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General BS forum I guess this will be for anything that would seem to be off topic in any other forum here. Just general shootin' the breeze kind of topics.

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Unread 12-18-2016, 09:39 AM   #1
Cor66Vette
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Default Camera Drones

These have really piqued my interest recently. I really don't have a "use" for one, but playing with one looks like it could be a lot of fun.

I know Rich has one, and maybe others on the forum do also, so I could use some info on these toys? If I got one, I'd want one that is inexpensive but not garbage, and I'm not looking to grow into a top tier drone, either. Thank you.
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Unread 12-18-2016, 03:59 PM   #2
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I don't have one myself(yet)but I was in Office Depot last week and saw that they had 3 different sizes, two with cameras. All were under $100.00. They are getting more and more popular. I do contract work with FDOT and we have shot video on the interstate using some pretty high dollar drones. Who would have thought you could ever get paid for playing with these things!

My brother got one of these during the prototype sales and is working with the company to help them upgrade the drone. I think it's pretty cool that you can throw it in the water and it flies right out of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWrApA8oRbI
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Unread 12-18-2016, 05:07 PM   #3
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Yeah, that is way cool. I saw that Lily Camera video. A thousand bucks, IIRC.

I figure the 100 dollar ones at Office Depot can't be any good. If I come across someone selling a half-way decent one (at a reasonable price) who wants to upgrade, I might just go for it.
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Unread 12-18-2016, 07:29 PM   #4
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Yeah, I've got a few smaller drones, but honestly haven't played with them for quite a while now. Was interested in working up to a larger more sophisticated unit at one time, but I put that way on the back burner after reading far too many accounts of people having a grand ($$) or more just fly away (return to China mode) or decide to drop into the middle of a lake without warning.

I would suspect that with the cheaper units that even with a camera, they won't have any sort of POV capability. Point of View means that you can see what the camera sees via the handset controller. Without that, you are basically just taking video at random and won't have any idea what you actually took video of till you got the drone back, pulled out the memory card, and then loaded it in a PC or equivalent to look. So my advice would be (if video is important to you) to make certain that the video the drone is recording, or just using the camera to see from the drone, gives you an image on your handheld controller. Many will utilize a smart phone of tablet for that function, but at least make sure you have that capability if you really want it. All of the small ones I bought could do POV video, but quality varied quite a bit among them.

I actually like the looks of the new DJI Mavic Pro that DJI recently came out with, but since it requires a smart phone for POV video, and I haven't yet bought into this smartphone stuff, it's not something I will be buying anytime real soon. GoPro came out with their own drone (Karma) recently, but from what I heard, they had to recall ALL of them because of a rash of failures and crashes. GoPro is new to this drone game, and most people said that they are about 3 generations behind the likes of DJI concerning drone technology. But I imagine competition is fierce in this new market, so improvements should come in leaps and bounds.

My advice would be to get the cheapest drone you can and practice with it. You WILL crash it, likely many times while working up the learning curve. There definitely IS a learning curve involved, and you need to become proficient enough that your reactions are quick and instinctive when things suddenly go wrong. Which when you are starting out, will happen a LOT. So take your lumps with something that won't hurt if you lose or crash it. Also practice outside where the drone can crash on something relatively soft like grass. One good crash to an asphalt parking lot, and you can pretty much figure on the drone going into the trashcan when you get home. At the very least, buy a few spare blades. You will need them.

Just about everyone sells drones these days, as the last time Connie and I went to the local mall, they were just about everywhere. So at the very least get one that has a money back guarantee in case you find it is not to your liking. The learning curve could wind up being too steep for you. I think if you have spent a lot of time playing on an Xbox or Playstation controller, this might come easier to you, since the control will be kind of similar.

Oh yeah, flight time on the cheap small drones will likely be pretty frustrating to you. A friend of mine bought one at Tractor Supply (see what I mean about them being everywhere?) but when he discovered that it only had a 5 minute flight time, he took it back. He said by the time he started getting the hang of it and getting the drone to even just sit still in one place, the battery was about dead, and he would have to land it. Then it took an hour or more to recharge the battery for another try, and that really took all the fun out of it for him.

