I have heard so much about paying attention to the condition of your props. Little nicks, warps can cause your bird to fall out of the sky!
Imagine my surprise when I closely examined my props, and to my horror saw “raised letters”.
Surely that makes a difference in the performance.
So first I needed to set some benchmarks, and I set out for my regular launch place, and did a lot of tests. More on that later.
Then I painstakingly sanded off the letters using 400, 800, 1600 and finally 4800 grit sandpaper.
If you sand off too much, then you can use good old fashioned bondo to fill it in, then sand more carefully next time. This could cause a small wobble in your flight, though.
The results were staggering.
First, the handling was a lot snappier and somehow smoother. Hard to describe, but a delight to fly.
Then the speed tests - on a fairly similar path in unknown wind conditions I was readily getting 41.1 mph whereas before I could only get to 41.0, sometimes even as low as 40.8 mph.
And the battery life increased (in one test) a full 28 seconds longer. Over the course of a 1000 flights that’s a staggering 7.777 hours of extra flight time! Do the math.
Now I’m not saying you should rush out and “dress” all of your props, the extra performance is probably not for everyone.
But it changed my life…
On another note:
DJI SHOULD have disclosed this and all data at least a year before the drone was announced. I’m thinking at the very least a class action suit by millions is called for. Typical sleazy DJI hiding things from its excellent customers! Well, someone has to make a stand. With this terrible corporate practices I stand ready to say the following: I pledge to not purchase more than 3 DJI drones a year! (Unless it’s a special year) DJI, I hope you feel this at the corporate level, and decide to change your ways.
And what kind of data IS the Chinese government gathering about these props? You can only imagine how that might be used.
Imagine my surprise when I closely examined my props, and to my horror saw “raised letters”.
Surely that makes a difference in the performance.
So first I needed to set some benchmarks, and I set out for my regular launch place, and did a lot of tests. More on that later.
Then I painstakingly sanded off the letters using 400, 800, 1600 and finally 4800 grit sandpaper.
If you sand off too much, then you can use good old fashioned bondo to fill it in, then sand more carefully next time. This could cause a small wobble in your flight, though.
The results were staggering.
First, the handling was a lot snappier and somehow smoother. Hard to describe, but a delight to fly.
Then the speed tests - on a fairly similar path in unknown wind conditions I was readily getting 41.1 mph whereas before I could only get to 41.0, sometimes even as low as 40.8 mph.
And the battery life increased (in one test) a full 28 seconds longer. Over the course of a 1000 flights that’s a staggering 7.777 hours of extra flight time! Do the math.
Now I’m not saying you should rush out and “dress” all of your props, the extra performance is probably not for everyone.
But it changed my life…
On another note:
DJI SHOULD have disclosed this and all data at least a year before the drone was announced. I’m thinking at the very least a class action suit by millions is called for. Typical sleazy DJI hiding things from its excellent customers! Well, someone has to make a stand. With this terrible corporate practices I stand ready to say the following: I pledge to not purchase more than 3 DJI drones a year! (Unless it’s a special year) DJI, I hope you feel this at the corporate level, and decide to change your ways.
And what kind of data IS the Chinese government gathering about these props? You can only imagine how that might be used.
