"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.
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).]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).]
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.
Yeah, I plan on going "low and slow" for awhile.
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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.
This thing is supposed to automatically return to home when the battery level gets low or it looses communication with the controller.
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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
It has a "find my drone" feature. I think it will display the last known position on the map. Also, for recreational use, flying beyond line of sight is illegal; and lord knows I would NEVER do anything illegal.
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Ah - also, flying over water takes huge balls, as a battery failure over water would never turn out great!
If I was to get one it would have to support a VR head set. I do not get motion sick (easily) and it would be an experience to fly one with a view from the drone.
If I was to get one it would have to support a VR head set. I do not get motion sick (easily) and it would be an experience to fly one with a view from the drone.
From what I have seen, most do. They have what is called "first person view" (FPV) which displays on your phone through WiFi and will also connect to a headset.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 09-13-2021).]
My brother's son in law had one and it had a 'return home' function which brought it back in a direct line. Twice on the return trip, it crashed into the same utility pole about 100 yards from where he was standing.
My brother's son in law had one and it had a 'return home' function which brought it back in a direct line. Twice on the return trip, it crashed into the same utility pole about 100 yards from where he was standing.
I have been doing my homework and I have found that there are a lot of places where drones are not allowed. One may not fly in National Parks, Arizona State Parks or City of Phoenix Parks. Glendale does allow them in our city parks but much of Glendale is in controlled airspace because of Glendale Municipal Airport or Luke AFB. All of this means that finding an interesting place to fly will not be a casual endeavor. If I had know this before I placed the order, I might have changed my mind.
Well that explains why I never see anyone flying drones where I live. Long Beach is close to an airport and you have to get a permit to fly them and are restricted to how high you can fly them.
My brother's son in law had one and it had a 'return home' function which brought it back in a direct line. Twice on the return trip, it crashed into the same utility pole about 100 yards from where he was standing.
I guess a proximity sensor is too expensive to put into low-end drones but I would expect them to be present on more expensive ones, along with some simple collision-avoidance programing. Is that too much to ask?
I got into drones pretty seriously after I retired, and had 7 of them at one time over the past year. Down to just one now, and the reason for that is I learned the hard way that you do get what you pay for most of the time, but some are just not worth the asking price.
Started out cheap, went more and more expensive, and found only one that I totally enjoyed flying, so sold the rest.
Presently I only have a DJI Mavic Air (original). It has obstacle avoidance, 4K video, and is smooth as silk to fly. The only drawback to this one is it only has a maximum flight time of 15 minutes per battery, but to be honest, that is long enough for what I do.
If you are considering a drone, keep in mind that the FAA is requiring all drone owners to take a test just to fly. Literally anyone. I did take it and passed easily, but they are getting more and more restrictive on where you can fly. Fortunately where I live it is pretty wide open as far as flying, but remember the rules and you are good to go.
Heheh, think I may take it up today and see what is going on in my little part of the world and post it on my youtube channel.
