Drones.. Whose got one? What is your opinion on them and the model(s) you have?

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johnls7424

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Own a drone?? Operated a drone once?? What is your opinion of them? Which one for 2015 is the best bang for your buck? Have you ever swatted or shot down a drone?? Caused interference or had interference send your drone crashing back down to earth like a speeding bullet??


Let's hear it all!!!!
 

PACNWDude

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Parrot AR, old style. Was more of a toy, and before the Hero cameras ended up on everything.

Only flew about 100 feet up and never too far out of sight. It did have some issues when flying over a large metal roof building. Never had the chain link fence issue some people mention on other sites though.

Broke in my last move, need to find it and try it out.

My neighborhood, nobody is shooting them down, but most people have the property to fly them on their own property.

Lots of amateur radio types in my neighborhood. Some parents wanted to use a Phantom to take pictures of baseball little league games. Was seen as a safety issue near the fields and everyone uses smartphones anyway.
 

johnls7424

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Parrot AR, old style. Was more of a toy, and before the Hero cameras ended up on everything.

Only flew about 100 feet up and never too far out of sight. It did have some issues when flying over a large metal roof building. Never had the chain link fence issue some people mention on other sites though.

Broke in my last move, need to find it and try it out.

My neighborhood, nobody is shooting them down, but most people have the property to fly them on their own property.

Lots of amateur radio types in my neighborhood. Some parents wanted to use a Phantom to take pictures of baseball little league games. Was seen as a safety issue near the fields and everyone uses smartphones anyway.

Oh okay cool.

Anyone else care to chime in?
 

blackbelt76

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Been flying RC Drones for a few years..currently have a DJI Phantom 3 w/ gyro stabilized camera platform I use for real estate imaging.

No probs with interference as most use spread spectrum technology.

Never been shot down, never any problems at all...It's all about pre-flight.
 

johnls7424

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Been flying RC Drones for a few years..currently have a DJI Phantom 3 w/ gyro stabilized camera platform I use for real estate imaging.

No probs with interference as most use spread spectrum technology.

Never been shot down, never any problems at all...It's all about pre-flight.

Awesome. Was looking at that one as well... How high give or take can it go? Does it reach around its " 3 mile mark" for distance?
 

prcguy

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I've got an original DJI Phantom and have almost worn it out. It carries an occasional GoPro and I like to fly by video using a small monitor or FatShark Goggles. This thing has been crashed hard many times and just keeps on flying.

I've had it way beyond line of sight probably approaching a mile using the stock radio. These don't crash if they get jammed or the transmitter is turned off, they will just go to the point of takeoff and gracefully land.

I've done a few stupid things with it many years ago like when someone asked how high can it go I ran it straight up, probably 1,000ft until we could barely see it. Then a small airplane flew under it and I figured out that's not a good idea.

I also had it up fairly low in my neighborhood a few years back, about 100ft up and I heard a helicopter approaching in the distance. By the time I flew it around a tree in the way so it could land, an LAPD helicopter started circling my house and I grabbed the copter and ran into the house under the cover of the tree. The police helicopter circled for about 5min and finally went away.

In this case I'm in a residential neighborhood and well over 5mi from any airport. The police helicopter can't go screaming across a neighborhood at 100ft due to trees and power poles, so I was not anywhere in his flight path, plus I landed it immediately after hearing him approach. Not sure what would have happened if he saw where I dissipated to but I'm sure they would have made some big case out of it.

The incidents I mention were way before drones were in the news or had anyone complain about them.
prcguy

Oh okay cool.

Anyone else care to chime in?
 

johnls7424

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I've got an original DJI Phantom and have almost worn it out. It carries an occasional GoPro and I like to fly by video using a small monitor or FatShark Goggles. This thing has been crashed hard many times and just keeps on flying.

I've had it way beyond line of sight probably approaching a mile using the stock radio. These don't crash if they get jammed or the transmitter is turned off, they will just go to the point of takeoff and gracefully land.

I've done a few stupid things with it many years ago like when someone asked how high can it go I ran it straight up, probably 1,000ft until we could barely see it. Then a small airplane flew under it and I figured out that's not a good idea.

I also had it up fairly low in my neighborhood a few years back, about 100ft up and I heard a helicopter approaching in the distance. By the time I flew it around a tree in the way so it could land, an LAPD helicopter started circling my house and I grabbed the copter and ran into the house under the cover of the tree. The police helicopter circled for about 5min and finally went away.

In this case I'm in a residential neighborhood and well over 5mi from any airport. The police helicopter can't go screaming across a neighborhood at 100ft due to trees and power poles, so I was not anywhere in his flight path, plus I landed it immediately after hearing him approach. Not sure what would have happened if he saw where I dissipated to but I'm sure they would have made some big case out of it.

The incidents I mention were way before drones were in the news or had anyone complain about them.
prcguy

Oh wow!!
 

blackbelt76

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Awesome. Was looking at that one as well... How high give or take can it go? Does it reach around its " 3 mile mark" for distance?

Well, umm, ummm..The FAA has issued some rules and regs concerning altitude..but suffice it to say, I can fly it higher than I can see it! LOL
 

Jay911

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My fire department owns a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+. We use it for documenting training evolutions and for surveillance on some incidents. We're still developing our plans for its use, but it finds its way into a lot more evolutions than we originally thought it would.

