Any drone owners here?

[wicked]

Any of you own a drone? Looking to get my first one. Going to Hawaii in March and would like to do some aerial video.

Currently looking at following:

DJI Phantom Advanced
3DR SOLO
Parrot AR 2.0 Power Edition

If you're a drone owner, I would love to hear some tips and advice and your general experiences.

Thanks
Mike

 

[94lt1]

Had a parrot..HAD..my son took it out in heavy wind to do aerial video of a car show...to his credit ..it looked really good until it crashed into a 69camaro...

Parrots are really easy if you get the big ones..

 

[Mustang02]

Djis are on sale @ slickdeals today.
Remember to register with the FCC.

 

[cr6]

Register schmedister

S5 tap'n

 

[Jeffrey]

I was thinking about getting one as well.. DJI seems to have the best technology and reputation. Also the most expensive.

 

[CJM]

I have quad copters, I don't consider them drones. If you don't have much experience flying, might want to look at something that has headless mode.

Tapped from a Nexus 6

 

[leeshor]

Had a DJI Phantom + Went through several sets of props trying to master indoor flight in a confined space, something I was told could not be done. I did it. Mastering it takes some serious work and hand/eye coordination. It isn't as easy as it looks. The Parrot is much easier to control and less expensive. I couldn't spend as much time with it as I wanted so I sold it.

 

[94lt1]

I should add..the cool thing about the one I had..you could set the levels on the thing. And operate via taps..one tap and it would hover at 15feet..but another tap and it would hover at the ceiling you also set..say...50 feet...I recorded a power lifting event in our gym with it..came out awesome.. Wish we had it online..I'd link you to it..but we got the idea from strong man competitions.. They use quad copters and stream video ..

 

[Jeffrey]

Get this one @wicked

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chinese drone maker Ehang Inc. on Wednesday unveiled what it calls the world’s first drone capable of carrying a human passenger.

The Guangzhou, China-based company pulled the cloth off the Ehang 184 at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the CES gadget show. In a company video showing it flying, it looks like a small helicopter but with four doubled propellers spinning parallel to the ground like other drones.

The electric-powered drone can be fully charged in two hours, carry up to 220 pounds and fly for 23 minutes at sea level, according to Ehang. The cabin fits one person and a small backpack and even has air conditioning and a reading light. With propellers folded up, it’s designed to fit in a single parking spot.

After setting a flight plan, passengers only need to give two commands, “take off” and “land,” each controlled by a single click on a Microsoft Surface tablet, the company said.

It is designed to fly about 1,000 to 1,650 feet off the ground with a maximum altitude of 11,500 feet and top speed of 63 miles per hour.

U.S. authorities are just starting to lay out guidelines for drone use, and a human-passenger drone seems certain to face strict scrutiny.

 

[Mustang02]

We have quadcopters/drones at most of my car events. Even very windy days don't move them. Unlike my Blade X2 that I have crashed into so many things in the living room.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I have a cheap-o (like $50) quadcopter that I got at Radio Shack (RIP). It's got a webcam. Hard to fly. It's supposed to self-stabilize, but it's off and I can't seem to find the right amount of tweaking. Haven't fired it up in a while.

I actually lost it in the snow last year and figured it was gone for good, but my wife ended up finding it. SD card still had the last video I took and the thing still flies, but that might be part of the problem with the leveling mechanics on it. It used to hover better.

I would suggest investing in spare propeller blades as well, especially if you get one with no guards around them. On mine, they just fly right off when they hit something and then we have a game of "find the propeller" because it only came with 1 spare for each.

Anyway, if you're looking at those more expensive models, I think you'll have a better time of it. My brother-in-law got a good sized one on Christmas Eve, but didn't bring it to our Christmas Day celebration because he'd already wrecked it. Haha

 

[leeshor]

A friend builds and customizes his quadcopters, mostly from souped up DJI Inspire parts. (not sure where he gets that kind of cash from ). Anyway he has lost several of them and had some get caught in trees so high up he couldn't recover them. He lost so many he got a GPS kit to attach to the copter with a small remote so if one got lost, (crashed actually), in the woods, he could find it. That didn't work so well either because the GPS of one of his copters somehow locked on the a cell tower. He claims he knows where it is within abut 100 yards, or at least he did, until all the batteries died. That was about 4 months ago and he still hasn't found it. In the last year he has lost or totally wrecked 6 and counting.

I keep telling him he needs to find a new and different hobby.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

My other brother-in-law is an engineer. He's built his own from parts.

 

[Mustang02]

I have too many expensive hobbies. I don't need another one. I bought this mini-copter for $150 and I thought that was cheap.

 

[cr6]

I was reading about this story last night. This would be awesome! It'll probably never make it to the US.

S5 tap'n