In need of honest info.

[Former Member]

Sail boats have sensors that won't allow them to sail into the sun? I have sailed for years and my seonsors have never stopped me sailing into the sun, in fact that's how I end all my sailing stories!

Funny!

Tacking for a drone is done for a couple of reasons.

• If you take off into a headwind and on your way back, the wind changes into a headwind. Hopefully the pilot has enough battery to criss cross into the wind instead of heading head first expecially if the wind is in excess of 20mph.
• Avoiding false obstacle avoidance sensor readings - as @Jackcutrone mentioned, approaching the sun at a 45° will reduce the amount of light entering the sensor and wont trigger the avoidance.

 

[Pioneer007]

Interesting thread. New pilot here. (Mavic 2Pro)

What action should you take in the event the drone thinks the sun is an obstacle?

I would immediately change to sport mode disabling all sensors.

 

[Former Member]

Ok, dumb question. People seem to want to disable their sensors and switch to sport mode if they think the sun is the culprit for a false obstacle avoidance alarm. Would this be a good idea for a newbie/inexperienced pilot who has never used sport mode? Also, how does one know if it is indeed the sun that is causing the OA to trigger? Im old, so I fly slowly and gradually. If my OA detects an obstacle, I stop, look and listen. Then I pivot my drone 180° to be sure the obstacle was actually the sun.

Old timers way of thinking.

 

[dbyantis]

This may not be the right place but I figure that maybe I can get some honest input. I have never owned or flown a drone but have been interested for quite some time and have a need for my business but also just for pleasure. So here is my question I was thinking that I would pay a little more and get a drone that will provide the photos, ease of learning ect.. that I want but will be user friendly for a rookie pilot. I was thinking Mavic or Phantom now I am reading different info of fly aways and issues such as those with DJI, I really don't want to pay that kind of money to have it fly off into the wild blue yonder, is this a real problem, should I be starting out with something different to gain experience first, as I had stated I was hoping to buy one and cover everything at once. I look forward to hearing from experienced pilots.

Since you are already being cautious, you probably have the right mindset to fly a DJI camera. As mentioned, follow the basic set of "rules of operation" and they become relatively failsafe devices, the sooner you get a Mavic, the sooner the fun starts.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Funny!

Tacking for a drone is done for a couple of reasons.

• If you take off into a headwind and on your way back, the wind changes into a headwind. Hopefully the pilot has enough battery to criss cross into the wind instead of heading head first expecially if the wind is in excess of 20mph.
• Avoiding false obstacle avoidance sensor readings - as @Jackcutrone mentioned, approaching the sun at a 45° will reduce the amount of light entering the sensor and wont trigger the avoidance.

Hmmm... Well if the wind is that strong, would it not be just as bad if not worse for battery life to be flying a longer actual track over the ground by zig zagging, than to simply fly straight through that wind? For me, it would not make sense to fly a greater distance and take more time in the air compared to slogging through the wind in a straight line. Could you explain how the zig-zag track would be better please? I have never been in such a situation but would like to know the best thing to do in case I ever did end up in that position.

Also if you do encounter a strong head wind, drop down as low as you possibly can as long as it is a safe altitude for you, and fly back. Don't stay up there, the wind strength almost always diminishes as you lower your altitude, at least flying in a real aircraft that is what would be best to do, and I am sure it is the same with a drone.

 

[bobec231]

Here is a suggestion, Get a Eachine E58 drone From Bangood.com. Cost about $55.00 2 meg camera and 3 batteries. Also get additional batteries 3 for approx $24. Also get yourself extra props and complete prop arms (arm, motor & props)
Learn to fly this drone which you will crash and rebuild several times for very low cost. When you become proficient with this drone then make the decision to spend real $$$. This drone is marketed by others as a DJI Mavic Pro CLONE which it is not. It is a mini toy version but it will allow you to really learn how to fly. Its range is 300ft and each battery will give you about 7 min of flying time.

