I don't want to get dragged into a drawn out "discussion" on this but more than doubling the surface area and adding weight is never going to improve a drone's aerodynamic performance.
Goodbye.
Floats???
- Thread starter Pyrate
- Start date
Goodbye.
JackL
Well-Known Member
JackL
Well-Known Member
I fly over the open ocean almost exclusively and so far so good. I feel like floats will cut my flight performance and allow it to float away where I'll never find it if I crash. If I do lose my drone over the sea I will attempt to recover it with SCUBA gear based on the splash down location in the log.
...and I go pretty far.
It does not matter if you have proof or even a video showing how it handles, people will resist because of their belief of the truth they perceive.
Like I said before, it's your money do what you want with it.
I join this forum because the noise my controller was making and then seen post after post of drones being lost in all types of water.
That was enough for me to protect my drone since there are six lakes in my area.
You can make fun of a member for providing a valuable product but I am thankful he does.
Like I have posted before.... The day I could land on water and take off from it provide me with more freedom to enjoy my drone more.
Makes me wonder if the ones that resist, will they post again when it happens to them.
That would make another interesting discussion.
Maybe they could make a video of the "scuba" rescue or the "Getterback" recovery.
Please do not forget to show what you do next after get it back. Now that would be even more interesting.
Like I said before, it's your money do what you want with it.
I join this forum because the noise my controller was making and then seen post after post of drones being lost in all types of water.
That was enough for me to protect my drone since there are six lakes in my area.
You can make fun of a member for providing a valuable product but I am thankful he does.
Like I have posted before.... The day I could land on water and take off from it provide me with more freedom to enjoy my drone more.
Makes me wonder if the ones that resist, will they post again when it happens to them.
That would make another interesting discussion.
Maybe they could make a video of the "scuba" rescue or the "Getterback" recovery.
Please do not forget to show what you do next after get it back. Now that would be even more interesting.
JackL
Well-Known Member
It is a pretty safe bet that I will be posting a SCUBA drone recovery at some point. lol First thing I'll do is dance a little jig before I head to FedEx to ship the drone away for a care refresh.
I have absolutely no doubt floats would be useful for people on lakes and in sheltered places where wind, waves and current wouldn't make a splash down situation even worse. In my case it is highly likely my drone would end up in North Carolina after it traveled up the US coast for a week on the gulf stream if it was floating. A tiny piece of neon foam is probably not going to be visible in the sea when often a person waving their arms wearing a full suit of neon neoprene can't even be spotted.
The best strategy is to keep the drone in the air.
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
Good Idea. I'm going to do that (reflective tape) to my Mavic drones asap, even the EVO2 i have, even though it's bright orange. I lost a Mav Mini once. Couldn't find it in the brush. The reflective tape sure would have helped. I also lost an autel evo 2. But because it was orange and I had a Mavic with a CPL filter on, I was able to see it under 5 ft of water in a nearby lake. I only saw it after a few days when the lake levels went down a little. The mini was my fault, I was a newbie. The autel was a design flaw in the battery system. The actual pins between the battery and aircraft fused together and the battery shut down, as did the entire aircraft. Down in the water it went. Later, I tried using floats a few times on a M2P. I was more nervous landing on the water, than simply flying over it. And yes, I didn't like the flight time loss. The lost flight time has more of a chance to cause a water landing than getting the AC home safe or landing on nearby dry ground.. OH , BY THE WAY, You'll all get be in shock about this last story. I actually had a mavic 2 pro fall into the water on the edge of a canal. it was completely submerged for 1 to 2 minutes. I retrieved it. Took the batterry out. And then stuck it in front of a warm to hot blow dryer for 24 hours. The next day it still worked fine. and still flies a year later. Lucky me.
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
Nice work, but not worth the lost flight time too me. I experimented with floats. Not a fan. I didn't get much of an advantage vs free flight. I live in swampy areas anyway. Even if i did land it in water, I would have the problem of trekking through mud, trees, bushes, ponds to even get to it. For me, i need to find dry ground as close as possible to an access point to retrieve the drone. I need all the flight time I can get.
