Live data from Hacker News

DJI Mavic 3 Pro

dji.com

101–110 of 169 posts

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#101

Spy drone or not, why can’t US companies design and manufacture better products to compete with DJI?

we gutted most of our manufacturing and outsourced it to china decades ago. we Let our entire non military manufacturing industry die on the vine so there isn't much of a culture of supply chain left. blame harvard business school. The cumulative damage of their Alum to the american economy is astronomical

> non military manufacturing industry die

Without a booming civil manufacturing industry, how could our military industry stay competitive? There was a reason that a toilet for Airforce would cost north of $20K.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#102

[flagged]

Use of the word orcs is incredibly unfortunate as it's clear you're just trying to dehumanize other people. I get why, but I don't think the ends justify the means.

Are you or your people being, or have been, slaughtered by a fascist, barbaric military?

If yes, I’m sorry and I understand your position. If not, gtfo.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#103
post #41

When will these compact drones become less noisy? I know there are new propeller designs being researched to be much less like a swarm of bees is flying around near you, but don't know how far off they are to retail commercialization. It just makes it hard to stomach flying a drone in a pristine environment knowing you are disturbing all human and non-human animals nearby.

Few deer I saw did not seem to care at all about the drone. Neither have raccoons, beavers, squirrels, chipmunks and birds.

If i'm in nature and i hear a drone, its annoying AF, and it just makes me want to throw rocks at it.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#104
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we gutted most of our manufacturing and outsourced it to china decades ago. we Let our entire non military manufacturing industry die on the vine so there isn't much of a culture of supply chain left. blame harvard business school. The cumulative damage of their Alum to the american economy is astronomical

Can we stop with this nonsense myth? The US is the second largest manufacturer in the world. Does manufacturing make up as large a share of our economy as it did in the past? No, of course not, that's a normal progression to a service economy, which is why the US is so wealthy.

> The US is the second largest manufacturer in the world

The US used to the largest. I was wondering if we should stay the largest, and most importantly the best. Case in point, the average age of workers in our shipyard was more than 55. The number of shipyards in the US has been decreasing over the years. I can see how that will help us innovate on and build better and cheaper ships, for military or not. Another data point, Intel can't compete with TSMC when it comes to manufacturing chips. Plus, if the so-called "low-end" manufacturing is gone, how could we possibly train the next generation of engineers? My assumption is engineering will be like writing software, a person who can only draw boxes will not be a good software engineer, and the person could not even learn draw boxes well without years of programming experience.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#105
post #75
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. All this focus on improved image quality, battery life and whatnot, but no mention about noise levels, or even R&D into the area. Currently, only the video is usable from drone footage, which is a huge limitation. All drone footage either has music or an audio track from an external source overlaid on top of it. I wonder if the propeller and wind noise could be cancelled or removed with some fancy algorithms…

> Currently, only the video is usable from drone footage, which is a huge limitation. For what use cases? Outdoor concerts? The acoustics at 100ft in the air are unlikely to be great anyways. I wouldn't call it a huge limitation.

I've used on-board audio a few times, but it's rough.

The only case that comes to mind where it was really successful IMO is if you're using an FPV quad to chase a vehicle: race cars, dirt bikes, monster trucks, etc. All of those things are loud enough that they're clearly audible over the prop and wind noise. If anything, for dynamic chase footage, the sound of the quad's motors spinning up adds interest.

Otherwise, you're not going to hear anything worthwhile from the air.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#106
post #41

When will these compact drones become less noisy? I know there are new propeller designs being researched to be much less like a swarm of bees is flying around near you, but don't know how far off they are to retail commercialization. It just makes it hard to stomach flying a drone in a pristine environment knowing you are disturbing all human and non-human animals nearby.

Few deer I saw did not seem to care at all about the drone. Neither have raccoons, beavers, squirrels, chipmunks and birds.

Are you in a relatively urban area?

In my experience, a wild deer can hear a photography quadcopter from ~200' away. They "spook" if I approach closer than ~150'.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#107
post #73
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially: I wonder if a really long-flying quad copter can be made using a regular ICE + generator as a source of electricity. Carbohydrates are still more energy-dense.

A hybrid helicopter with 4 blades? There's a lower limit for weight to fit the ICE (we can't scale an ICE down much), so it might end up pretty close to a smallish helicopter

I remember two-stroke ICEs for model planes that comfortably set on the palm of my hand, not even being a teenager.

A can of fuel possibly takes more space than a battery, but likely weighs less anyway.

Say, this randomly found guy is pretty tiny: https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/15la-abn-.15-airplane-g...

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#108
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially: I wonder if a really long-flying quad copter can be made using a regular ICE + generator as a source of electricity. Carbohydrates are still more energy-dense.

I assume the issue is not the energy density but the support density. I have a 3DR Solo and it can carry up to 1 lb of extra weight for 20 minutes or so on a full charge, and run for 30ish minutes while only carrying its gimbal. The battery in the 3DR Solo weighs about 1.3 lbs itself, and the frame is by no means lightweight. Assembled it weighs at least 70% more than the Mavic 2 Pro that I occasionally get to use at…

I see. Likely this setup could work on a larger copter, but won't work on a tiny device.

Makes sense; thanks for the details.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It needs it to make sure it follows any local flight restrictions, like no-fly zones.

1) Other manufacturers don't have restrictive geofencing like DJI - it's not a regulatory issue, but liability. 2) DJI's flight restrictions are determined by DJI, not the FAA. They don't align with each other, so you end up having to keep track of and comply with two airspace systems. That's why I abandoned DJI for my business use. I wasn't able to take off to cover an event at an airport for which I had FAA approva…

This has been incredibly frustrating for me.

DJI arguably makes the best consumer drones - and as a platform I love my Mini Pro 3. It's small and light enough to easily put in a pack, easy to fly, and just works well apart from DJI's geofencing system.

HOWEVER - I'm heavily restricted from using it at my own property, not because of the FAA or any other government restrictions, but because of DJI.

I live about 10-miles from an airport. Per the FAA's on "B4UFLY" app - my rural property is clear of any restrictions, outside of the altitude restricted zone of the airport. However, DJI draws their own "FlySafe Geo" map differently, and places me in an altitude zone where I'm limited to 150-meters.

This wouldn't be so bad, except that I live next to a large hill/small mountain, that's a great place to fly over and take photographs.

If I were to go to the top of the mountain (also in DJI's altitude restricted area) and take off, I could fly out 150m from the top of the mountain, no issues. But since DJI takes no note of the ground height changing as you fly, if I take off from my property and try to fly my drone to the top of the mountain, I'd crash into its side long before I got there.

There's really no solution to this issue, besides hoping that someone creates a hacked firmware for my drone that ignores DJI's restrictions, like they have for other DJI models.

If another manufacturer developed a comparable drone that didn't suffer from DJI's restrictions, I'd buy it in a second.

Re: DJI Mavic 3 Pro

#110
post #41

When will these compact drones become less noisy? I know there are new propeller designs being researched to be much less like a swarm of bees is flying around near you, but don't know how far off they are to retail commercialization. It just makes it hard to stomach flying a drone in a pristine environment knowing you are disturbing all human and non-human animals nearby.

Few deer I saw did not seem to care at all about the drone. Neither have raccoons, beavers, squirrels, chipmunks and birds.

Geese definitely do not like drones.
Post reply on HN