Tello , or Mini... what to choose?

[Shivers]

Awesome responses. Again this is for indoor fun... board In winter months. I do try and get out to fly still, but day light savings and bad weather prevents that. Any suggestions for indoor fun, let me know Tello looks neat. No idea about the coding.

 

[Melir]

For indoor play take the Tello. I just sold the Tell to buy MM and it's not a toy you can play with in home if you aren't live in really big house. I like much more the MM but for indoor the Tello is bettter

 

[scro]

Tello is probably the better choice between the 2 then for some indoor fun because:

• it is about half the size of the MM(size comparison below), creates less turbulence and noise. You mentioned you were a bit nervous of flying a mavic pro inside - you might be nervous flying the MM for the same reasons.
• GPS isn't much use inside so why pay extra for it?
• I don't expect you'll be wanting to do fancy cinematic filming in your hallway, so the gimbal stabilised camera is overkill.
• it can easily withstand crashing into furniture/walls and will do less damage to itself and the surroundings.

Alternatively get a tiny whoop and some fpv goggles and fly around your house while lazing on the couch

 

[jsosborn]

I fly a Mini and a Tello, and I've got to saw I prefer the Mini inside, until I crash. The protection from the cage is great, but the Tello is cheap, so overall, I'm more comfortable risking the Tello. That said, I've crashed the Tello umpteen times, and it just takes the punishment. I can't wait for spring and some warmer weather; we'll have snowcover till April, I suspect.

 

[DanMan32]

I have none as i did not record mine and am busy flying. Below you'll find two from Youtube.

Tello in high winds

Tello in Huricane

Yeah.. Props are just looking for an excuse to pop off. But again, they're cheap and consumables.
What I've observed is in order to allow it to keep steady, you need to stay withing 10m height so the Visual Positioning System can work as designed. If you fly it over 10m it does drift.

Even at 10ft, or 6ft, it drifts in winds 12mph winds. Or at least I can hardly combat headwind. I usually have to put it in fast mode to get the needed attack angle, which means less image stabilization.

 

[BillyRay777]

Here's what the Tello can do video-wise (shot in dull but relatively calm conditions, with the excellent TelloFPV app, using a Xiaomi wifi repeater powered off a USB powerbank, and using the Gamesir T1s controller connected to phone with a cable)

What cable are you using? OTG or standard usb? What phone do you have? I can't get my T1s to connect with a cable so far and it's useless with bluetooth as I can't use the video at all.

 

[DanMan32]

What cable are you using? OTG or standard usb? What phone do you have? I can't get my T1s to connect with a cable so far and it's useless with bluetooth as I can't use the video at all.

How the controller connects has nothing to do with the video. In all cases, it's the app that's connected to the Tello via Wi-Fi, the difference being that the controller provides input to the app much like an external keyboard.
If the Tello had the capability of an on board SD card to capture recordings and a one axis gimbal, it would be phenomenal.

 

[scro]

I have the t1s and connect with a USB OTG cable to a Galaxy S7. It doesn't work with a standard usb cable and the t1d (the controller that is allegedly "tello specific") only works via bluetooth.

@DanMan32 Connecting the controller via bluetooth often does have a detrimental effect on the Tello's video stream (and range) as BT and wifi use very similar frequencies and can interfere with each other. I have tried both methods of connecting the controller and using a cable is noticeably better. Switching off the cellular radio (ie aeroplane mode) also helps, but to a lesser extent.

 

[Lou M]

I have a Mavic Pro 1 and just picked up a Tello Boost Combo on Black Friday for $99. Flying indoors has been hit or miss for me. The Tello needs good lighting or the VPS shuts down and then it's hard to control. But if the lighting is good, this thing is a lot of fun. If you decide to go with the Tello, definitely go with the boost combo. Also get the TelloFPV App, it's so much better than the Tello App. Also there is a program called DroneBlocks, which you can program the Tello, also a lot of fun. As of today, Best Buy and others have the Boost Combo on sale for $99.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ryze-tech-tello-boost-combo-quadcopter-white-and-black/6289119.p?skuId=6289119&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=441&ref=212&loc=DWA&gclid=CjwKCAiAis3vBRBdEiwAHXB29LR30J3ZGLYqZJNBkIuTXfgBxqo8MxXqV1JrjjZjBo4RbYR63GvcHBoCrnkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds