So how many drones have I owned?
I think owning drones is a series of learning lessons. My first drone was a Phantom 2 or 3 and it met its end when the wind flipped it over in air and it came crashing down like a meteor. Very dramatic. Lesson learned – don’t fly when its too windy.
My next drone was the Mavic pro. Got if for Christmas just before our trip to the Rockies in Canada. Got on site for a real nice flight over the lake and into the rock slides. Laid out the helipad and decided to put the batteries on the charger for a bit. Then decided to take a quick drive while we waited. About 10 yards later I got the sickest feeling- I’d driven the truck over the drone. I couldn’t even go look for myself. My wife went over and checked on it. It was gone. I felt like I’d killed something. Lesson learned. Don’t park your drone in front of / behind a vehicle. Needless to say I didn’t get any good footage that day.
On same trip we replaced ‘squishy’, since we were still in the mountains. Same model. Silver lining – now I had 4 batteries! Fast forward a year. My brother is asking to borrow it for his fishing trip. He has had experience with them from work and he wasn’t ready to buy his own yet. I decided ok, and we discussed if something happens to it he’d have to replace it. So about a month after it was to be returned and I finally get it back. We could tell right away something didn’t look right. Accessories were missing like 1 of the two rotor harnesses. The gimbal travel clip was missing, and a battery was tossed loosely in the bag to get tossed about. But the biggest surprise was the label on the nose was missing. I’d used painters tape to put my name and email address on it in case of a fly away drone. I can’t come up with any reason for this other than there was a mishap and brother had to replace it. But he didn’t say anything, and I can’t shake the feeling that this is the case. The problem is with warranty and feeling like I don’t have my own drone anymore. Lesson learned – don’t lend your drone.
I’d like get some input from the group how best to determine if my theory is right… Could someone take a look at the logs to see if my theory is correct?
I think owning drones is a series of learning lessons. My first drone was a Phantom 2 or 3 and it met its end when the wind flipped it over in air and it came crashing down like a meteor. Very dramatic. Lesson learned – don’t fly when its too windy.
My next drone was the Mavic pro. Got if for Christmas just before our trip to the Rockies in Canada. Got on site for a real nice flight over the lake and into the rock slides. Laid out the helipad and decided to put the batteries on the charger for a bit. Then decided to take a quick drive while we waited. About 10 yards later I got the sickest feeling- I’d driven the truck over the drone. I couldn’t even go look for myself. My wife went over and checked on it. It was gone. I felt like I’d killed something. Lesson learned. Don’t park your drone in front of / behind a vehicle. Needless to say I didn’t get any good footage that day.
On same trip we replaced ‘squishy’, since we were still in the mountains. Same model. Silver lining – now I had 4 batteries! Fast forward a year. My brother is asking to borrow it for his fishing trip. He has had experience with them from work and he wasn’t ready to buy his own yet. I decided ok, and we discussed if something happens to it he’d have to replace it. So about a month after it was to be returned and I finally get it back. We could tell right away something didn’t look right. Accessories were missing like 1 of the two rotor harnesses. The gimbal travel clip was missing, and a battery was tossed loosely in the bag to get tossed about. But the biggest surprise was the label on the nose was missing. I’d used painters tape to put my name and email address on it in case of a fly away drone. I can’t come up with any reason for this other than there was a mishap and brother had to replace it. But he didn’t say anything, and I can’t shake the feeling that this is the case. The problem is with warranty and feeling like I don’t have my own drone anymore. Lesson learned – don’t lend your drone.
I’d like get some input from the group how best to determine if my theory is right… Could someone take a look at the logs to see if my theory is correct?