Do Bright Skins Make Visibility a Lot Better?

[TM74]

Do you have a skin on that Mini or is that some special edition one?

Just bought a very dark skin from decal girl in the US and shipped it over to UK - so easy to put on

 

[lannes]

Not the one I'm considering. Wrapgrade Skin Compatible with DJI Mini 2 | Main Unit (NEON Orange): Amazon.ca: Camera & Photo

I was referring the the strobe mount not the wrap

 

[Hillbilly1236]

I was referring the the strobe mount not the wrap

My mistake. I should have looked closer at your post.

 

[A.O.]

That certainly looks like it would be a lot easier to see in most conditions. Does it help when the drone is a long ways off? Basically would it help to extend the VLOS range?

I can see it ,and that it is orange , out to about 800 feet most days... but my eyes are not as good as they once were either...

 

[Deleted member 103366]

And against the trees...

For a moment I thought you had 'parked' it in a tree for the photo shoot!!!!!

 

[spsphotos]

Guess I need to actually fly one first and see how far it gets before I start to loose sight of it and if a brighter color might help. Might be awhile before I get out to the limit of my VLOS though, since I want to get comfortable with the flight controls with the drone in close proximity so when something unexpected happens I will have plenty of time to react to the situation.

Now I need to checkout strobes and their weights.

Strobes are fairly light. But they may push your MM over the 249 limit. Pays to just cough up the $5 so you don't have to care. . Being Part 107 I don't have any option in that matter...4 drones x $5 still not a biggie for a 3yr registration. Hella cheaper than my car reg. LOL. My MA1 is spiderman skinned and has red props from MasterScrew. Makes it more visiable.

 

[A.O.]

For a moment I thought you had 'parked' it in a tree for the photo shoot!!!!!

I sent that pic to my brother and he thought the same, he's like... did you crash your drone already??

 

[Hillbilly1236]

Strobes are fairly light. But they may push your MM over the 249 limit. Pays to just cough up the $5 so you don't have to care. . Being Part 107 I don't have any option in that matter...4 drones x $5 still not a biggie for a 3yr registration. Hella cheaper than my car reg. LOL. My MA1 is spiderman skinned and has red props from MasterScrew. Makes it more visiable.

If all I had to do was pay $5, I wouldn't think twice about it but that is not the issue. To fly anything 250g and larger I need to get a Basic Pilot's license and from what I have read this is not the easiest thing to get. I have checked out a bunch of YT videos and web posts about what study material to go through. There appears to be 4 main documents to go through and just one of these is 494 pages long. Not interested in doing that at this time.

 

[Tel]

I put a bright yellow skin on my drone last week and I have found very little difference in seeing it when flying, I am now going to fix a strobe light to see how that works

 

[Hillbilly1236]

I put a bright yellow skin on my drone last week and I have found very little difference in seeing it when flying, I am now going to fix a strobe light to see how that works

The bright orange one looks like it would be easy to see, based on the pics AO provided. I wonder of the color makes a difference. In any case, I think I will go with strobe lights / LED's if I find a need for better visibility.

 

[Thomas B]

My experience is that they all look grey against the sky by 200-250’ out.

 

[African wildlife]

I put a bright yellow skin on my drone last week and I have found very little difference in seeing it when flying, I am now going to fix a strobe light to see how that works

And when the strobe only sometimes makes a difference, the next step is to go shopping at BrainsRUs. ?

 

[Hillbilly1236]

Well my MM2 Fly More Combo just arrived and I was surprised at how small this thing is. I doubt I will be able to see this when it is any distance from me. So I will likely end up getting some strobe lights and checking out BrainsRUs for an update on my old one. Anyone know if there is an EyesRUs where I can upgrade those too.

 

[TM74]

I had a bright skin on my mini 1 and now have a black skin on the the 2 ...the difference was absolutely nothing, against the sky you cannot tell what colour it is.
If you want to see it easy fit a strobe they are good.

 

[Hillbilly1236]

I had a bright skin on my mini 1 and now have a black skin on the the 2 ...the difference was absolutely nothing, against the sky you cannot tell what colour it is.
If you want to see it easy fit a strobe they are good.

Do you use a strobe or fly close to home so you can see it all the time?

I would like to fly over my property to see what is going on and check out animal movements but suspect I would loose sight of the drone, which could turn into a problem while I'm learning. Maybe not a big deal when I get better with the controls and the Fly App. Then I could use the info on the App and the video feed to keep track of where the drone is.

 

[Hillbilly1236]

I ordered the Firehouse strobe kit with white lights for the MM2. Should make it a lot easier to spot in the sky.

 

[Nesher]

I found that orange neon gaffer tape cut in small pieces helps in near-range visibility, especially when flying near dense vegetation. On-board lights are a must for longer-range visibility.

 

[Thomas B]

I found that orange neon gaffer tape cut in small pieces helps in near-range visibility, especially when flying near dense vegetation. On-board lights are a must for longer-range visibility.

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona!

 

[Nesher]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona!

Thank you from South Jersey where it is sunny but too windy to fly today!

 

[Dawnvt]

Depending on other factors you may see a bright skin a little further (if sky/light conditions are favorable) but keep in mind at a not too far distance it's just a dark silhouette and color will be of very little benefit.

A strobe is by far a much better "visual enhancement" for your aircraft at distance but.... having a brightly colored UAS makes it a lot easier to locate close in and if you have to look in trees/grass/weeds etc for the aircraft. The dark earthtone colored camouflage patterns are just the opposite.

I agree that strobes are really important, I purchased 3 strobes (4NM range) for my drone - Red,Wht,Grn so it is easier for a line of sight view. (I'm going to spray a set of props hot pink)