Flying Cuisinart" :embarrassed: The only damage was to the owner/operator's ego:

July 31 HAL Landing Flip - YouTube

Nice free styling at the end.

 

[ovrszd]

The Mavic is about as easy as it gets to fly. Rock solid even in wind. I have had it out in 25 mph gusts. It flew. Had some movement but I was able to control it to get it back on the ground. This wind came up during flight. I can get 20 mins minimum out of a battery so good flight time.

I got it stuck once in a tree when I first got it. I didn稚 quite understand the sensors yet and flew straight sideways into a tree. I was looking at the screen instead of the drone. I had to rent an articulating lift to get it out. The lift was fun to operate so there was that. The money wasn稚 that fun to spend.

Friend of mine has a Mavic. I've flown it twice. Never in much wind.

Flight time is absolutely dependent on conditions and flight path. I can get 25 minutes out of a battery if I don't travel more than a few hundred feet.

Only time I look at my Drone is when taking off and when landing. For me I'm less apt to fly it into an obstacle if I stay focused on the screen and catalog the obstacles around me.

 

[fried1765]

I have an Autel drone. Have had it four years now. Somewhere around 1000 flights. With extra batteries, charger, tablet monitor, etc., I've got somewhere around $1500 invested.

I'm not pimping Autel at all. With that said, buy a quality Drone. My Brother bought a cheap Drone and it flew off into the sunset first flight.

It's quite a learning curve. A lot going on when airborne. Lot of data displayed on the monitor to coordinate your flight. Great attention needs to be paid to that data to stay out of flight trouble. Elevation, direction, distance from home, battery time left, direction of flight. Then add the camera data to monitor. It's challenging but I enjoy it. I've taken hundreds of pictures and shot hours of video.

I've visited several farms/homes and taken pics and videos for people. I don't charge anything, do it for fun. I've also shot many, many Agricultural videos of crop planting/harvesting. First time I crashed was while videoing a high speed corn planter, 12mph, at an altitude of 20ft. Backed the drone into trees at the end of the field.....

I have a 100V convertor on my truck. Also have two chargers. Five batteries. Each battery will safely last about 15 minutes depending on type of flight, wind, etc. Many times I've exhausted all five batteries.

I've never lost my Drone. I've had it "critical land" half a dozen times. Always because I get busy running the camera and forget to monitor battery time left... Pretty embarrassing to have to go retrieve the Drone half a mile away....

I think if you "You Tube" search my name, Richard Rucker, you'll find the videos I've posted.


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We built a house this past year. Took several pics of that operation. Gives things a whole new perspective.

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Are you planning to move that barber chair you have in the garage/barn into your new house.
Maybe make one room into a private, by invitation only, barber shop?

 

[ovrszd]

Are you planning to move that barber chair you have in the garage/barn into your new house.
Maybe make one room into a private, by invitation only, barber shop?

Oh Heavens no. That Barber Chair is the perfect Shop Chair. A nap can be had in it if needed.

That chair came out of the last Barber Shop on the Eagleville Missouri Square. I had two. Gave one to my Brother in Law. Mine burned in my shop fire ten years ago. Jerry gave me the one he had. I much appreciated the gift.

 

[natedog75]

Friend of mine has a Mavic. I've flown it twice. Never in much wind.

Flight time is absolutely dependent on conditions and flight path. I can get 25 minutes out of a battery if I don't travel more than a few hundred feet.

Only time I look at my Drone is when taking off and when landing. For me I'm less apt to fly it into an obstacle if I stay focused on the screen and catalog the obstacles around me.

Having come from flying RC planes and helicopters I find I can maneuver into much tighter spaces by watching the drone. I do fly by camera from time to time but I like to position the drone by LOS then line the shot up by using the camera. Of course it is much easier to fly by the video feed, right is always right and left is always left. Nothing like something hurtling toward you at 60+ mph and forgetting to turn right to go left. Sometimes your left with a heap of parts to repair and reassemble.

 

[ovrszd]

Having come from flying RC planes and helicopters I find I can maneuver into much tighter spaces by watching the drone. I do fly by camera from time to time but I like to position the drone by LOS then line the shot up by using the camera. Of course it is much easier to fly by the video feed, right is always right and left is always left. Nothing like something hurtling toward you at 60+ mph and forgetting to turn right to go left. Sometimes your left with a heap of parts to repair and reassemble.

Yep. Very easy to lose track of right/left if watching the Drone.

Mist of my flights are at a distance where watching the Drone is futile.

 

[jbrumberg]

"... Nothing like something hurtling toward you at 60+ mph and forgetting to turn right to go left. Sometimes your left with a heap of parts to repair and reassemble."- Natedog

I do not nor know how many hours I practiced manually flying LOS in circles and figure 8's. I had a really decent debris trail along my learning curve. RTL always freaked me out; I always landed manually usually once close backing in

 

[ovrszd]

"... Nothing like something hurtling toward you at 60+ mph and forgetting to turn right to go left. Sometimes your left with a heap of parts to repair and reassemble."- Natedog

I do not nor know how many hours I practiced manually flying LOS in circles and figure 8's. I had a really decent debris trail along my learning curve. RTL always freaked me out; I always landed manually usually once close backing in

I always land manually. Will start watching the Drone when within a couple hundred feet of the landing area. When I make that transition I can always feel my brain/sight adjusting. Kinda weird.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have seen some Drone Footage recently, like Camarata, where the image was as still as if the camera was mounted on a building. Are they that stable in a hover, or is the image electronically stabilized, or both? Amazing!

 

[bunyip]

The gimbal, my hand held video camera is the same, very steady even though I move, if you move the camera you can see the lens moving to compensate.