Drone Experience

[Ortimber]

I have been flying the Mavic Pro for about 2 months. It's really pretty simple as the software is pretty intelligent. I used to fly nitro R/C planes and flying the Mavic seems like going back to kindergarten in regards to difficulty level. There are restrictions on altitude, distance, and usage, but that's all easy to learn about on the internet so I won't bore anyone with details. Good luck and have fun.

 

[ovrszd]

Richard- I should have posted line of sight flier.

I am forgetting which video editors that I used. They were free.

All my drone stuff is on my HP. I need a monitor for that computer.

Maybe I have that stuff on my RCG Blog. I need to check.

I found a picture of it hovering after I upgraded the flight controller to a DJI product. I had already mounted a cheap keychain video cam seen here, before the Mobius cam, VTX, video stabilization, more powerful ESC's, and motors were added.

It's very common for me to not be able to see my Drone. The FAA Regs I have studied vaguely say you must have line of sight at all times. I interpret that as nothing between me and the Drone?? Once my Drone is 1/8 mile away I can no longer "see" it.

I use a 6x9 tablet for a viewer when flying. I had trouble in sunlight seeing it. So I added a laminate non glare screen cover. It's much better now. But I still get the best view if it's shaded.

Your Drone is awesome!!!! I wouldn't know where to start...?.

 

[ovrszd]

I have been flying the Mavic Pro for about 2 months. It's really pretty simple as the software is pretty intelligent. I used to fly nitro R/C planes and flying the Mavic seems like going back to kindergarten in regards to difficulty level. There are restrictions on altitude, distance, and usage, but that's all easy to learn about on the internet so I won't bore anyone with details. Good luck and have fun.

Friend of mine has a Mavic. He decided one day he'd see how far away it would go. At 4 miles he chickened out and started back to home. Along the way it went into critical landing mode and he lost contact. He jumped in his truck and headed down the hiway in the direction he had went. Found the Mavic sitting in the middle of the hiway!!!! How lucky was that!!!

 

[Professor Marvel]

Great info guys. Thank you all for participating. I am taking it all in and trying to understand.

 

[Professor Marvel]

It is real easy to lose or crash my drone. I have woods all around me so I fly in trees. On my fifth trip I was flying in my yard practicing. In fact I was getting pretty confident. I was getting it located to land. It had been beeping the whole time because of the proximity of all the trees and I was about 30 ft from landing. Apparently the battery was getting lower than I realized and did not hear or recognize the low battery beep. It went straight up into RTH mode but it was not clear of the trees yet even though it was almost where it started out and crashed about 40 ft up in a limb and fell completely broken to the ground. Luckily they honored the accident insurance I had purchase with the drone.
Big lesson learned. I am much more hesitant to fly it now and am very watchful. I can easily see being distracted trying to get the camera settings right.

 

[LouNY]

Nice pictures, the one of your farm is that windmill still pumping water?
I didn't see any tanks close by.

 

[jbrumberg]

radio1- I agree. There should be greater penalties for those ignorant, entitled owner/operators who disrupt airport aircraft, aircraft, police, fire, and emergency aircraft operations.

I really like those pictures. The drones on the market today are literally light years ahead of my drone technology-wise. I have the most basic of DJI flight controllers. I bet they are no longer made.

 

[Jstpssng]

Interesting thread!!!
:thumbsup:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My neighbor just told me that the trees in my back yard next to the creek had eaten three of his drones.

 

[bunyip]

Back in front of a real computer at last......
I started a couple of years ago with a cheap drone that would go anywhere I did not aim for, I mastered the art of getting stuck in a tree, the only tree in a barren desert that I was aiming at then I saw some of Richards video with his Autel.
Found that Autel is not really available in Australia so looked at the DJI Phantom series, nice but bulky then looked at the Mavic which had very similar specs and folded up and takes up little space plus has 4K capabilities so I went with the Mavic kit with the two extra batteries, car kit etc etc and it has serv4ed me well.
A few extra bits along the way, as for keeping in view, very hard with a grey machine and I have lost sight of it a few times and always watch the battery levels whgich are displayed on the controller, I have activated the return home and nervously awaited the return, feel more confident now as it has always come back and landed in the same spot.
I shall link some of my video.
The new Mavics come with three camera options and one is a true optical zoom or if you are feeling really wealthy you can get the big inspire and mount whatever camera you like but at AU$10K+ for a base unit that is a lot of money, then you have to buy the camera.
Alien builds his from the ground up and I am surprised he hasn't posted yet.
So far I am more than happy with the Mavic although 4K chews up a lot of memory, about 1gb for 3 minutes I think so carry a few 64 or 128gb cards (micro SD), as we have a 65" 4K TV this is the only way I will shoot.
Home 1 on Vimeo Behind home
silo 3 on Vimeo Silo art
Arena on Vimeo Arena work in progress, early shot, over exposed, learnt a lot since then