Aggressive water use

Dspace · Feb 11, 2017

The overly ambitious goal: I live on the Outer Banks (NC) and want to train towards doing more aggressive drone filming mostly of kiteboarding and windsurfing. By that I mean altitudes in the 6-20 ft range and drone upwind distance from object/rider of 15-30 ft. In the case of kiteboarding/windsurfing I'd go with winds gusting up to say 22 mph (even though we sometimes ride in much higher winds). Most of my post training flying will be over salt water (more sound side than ocean side) at shorter distances. I've been involved with these sports for a long time so I have a decent idea of how I want to film to greatly reduce the risk of the rider and drone from colliding.

I get the feeling that over enough time, even with well honed skills and maintenance, these things are gonna down in the water every so often. I wouldn't expect otherwise.

Ok, so with Care Refresh and a separate insurance policy (and recovery floats) I could get maybe 4 replacements, 2 from refresh and 2 from a second policy before they cancelled on me (??).

Then I watch this demo of a Splash Drone Auto and think, OK, this thing is definitely crude but it sure does take a water licking and and keep on ticking.

I could care less about water landing, or the perfect high res video, I just want the thing to be "water tough", handle gusts to 22ish with decent control. Assuming I can use a Hero 4 with a controllable field of view to deal a farther distance to the rider.

I'm sure the Mavic is a way way better performing quad but I am not sure how well I can keep it out the water with my intended use.

Anyway just looking for opinions from the water sports oriented flyers out there before I send my $1-2k into the ether

Thanks in advance!

This is where I live:

This is what I do:

HeavensAbove · Feb 11, 2017

So you're the guy, holding the Earth in space like a giant lollipop?

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HeavensAbove · Feb 11, 2017

I would normally defend the Mavic against all comers, but, given what you do, and having watched that video, the splash drone would be ideal for your purposes. Hell, just buy both!?

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Dspace · Feb 11, 2017

HeavensAbove said:
So you're the guy, holding the Earth in space like a giant lollipop?

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along with my well worn GoPro on my favorite shorty paintin pole.

Wouldn't it be nice to have both, but after 30 years I know my man toy boundaries with the Significant Other..

The more I look at all of Dustin's reviews on the Splash Drone Auto, despite it's flaws and clunkyness, it really does seem well built, and at home in and around the water. If only there weren't so many Mavic water crash threads to sway me away......

HeavensAbove · Feb 12, 2017

Dspace said:
along with my well worn GoPro on my favorite shorty paintin pole.

Wouldn't it be nice to have both, but after 30 years I know my man toy boundaries with the Significant Other..

The more I look at all of Dustin's reviews on the Splash Drone Auto, despite it's flaws and clunkyness, it really does seem well built, and at home in and around the water. If only there weren't so many Mavic water crash threads to sway me away......

When you notice an extra pair of ladies shoes does your woman answer any query with "I got them AGES ago!"

Apply same logic to man purchases. Works for me.

Buy both, Mavic first. Then say that the Splash is a "buoyancy skin" for it.

I'm going to write the manual on "how to maintain your lifestyle when living with a woman"....

I only have sixteen years experience (so not in the same veteran category as you) and have even managed to avoid expense of a wedding.

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HK! · Feb 12, 2017

Mavic doesn't like rain let alone salt water spray.
And @#rk, just 'Ride' dude. Even if you were getting that one for Social media cookies, it kind of smaks of effort.
The idea is to hide the selfie stick if you can too.

HeavensAbove · Feb 12, 2017

HK! said:
Mavic doesn't like rain let alone salt water spray.
And @#rk, just 'Ride' dude. Even if you were getting that one for Social media cookies, it kind of smaks of effort.
The idea is to hide the selfie stick if you can too.

Hide the selfie stick? That's a bit of an ask given what's going on in that shot.

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Dspace · Feb 12, 2017

A little more due dil on the Splash drone auto. The maker, Swellpro, looks to be a Kickstarter funded (that means bare bones) startup of some kids (that means I'm an ole guy) in Miami. Looks like they sell direct under a retail/repair/mail-order outfit called Urban Drones, in Coral Springs, FL (?). The latest version, Auto-plus, seems to have overcome several of the earlier serious bugs (review in earlier post) but they are using as much off the shelf components as possible. The control precision/automation/communication is pretty crude (no software/EE team here) but in fairness, they are also limited by the waterproof housing.

The hardware on this system (housing, camera gimbal) actually looks pretty tough. I've seen a video of a very hard water crash and the thing mostly survived with some dings but no leaks.

It's almost $2k when you add in a GoPro4 and some spare stuff (currently above my Significant Other man-toy allowance

)

HK! · Feb 13, 2017

HeavensAbove said:
Hide the selfie stick? That's a bit of an ask given what's going on in that shot.

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Maybe he should enjoy what he's been 'doing for years' instead of posing.

Selfie sticks are for 2 or more people taking a group photo that is worth the gheyness of using a selfie stick.
Action sports. Nope dont think so

Get a drone, have your friend fly it or vice versa, and get some pics worth framing.

halley · Feb 13, 2017

HK! said:
Maybe he should enjoy what he's been 'doing for years' instead of posing.

Maybe you should let the guy do whatever the heck he wants, without telling him what toys are acceptable and what toys aren't.

HK! · Feb 13, 2017

halley said:
Maybe you should let the guy do whatever the heck he wants, without telling him what toys are acceptable and what toys aren't.

Maybe you two should get married, and make beautiful kiteboarding movies together

HeavensAbove · Feb 13, 2017

HK! said:
Maybe you two should get married, and make beautiful kiteboarding movies together

HK! said:
Maybe he should enjoy what he's been 'doing for years' instead of posing.

Selfie sticks are for 2 or more people taking a group photo that is worth the gheyness of using a selfie stick.
Action sports. Nope dont think so

Get a drone, have your friend fly it or vice versa, and get some pics worth framing.

Is that not what he's asking advice about rather than have you police his selfie stick etiquette?

HK! · Feb 13, 2017

HeavensAbove said:
Is that not what he's asking advice about rather than have you police his selfish stick etiquette?

I see he proposed then

And to answer your question; No.
Are we done?

Dspace · Feb 13, 2017

Sorry for the posing, low quality image resulting from poor selfie stick etiquette

, it won't happen again. (Take solace in the fact that I paid for my transgressions on that particular jump without 2 hands on the control bar on the way down)

As tempting as the Splash drone auto seemed for my needs, I ended up going for the Mavic with Care Refresh. Gonna get a second private policy as well. Looking forward to many more wipeouts captured by said drone (at least I won't be tied up as rider and videographer all at the same time.........)

GerdS · Feb 13, 2017

I have a Splash Drone since 18 months as a am living at a lake. Got the DIY version and completed it with a XAircraft MiniX flight controller which is tolerant against compass problems. Works nicely and gives you a much better feeling when flying over water than the Mavic does, although Mavic's flight performance and capabilities are much better.
Had one unintntioned touchdown on water once after loss of GPS (the MiniX GPS is weak) and wrongly estimated altitude. No damage at all except two lost self-tightening props.