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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 8:12:25 GMT
If anyone is thinking about buying a cheap drone to take video whilst cruising, make sure it has GPS and doesn't just rely on the VPS (Visual Positioning System). I picked up a reconditioned DJI Tello mini for about £60 off eBay. Managed to fly it very accurately inside the boat. Really chuffed with it and even took a short video of Chris looking anxious. So it was time to try to take off and land on top of the boat. No problem and even managed a decent emergency landing on the roof as two ladies walked towards the boat. Next test, fly down alongside the tow path. Take off, everything stable. Started to increase altitude to about 10m then all of the sudden the drone shot off without me. So there I was running down the tow path with my iPad trying to stop the bloody thing. Then I saw her hovering just above the trees. Ok, I thought, let's try to bring it back towards the boat and do a safe landing. As soon as she got over the water she shot off again into the distance. At this point I thought safety was key so I initiated the auto landing and just hoped it would land in the field the other side. Well it didn't. I didn't actually see the landing but I did hear the sudden death of its litte motors and a sudden loss of WiFi. So I can only assume she is now laid to rest in the drink. It was at this point I decided to read the instructions...  |
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Post by quaysider on May 29, 2020 8:32:29 GMT
iF you fancy trying something a bit better for a bit more money, the Bosun just bought one of these: www.dji.com/uk/mavic-mini?from=google&gclid=CjwKCAjw5cL2BRASEiwAENqAPjHQDEXZy2qSmnXqGECvfmRZeI1Xkvum8ePQ2xE5HMjk-zFk-3c97BoC_FgQAvD_BwEHe's been learning to fly it - you install an app of course on your phone and NEED to turn the phone onto airplane mode - it's a smashing little thing... flys really well, chops up bits of tree no bother (although a bit panicky) and if you add in the "fly more combo" pack you get 2 EXTRA batteries, a charge pack (that doubles as a powebank), flight guards and someting I've forttten... circa 60 quid more.... it's worth it. The flight guard is indoor use only as its too heavy for outdoor use... He took out Care cover with them for 35 quid a year which covers repairs and up to 2 replacements .... so far very pleased with it and the picture quality if brilliant. The plan is to create a you-tube channel with THIS years cruises to go live with next year to make him some pocket money - THAT's if we can ever move the bost... OTHERWISE, there will be a lot of videos of the 21 mile lock free pound between Bingley and Gargrave bottom lol. |
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Post by lollygagger on May 29, 2020 8:34:19 GMT
We used to make and fly gliders when I was a lad. My mate Phil went posh with radio control. Normally they didn't get far, just circled around slowly loosing height. So he fitted it all up launched it for a quick test without bothering to take his controller. Up up up it went. Phil ran home for his controller but had disappeared by the time he got back. It had taken him months to build it.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 8:53:02 GMT
iF you fancy trying something a bit better for a bit more money, the Bosun just bought one of these: www.dji.com/uk/mavic-mini?from=google&gclid=CjwKCAjw5cL2BRASEiwAENqAPjHQDEXZy2qSmnXqGECvfmRZeI1Xkvum8ePQ2xE5HMjk-zFk-3c97BoC_FgQAvD_BwEHe's been learning to fly it - you install an app of course on your phone and NEED to turn the phone onto airplane mode - it's a smashing little thing... flys really well, chops up bits of tree no bother (although a bit panicky) and if you add in the "fly more combo" pack you get 2 EXTRA batteries, a charge pack (that doubles as a powebank), flight guards and someting I've forttten... circa 60 quid more.... it's worth it. The flight guard is indoor use only as its too heavy for outdoor use... He took out Care cover with them for 35 quid a year which covers repairs and up to 2 replacements .... so far very pleased with it and the picture quality if brilliant. The plan is to create a you-tube channel with THIS years cruises to go live with next year to make him some pocket money - THAT's if we can ever move the bost... OTHERWISE, there will be a lot of videos of the 21 mile lock free pound between Bingley and Gargrave bottom lol. Yes, that looks like a good little drone and it's under the 250g so doesn't need a licence. The only problem is that I'd be nervous flying a £300 to £400 drone over water even with GPS. Can you turn VPS off? |
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Post by Jim on May 29, 2020 10:06:53 GMT
I'll stick with my sheet of A4.
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Post by rockdodger on May 29, 2020 17:15:07 GMT
Go for the DJI Mavic mini its under the 250gm limit and has more grunt than the Tello
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 21:20:38 GMT
I like the way you called it ‘her’
Is that coz it’s stubborn, didn’t listen and buggered off and left you.. oh maybe that’s just me and my ex wife.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 21:22:18 GMT
Lad I work with had a decent one with gps, the wind still took it and he never got it back, he had a nice little line on google maps though showing where it was heading before it ran out juice..
