71–80 of 188 posts
Reminds me of the DJI Mavic Mini. How much does it cost?
I have the Mavic Mini 1. It weighs 249g (which is 27% more than this drone). It also realistically only flies for about 15-20 minutes before needing a recharge, which is half as much as this drone. So while similar to the Mavic Mini, I think it's clear they're not in the same league.
Having played a little with micro-drones as a hobbyist, the ability to have an "eye in the sky" is amazing. Just today, we got a little turned around on a hike -- in less than a minute I was able to see our location from above and which direction to bushwhack a shortcut back to the main trail. I can see how this would be invaluable in a "strategic" situation. Even the tiny ones are noisy and give away their position…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dont find it that unbelievable, there are a number of youtube videos of hobbyist grade quadcopters with what I believe are larger motors running 20-30 minutes on a pair of 18650 cells albeit without any autonomous capability. https://youtu.be/BOZStU-QCSc
Hahah that's fantastic, how that thing even takes off with a 1S2P 18650 I'll never know. That's 100 grams just for the batteries.
Getting RC aircraft to fly in the more laborious, sedate manner of a full-size aircraft instead of like an insect fluttering through the wind is something of a challenge for scale model builders. When you build an airframe around tiny batteries as a design constraint, expectations from larger aircraft don't carry over well.
It feels like they're paying ludicrous money for these. Can someone in the know explain what differentiates these from shop-bought or scratch-built drones? As per this article below, the Nano 1A UAV Quadcopter Bug drone sells for £4,500 (a tenth of the price of another model, the Black Hornet Nano): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drone-nano-b... I appreciate that this is probably a variation on the o…
Shop bought drones don't have arbitrary, often nonsense requirements. This one advertises that it'll work in 50MPH winds. How common are soldiers dealing with combat in 50MPH winds? It's likely there are other, similarly arbitrary and nonsensical demands that were placed on these.
You don't want to be caught needing your X or calling off operation Y because conditions are unfavourable.
It's kind of Pareto principle I suppose - they'll pay (say) 80% for that last rarer 20% of operational feasibility. (Likely more like 95-5, but I mention 80-20 as it's basically an 'aka' for Pareto.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the Mavic Mini 1. It weighs 249g (which is 27% more than this drone). It also realistically only flies for about 15-20 minutes before needing a recharge, which is half as much as this drone. So while similar to the Mavic Mini, I think it's clear they're not in the same league.
It can manage the full 31 minutes of flight time if you are just flying at a moderate speed. Curiously hovering over a spot requires slightly more battery
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hahah that's fantastic, how that thing even takes off with a 1S2P 18650 I'll never know. That's 100 grams just for the batteries.
It's all about the cube-square law, the same reason a butterfly can remain airborne for hours or days on a few milligrams of chemical energy. Getting RC aircraft to fly in the more laborious, sedate manner of a full-size aircraft instead of like an insect fluttering through the wind is something of a challenge for scale model builders. When you build an airframe around tiny batteries as a design constraint, expectati…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the Mavic Mini 1. It weighs 249g (which is 27% more than this drone). It also realistically only flies for about 15-20 minutes before needing a recharge, which is half as much as this drone. So while similar to the Mavic Mini, I think it's clear they're not in the same league.
for 199 you can get https://www.racedayquads.com/collections/all-pre-built-quads... close to 1 to 2 mile range (depending on obstructions) 30 min battery as long as your not freestyleing lol. (assuming you have everything else for it. a decent starter set up is close to 200/300 dollars but is compatable with any drone you can stick a rx in)
So once you do, you blow past the 250g limit, and it's in a different class.
I work with nano-UAVs. I am very skeptical that the 40 minute flight time is even close to being real. Especially with a quadcopter design. They are way to inefficient.
It says autonomy, not flight time. They may intend this thing to land and remain active as a remote camera for much ot its mission.
It feels like they're paying ludicrous money for these. Can someone in the know explain what differentiates these from shop-bought or scratch-built drones? As per this article below, the Nano 1A UAV Quadcopter Bug drone sells for £4,500 (a tenth of the price of another model, the Black Hornet Nano): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drone-nano-b... I appreciate that this is probably a variation on the o…
Shop bought drones don't have arbitrary, often nonsense requirements. This one advertises that it'll work in 50MPH winds. How common are soldiers dealing with combat in 50MPH winds? It's likely there are other, similarly arbitrary and nonsensical demands that were placed on these.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't a lot of the DJI models have a ~30 minute flight time? Point taken though, that there's a wall we hit with current battery tech.
The DJI drones that can do that are significantly larger. A 250 gram DJI mavic mini can do 30 minutes and with significantly larger propellers. The efficiency goes down with smaller blade sizes (more losses to vortexes) so from the photo 20 min is the max to expect with regular lipo batteries.
It actually appears both spellings are currently accepted in dictionaries, but in the fluid dynamics literature you will essentially only find "vortices", so that's a much better (more searchable) word to use.