Lets talk drones ....

JayhawkCurtis

JayhawkCurtis

Nobody
May 24, 2021
5,410
Armpit of Oklahoma
Boat Info
2004 Sea Ray 240 Sundeck
Engines
350 Mag Mercruiser w/Bravo III Drive
I always wanted a remote controlled air plane as a kid, but never dropped the coin to buy one. Now as an old guy, flying a drone interests me, tell me what you know, and what you got?
 
I bought a DJI Air 2S a couple of years ago. I had absolutely no experience flying and concerned about crashing an expensive drone. I am glad that I purchased a fairly expensive drone as it does not take allot of pilot skills to fly it. Obstacle avoidance is a big advantage. Go home feature and auto landing as well. Allot of features with this and similarly priced units. Practice in clear, wide open areas. Register and license is easy on the faa web site. For reference, my son bought a cheap one, he can drive remote control boats and cars with no problem. He crashed his low cost drone within minutes of his first flight. It is now a $200 piece of junk! If you’re serious, pay the money for full featured drones as they almost fly themselves. Almost!!!!
 
I have a Parrot Bebop 2 drone. I have had it for over 10yrs. back when it was a choice between DJI and Parrot. I chose Parrot because it was cheaper (although still expensive) then the DJI was at the time. Parrot has since discontinued their consumer line and only focus's on their commercial side.

Flying a drone is nothing like flying an RC airplane. I was big into RC planes years ago and had many and all types, including pattern. That is still my passion should I get back into it again. Drones are easy, and can be flown from your backyard without any problems, and that in and of itself makes them more appealing.

Drones are more like a helicopter in flight, but much, much easier. The thing I like about the drone is the camera and all the great pic's and short clips you can take. I haven't yet flown it from the boat yet, because there are so many restrictions and licenses you must get and depending on where you are, the fines are pretty stiff. I just got my license for MD last year even though I was flying it anyway.
 
Got a DJI Phantom-3 a few years back for Christmas. Hasn't been flown in a while and is gathering dust in the basement.
 
I bought a no-name eBay drone back in 21. $60/ they are half that now. It was a ton of fun to fly but being it was so cheap it didn’t do well in any sort of wind. Camera was fun to play with but sucked the life out of the battery. Ended up getting cocky with it over the pool and the battery died before I could get it to the edge and in it went. Did not recover. Did not replace it, not sure I would spend more than $100 on a first one.
 
I have a DJI Mavic Air that I've had for about 5 years. It fly's using my smartphone attached to the controller. Really easy to fly and tons of bells and whistles. The camera is spectacular and range very good.
I bought it so we could discover fishing, conch, and lobster potential in the Bahamian islands. I haven't dunked it yet.
The downside is batteries are very expensive and they do go bad.
 
JayhawkCurtis said:
Thats one thing I have been wondering, if after the new wears off, it will sit on top of the treadmill
Click to expand...

Mine does, it's in the laundry room on the shelf. Comes out for fall pics. It's very hard to take with you if it's not a planned "drone" outing. They take up too much room to just bring along on the boat. Unless you have an unused stateroom that is. :)
 
@JayhawkCurtis If your considering this, as mentioned, do not waste your money on a cheap one. It will only frustrate you and you will never want another one. The one Tom has is a great drone to pickup. It has a lot of bells and whistles and also the all important gimble gyro stabilizer. Without that it's a mess, pic's and vid's are all over the place.

Even if it sits on the shelf, it's still better to have one worth using. JMO.
 
I currently have a Skydio2 drone that I purchased a few years ago. It is made to follow action such as skiing, motocross etc. You can also fly it using a controller which is how I mostly use it. Being a pilot I also hold a Part 107 Drone Certificate which allows me to operate the drone for compensation, which I do not do at the current time. It has 6 hi deg cameras for obstacle avoidance alone. I have used it to make and intro video for my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC__IDC7osfAycSEmbw3op4w. There is a video there titled Drone Test Video that will show you the quality these drones are capable of.
 
