So, I'm not a proper drone nerd, don't build my own etc etc, but I do like them and what the 'off-the-shelf' drones offer.

I had a DJI phantom 2 which was very good, however, I've just got my Phantom 4. For anyone reading this, if you are considering buying a drone and are like me I.e you like to have a good look around, film your car, film mates etc, then I cannot recommend the 4 enough if your budget stretches to it. I'm sure folk will come on and say that you should buy this drone and that drone and that DJI is just over-priced commercial rubbish, and that's fine, however, in my opinion, if you're an amateur like me and like to photograph / film stuff or just like the thought of having a birds eye view of the world but like the simple approach, then buy a phantom 4.

P.s also buy a spare a battery as although the flight time is pretty good, having another battery is a must!

 

How much?

 

I purchased the first Phantom, excellent piece of kit. Flew it many times and got some pretty good footage with a GoPro attached to the bottom of it.

Crashed it a few times while I was learning to fly. After a couple of years of ownership, I stripped it and transplanted all of the parts onto a smaller frame so I could go faster! Used that setup for a while until I got into FPV racing.

I have a few drones, TBS Discovery, and excellent drone, a DJI Inspire 1, excellent at photography and video footage, so stable.

Currently building a Hexa to lift a heavy DSLR camera to get better photos. But DJI have recently released a new version of the Inspire which has a better camera on it, so might upgrade to one of those instead of completing the Hexa.

I am also looking at getting a FLIR camera to do some work for the local farmers when I finally get round to getting my PFAW from the CAA.

I think the Phantom range is excellent, never flown a 4, but I imagine that the technology on it far surpasses what the first Phantom was like.

Enjoy it, but make sure you look after your batteries, I nearly lost my Inspire 1 due to a battery suddenly dropping voltage while it was about half a mile from me, it was pure luck that I managed to land the bird safely in front of me!

 

phantom 4 how much?

 

Always fancied a drone but not enough to pay silly money for one.

 

ive just bought a phantom 1 and its a lot of fun. came with a lot of spares including a 2 axis gimbal, a 5.8 ghz 7inch video reciever screen and transmitter plus some other bits and bobs and 5 spare batteries. i have just bought a firefly 6s camera for fpv from gearbest so im hoping for some good ariel footage when it arrives. im pretty good at flying it in gps mode but im not brave enough for full manual flying just yet!

 

I looked at building my own a while back and it's scary how rapidly things can get very daft. With a decent tx/rx you can get silly ranges and if you spend enough on motors/props you can lift just about anything.

 

Over a Grand for a Phantom 4.

My standard 3 cost me just under £400.

 

Yikes,
that wont be going on the Xmas list then....

 

Love flying my phantom 3 pro, got it second hand for £750 with three batteries and a decent lowpro case, joined a local club, haven't looked back ,great hobby, can highly recommend the nvidia k1 shield as a fast tablet for the money. Also check out the litchi app well worth the money.

 

Yeah, the 4 isn't cheap, but it's a truly amazing piece of kit. I made this vid in a day. Sure, it won't be winning any oscars, but I thoroughly enjoyed making it. Lots to learn!

(If you watch the video in YouTube itself, its considerably better quality)

 

Nice video, enjoyed that.

 

nice - where is that btw?

the beginning reminds me a bit of Hatfield forest

 

Great. I'll get this for my son for Christmas. That's if he doesn't already have it. He seems to have everything that I may like to buy him. It's very difficult to get an adult son a surprise gift.

 

 

Another like for the video from me. I saw a guy down the local playing field at the weekend flying a very small drone whilst wearing a headset so flying in FPV. I thought this was only on really expensive stuff but clearly not.

Is FPV harder or easier to fly and what sort of budget should you set to avoid anything really cr4p?

 

Weren't the drones going to be either banned or imposed upon some strict regulation after one nearly hit an aeroplane or something? I remember a media story like that; either last year or earlier this year.

I'm glad they're not banned. I know one person who launched his family friend''s kid's drone and via that, he successfully detected the problem with his chimney on his house's roof. They can be quite useful.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlDz...ature=youtu.be

$800 not bad.

 

"..Weren't the drones going to be either banned or imposed upon some strict regulation after one nearly hit an aeroplane or something? I remember a media story like that; either last year or earlier this year.."

not quite an aeroplane !

http://www.skysports.com/football/ne...bristol-rovers

 

if you fly them for commercial purposes you are regulated by the CAA and are required to go on a course

 

Its can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be really.

I would stay away from cheap Chinese stuff, yes, I know most of the drones and associated parts are made in China, but they are not manufactured to the same standards that companies like DJI set.

The likes of DJI, TBS etc are top brands, and some of their offerings are expensive. But in this game you do get what you pay for.

FPV flying is easier than flying line of sight, as long as you have a good understanding of your surrounds, and the surroundings of where the drone will be flying, you will love FPV flying. It really is almost as if you were in the drone yourself!

Really depends on what type of FPV flying you want to do, but to start with, and to not waste too much money, I would like at getting one of these mini FPV drones to see what you think about the whole idea of FPV.

http://www.hubsan.com/ do a few good starter FPV drones, but I am not sure if they do any that use the goggles.

