I Was Given A Personal Drone Demo

"Chris Clarke" (shiftsandgiggles)
10/14/2014 at 14:26 • Filed to: drone, uas, planelopnik

In the market to replace the ole camera jib with a high flying, self stabilizing, return to home, don't shoot me down, peek in your windows, amazon won't deliver, remote control mulit-copter.

A local hobby store brought a few models of various load capacities for a quick demo. The octocopter has 16 motors, a 50 pound payload and coast nearly $12,000. The tri-copter also has redundant motor, tends to be more maneuverable and can be configured to achieve speeds up to 200 mph. 200 mph! The smallest quad would be the most comparable to the widely popular DJI Phantom series of consumer quadrocopter aerial photo/video platforms. All models can be configured with a 2 or 3 axis gimbal with of without first person view.

DISCUSSION (25)

For Sweden > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:33

Interesting. Will you keep it under 400 feet AGL?

CAR_IS_MI > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:35

Dammit. Now I want a 200 MPH drone...

Chris Clarke > For Sweden
10/14/2014 at 14:38

Lets just say that I've never officially broken and FAR and I don't plan to start now.

Chris Clarke > CAR_IS_MI
10/14/2014 at 14:39

200! Just a mere 6 grand will do the trick.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:42

200 MPH?! Damn, that is fast for any RC vehicle, let alone a freak'n rotorcraft!

CAR_IS_MI > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:43

Is that all...

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:45

I have one question: how much for the cheapest one that can hold a camera? Haha

edit: I lied, I have two questions: how do these do in heavy winds?

Chris Clarke > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/14/2014 at 14:52

Cheapest one they had was about $800 and would carry a GoPro with ease. They do okay in heavy wind. You lose a lot of battery life in a wind since it takes a lot of energy to stabilize and compensate. Obviously the bigger ones do better. There was a 5-10 mph breeze during the demo and everything looked rock solid to me.

Chris Clarke > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
10/14/2014 at 14:54

They said they also had a standard RC heli that would go even faster but I can't remember the details.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 14:55

Ah neat! Some day I'd really like one to play around with, I imagine they'll get more affordable as time passes. Do you happen to know what sort of battery life to expect from the $800 one?

Chris Clarke > CAR_IS_MI
10/14/2014 at 14:55

Kinja'd!!!

Chris Clarke > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/14/2014 at 15:03

Only about 20 minutes, but they use off the shelf batteries. Nothing proprietary so its cheaper to do quick swaps.

HammerheadFistpunch > Chris Clarke
10/14/2014 at 15:19

I'm torn on aerial photography, it's a hell of an investment to do it right and for the time i need it i cab hire out or rent

uofime > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/14/2014 at 16:13

you can get one for 200 but the camera is a built in unit with no gimbal and the battery life is about 4-5 minutes

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > uofime
10/14/2014 at 16:15

Hmm, that doesn't sound the greatest, haha.

uofime > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/14/2014 at 16:26

its purely a toy obviously. it was an entertaining challenge to fly and you can get a cute video if you take it outside and shoot it to the top of its range in the sky then look around, but a useful tool to video work it is not

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > uofime
10/15/2014 at 08:18

ah ok. I was thinking it'd be cool for some of the off-shore runs I do here in Michigan. But I think I'd really need something that can transmit a picture back to my phone so I know what the hell I'm recording.

uofime > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/15/2014 at 09:32

this one does have first person view, the remote has a big-ish screen on it. I will say flying it using that view is pretty difficult. It's probably not the droid you're looking for

Chris Clarke > For Sweden
10/15/2014 at 13:11

Have you heard anything about this?

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new…

For Sweden > Chris Clarke
10/15/2014 at 14:44

I had expected that to happen. The FAA can punish a certified pilot much harsher than someone else. The extra punishment for the someone else case would have to come from the criminal justice system.

Chris Clarke > For Sweden
10/15/2014 at 14:49

I've got to say that makes me a little miffed.

For Sweden > Chris Clarke
10/15/2014 at 14:53

The FAA's just doing the most it can against violators. If those violators don't have a pilot's license, the FAA can't really do much against them.

Chris Clarke > For Sweden
10/15/2014 at 15:00

I understand their point of view, but its a little disconcerting to me that I might lose my license for flying a remote control helicopter. I realize revocation will mostly likely be reserved for extreme cases, but in all my years of flying and training I never expected a hobby to threaten my certificate. I don't plan on any intentional violations, but I think it might be a slight overstep of power in the name of safety.

For Sweden > Chris Clarke
10/15/2014 at 15:07

My best advice is follow the regulations when flying a remotely piloted helicopter.

Chris Clarke > For Sweden
10/15/2014 at 15:13

This is very sound advice.