Frankly the big hangup with me getting a higher dollar model is that my property just is not a good place to fly a drone. My property is heavily wooded with tall pine trees which seem to be magnetic to the drone. I was constantly fighting to keep the drone from heading into a tree. A few times I flew the drone high enough to clear the tree tops, but honestly those small drones can be very difficult to see when you get them up high. Then if it turns around on you, you can easily become disoriented such that it's easy to move the wrong control and quickly make things much worse. A few times, I actually thought I had seen the last of the drone when it went out of sight behind the tree line, but that is when POV saved the day by allowing me to actually SEE where it was pointed.

There are actually programs out there that are trainers for drones, and I would HIGHLY recommend that you buy one and play with that before even buying your own drone and putting it up into the air. I know they sell these things as toys, and maybe kids will take to them a lot quicker than us older folks will, but like I said, there is a definite learning curve involved with these things that you need to be aware of. Plan to use a lot of baby steps at first. Pretend that the drone WANTS to crash, and you have to stay on your guard to keep it from doing so.

BTW, my guess is that you would be able to find quite a few of the early generation DJI drones used for sale at really good prices, since probably people highly engaged with these things will upgrade quickly when new models come out. This might be the least expensive way to get into this hobby.

Good luck! If you have questions, I will try to help with my limited knowledge.
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Unread 12-19-2016, 09:17 AM   #5
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^ ^ ^ ^ That's a pretty comprehensive write-up- thank you.

What is of concern is that I would most likely damage any drone(s) while going through the learning curve, and that could become expensive. And being it would be of little substantive use- just a toy, really- I have to label that as a waste of money.

That's the same reasoning that prevents me from getting a GO-PRO. Besides the damage phrase, I can't see a real use for one.

Call me practical, or call me boring. I answer to either.

Thanks again for the info.
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Unread 12-19-2016, 01:28 PM   #6
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My suggestion to you, then, would be to get one of the cheap $100 drones to just learn to fly a drone. Ignore the camera part for now. Just learn how to control the thing adequately. Find one that has the best battery life you can, so you don't get frustrated by a very short flight time. Even 10 minutes seems like quite a long time at first when you are just trying to keep the drone up in the air, and going in the direction you want it to go. When you start feeling bored with it will likely be the time to start thinking about an upgrade.

The GoPro is actually a pretty handy little pocket sized camcorder. There are accessories that allow you to attach it to just about anything and have it go just about anywhere. All the while with the ability to take pretty decent 4K video. I've watched videos of drone crashes carrying GoPros that totally destroyed the drone, but the GoPro came out of it with absolutely no damage. So those things appear to be made to be pretty robust.

I guess it depends on really how much video you want to take in situations where a typical video camera might not be convenient or safe. Heck, I've even used a GoPro as a pretty capable dashcam on trips.

The new Hero 5 looks to be pretty nice, and I like that they incorporated the view screen into this generation. With the two Hero 4s I bought, I went and bought the optional attachment screen, as I felt that is a necessity so you can actually see what the heck your camera is seeing to take video. I think I will likely buy one before my next trip anywhere. But with anything new, I really don't like being the first on my block to get one. Let other people be the unpaid beta testers.

And honestly, being cautious, or practical as you put it, is not unwise. Look at YouTube videos at the number of drone crashes that people went through that completely destroyed their $1,000+ drones for them. Or the number of flyaways. And you can bet you are only seeing a very small percentage of them. I don't know about you, but I really have no desire to spend that kind of money just to have it crash to the ground, or watch it fly away to parts unknown. Which is exactly why I put this drone interest on the back burner for a while. I just have not been convinced that these drones are ready for prime time outside of hardcore radio control enthusiasts. This stuff is still cutting edge, with that cut possibly going both ways, no matter how careful you may be.

So if you want to get into these things, do so cautiously, in a manner that you can back out if you find it's really not for you, without losing a lot of "skin" in the process. The smaller, lightweight drones are actually pretty tough and can take a good number of crashes without suffering damage. So they are very good for using as a basic trainer.
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