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Drone questions?

Good pics. Thanks.
I ordered a cheapie. Should have it sometime next week.
 
This drone has 3 speeds or Modes. Normal is 30 MPH. Sport is 60 MPH. Manual is 90 MPH.
Have you ever used the higher speeds? You would have to be moving the same direction or it would quickly be out or range, right?
 
Normal mode, 30MPH is best for videos and pictures. Sport mode 60 MPH is good for covering a lot of ground fast. Manual mode is for racing. I don't use manual mode a lot because that takes very fast reaction on the remote. If you were to hold drone in a straight line yes it would be out of range very quickly. Whatever mode your in the drone reaches that speed right NOW as soon as you launch!
 
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For those of you thinking, how can you launch at these speeds? The launch is a two stag process. Lift from your launch site, straight up to 6 to10 feet. Hover the drone for about 3 to 5 minutes to warm the motors. Recheck all flight parameters. Maintain a high level of situational awareness. From that ten foot height, (stag two) take off. You are the official PIC on this mission.
 
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I would like to take a minute to apologize to the community. I was just on amazon looking at drones and came across a DJI FPV drone with remote, goggles and, one battery for under $900.00 I truly do have more then that in my set up. Bought my set up 3 or so years ago. I have 5 drone batteries, 3 goggles batteries, 2 pair of goggles, triple battery charger, solid foam back pack carry case. Plus extra parts and accessories. Even though they are labeled as "renewed" by DJI they are probably as good as or better then mine. I am sorry if I mislead anyone and hope you will accept this apology.
 
Ahh no worries. No apology needed. Prices change all the time. With tariffs that drone might go up considerably in the not to distant future.
Thanks for the explanation.
I am very intrigued with the googles and somehow controlling the drone with head movements.
 
Thanks for the likes everyone. The goggles do not let you control the drone. I was referring to the "stick" control in the lower left of the picture. This can be used in place of the normal remote to control the drone with hand movements. Like a helicopter stick. Sorry for the confusion.
 
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For all of you that are interested in drone flying check out Drone Rules Simplified: Top 10 Must-Know FAA Regulations on you tube site is UVA Coach
 
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The drone I ordered arrived yesterday. I charged up the batteries and read the manual. I had to reread a few portions of the manual to get the drone going.

I managed to fly the drone, hover in place, rotate, fly all different directions. and land safely multiple times.
I wrecked two or three times. Worst was into a tree 50ft away. I wanted to go one direction but the drone wanted to go the other way. The tree ate it up. Drone did not fall out of the tree. I had to shake the tree branches a few times to get it to fall.
Drone flew fine afterwards. No damage.

From a distance it is impossible to tell which way the drone is facing. Remote controls work as if the drone rear is facing you. When one of the other three sides are facing you the drone might go a direction you were not expecting, like into trees.

This cheapy drone even came with a one button take off and land. Very handy for this rookie.

I have tried to get the drone view to show on my phone with no luck.
I have tried to take pics but no luck with that either. Will be digging into the manual to see what I must be missing.

So far, flying is rather intense. Even in what I would call an open area I was able to find a tree and a flower bed and the house. All unintended. But fun.

An app came with this drone so that I set wifi between the phone and the drone. The phone fits in-between the joysticks on the remote. (protectors are on the joysticks in the pic)

drone2.png
drone1.jpeg
 
I know. Hard to get used to which way drone is facing when you want to turn. If facing away and you want to go right you push stick right. If facing toward you and you want to go right you push stick to the left. For me I always think of being in drone. Keep practicing! you'll get it. Sounds like you're having fun and that's what counts. Glad you were able to recover it from the tree. Where I live I try to fly above 250 feet whenever I can, no trees around here taller then that. Then I just have to watch out for cell towers and high electrical wires. And of course other planes, and helicopters. Also wait until you encounter an angry bird or two! Fly on Doc. Keep having fun.
 
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One option this drone has makes no sense to me. Can you explain what 'Headless' mode means?
 
Yes. headless mode means drone will move left and right according to where the piolet is not the way drone is facing. I should have thought of this when you said you were having trouble with direction of drone. The disadvantage is it takes away from your Spatial awareness. In other words use headless only until you become used to flying.
 