Here's a video taken during one of our training courses. I was flying a little too high, but this was my first test of the Litchi app's "orbit" feature, where it does a circle around a point and keeps the camera pointed at the center of the circle at all times - I wanted to be sure it wouldn't hit the building, the light standard, or any trees, as it orbited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0pvDKE0QQ

We've also helped out the local police with traffic crash investigation photos, when their (much larger and more professional quality, compared to consumer-grade) UAV was in another part of the province on another mission.
 

tj20

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I have been looking at the DJI Phantom 2 series and was wondering how well it handles outside. How high does the wind have to be for it adversely affect flight? It always seems windy here in west texas.
 

prcguy

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The Phantom series is incredibly stable and in GPS mode it can park over a spot and hover in probably 20+ MPH winds. If you turn off GPS it will move around horizontally with the wind but still provide an otherwise stable camera platform.

With aftermarket came gimbal mounts you will get a perfectly stable picture in this kind of wind. I believe some of the new Phantom models with built in camera and gimbal are just as stable but I prefer using a separate GoPro camera rather than the camera DJI offers.

Hee is a family member's site with lots of DJI Phantom and GoPro footage to see how well these work, although the video editing plays a big part in the production. https://vimeo.com/ianboyd All the ariel footage in these videos is from your basic DJI Phantom with GoPro camera and probably a Zenmuse gimbal.
prcguy


I have been looking at the DJI Phantom 2 series and was wondering how well it handles outside. How high does the wind have to be for it adversely affect flight? It always seems windy here in west texas.
 
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KC1UA

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That's great video! My only involvement with drones has been from a public safety standpoint. It seems that someone in our area of jurisdiction was using one to observe people using outside showers. We never caught them. We'll see what next summer brings.

Like anything else, we have the knowledge to create great technology but not all have the wisdom to use it responsibly, such as in the example videos. I'd love to try one, but I live in such a densely populated neighborhood it would be neither practical or "well received". :D
 

pinballwiz86

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I've got a small quadcopter (Blade Nano QX) and a DX6 6 channel transmitter. I fly it around in the winter months. Lot of fun.
 

Citywide173

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Detroit1031141-01 | Mount Elliot/East Warren Streets | Detroit 10/31/2014 | 2014 Scene Photos | Scene Photos | Gallery | Fireground Photos.net

The top right of the photo linked above is the red/green LEDs of a drone flying over a scene during Devil's Night 2014 in Detroit. While there are many great uses, there are also many dangers that uncontrolled (as in under the operation of public safety) drones on active public safety scenes causes. I watched this drone make many passes over the building, coming very close to thermal columns that could have knocked it out of the air, possibly endangering the firefighters below. I see this becoming more of an issue as time goes on.

Here is a shot of the drone itself:
Detroit1031141-01 | Mount Elliot/East Warren Streets | Detroit 10/31/2014 | 2014 Scene Photos | Scene Photos | Gallery | Fireground Photos.net
 

Blackink

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I don't own one myself.....Yet!

I say that because I bought one for my brother-in-law for Xmas.
It's a Syma X5C-1 Explorers 2.4G 4CH 6-Axis Gyro RC Quadcopter With HD Camera.
It's a beginners drone and he is a beginner, this will be his first drone.

I decided to charge up the battery tonight so it would be ready to go when he opens it Friday morning.

I plopped the battery in once it was fully charged, inserted 4 AA batteries into the transmitter, turned both the transmitter on and the quadcopter on and pushed the throttle lever up.

Away it went....straight up until it hit the ceiling of my living room and then I released the throttle and straight down it came and landed on the t.v. table I had it setting on when I started.

I then turned the throttle up just a little until it lifted off from the table and W-O-W....is this thing cool!

This was my first time playing with one of these and it hovered quite nicely for the 30 seconds I dared to play with it once I had control of the thing!!!

I also ordered him 4 extra batteries that come with another charger so he can have several more minutes of flying time rather than the 5-8 minutes it says that the included battery provides.

I loved it and more than likely, I'll be looking at one similar to this in the near future.
I can see myself having all kinds of fun with one of these.

And it's under the minimum weight limit of 8 ozs or heavier the FDA has mandated for registration.
 

CapStar362

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my brother and i just received a Syma X5SW ( the most stable yet cheapest drone available )

loving it soo far, already got a order in for 6 1200 mah batteries to charge and switch on the fly.

has a FPV powered by WiFi Direct to a phone or Tablet.

And yes, we are BOTH not stupid enough like the 75% of drone operators to follow the damn rules!
 
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Token

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Own a drone?? Operated a drone once?? What is your opinion of them? Which one for 2015 is the best bang for your buck? Have you ever swatted or shot down a drone?? Caused interference or had interference send your drone crashing back down to earth like a speeding bullet??

Pet peeve....what, pray tell, is a drone? Do you mean a radio control flying model or aircraft? Yeah, I know, it is all the rage to call them all "drones", especially the multi-rotors. However, unless the autopilot is capable of autonomous flight then it is not a drone.

With that said, many ARE capable of autopilot controlled flight or autopilot assisted modes of operation, validating the drone label for those devices.

I have flown many, I currently own about a dozen hobby UAS's of one type or another. Over the years I have owned dozens more, from gas powered 9 foot + span aircraft to gliders, helos, and multi-rotors.

My question is, disguised in the form of expressing a pet peeve, are you asking about multi rotors? Or just things that fly in general? You know, multi rotors, helos, park fliers, slope soarers, etc.

Are you looking for a camera platform? Or do you just want to fly? Are you looking for FPV capability? Casual use? All of these questions will help narrow down the suggestions.

T!
 
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gewecke

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Own a drone?? Operated a drone once?? What is your opinion of them? Which one for 2015 is the best bang for your buck? Have you ever swatted or shot down a drone?? Caused interference or had interference send your drone crashing back down to earth like a speeding bullet??


Let's hear it all!!!!
. Well ... they're great target practice when they fly where they shouldn't. :wink: 73, n9zas
 
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