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Travelling from US to New Zealand, basic questions

davidkmcw

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Please bear with me as I haven't traveled with any of this kind of gear before.

I have a PolarPro case, which I assume I can take as a carry on, although I need to put my three batteries in a LiPo safe bag, in my carry on, right? Do I only get one carry one, should I check the Mavic using the soft case that it came with instead?

I'm not completely sure about charging the batteries, so I was planning on just charging them on a car charger, is this viable or are there better suggestions?

I was going to take an external USB drive an an adapter so I could connect them both to my phone and download to the drive - is this even practical, any better suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

David
 
If you want some more specific answers, you'll need to say which airline you are flying with and in which cabin as things like the number of bags vary between airlines and between coach/business/first etc.

As a general comment, yes your battery packs need to be in the cabin with you, no they do not need to be in a so-called 'LiPo Safe' bag but they do need to be carried in a way that ensures the terminal cannot short. So tape over the contacts and put each pack in a separate plastic bag for example.

The standard mains charger is multi-voltage so will be fine in New Zealand, you just need a plug convertor available at the airport, Amazon etc.

Re the USB drive, which phone are you using?
 
If you want some more specific answers, you'll need to say which airline you are flying with and in which cabin as things like the number of bags vary between airlines and between coach/business/first etc.

As a general comment, yes your battery packs need to be in the cabin with you, no they do not need to be in a so-called 'LiPo Safe' bag but they do need to be carried in a way that ensures the terminal cannot short. So tape over the contacts and put each pack in a separate plastic bag for example.

The standard mains charger is multi-voltage so will be fine in New Zealand, you just need a plug convertor available at the airport, Amazon etc.

Re the USB drive, which phone are you using?


It's all via Quantas, so inside the US, I believe they partner with American Airlines.

I have a Google Pixel via Verizon
 
You should get two carry-ons with both AA and Qantas but do check the size limits and the weight limit on Qantas.

Both Qantas and AA are fine with Mavic sized packs as they are well under the 100Wh limit. Just put them into the Polar Pro case and tape over the terminals. For safety, let them discharge to storage levels before you fly.

Re the Phone, your Pixel does not have the ability to directly install the micro-SD card so that route is out, can you explain more about the adapter and the USB drive? Have you actually moved files this way before?
 
You should get two carry-ons with both AA and Qantas but do check the size limits and the weight limit on Qantas.

Both Qantas and AA are fine with Mavic sized packs as they are well under the 100Wh limit. Just put them into the Polar Pro case and tape over the terminals. For safety, let them discharge to storage levels before you fly.

Re the Phone, your Pixel does not have the ability to directly install the micro-SD card so that route is out, can you explain more about the adapter and the USB drive? Have you actually moved files this way before?

I'm looking at this - Amazon.com: UNITEK Aluminum USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C 3-Port Data Hub with SD/Micro SD/TF Card Reader for New MacBook, ChromeBook, HP Pavilion X2. (Equipped with practical two cable type C to micro B, A to micro B): Computers & Accessories

Looks like I should be able to put the Micro USB card in one slot and attach an external HDD via one of the USB-2 ports, then use a file manager to copy between them both. Trying to get a definitive answer as to whether or not this is possible, but I suspect I'll buy it anyway and just return it if it doesn't work.

Is there a quick way of discharging them or do I just sit outside and hover in place for a bit waiting for them to die?
 
As long as your external HDD has its own PSU there is a good chance this will work. I've certainly seen reports of other USB-C hubs working
 
Please bear with me as I haven't traveled with any of this kind of gear before.

I have a PolarPro case, which I assume I can take as a carry on, although I need to put my three batteries in a LiPo safe bag, in my carry on, right? Do I only get one carry one, should I check the Mavic using the soft case that it came with instead?

I'm not completely sure about charging the batteries, so I was planning on just charging them on a car charger, is this viable or are there better suggestions?

I was going to take an external USB drive an an adapter so I could connect them both to my phone and download to the drive - is this even practical, any better suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

David

I got my DJI Mavic Pro FlyMore package the Morning we left for New Zealand....I was soooo Happy!!! I took everything with me, but I found out that the Car Charger was my far the best way to charge all 3 batteries on the go. I put the DJI Mavic Pro and extras in the Black Bag they provided and used it as a Carry On and it worked like a charm. No questions asked regarding the drone.

I took my Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Portable Hard Drive and a Laptop with card reader. Since I recorded everything in 4K, I needed as much storage as possible. I came home with nearly 700GB of video footage. Check it out on my YouTube Channel RyRyBoyz63. Footage is from Dec. 20 - Jan. 9!

If you have anymore questions...ask away!
 
I got my DJI Mavic Pro FlyMore package the Morning we left for New Zealand....I was soooo Happy!!! I took everything with me, but I found out that the Car Charger was my far the best way to charge all 3 batteries on the go. I put the DJI Mavic Pro and extras in the Black Bag they provided and used it as a Carry On and it worked like a charm. No questions asked regarding the drone.

I took my Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Portable Hard Drive and a Laptop with card reader. Since I recorded everything in 4K, I needed as much storage as possible. I came home with nearly 700GB of video footage. Check it out on my YouTube Channel RyRyBoyz63. Footage is from Dec. 20 - Jan. 9!

If you have anymore questions...ask away!

Here's the thing, I really want to minimize the amount I carry and hence I wasn't planning on taking a laptop. I'm trying to find a way of copying stuff from my micro SD card to an external HDD just using my Android phone.

I will check out your channel though, thanks.
 
Here's the thing, I really want to minimize the amount I carry and hence I wasn't planning on taking a laptop. I'm trying to find a way of copying stuff from my micro SD card to an external HDD just using my Android phone.

I will check out your channel though, thanks.

Well that was impossible for me to do without a Laptop. I personally needed to see the footage on a bigger screen and start trying to edit the footage. Unfortunately, I hate editing so I mostly posted full footage so I could also analyze my piloting skills.

New Zealand is an AMAZING COUNTRY!!! Can't wait to see your perspective!
 
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