161–169 of 169 posts
Awesome new cameras, but how do you land these things safely on a sailboat? It's always tricky and scary.
Practice makes perfect- I’ve launched and landed while sitting in a floating touring kayak at sea dozens of times with the Mini 3 Pro. I’ve only knicked myself once so far!
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They make them, they just aren't standard equipment. They also reduce flight time and agility, and in come cases can interfere with your field of view. I've got hundreds of hours flying quadcopters at this point, and the only times I've ever wanted prop guards on a photo drone have been for flying indoors or very near hot air balloons.
And you took the risk of flying without guards? If yes -> This is why they should be there by default.
No, I have guards, and use them when I feel like it's worthwhile.
FWIW, hot air balloons aren't going to be damaged by the props on the quad that I was flying there - I spoke with the pilots and made sure everyone knew what was up during the pre-flight safety meeting. I used them because I had it set up to hover in place upon loss of connection, and knowing balloons don't have a ton of control over their flight path I didn't want to risk them running into it and knocking it out of the sky. Prop guards would have allowed it to just be pushed out of the way.
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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-mil…
Check out the Autel EVO Lite+. It uses the same camera+gimbal as my EVO 2 Pro, in a smaller and lighter package.
https://autel-robotics.myshopify.com/products/drones-evo-lit...
Autel's app will pop up a warning - a small warning that's easily dismissed and doesn't get in the way - if it thinks you're in restricted airspace, but won't prevent you from flying.
There's one Asian country - Japan? - where the Autel app does restrict based on geofences, but otherwise it's up to the operator to ensure regulatory compliance.
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100%. I was thinking about getting an Avata, and I was just about to pull the trigger, then they released a recent update that includes Remote ID which means that now you have to connect your phone to the goggles to take off (something you never had to do before) so it can get a GPS location to broadcast the operator location. I'm not even sure why it would need to do that because the drone itself has a GPS so wouldn…
GPS return to home/fail safe modes has been a feature of most fpv drone firmware for quite a while. Betaflight, iNav etc .. All support that as long as you have a GPS (+ compass) module installed. The only thing avata brings is some beginner friendly flight modes for a premium. Kind of like Apple products. You also have a lot of ready to fly/bind and fly options (buy a radio separately and bind it to your quad and fl…
Are there DIY digital FPV goggles with as good quality video as the Avata ones? Do you need a separate camera for the footage (gopro), as well as the FPV camera?
Also the gimbal on the Avata seems very well integrated, even having fancy head tracking, which I wouldn't mind giving up, but do the DIY drones have a gimbal at all, or is it a manual job to stabilize the footage later?
I agree, DJI seems like the Apple of drones. And I'm against Apple for computers and phones, because I can DIY better and more features.
But for drones, I suspect that DJI actually has features that you can't (reasonably) DIY.
What are the good brands for the ready to fly/bind and fly drones, so I can have a google?
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GPS return to home/fail safe modes has been a feature of most fpv drone firmware for quite a while. Betaflight, iNav etc .. All support that as long as you have a GPS (+ compass) module installed. The only thing avata brings is some beginner friendly flight modes for a premium. Kind of like Apple products. You also have a lot of ready to fly/bind and fly options (buy a radio separately and bind it to your quad and fl…
Hmm, I'll have to check them out a bit. Are there DIY digital FPV goggles with as good quality video as the Avata ones? Do you need a separate camera for the footage (gopro), as well as the FPV camera? Also the gimbal on the Avata seems very well integrated, even having fancy head tracking, which I wouldn't mind giving up, but do the DIY drones have a gimbal at all, or is it a manual job to stabilize the footage late…
What quad you want to buy depends on what kind of flying you want to do. There are all kinds of them for freestyle, long range etc.. If you want something with prop guards, here is a decent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFBBTtNZUPc . See if you like it? Geprc, iFlight are usually decent brands. When buying, go for ELRS 2.4 Ghz version with GPS. ELRS is just an open source rc link system that has really good range.
Gimbals and headtrackers are possible with DIY quads. But that is mostly used by fixed wing people. For just racing/freestyle kind of flying you don't want those kind of things. It is just one more thing that breaks. Here is an example of a DIY headtracker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVC5HyJGU4Y . I think DJI just has some beginner friendly features with additional sensors for collision detection, automatic takeoff/landing etc... Once you are used to flying, those are mostly useless.
If you want an alternative to DJI video system, there's Walksnail Avatar, which is quite decent too (Comparison video: https://youtu.be/d0VoBp9-sn4?t=550 ). Both DJI O3 Air Unit and Walksnail Avatar have onboard recording system which eliminates the need for a GoPro. At least for non/semi professional footage. For stabilizing the footage, people just use Gyroflow: https://gyroflow.xyz/ later on.
As always, before investing in Goggles/Quads, do get yourself a good transmitter and practise flying on a simulator. Maybe Radiomaster Zorro or Radiomaster Boxer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0b1tQ-hyCQ . ELRS version.
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Simple: don't use your phone. They make remotes that have screens built in. No way I give them access. I even have them connect to a locked down SSID in my house LAN.
You don't need a phone to activate a new DJI drone?
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Hmm, I'll have to check them out a bit. Are there DIY digital FPV goggles with as good quality video as the Avata ones? Do you need a separate camera for the footage (gopro), as well as the FPV camera? Also the gimbal on the Avata seems very well integrated, even having fancy head tracking, which I wouldn't mind giving up, but do the DIY drones have a gimbal at all, or is it a manual job to stabilize the footage late…
You can just get DJI Goggles 2 ( https://www.getfpv.com/fpv/hd-fpv/dji-digital-hd-fpv/dji-gog... ) and buy a quad with the O3 Air unit (The same video system that is in Avata) and bind them. What quad you want to buy depends on what kind of flying you want to do. There are all kinds of them for freestyle, long range etc.. If you want something with prop guards, here is a decent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF…
I have a lot of googling to do now...
Really not a fan of getting trapped in closed stuff with forced firmware updates that take away features.
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You can just get DJI Goggles 2 ( https://www.getfpv.com/fpv/hd-fpv/dji-digital-hd-fpv/dji-gog... ) and buy a quad with the O3 Air unit (The same video system that is in Avata) and bind them. What quad you want to buy depends on what kind of flying you want to do. There are all kinds of them for freestyle, long range etc.. If you want something with prop guards, here is a decent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF…
Awesome reply, thanks so much for the help! I have a lot of googling to do now... Really not a fan of getting trapped in closed stuff with forced firmware updates that take away features.
> Really not a fan of getting trapped in closed stuff with forced firmware updates that take away features.
Ahh in that case avoid DJI Goggles 2 and go for Walksnail/Dominator HD ( https://pyrodrone.com/products/pre-order-fat-shark-dominator... ) Goggles and their video transmission system. DJI requires you to register and update your system before use iirc.
If you are interested in a more open source system, there is also HDZero. Goggles software, CAD Files are all out in the open. Image quality is so so, because it prioritizes fixed latency. You get 3ms glass to glass latency (Compared to 28-30ms in DJI/Walksnail). Comparison between Goggles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMOeIQ4VRX4