 

[Endeavor]

Fly aways and crashes are rare and 99% operator fault. my recommendation is to buy a used spark and learn how to fly. The spark is the easiest drone in the world to fly, simple with basic controls and the video quality is quite good. Once you decide this sport is for you then you can upgrade to the MA or MP2. You can find sparks for sale on eBay for under $400 and they have everything you could possibly need. (green is the best)

 

[James in the Desert]

From my experiences over the last 2+ years My first drone was the spark and please note the controls are the same all the way through all of the drones I watched about 20 hours of YouTube videos prior to my first flight The first month or so of flights enabled me to get past the intimidation phase. And believe me you will be freaked out for your first flights. After about six months I purchased a Mavic Plat. Then after a year I bought the phantom for Pro. I now fly with goggles and I am very confident please note this is not a race. Good luck

 

[ScubaBob]

This may not be the right place but I figure that maybe I can get some honest input. I have never owned or flown a drone but have been interested for quite some time and have a need for my business but also just for pleasure. So here is my question I was thinking that I would pay a little more and get a drone that will provide the photos, ease of learning ect.. that I want but will be user friendly for a rookie pilot. I was thinking Mavic or Phantom now I am reading different info of fly aways and issues such as those with DJI, I really don't want to pay that kind of money to have it fly off into the wild blue yonder, is this a real problem, should I be starting out with something different to gain experience first, as I had stated I was hoping to buy one and cover everything at once. I look forward to hearing from experienced pilots.

I am 67 and bought my first drone (MP) a bit over a year or so ago. I practice, practice, practice in safe areas: wide open spaces such as fields or the beach. I practiced everything watching exactly what happens when I hit RTH or change the home point to "follow me", etc. I watch what happens if I let the battery run low and the MP goes into auto-return. By doing all my practicing in wide open spaces I don't have to worry about my drone hitting a tree, crashing into a building or ending up in the water. Then, after about 10-15 full batteries of practice I was ready to start exploring. What I have learned from reading MavicPilots is that almost every lost or crashed drone was due to user error. They sent the drone 500 meters high or 1000 meters away or they flew with the wind and didn't have enough battery to get the drone back. I have never crashed and never had a problem and I believe it is because I practiced a lot and I always keep my drone within my VLOS.

 

[hermitdog]

I've had two Mavic Pro's and one Mavic 2 Zoom. I'd strongly encourage you to get either of these drones because their flight and photography capacities are remarkably good. Buy a cheaper drone and in a week or two, you're going to wish you had better videos and flight features.
Also, of course, watch the training videos on YouTube and practice, practice, practice in a wide-open, safe space.
Welcome to the forum and good luck!

 

[netfolks2000]

Wouldn't it be a great feature of future drones to have a tracking device built in on a separate battery? It might cost a little flight time due to the weight but really a great insurance and "reassurance." With it designed to be inside it would likely not interfere with the other radios.

 

[Palenshus]

Justlookinaround -- I am a rookie...bought the Mavic 2 Pro... had it for two weeks. Beginner mode is a must... and as everyone (more experienced than me by far) said, learn the manual and flying. Get cocky, lose your drone/investment. Start slow..easy to get caught up in the excitement, but fight the urge. Watch You Tube video's. Hook up with a more experience Drone person when you go out...plus, you should have a spotter anyway... be legal. Enjoy. I am.

 

[Drone on]

The Mavic is a high-tech piece of kit and unlikely to fly away under normal use. Having said that, the only things certain are death and taxes.

LOL...knock on simulated wood grain

 

[old man mavic]

going back to the original post it seems that the person concerned it not really sure if drone flying is really his thing perhaps he would be better if he was able to find a friend who would let him try flying one of their drones and give him advice on the basics i would be happy to do that if he lived near to me a DJI drone is a large investment and is worth that investment only if it is something that is you really want to do its not only the flying but also the photography side of it as well and you do not need the expensive 3 axis gimble or the auto flying modes if you only want to fly around i agree that purchasing the best drone you can afford is a good idea as you soon become bored with a more basic model but that is the way most of us started including myself and it gives you a good way to learn without some of the worry of seeing an expensive drone flying away or crashing unfortunately it is really a descision that only the OP can make after considering all the info from those who posted on this thread i hope that he does take up drone flying and it helps him with his business and also gives him a great hobby. and for those who might disagree this was my attempt at some honest info and just my take on the OPs question

 

[moonlitnite]

My sense is there are two (or more) types of people:
- TYPE I: Those who believe everything should be as simple as a toaster and just wanna' fly.
- TYPE II: Those who enjoy tinkering, are happy to read the manual and check out forums, watch videos, make time to keep their gear is well understood and functional, are conservative flyers (avoiding risks), etc.

