81–90 of 452 posts
Light drones are great, but how far away are we from quiet consumer drones? I'd love to not have every hike ruined by some wannabe videographer.
I had the same thought seeing the hero videos on this page displaying beautiful mountain scapes and vistas - I wouldn't want to be the person disturbing this space with an intrusive drone.
I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around. Anyone own one? What do you use it for?
* Fun Flights * Aerial photography of yard projects * Towing fishing lures way beyond furthest castable distance * Fireworks videos * Hiking Scouting * Surveillance drone ( Caught some motorbikers trespassing on property and tracked them back to house ) * Firewatch * Pester folks safely from patio
Where is the US or EU competitor to DJI? They are running away with it. Oh right, we instead pioneered regulation and legislation , all those deaths from drones falling down and drones hitting planes.
US competitor to DJI in what? Consumer marker or technology? If it's consumer marker where less cost matters a lot, there won't be a US competitor. DJI has home-turf, scale, and first mover advantage there, and a US competitor can maaybe match DJI in price. In technology/autonomy? Skydio beat them years ago ( https://www.skydio.com/ ). They launched as a consumer drone but I guess recently realized how consumer marke…
Subsidies and regulation played a major role here, although probably not the same kinds the parent post is whining about.
The US government and enterprise market requires drones which are compatible with US Federal requirements ("Blue UAS") as well as state-by-state bans on DJI drones. It's a lot easier to compete in a space where your primary competition is being made illegal.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm, 2.5km? I've flown the original DJI Mavic Pro to about 4-5km multiple times and never had any real issue with the video feed. I'd be surprised if this much newer gen is worse.
Which country was that? The drone detects the country through GPS upon startup and limits its transmission power according to the local laws. In the US, the drone can use way higher transmission power (~ 4-20 times more, depending on the drone) .
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The size of the drone is not some secret... you can search for the Mini 4 Pro on YouTube and find a bunch of hands-on reviews. The DJI Mini drones are very compact. The DJI Air 3 is arguably the next level up in the lineup, and it weighs 3x as much and is noticeably larger. The "teeny-tiny drone" you're describing just doesn't sound comparable or particularly useful.
It isn’t useful at all. Quite boring, frankly. I just realized the DJI that my friend has, is a mini. It’s small, but some of his hand-built ones are smaller.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps but I fly my Mini 2 regularly, and people have a hard time finding it in the sky even when I point it out to them at 100ft. At 200ft it might as well not exist. They are so small and light, they just don't put out the dBs like bigger drones.
Being able to spot a small white object in the sky and hearing it are very different things. I put drone operators on the same level as those who hike with speakers blaring. No one is being hurt, no laws being broken. Just inconsiderate considering a large part of the experience for most in nature is the serenity.
I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around. Anyone own one? What do you use it for?
I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around. Anyone own one? What do you use it for?
I've had a Mini V1 since 2020 and here are my uses: * Fun Flights * Aerial photography of yard projects * Towing fishing lures way beyond furthest castable distance * Fireworks videos * Hiking Scouting * Surveillance drone ( Caught some motorbikers trespassing on property and tracked them back to house ) * Firewatch * Pester folks safely from patio
Where is the US or EU competitor to DJI? They are running away with it. Oh right, we instead pioneered regulation and legislation , all those deaths from drones falling down and drones hitting planes.
Do it before someone dies: "Regulation out of control!" Do it after someone dies: "Why didn't you do anything?!" It's not insane to get out in front of drone regulation; their numbers are likely to continue to increase. Lack of regulation certainly isn't DJI's advantage; they still have to comply with it to sell their product in a whole bunch of major markets. That's the exact reason this drone weighs 249 grams.
See the other reply upthread with respect to line of sight ("You're not allowed to use binoculars.") If true, that's stupid and unnecessary.