Drones (1 Viewer)

Tommy said:
I bought one. :cool: Best offer was accepted.
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Congratulations, you bought the right kind. I know a little about them - had a 3DR Solo. You're going to love it.

Now, you need a computer fast enough to edit the kick-assignment video you're about to shoot.
 
I fly the fpv racinig/freestyle quadcopters, 200-250mm size. Incredibly fun, I am definitely addicted. Got a few builds going right now, it's real easy to get deep in this hobby be it the racing side or the cinematography side. It blows my mind the level of videos you can make with a GoPro 4 Black or equivalent and a phantom, inspire, or one of the few other competitors.

You're going to love it!!
 
I just picked up a Phantom 4 recently. Bought this drone specifically for some Jeep adventures. The follow mode and object avoidance are perfect features. Me and a friend ran the Rubicon Trail last week.

Just added this yesterday.

This was from the first time I had it out.
 
liftapint said:
If you don't mind me asking...what did you offer? It would be pretty cool to have one of these...
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$1500 shipped, and it was auto-accepted. I probably should have tried a little lower. This one comes with two extra batteries. They run about $100 each when bought separately. You can get it with just one battery for a few hundred less from the same seller.
 
Drone fly-by around a Chanman fold-up poker table on the back patio with cigars and whiskey?
 
wetfoot said:
I just picked up a Phantom 4 recently. Bought this drone specifically for some Jeep adventures. The follow mode and object avoidance are perfect features. Me and a friend ran the Rubicon Trail last week..
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It it pretty easy to fly? I can imagine myself dropping the coin on something like this, then bashing it into the ground on the first flight
 
liftapint said:
It it pretty easy to fly? I can imagine myself dropping the coin on something like this, then bashing it into the ground on the first flight
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I think so. I flew one before. (not this model)
This model had a new accident avoidance feature. You can't fly it into an obstacle when that feature is turn on.

 
Shut this thread down before I end up buying another one of the SOB`s!
 
Tommy said:
You can't fly it into an obstacle when that feature is turn on.
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1a1d9729b39ecd8ba718b8d59a2a166bd2b56d213aa8e03f0ea33404e62fa840.jpg
 
liftapint said:
It it pretty easy to fly?
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Here's the thing, they most definitely are easy to fly, the easiest out there as a matter of fact, but you can still lose your drone, cause damage or embaresment, or hurt somebody if you're not careful. The top of the line DJI stuff, and other cinematography platform drones, have things like GPS hold, the follow me mode, return to home, headless mode (doesn't matter which way your "nose" is facing the controller inputs stay the same and simply holding "backwards" will bring it back to you), and some with the obstacle avoidance mode. It makes them incredibly easy to fly but it is very possible to screw up big time with them, it happens all the time. In my opinion, even though it is possible to pick up a Phantom 4 controller and fly it with zero experience I would highly recommend against it. Learn to fly a quadcopter, and I'm not saying get professional skills, just get the basics down at a bare minimum. If you have flown or drove any sort of RC stuff in the past you would obviously be a little further ahead than a person who hasn't, also if you are currently or have ever been a video game player the muscle memory of using a controller and hand eye coordination you would have developed with a controller would all make picking up a drone and flying it easier, but they are still in a world all their own.

My sincere sugestion would be to pick up something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SYMA-Explorers-6-Axis-Quadcopter-Camera/dp/B00MNG37C2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467389032&sr=8-1&keywords=syma+x5c+drone&refinements=p_89:SYMA and learn to fly in your house. This is a great little indoor quad to start out with. Put the prop gaurds on and slap the battery in and start having fun while learning to fly. You can watch youtube videos or just start feeling it out, but a few things to keep in mind are: Go easy on the controlls and don't panic if you get into trouble, easy inputs are usually the answer in the beginning. Start flying your quad with it sitting on the ground in front of you facing the way you are facing. What that does is it makes it so that when you press "forward" on your stick it goes forward, same with left, right, yaw, and reverse. Get your legs under you a little bit like that because you have to keep in mind that once you turn the quad, say, 180* your controls are now reversed and if you push right it will "go" left to your appearance. It's one of the hardest things for new pilots to master that have never played video games or flown other RC models.