Multiple type quads and hexes from performance, acrobatic and heavy lift . Been building from scratch, repairing for others and programming them for years.
 
Watch boating with Boogaboo’s video of how he sunk his drone. Hilarious. He was in the lake on a calm day and ran it out of battery. Then the auto return home kicked in. And returned and landed where the boat was when it took off, not where it had drifted too. He watched it execute a perfect water landing followed by a sinking.

anyway my brother uses drones commercially and runs DJI exclusively. But for fun he likes his mavic pro but tells me that I should buy the mini 3 pro. It has great object avoidance and does not require a licence. Take that 3rd party recommendation for what it’s worth.
 
I have a DJI mini that I use from the boat. It’ll take off and land from the Sundancer bow fairly easily, but struggles with landing in the bow of a CC. I usually just catch it.

I also use it to check my and my neighbor’s roofs after a hurricane passes.

The things are fun, but I’m not sure it’s the best way to spend the money unless you’re going to use it a lot.
 
Dji mavic pro for years. I don’t use it as much as I’d like but my preference is to take stills versus video since video editing takes quite a bit of time. Their app is decent for quick clips though

IMG_1075.jpeg
 
I've been flying an Autel EVO for about 3 years and love it. Like you I was interested in RC airplanes, but I didn't have much luck learning to fly (I still want to). I bought a cheap drone a few years ago and it was so easy to fly but was pretty limited in what it could do, so I started looking for other options. A friend introduced me to the Autel and I was hooked. My wife bought me one for Christmas a few years ago and I have used it a fair amount (not as much as I would like though). It folds up pretty compactly and fits into a small case so it's easy to bring to the boat and fly around.

The reason my friend went with the Evo was that it didn't limit where you could fly like the DJIs did at the time, but I think the latest firmware now limits that unfortunately.

The camera is very high quality, and the flying is very easy and kind of fool proof, even for a beginner.
 
GnrlPatton said:
I've been flying an Autel EVO for about 3 years and love it. Like you I was interested in RC airplanes, but I didn't have much luck learning to fly (I still want to). I bought a cheap drone a few years ago and it was so easy to fly but was pretty limited in what it could do, so I started looking for other options. A friend introduced me to the Autel and I was hooked. My wife bought me one for Christmas a few years ago and I have used it a fair amount (not as much as I would like though). It folds up pretty compactly and fits into a small case so it's easy to bring to the boat and fly around.

The reason my friend went with the Evo was that it didn't limit where you could fly like the DJIs did at the time, but I think the latest firmware now limits that unfortunately.

The camera is very high quality, and the flying is very easy and kind of fool proof, even for a beginner.
Click to expand...
They have really extended the no fly zones everywhere. As usual the idiots amongst us ruin it. There are four airports around me. South about 8 miles, Northwest about 11 miles, Patrick AFB Southeast about 12 miles and, Kennedy Space Center North about 10 miles. I'm in the crossroads where I can't fly just about anywhere local. DJI updates the FW regularly and every time is nets a negative impact.
 
DJI mini 2 se. Very simple to operate. Had an older 3dr solo. Very big and used a separate go pro camera. Cry once be happy and spend the money on a good one.

 
I was big into RC a long time ago mostly RC helicopters and a several various quads (drones). Talk about a bitch to learn to build and fly helicopters. Just like the real thing it takes a lot of maintenance time compared to the flight time. But man...what a rush. My Largest was a 700 Class electric. It was like flying a 10 hp lawnmower around at 100 mph with no safety guards!

One thing to do if you've never flown a drone or RC is to buy an RC simulator. You can crash all you want and a new rebuilt machine is a compter key stroke away. There are several versions, but the more expensive are much more realistic and a better training device. Might not be worth it for a $500 cheap drone, but a $1500-$2500 heli? Yeah better get the good Sim!!

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