Who here owns a drone?

avatar33

avatar33

e-Hustler
Dec 5, 2009
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Calgary, AB
I don't, but I want to get a quality one (for RECREATIONAL purpose, please don't put me on your watch list CIA/CSIS).

There are a bunch on Amazon that seem really cool but since I'm a total noob in this field, I thought I'd ask here. I'm sure some of you own one.

Ideally I'd want one that can be controlled through a computer or smartphone. I'd love one that I can enter coordinates of a location and it would go straight there, capture pics/vids and report back... lol I know this sounds suspicious, but really it's just for pure fun. I'd probably use it only when I'm in the woods or when I'm traveling abroad though, I feel like the laws are too strict in North America to truly have fun with this stuff...

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I have a DJI Phantom II with gimbal for a GoPro.

Its quite cool but I dont take it out all that often.

Pick up extra blades. You'll need them from your first crash or two. After that, you should have the hang of it. With a 25 minute flight time and 1hour+ charge time, extra batteries are not an option.
 
I'll second that - can't go wrong with a DJI Phantom & Zenmuse gimbal / GoPro.

Definitely get extra blades (Hobbyking are quite cheap for that sort of stuff). Check out FliteTest site too Flite Test for some decent demos & advice.
 
shindig said:
This open source tool looks badass for setting up waypoints for it to fly.
Mission Planner | Ground Station

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Yeah it does! Think (not sure) this originates across at diydrones.com . Problem is, it's not foolproof - has to be configured specifically for your airframe, even then weather conditions and technical fuckery lead to crashes.. lol. Hence you need to fly in line of sight and be able to take over the controls to comply with regs.

Basically there's a difference between UAVs (autonomous systems) and flying FPV which I suspect the stuff linked to in this thread mostly is. Not to say that isn't cool though. People hook em up with Occulus Rift and all sorts. If you're engineering/hardware minded and want to, or know how to, fly. Go for it! Wish I had the time and financial resources personally.
 
Beach Affiliate said:
I have a DJI Phantom II with gimbal for a GoPro.

Its quite cool but I dont take it out all that often.

Pick up extra blades. You'll need them from your first crash or two. After that, you should have the hang of it. With a 25 minute flight time and 1hour+ charge time, extra batteries are not an option.
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my buddy has this one, also with one of those tiny gopros, tried it for the first time about two weeks ago.
this is crazy cool, and a lot of fun. batteries lasted like 15 minutes though...
 
jonbird said:
Yeah it does! Think (not sure) this originates across at diydrones.com . Problem is, it's not foolproof - has to be configured specifically for your airframe, even then weather conditions and technical fuckery lead to crashes.. lol. Hence you need to fly in line of sight and be able to take over the controls to comply with regs.
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Yeah but in the past 2 years it's come a long way and is progressing rapidly I'd hope some of those issues will be improved in the coming years.

I haven't bought a drone yet, still waiting, definitely want something I can dick around with auto piloting for shooting video.

I have an arduino and bunch of sensors to dink with which are amazing. There's even a nice framework someone made for the unity game engine for interfacing with the a duino. Makes it super simple to make a custom app cross platform to control your devices. It's just raw sensor data, but for example you can take input from the accelerometer on a phone to control motors/levers/etc.
 
From what I'm reading so far it seems like the technology is still at its early stages and there are so many things that could go wrong that almost everybody will either break or lose their drone within a short period of time... either because of weather conditions, loss of GPS/connectivity, unexpected obstacle or anything like that.
 
avatar33 said:
From what I'm reading so far it seems like the technology is still at its early stages and there are so many things that could go wrong that almost everybody will either break or lose their drone within a short period of time... either because of weather conditions, loss of GPS/connectivity, unexpected obstacle or anything like that.
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I wouldn't say that. There's plenty of people that do some crazy cool shit with their drones and plenty of mods to keep the hobby interesting. As soon as the weather warms up, I'm doing a few mods to mine like what this guy has going on when he uses his to chase down a cruise ship.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4dCvwIjvo0"]Dji Phantom and Cruise 2 UNCUT iOSD 2.3km+ - YouTube[/ame]



There's also some good subreddits for enthusiasts which will definitely come in handy:

DJI Phantom RC Quadrocopter
Multicopters - build logs, answers and new items.
 
i have a mini drone that I got off Amazon. Flew it around my condo once and never used it again, don't even know where it is...

if you are thinking about buying a drone buy something more fun instead like a fleshlight or something
 
Beach Affiliate said:
I wouldn't say that. There's plenty of people that do some crazy cool shit with their drones and plenty of mods to keep the hobby interesting. As soon as the weather warms up, I'm doing a few mods to mine like what this guy has going on when he uses his to chase down a cruise ship.

Dji Phantom and Cruise 2 UNCUT iOSD 2.3km+ - YouTube



There's also some good subreddits for enthusiasts which will definitely come in handy:

DJI Phantom RC Quadrocopter
Multicopters - build logs, answers and new items.
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Awesome video. Why would you need a mod for this though? Seems like he's just following the ship through the live video feed...

Also, is it me or it seems like these bad boys are REALLY noisy? Can you run this thing without your entire neighbourhood hearing it?
 
avatar33 said:
Awesome video. Why would you need a mod for this though? Seems like he's just following the ship through the live video feed...
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Mods include stuff like equipment that will give you more range, larger battery capacity for longer flights, etc. Some are very impressive.

avatar33 said:
Also, is it me or it seems like these bad boys are REALLY noisy? Can you run this thing without your entire neighbourhood hearing it?
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It's not so bad. Just a buzz. Probably seems louder than it is from that video because the camera is literally mounted right under it. Plus wind noise, etc.
 
I think one of these would be a lot of fun. Someone in my neighborhood has one. It's been hovering over my backyard at a hundred or so feet a few times in the past couple weeks. Next time it shows up I'm going to see if I can put a .22 cal pellet right through the GoPro lens.
 
efeezy said:
I think one of these would be a lot of fun. Someone in my neighborhood has one. It's been hovering over my backyard at a hundred or so feet a few times in the past couple weeks. Next time it shows up I'm going to see if I can put a .22 cal pellet right through the GoPro lens.
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I wouldn't do that if I were you or you'll be liable for the damages (and depending on where you live, the fines for discharging a firearm within city limits).

One thing about drone use that gets under my skin is that too many people with them (like your neighbor) don't have common goddamn sense and it's starting to give all recreational drones a bad image.

I only fly mine for very short, very limited flights in my cul-de-sac after I've put on new blades to make sure there's no wobble. Never over another person's yard and never with the camera attached.

People see a drone and immediately assume it has a camera attached, even if there's not one there. It freaks some people out (and rightfully so, IMO).

So while I wholeheartedly agree that your neighbor is an asshat for flying it over or even within line of sight of your yard, just keep in mind that you will be responsible for the damages.

But if you choose to ignore all that, a 20 gauge loaded with birdshot will be much more effective at taking it down than a .22 unless you're one HELL of a shot.
 
^ if it's under 83' over private property they can shoot it down and not owe anything.

Causby sued the government, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In the end, the court sided with Causby, ruling that landowners own the sky above their homes up to at least 83 feet.

But the decision still left a gap. If the air above 500 feet is public property, and the air below 83 feet is private property, what about the space in between?
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