Camera drone owners are sometimes looked down upon in the RC/Quadcopter community because they have given it a bad name, drones specifically. It is usually inexperienced pilots doing stupid stuff with their $1k quads that make the news and it's all you ever hear about. There are thousands of videos out there of people running their Phantoms into buildings or cars, hurting people, doing illegal things like flying to close to an airport or over crowds of people, etc. Mel, some idiot ran his Phantom into the Wheel on the water front not to long ago, I think they are still looking for the dude. I'm not saying anybody here is going to do that, as a matter of fact liftapint and tommy would be two of the people I would put into "guaranteed not to do something stupid" just because you guys are all smart people, but not everybody is and just know that drones and quadcopters have a bad name to some people because of it. Being able to fly proficiently and knowing the rules and etiquette of these cool ass toys goes a long way to keeping a low profile. :D Plus, is all honesty, it's a shit ton of fun to fly and if you start flying with a little one in your house you will probably become addicted to that as well.

After you guys are sufficiently hooked on this radio controlled crack we can talk about getting you guys set up with some FPV goggles and a TinyWhoop. :D



I love this hobby and have been meaning to start a thread about it. I've talked with a few other members that also fly these things, Phantoms for them as well, and I think it would be a cool thing to have a thread for. I am blown away at the technology and performance that quadcopters have progressed to in the last 2-3 years or so, the videos and photos the average person can get with a camera drone are mind blowing, and the speed, responsiveness, agility, and the over all cool factor of FPV flying makes the racing/freestyle class of drones one of the funnest hobbies I have ever got into.


A random, bad ass normal person made video:




If you ask people why they got into FPV quadcopter racing/flying it is absolutely stunning how many people will reference this next video. Seriously, this video came out and changed the way people looked at the FPV aspect, before this video the quads were more clunky and vtx weren't the greatest, fpv was more of a novelty. This video showed us that what we grew up wanting to do while playing video games, like fly around our environment however we wanted, was not only possible but it was here now and it looked AWESOME! I watched it around Christmas time in 2014 and immediately texted it to a few buddies and told them we WILL be doing this. :D :



Random freestyle vid of one of the better pilots, Ummagawd:



Edit to add: Just look at the difference in camera quality and the actual speed/responsiveness of the flying in the two racing/freestyle vids above. Like I say, when the forest video came out it was game changing, and now those 3s (3 cells in the lithium-polymer batteries) quads with first or second generation gopros look like they are flying at 25% power and being filmed through a high definition potato compared to the average video made today. That's just a couple years of technology, I can not WAIT to see what's out next year at this time. :D
 
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@12thMan All good info.(y) :thumbsup: I'm not experienced with quad choppers but have been in and out of RC for the last 20 years. Cars and trucks mostly but have flown planes and a 6ch chopper. I still have some Airtronics and Futaba stuff. I definitely plan to do some test flights in an open field first.
 
That FPV flying is unbelievable. I see an expensive new hobby in my future.
 
@12thMan, I just ordered my practice drone. I have some great places to fly a Phamtom 4 over at my cabin (over near Roslyn)...but I'll see how I do with this practice drone before I take the plunge with the big boy. I was a pretty "dedicated" video game player when I was a kid (and still have a multi-game cabinet in my basement) -- and have fairly good hand-eye coordination, so I think I would have a blast with one of these. But I really appreciate your recommendation of a practice drone to develop some skills. I got the exact one you linked. Should be a lot of fun!
 
Batteries charged, firmware updated. I might try a test flight before work today.
 
mummel said:
Vids????
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I don't think I turned record on. Was just a quick test in my back yard to make sure everything worked. I'm off tomorrow, so I plan to take it out to a nearby field.
 
Picked a case that allows you to keep the props on. I seen 2 others brands that have cases that allow you to do that but the props sit above the foam and can be pressed down by the lid. This one has them fully recessed. Wish it didn't have the wheels though.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E5U3TFS

phantom 4 case.jpg
 
Think of all the chips that money could have bought Tommy!!! ;). Just kidding, this is pretty cool actually.
 
Very jealous. I've been wanting one since the v3 model came out. I didn't find out until recently the 4 was released and it's even better.

Looking forward to the videos.
 

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