That's what I like about my DJI FPV drone with the goggles. Your view in the goggles is the view the drone sees. . .
I’ve fallen into the drone addiction trap myself, but I’m in the early stages of recovery. For a while, I was coming home like a fugitive, scanning the skies and checking for signs that my wife had staged an intervention. So far, I’ve managed to dodge any official ambush, but I’m not letting my guard down just yet.
 
Well ya know what ya gotta do now. Get the wife a drone and get her addicted too!
Oh, I’ve thought about it, but giving her a drone would be like handing a laser pointer to a cat with a grudge. Next thing you know, she’s dive-bombing my flight path and claiming air superiority over the backyard. I’d end up filing flight plans just to grill a steak.
 
squerly I just went back and read your post again for the fourth time. Those three sentences are funny. Makes me giggle every time I read them. If I could give you a star, I would!
 
squerly I just went back and read your post again for the fourth time. Those three sentences are funny. Makes me giggle every time I read them. If I could give you a star, I would!
I’ll gladly accept, and hang, that imaginary star, just as soon as I find some imaginary tape!

Looks like you and I fly the same drone and have the same accessories. Do you have any short videos you can post? Would love to see your drone in action!
 
Yes but it's going to be a few days. Just got a new video camera with tripod set up that I'm learning to use. Will post both, from the drone and from the new set up. Might be next weekend. Stand by. After four years still learning. I'm doing good at flying but my cinematography is a bit less then stellar, to say the least! Probably be unedited, as I'm learning how to do that too.
 
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The drone I ordered arrived yesterday.

So far, flying is rather intense. Even in what I would call an open area I was able to find a tree and a flower bed and the house. All unintended. But fun.
I think a common misconception is that you MUST fly high right out of the box. But really, if you stay close to the ground and make smooth, dedicated movements, you will learn a whole lot about your drone. Try flying around trees, weaving in/out of them. You will have a better prospective of where the drone is and how to adjust the stick movements depending on the direction of flight.

As time goes on, and you practice more and more, add some speed to the equation. Then go a little higher, etc. It takes time to become proficient with the controls. Like operating a trackhoe. When you first got on one, you were a "reactive" operator. Then as time went on, you got to the point where operating was second nature, and you stopped thinking about what the levers do.

 
Yes but it's going to be a few days. Just got a new video camera with tripod set up that I'm learning to use. Will post both, from the drone and from the new set up. Might be next weekend. Stand by. After four years still learning. I'm doing good at flying but my cinematography is a bit less then stellar, to say the least! Probably be unedited, as I'm learning how to do that too.
Looking forward to it!
 
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@waltman2 has done a great job outlining the various drones and the many ways you can accessorize your kit. Most of the discussion so far has focused on using drones for fun, but they’re also handy for work.

I own an RV park, and I like to use my drone to keep tabs on the place, see who’s in, who’s out, and what’s going on. One of my drones, an Autel, has a mission planning feature that I’ve found incredibly useful.

Here’s how it works: I turn on the mission mode, lift off from my house, and climb to around 300 feet. Then I fly over to the RV park, drop down to a good observation level, hover over a few key areas, move to the next section, and so on. Once the tour’s done, I ascend back to 300 feet and return home. I land the drone and turn off the mission learning mode.

The next day? I just set the drone down, hit the mission button, and off it goes, following the exact same route I programmed the day before, without me needing to touch the controls.

For those of you with cattle or other livestock, you can set up a similar mission to do your daily rounds. Fire it up in the morning, let the drone do its thing, and enjoy your coffee while the drone earns its keep. Could very well become a tax write off as well. :)
 
Impressive low level flying. Especially going through that gazebo.
Mission mode is perfect for your application and for those with cattle etc.
How is that excavator doing? Are you keeping it working? I sold mine to get a Goldwing Trike. The trike is fun but now I miss the excavator.
 
Been trying to get out and fly but, for the last week it's been raining pretty much non stop. Looks like we might be able to get out there this Saturday but, we'll see. If we do get to fly, I'll post video as soon as I can.
 
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