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| Things we thought would be more popular that they are- # 7:Drones (Page 1/3) |
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TheDigitalAlchemist
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SEP 10, 01:21 AM
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Drones.
Do you guys have any? we have a few lying around, and they are kinda boring (I guess?)
As a kid, I tried (unsuccessfully) to build a RC helicopter... it was too heavy. the motor... insufficient.
now, We have them popping up in dollar stores...the 'High-end" ones are still expensive, but for 20 bucks, you can get a decent little flying thingie.
Astronauts.
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Cliff Pennock
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SEP 10, 04:05 AM
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"Cheap" drones are pretty boring since all you can do with them is fly and make bad quality videos. Also, range is very limited.
The more expensive drones however, are actually pretty darn awesome. A friend of mine has a DJI Mavic Pro 2. It has a full motion, stabilized gimbal and it makes awesome videos. It can do all sorts of things automatically (like follow you around) and it has a range of up to 2 miles or so.
I also like the 3D FPV Drones you can use with a VR head set. Never tried one of those but they just look like great fun.
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sourmash
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SEP 10, 09:04 AM
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When they make one that can carry an umbrella over me when it's raining, I'm in.
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MidEngineManiac
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SEP 10, 09:35 AM
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They DID destroy an industry.
We used to make pretty good money taking survey and sales pictures, for those crazy enough to dodge some towers to get the shot.
Now, every farmer and real estate agent has their own $200 drone and just does it themselves. The drone cost them less than it used to cost to put me in the air for an hour.[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 09-10-2021).]
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Jake_Dragon
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SEP 10, 05:32 PM
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randye
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SEP 10, 07:50 PM
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Bought my oldest Grandson a moderately expensive drone with video, sound, etc. a couple of Christmases ago.
He charged it up, went outside and promptly flew it into the very top of the tallest tree on the property where it wedged in tightly.
It would take a fairly big cherry picker / bucket truck to even get near it so it just forlornly lives up there now.
Hopes that a strong wind storm might blow it down someday have been in vain.
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williegoat
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SEP 10, 08:55 PM
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I wonder if new FAA regs have put a damper on drone sales. From what I read, any drone over 250 grams will require "remote ID" capability in addition to registration. That will render many existing drones illegal to fly, soon, and might be responsible for the price drop on some models.
This is just speculation from an "outsider". Maybe someone who is familiar with such things can fill us in.
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FieroSTETZ
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SEP 13, 11:13 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist:
Drones.
Do you guys have any? we have a few lying around, and they are kinda boring (I guess?)
As a kid, I tried (unsuccessfully) to build a RC helicopter... it was too heavy. the motor... insufficient.
now, We have them popping up in dollar stores...the 'High-end" ones are still expensive, but for 20 bucks, you can get a decent little flying thingie.
Astronauts.
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To differentiate, are you asking about RC quadrotors, or actual autonomous drones?
I've had a couple/used several of each - first, the RC only one - I managed to crash a bunch of times, including into my own head. It took a really long time to stop thinking about "forwards" and "backwards" directions of the quadrotors, since direction is really irrelevant - in terms of handling there's no front and no back to the quadrotor itself, so it ultimately doesn't matter. I got much better at flying them when I finally dropped the mental directional association. I have a tiny one (half the size of a computer mouse) that I fly around in the house, bigger ones I fly around outside, etc.
As far as actual drones, I've also used a few of those and worked on the AI logic/data aggregation and parsing. We assisted with proof of capability testing doing laser terrain mapping using DJI's (and others') enterprise grade offerings and provided some technical support for a fire department/parks test using FLIR cameras on autonomous drones to hunt for "missing persons" (the guys playing the missing persons had the easiest jobs that day!). It's neat to preprogram pathing and simply get alerts when one of the autonomous units "spots" something or when they return to base to charge themselves. These were significantly more expensive devices than the rc quadrotors above. For "fun" I have played with a dji autonomous drone, I delivered a six pack to a friend of mine across town without human intervention and it was pretty awesome.
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williegoat
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SEP 13, 12:43 PM
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This thread started me doing some reading and I ended up ordering a drone from Amazon: Holy Stone HS175D
It seems to have enough features to make it worthwhile, without requiring a substantial outlay in moolah. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money just to find out that I will never use it. I should have it by the end of the week.
It seems to have a decent camera and some autonomous features. It has a "return to home" button, which could come in handy.
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FieroSTETZ
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SEP 13, 01:20 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by williegoat:
This thread started me doing some reading and I ended up ordering a drone from Amazon: Holy Stone HS175D
It seems to have enough features to make it worthwhile, without requiring a substantial outlay in moolah. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money just to find out that I will never use it. I should have it by the end of the week.
It seems to have a decent camera and some autonomous features. It has a "return to home" button, which could come in handy. |
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If you're new to it - a few words of advice. As you "spread your wings" and start roaming further and further... remember to only fly over places that you can get to if you experience a sudden failure lol. While it even happens with higher end UAVs, inexpensive UAV battery failures happen and having to retrieve a several hundred dollar drone from a brush filled canyon is not fun. Also, a few friends that started playing with these devices kept forgetting at the beginning that you need to factor in round-trip flights when looking at battery life. It sounds basic and dumb but a ton of people forget about that while they're having fun with their new doodad.
They make these thingies for model rocketry that start beeping loudly after an impact, might not be a terrible idea to attach to your drone if you start flying it places that are outside line-of-sight 
Ah - also, flying over water takes huge balls, as a battery failure over water would never turn out great![This message has been edited by FieroSTETZ (edited 09-13-2021).]
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