Tried a wrap

SpinItUp · Jul 15, 2022

Once it's up in the sky I agree it doesn't matter what it looks like but if you can pick out colour from 500m then you have some sort of bionic vision.
I have a few strips of bright tape on mine that seem to reflect the sun if it's out, though I do agree anything should be better than cloud grey.

mattcaz · Jul 16, 2022

Torque said:
As the owner of 14 skinned/wrapped or custom painted drones I'll give you my reasons:
1) Personal taste. The same reason we air brush motorcycle gas tanks or custom paint cars and boats - aesthetics.
2) It often helps keep VLOS, but it really helps find your drone if it is hung up in a tree or caught in a bush, depending on the color.
3) Because it is mine and I can.
4) I really dislike the color gray - especially DJI gray - it is the same color of our Seattle skies 90% of the year
5) Adding 0.5 to 1.5 grams of weight is not a concern for me.
6) I don't live in an odd dystopian world where cars or houses are limited to one color - my drone world will NOT
become that colorless dystopian world either!

EXACTLY! BECAUSE I CAN!

THEYNINE · Jul 17, 2022

I do wraps to make it more visible. Crash in the woods and you can find a blaze orange drone easier. As for added weight, not enough to make a difference. I register my mini’s anyway, its just five bucks.

scro · Jul 18, 2022

I stuck some yellow reflective strips on my mini 1. They don't help much for general visibility as any colour turns to dark grey when strongly back-lit by the sky. At very close range (under 30-40m) it can help a little bit against foliage and terrain, but less than you'd expect.

Where it really comes into its own is if you crash and are hunting for it in foliage/grass etc. I landed it in a tree a couple of years ago and would never have found it had it not been for the reflective stripes. I knew which tree it ended up in, and approx how far up it was, bit it was pretty much impossible to spot from the ground. With a good camera flash I could see a nice yellow glint in amongst the branches. A torch at night would have picked it out easily as well. The added weight is so small my scales reported the drone to weigh the same (ie still under the important-to-some 250g limit)