Ode to the Toy Drone

[YVRGUY]

Ode to the Toy Drone. Think of all those toy drones that sacrificed themselves to the local streams, ponds, and neighbourhood roof tops…not to mention the odd retriever .

We like to talk about the drones we currently own without any talk of toy drones. It is the toy drone that most of us purchased through our intrigue and fascination of the technology and wanting to give it a try. A toy? people would ask and our reply was, it’s for the kids or I bought it for a present for the grandkids…who were we fooling? This was a great toy, and I’m not giving it up for my grandkids…at least, not yet.

I can’t be more thankful for not investing in a high priced drone off the get go. I purchased a toy drone first and struggled for days to keep it in control. I mentioned in a post way back that if you can master flying a toy drone, the day you purchase for example your first Air2S or Mini 2 you will experience a night and day difference. Smooth, total control, exceptional response, awesome photos,and so on.

The biggest plus to owning a toy drone first was when it finally disappeared into the horizon and RTH was NOT an option…I only lost a $35 investment. $35 to learn how to fly a drone…not bad. I was ready to step up to a real upscale drone. If only some of my fellow drone pilots out there had done the same by sacrificing $35 versus $500 or even more .

Today, Im happily flying my drone with my grandson and granddaughter co-piloting our time together.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Nice!

I was the opposite. First drone was a Phantom 4 impulse buy at COSTCO at Christmas, oh so long ago...

The toy drones came after that. Needed something(s) I could fly in the house.

 

[old man mavic]

@YVRGUY im with you on that journey ,started with a toy drone, indoor only, no flight aids, and was super stoked, when after several weeks of trying ,was able to keep it in the air continuosly, for the whole 5 minutes the built in battery lasted
and have since then, worked my way up, through to my present pair of drones

 

[maggior]

I still enjoy flying toy drones around my yard. Flying line of sight without an app for a first person view is a completely different skillset from navigating via FPV camera. It's also a different kind of thrill. Those skills also come in handy when flying "grown up" drones.

 

[Torque]

Nice!

I was the opposite. First drone was a Phantom 4 impulse buy at COSTCO at Christmas, oh so long ago...

The toy drones came after that. Needed something(s) I could fly in the house.

LOL., I was about to post that my first drone was the Phantom 1 - purchased from an online add. But I just remembered it wasn't my first drone!
I was at one of those huge electronic box stores that has since gone out of business, I saw employees flying this big square floaty foam thing using their iPhones. I had to have one. What a horrible experience! But hella fun! The Parrot AR Drone 2.0! I think this thing is still in the garage somewhere:

 

[360 Guy]

Mr. YVRGUY brought back some memories with his story of yesteryear.​

My first toy was (after seeing my 38 year old son's Phantom 1) Holy Stone.
Crashed it into neighbors roof, with permission and a ladder, was retrieved.
Got smart and took it to an open field where it was possessed by an honest to goodness mock one speed demon.
My son and I were once into rockets and RC planes and this Holy Stone had our rockets beat for speed, hands down.
I have yet to see any drone fly as fast as the "possessed" Holy Stone..............jeeeeez!
Sent it back to the company for a refund.
The rest is history!

Thx Mr. YVRGUY


360

 

[Dusty DJI]

I had a Tello for a while. bought the whole kit.. charger for 3 batteries. Flew indoors. Did the automated flips ( wish I could figure out how to do those with the bigger drones ). Eventually flew outside with it and I was hooked with DJI. Before Tello was a home built kit. No GPS, no stabiliy. Fly by the seat of your pants. Although, easier than flying a helicopter... basketball balancing on top of a broom stick. Mid 90s? Still fly the mini Helis.. Blade 120... but not as much anymore.

 

[Rchawks]

My first "toy drone" was the mavic mini for learning the ropes. My second drone was and still is my mavic air 2 which is great for windy days. I sold the mini for a mini 3 pro. As for the toy drones you're referring to I have these (bought a pair)

Sharper Image 2.4GHz Glow Up Stunt Drone with LED Lights​

 

[Chrislaf]

I started my drone journey with a Syma X8G which I still have and still fly every once and a while. It's the one pictured in my avatar. It's basically a Phantom clone but without any GPS, gimbal or good quality camera. It did come with a cheap fixed camera. I modified it to carry a CNC 2-axis gimbal and it carried my old Yi Action Cam. Since I couldn't control the gimbal or the camera from the remote I just set it to take timed shots. The shot below is one of the shots from this setup. Airtime was very short especially with the added weight of the gimbal and camera and there was no way to tell how much battery was left other than the blinking lights on the drone. Oftentimes, once the battery got low, it would come down pretty fast so I had to make sure I was not over water or anything else.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

I had a Tello for a while. bought the whole kit.. charger for 3 batteries. Flew indoors. Did the automated flips ( wish I could figure out how to do those with the bigger drones ).

They are capable, but constrained.

Get an FPV drone you can fly manually. 360° flip and roll to your hearts content!

 

[Dmcvey]

Since none of the Autels, Mavics ect have airworthiness certifications, they are classified as toys also.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Since none of the Autels, Mavics ect have airworthiness certifications, they are classified as toys also.

Authorities can classify me as 5 feet tall, but I know I'm 6 feet.

Just sayin'.

 

[slozukimc]

My first was called The Beast. It was actually ok most of the time. One day I launched it and it decided to fly off sideways at about mach eleventy five, through my kitchen window, bouncing off the wood stove and into my wifes leg. She was not impressed. The darned thing didn’t even break a prop!!