Drones.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Any drone users here? I’ve got a small (£300) bonus from work and it’s the start of my 61st trip round the sun so I’m looking to treat myself. I’ve dabbled with free flight and radio-controlled planes in the past, and cameras on kites and bikes. I’ve been intrigued by drones but not sure if it would be a fleeting interest. I guess I’m just curious to try. The Hubsan Zion Mini Pro is a good bit more than £300 but caught my eye. Would this be the start of an enduring hobby, or an expensive, fruitless and brief romance with technology.

[Nobby the Bastard]

My son Has a Mavic Pro Platinum with extra batteries giving it a flight time of close to an hour and a half with battery swaps.

It has 3 modes. GPS stabilised, follow me, and sport mode.

It has a stabilised 4k camera.

It cost just under £ 400 at auction second hand.

£300 quid new will get you a toy.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Nobby the Bastard]

Anything over 250g requires an operator and flyer licence as well.

I'm the operator licence on the number 2's (and he smells like a number 2) drone because you have to be over 18.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Ste]

[P.]

[doggone]

Mini 3 Pro is the stand out one at the moment, version with screen built in does away with that annoying phone attachment thing and is in the air less than a minute.

[The Artist]

I have a DJI Mini 2.

<250g so minimal regulations.

Great quality camera and I got some epic scenery shots on my Norway trip. IIRC I got it for £350ish 2nd hand with the "fly more" kit.

As above, this is pretty much entry level in terms of quality and I wouldn't go with anything cheaper. Now the mini 3 is out, you can probably pick up the mini 2's a bit cheaper.

[pepperami]

[TbirdX]

https://uk.banggood.com/SJRC-F11S-4K-PRO-GPS-5G-WIFI-3KM-Repeater-FPV-with-4K-HD-Camera-2-Axis-Electronic-Stabilization-Gimbal-Brushless-Foldable-RC-Drone-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1889211.html?cur_warehouse=CN&ID=531930563352&rmmds=CategoryToysPop&trace_id=4c911665662299760


Depends what you want it for really but this is what you want for a cheapy but goody. Plenty of reviews about.
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VFR800X - TTR250

[chickenstrip]

I think the test of whether one would end up collecting dust or not is if you have in mind already the kind of thing you want to use it for, and are itching to get on with it. Doesn't sound like it so far....?

For e.g., the drone videos I most like to watch are of active volcanoes, a great way of getting closer and seeing what's really going on. Some folks travel the world to follow this passion. Another one is just spectacular mountain scenery.

To me, technology for tech's sake doesn't do anything. I'd quickly get bored with just messing about with the thing, and it seems a bit expensive for that.
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[grr666]

I'd like to have a play with one but not sure I'd pull the trigger and buy one.
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[MCN]

Most of the retail drones are basically camera platforms.

If you are into camera-ing then they are a great tool.

Image resolution is the main priority.

Then the control-abilities.

Then the fly time. They say 30min battery but it's important not to drain the battery and have the drone land near where you're controlling it from.

There are a lot of good YouTube videos.

I use a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. Superseded by the Mavic 3 recently.

Even if your drone is under 250g they must still be flown within line of site.

Look at the UK CAA website and do the free drone license course. It will help you avoid problems with folk and law enforcement.

You won't get much use out of a £300 drone.
Do not buy one of those £100 shite toys.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[MCN]

Droning Youtubers:

Jeven Dovey.

Tech Drone Media.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Nobby the Bastard]

The Pro Platinum has a max height ceiling of 3 miles and can manage a flight distance of 9 miles (on one battery) with range of transmitters of 5 miles.

All of that horrendously outside of CAA rules....
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[chickenstrip]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[pepperami]

The po po will be all over you if you fly them near stadiums.
I seen them collar a yoof for flying his drone on thier patch/airspace.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[chickenstrip]

[Howling Terror]

Top tip for the Mavic mini pilots; Fly into the wind first.

Average windspeeds sure increase with altitude...who would've thought that eh. My mini Gen1 can handle 10-20mph gusts and does about 25mph in sport mode.

They're fun and used mine to supplement our holiday mixed media albums.

Next project for it is a music video. The gimble will aid with handheld shots.

I do feel a little self-conscious when flying it, so most flights have been well away from the public. They're pretty noisy until you're above 50m or so.

I got some cracking footage of my first crash into a tree which was over a river, and the way it hung off the low branch captured me wading in to rescue it.

Mine is 2nd hand didn't cost much but there was no way I could leave it in a tree.

Flying it last year through light snow was pretty trippy.
Putting the protective cage on it and flying it through the house saved me from dusting.

£30 for a two year licence plus the tickbox test...not too bad in my opinion.
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[Tierbirdy]

Depends what kind of flying you want to do really. Everyone thinks DJI Mavic when they think drone, which yes they do take some lovely videos and theyre very, very easy to fly they basically fly themselves... that also makes them very boring.

If you want a self propelled camcorder, theyre brilliant. If you want to entertain the kids with "hey heres an aerial view of our house!" also brilliant.

If you actually wanna fly and experience some proper cool stuff, you want a racer drone with FPV goggles, rather than looking at the camera through your phone screen its more like a VR headset flying experience which is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBb_kSO3vTo

However you will crash into everything every time you take it out until you get good enough to not crash basically every time I take mine out, the day is ended by something breaking in a crash... on the plus side its all modular and easily replaceable and you get good practice at fiddly soldering!

[P.]

I live near an airfield now so I'm locked to height, but its still high enough to fuck around. Fortunately I have very little around me so I can go for miles and stuff, but I intend to take it to the beach when its cold and less windy and see how far it will go out to sea and up/down the coast. Does some 4K recording and stuff, batteries last 12 minutes or so, can eek 15 mins out of the 'normal' mode, but if you are in the 60mph sport or 85mph manual mode, its just "fuck your battery, I'm eating it."

Good bit of fun until you crash it

[Nobby the Bastard]

On the number 2's DJI you can put it in race mode which is basically flying it properly and turns off all the collision detection etc.

If, however, you wanted to fly it properly, you'd want to learn how to do it on something a lot cheaper...
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[P.]

[TbirdX]

I 'lost' my Hubsan mini in the trees at the back of my house. Couldn't find it at the first try.

So waited until it got dark and then went back because the little drone has flashing lights on it. Bit of a walk about later and I found it happily blinking to itself hundreds of yards from where I thought it went in!!

Still got that one too, great fun for annoying the kids when they're trying to watch the masked bimbo or whatever its called.
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VFR800X - TTR250