Worth every penny
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Post by thebfg on May 30, 2020 1:03:40 GMT
iF you fancy trying something a bit better for a bit more money, the Bosun just bought one of these: www.dji.com/uk/mavic-mini?from=google&gclid=CjwKCAjw5cL2BRASEiwAENqAPjHQDEXZy2qSmnXqGECvfmRZeI1Xkvum8ePQ2xE5HMjk-zFk-3c97BoC_FgQAvD_BwEHe's been learning to fly it - you install an app of course on your phone and NEED to turn the phone onto airplane mode - it's a smashing little thing... flys really well, chops up bits of tree no bother (although a bit panicky) and if you add in the "fly more combo" pack you get 2 EXTRA batteries, a charge pack (that doubles as a powebank), flight guards and someting I've forttten... circa 60 quid more.... it's worth it. The flight guard is indoor use only as its too heavy for outdoor use... He took out Care cover with them for 35 quid a year which covers repairs and up to 2 replacements .... so far very pleased with it and the picture quality if brilliant. The plan is to create a you-tube channel with THIS years cruises to go live with next year to make him some pocket money - THAT's if we can ever move the bost... OTHERWISE, there will be a lot of videos of the 21 mile lock free pound between Bingley and Gargrave bottom lol. Yes, that looks like a good little drone and it's under the 250g so doesn't need a licence. The only problem is that I'd be nervous flying a £300 to £400 drone over water even with GPS. Can you turn VPS off? Two of my mates have the magic although one might be a pro, they both rave on about it. He flies it from Portsmouth over to the sea forts with no issues With the licence it costs less than a tenner so probably worth doing anyway. |
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 3:08:33 GMT
Lad I work with had a decent one with gps, the wind still took it and he never got it back, he had a nice little line on google maps though showing where it was heading before it ran out juice.. Worth every penny I was recording video from it during the final flight on my iPad. However I didn't save it when I shut the Tello app down....doh... I've spent hours trying to find the video in the cache memory but sadly the app doesn't seem to have it stored (being Apple it's not easy to do anything outside the box!). If I had the video I might have had a chance to recover her. I think I have a telemetry log file but as the Tello hasn't got GPS it won't tell me anything useful. Mind you for £60, lots of lessons learnt.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 3:11:15 GMT
I'll stick with my sheet of A4. What? With my history of flying gliders... |
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Post by rockdodger on Jun 1, 2020 0:38:46 GMT
Lad I work with had a decent one with gps, the wind still took it and he never got it back, he had a nice little line on google maps though showing where it was heading before it ran out juice.. Worth every penny I was recording video from it during the final flight on my iPad. However I didn't save it when I shut the Tello app down....doh... I've spent hours trying to find the video in the cache memory but sadly the app doesn't seem to have it stored (being Apple it's not easy to do anything outside the box!). If I had the video I might have had a chance to recover her. I think I have a telemetry log file but as the Tello hasn't got GPS it won't tell me anything useful. Mind you for £60, lots of lessons learnt. I lost my Tello under similar circumstances - was flying in still wind conditions over an island beach at low level no problem, elevated it to about 10m & it flew away (out to sea), ☹ it was only after I lost it I realised that the wind higher up was stronger than the Tello could handle, if I brought it back to near sea level I most likely would have recovered it and learnt that lesson a lot cheaper.🤔 The missus thinks I did it on purpose so I could 'upgrade' to the Mavic Air🤯 |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2020 7:18:24 GMT
I was recording video from it during the final flight on my iPad. However I didn't save it when I shut the Tello app down....doh... I've spent hours trying to find the video in the cache memory but sadly the app doesn't seem to have it stored (being Apple it's not easy to do anything outside the box!). If I had the video I might have had a chance to recover her. I think I have a telemetry log file but as the Tello hasn't got GPS it won't tell me anything useful. Mind you for £60, lots of lessons learnt. I lost my Tello under similar circumstances - was flying in still wind conditions over an island beach at low level no problem, elevated it to about 10m & it flew away (out to sea), ☹ it was only after I lost it I realised that the wind higher up was stronger than the Tello could handle, if I brought it back to near sea level I most likely would have recovered it and learnt that lesson a lot cheaper.🤔 The missus thinks I did it on purpose so I could 'upgrade' to the Mavic Air🤯 I'm tempted by the Mavic Mini. Seems to tick all the boxes, isn't too expensive and is under the 250g. |
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Post by rockdodger on Jun 1, 2020 12:04:25 GMT
I lost my Tello under similar circumstances - was flying in still wind conditions over an island beach at low level no problem, elevated it to about 10m & it flew away (out to sea), ☹ it was only after I lost it I realised that the wind higher up was stronger than the Tello could handle, if I brought it back to near sea level I most likely would have recovered it and learnt that lesson a lot cheaper.🤔 The missus thinks I did it on purpose so I could 'upgrade' to the Mavic Air🤯 I'm tempted by the Mavic Mini. Seems to tick all the boxes, isn't too expensive and is under the 250g. I have a Mavic Air & Mavic 2 Zoom, if the mini had come out earlier, I would more than likely have - got one........cannot loose another drone as an excuse to buy a replacement one - it would go down like a lead balloon with the missus😖 |
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