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Get it to a retrievable dry place asap. How does one retrieve a floating drone 100-500 ft away on water. Just hope the wind pushes home or swim? You would have to have a boat or jet sky on stand by if you wanted to stay dry. Or, they do have a grappling claw for drones. You slap that baby on and maybe you can drag you floating drone home with another drone equipped with the grappling system.
Attachments
KB9Radio
Well-Known Member
I have a set of pontoons that work pretty good. I've flown in some pretty good wind with them and they didn't seem to bother much at all. I don't know they would save it in a crash, but at least you could recover the body. Keep in mind I have a Mavic 2 zoom which has plenty of power, I don't know how it would affect other models. If you end up going that route, try to find one that doesn't interfere with changing batteries. It sounds like where you live it would be on there most of the time. I haven't looked into it much, but it sounds like the wetsuit may be the best route to go. Fly well above the water and stay close for an escape route.
A.O.
Well-Known Member
I am one of those new fliers and have the fear of flying over water!!. The problem is not so much thinking it will crash easier flying over water but the fact it will be more difficult or impossible to retrieve.
Oops, I see DanMan32 beat me to it
Last edited:
JackL
Well-Known Member
I've been avoiding flying the Everglades because I don't want to trek through muck in the event of a drone issue. The water is really high on this side right now so it is basically just like the ocean, but with mating gators... I am looking forward to some swamp flying. The Phantom float looks like it could be useful for this in my case since I could use a jonboat to go get it in the event of a problem.
JackL
Well-Known Member
I love flying over water! Over land I am tense and the flight is not really enjoyable because I keep expecting the drone to fall through a neighbors skylight and kill their dog or some other crazy impossible situation. A splashdown just means I'll be scuba diving an exciting new spot.
A.O.
Well-Known Member
So far I have only flown over my place, And I have no skylight or a dog so I'm good flying over land. ?
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
JackL
Well-Known Member
If covid didn't have every open space in my area taken up with testing sites I may never have decided to go for the ocean, but I got tired of looking at my dirty roof and clogged gutters so I went for it. I had planned to stay close to the shore but every bit of tension I had flying in my neighborhood melted away in the first minute of flight over the ocean, to the point I decided I will happily pay up another $700 if something went wrong and I lost it. After my first successful 16.9km flight to a reef on the open ocean I came back with too much confidence...to the point I had a low battery emergency landing a mile from my house. Always remember 10% bat basically means 0% on these drones despite what the good pilots on YT make it look like
Here is a very thorough review of the various options.
Best WATER rescue device? MY RESULTS
I want to thank all who took the time to respond it my original thread “Help! What is the best WATER rescue device?” especially TedS and JMTremblay on MavicPilots site for their detailed responses. Since I posted my request on both the Mavic and Phantom sites I will post this on there as well...
mavicpilots.com
Newbie here and I live in a middle of a lake! Litterally out on a peninsula i can throw a rock and hit water on both sides of me- what are the best floats or do I even need them??? I have a M2P and really do not want to loose it? what are your thoughts? My son had a Carma go pro- and it died and went swimming, we did find it 3 weeks later... any suggestions?
I Fly as well all the time over the water and I really enjoy doing this.
I did personally use the Wetsuit + Rescue Jacket, I did the range test with the setup and found I can go pretty far with it.
Any accessory you use in a drone will affect the performance of the drone but is not a big deal for me since still performed well for what I want and the mental peace I have that I can recover my drone if something happened over the water is priceless. Even if the drone land upside down for any reason I still can recover the drone and claim my refresh kit.
If you do racing with the drone, well, do not use the rescue jacket because will kill about 3mph in top speed for the drag. If not is the best tool to keep the drone safe over the water and improve visibility.
This is my opinion.
Not familiar with the products, so sorry for dumb questions. Do you use both wetsuit and rescue jacket at same time, or do you have to switch from one to the other? Do you remember the costs of the two products?
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