Compared to the Phantom 1 days, we have been living in HEAVEN for the last few years.

 

[TruckingAl]

As a complete NOOB I have found the Mavic Pro an excellent start. I had a cheapie ( pop up stand in a Mall ) special that was absolutely ridiculous to fly ( need so much practice ). DJI have absolutely nailed it with these products - so easy to setup and fly right out of the box. Just follow simple commonsense advice from this Forum( and , to some degree, youtube ). I love mine because it's " Idiot proof "

 

[old man mavic]

As a complete NOOB I have found the Mavic Pro an excellent start. I had a cheapie ( pop up stand in a Mall ) special that was absolutely ridiculous to fly ( need so much practice ). DJI have absolutely nailed it with these products - so easy to setup and fly right out of the box. Just follow simple commonsense advice from this Forum( and , to some degree, youtube ). I love mine because it's " Idiot proof "

i have no problem with your comments yes they are easy to fly because of the tech that goes into them i was not bashing DJI products i love mine but the problem is that they are just as easy to get into problems with when they are flying because of their complexity they still need as you said the commonsense element to fly them and that seems to be missing in a lot of the threads that are appearing lately with reguards to crashes and drone losses from noobies and also others i am always happy when i have a great day flying and come home with no issues but it does seem to someone looking at this forum for the first time that our UAVs are having lots of problems because thats mostly what they see

 

[Mondy]

Since you've never flown, a fight simulator would be great to learn how to fly LOS or FPV without risking your investment. Frsky has inexpensive transmitters that you could use with the flight simulator. You could sell the transmitter when you move on to actual flying. Whichever drone you decide to buy, read the manual front to back a couple of times. It will save you from a lot of headaches.


LOS = line of sight
FPV = first person view

 

[The Fat Controller]

LOL...knock on simulated wood grain

We sort of take it for granted that all our gadgets will do what they were designed for. As a species we'd be pretty much screwed if one day all out tech stopped working

 

[Curt]

This may not be the right place but I figure that maybe I can get some honest input. I have never owned or flown a drone but have been interested for quite some time and have a need for my business but also just for pleasure. So here is my question I was thinking that I would pay a little more and get a drone that will provide the photos, ease of learning ect.. that I want but will be user friendly for a rookie pilot. I was thinking Mavic or Phantom now I am reading different info of fly aways and issues such as those with DJI, I really don't want to pay that kind of money to have it fly off into the wild blue yonder, is this a real problem, should I be starting out with something different to gain experience first, as I had stated I was hoping to buy one and cover everything at once. I look forward to hearing from experienced pilots.

I'm not professing to be the expert in drone flying but I've been around the hobby for the past seven or eight years and have never had a fly away. I've gone through eight DJI drones in that period, starting with the Phantom 2 vision plus then the next three series of Phantoms (Phantom 3,4 & 4 pro). I lost my fear of flying and bought the Inspire 1, from their I got the Mavic pro then the Inspire 2 and now the Mavic 2 pro. I sold and replaced everyone but the Inspire 2 and the mavic 2 pro. I've bumped into a few trees in that eight year period, all my fault. In fact with the first Inspire 1 I crashed it the first flight because of calibration issue and got a free repair. I'm saying all this to say this "no matter which one you buy preparation, preparation, preparation is the key to being successful and truley enjoying the hobby", I'm not in it for the money, its fun. If you plan to travel with a drone you might want to look at the Spark because of price or the Mavic pro a little more expensive. When you get your drone find a vacant field void of spectators practice and play with it, their is a learning curv. Some pepole might not agree with this statement but do the firmware updates which usually fixes some issues. If your drone does something out of the ordinary look for the cause and correct it. I just came back from Chiapas Mexico this New Years and got some real good photos with my Mavic 2 pro, that's my always carry drone. I did more videos but too big to send. Anyway take the leap you won't regret it.