If you like FPV flying, then look at either buying a ready made FPV setup, or build your own.

Building your own is fun and also you will learn quite a bit, but there is a LOT to learn about building a good drone. Things like motor thrust, prop size, drone weight, batteries, flying times, flight control systems, transmitters and receivers, these are just a few of the basics, and you need to fully understand them before building a drone. Otherwise it might never actually take off, or worst still, fall out of the sky from 100 meters!

What ever you do, be safe, they are not toys and are dangerous if not respected.

 

In most cases, its actually illegal to fly these things anywhere but your own back garden. Unless you have consent of the land owner where you are flying of course

You need Permission For Aerial Work (PFAW), which is a requirement that the CAA has made for anyone who wishes to make any type of money using as UAS/UAV/Drone.

 

what range is achievable with the sort of stuff being talked about? Distance for me would be more valuable than height. I live by the coast and there are a number of coastlines and coastal features I would love to overfly with a drone, having seen something simlar done at a hotel I stayed in recently.

presumably a hexacopter type drone his capable of carrying larger payloads, and therefore inherntly more stable in the air?

 

I did not realise that it was so restrictive as a simple hobby

 

Various ranges are achievable, but being in the UK, we are legally limited to low powered FPV transmitters and receivers, the maximum legal power was 25mW @ 5.8GHz last time I checked.

Which in real world terms equate to not much distance to be honest.

Having said that, a lot of people use 600mW FPV gear which will give a range of around 2.5km with no obstructions such as trees etc.

There are much more powerful systems available which literally allow you to fly to the edge of space and back! But of course illegal in this country.

Check this video out!


As for frame stability, yes, a hexacopter is more stable and can lift heavier loads due to more thrust with 6 motors, as opposed to the 4 of a quadcopter. And one big advantage of a hexa or above is redundancy, if two of the six motors fail, you can still land safely, not so with a quadcopter, if one motor fails, its going to hit the ground hard!

Hexa's are good for stable photography and/or cinematography, you can also get extended flight time due to being able to carry a heavier battery, batteries become heavier the more mAh they have, more mAh = more flight time basically.

I use a DJI Inspire 1 which is a quadcopter, solely used for photography and video work. I have not flown it more than 2 miles from my location and only had video drop out once.

Currently building a Hexa using a Tarrot frame with extended arms. Looking at a flight time of 45 to 50 mins and a range of about 5 miles with the setup I am going with.

 

Aeroplanes as well.

See, on 17th April 2016 a drone hit an Airbus:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36067591

Before that, on 2nd Jan 2016, a drone delayed a flight:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...f-airport.html

Even on 22nd July 2014, a drone caused a problem near Heathrow Airport:

http://news.sky.com/story/drone-and-...throw-10379797


Yes, the ones that have so far caused havoc on commercial air spaces or else are non-commercial ones; being flown by the amateurs who don't quite know how to navigate them. I guess flying a drone isn't exactly a rocket science, but people with the lack of distant remote controlling ability will potentially cause accidents. I think it can be lethal weapon, if in wrong hands. In this country, people drink a lot. Imagine a pi$$ed person flying a drone. It will be all over the shop and could potentially hit and injure anything that comes in its way. I think there should be a compulsory course and regulations for all types of drone flyers; considering the drinking culture here. Kids can be allowed to fly them under a sober adult's supervision.

 

Drones are very dangerous in the wrong hands and as much as I am anti-authoritarian, drones are something that need to be regulated so people don't use them in such a way as to cause harm.

But there will always be one idiot that either ignore the rules, or does not know they exist.

 

So the legal limit is 120m height and 500m out. On the Phantom, initially, when you hit an altitude of 120m, a big warning comes up on the screen and the drone automatically stops at that height. You can 'unlock' this height restriction in the settings but when you do, a disclaimer flashes up asking you if you have permission, the law etc.......basically saying if you get caught and you don't have the correct authority to fly beyond the legal limits set by the CAA, it's on your own head if you do get caught......DJI covering their own *****, which is obviously fair enough!

In regards to distance. The phantom 4 will go out to 5km with direct line of sight and good GPS / satellite coverage (all this information is on the screen), but this s drastically reduced once line of sight is broken. However, spend £20 and you can get a range extender that will enable the phantom to go considerably further.

I would completely agree with the comments above aswell. These things definitely are not toys and you should fly with care. Where I film, there are all sorts knocking about at low levels.....Apaches, Chinooks, trainer planes etc. The drone will easily fly to the same (and greater) heights that these aircraft fly at around here so I'm always on the look out.

 

That's good, but not everyone has a back garden big enough to fly the bleddy thing. In my opinion, there should be licenced drone flying zones for the enthusiasts, where they can go and let their steam off by flying their drone for one or two hours when they feel like it. Similar to the shooting ranges. Perhaps such authorised drone flying zones already are in existence. If not, this can be a good business. People can take their family, pets and some picnic foods with them and enjoy their drone flying.

 

Exactly.

LOL yeah!