Why did you buy your first drone?

[twickers14]

I got a$1k bonus from work & decided to turn our 2nd bedroom into a cockpit for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I only needed a gaming computer, 3 monitors & the flight control hardware (!)

So, anyway... A friend taught me to fly his Phantom 2 a few years ago & I wondered if GPS drone prices had come down & if flight times had improved.

I bought the Mini 2 bundle & a compatible 64-bit flagship phone for $300. I live in Mesa, AZ, which is in Maricopa County, which is mostly restricted airspace of one sort or another because of all the airports (Sky Harbor, Mesa-Gateway, Falcon Field, etc.), an Air Force base & hospitals with helicopter landing pads.

Luckily, I live within a half-hour drive of some scenic trailheads in Tonto National Forest, which welcomes drone pilots as long as they follow FAA rules & don't harrass the local wildlife (especially eagle nests!).

So I'm proud of the 68 flights I've made in my first year & hope to beat those numbers next year!

What a great story. Could you tell me what eagles you have down there please? I am an amateur birder and visited AZ years ago (Phoenix and loved it) but wasn’t aware there were eagles in the State.

 

[Diane]

I'll start with a bit humor... "Why did I buy my first drone?" Because I'd go to jail if I got caught stealing it... LoL

Actually, my first drone was a $30 GoolRC 161 from eBay and it was a DJI Mini Look-a-like. It flew great and I had a lot of fun flying it, but its camera was almost useless, even for Photos, video was a waste of time. Since it was an inexpensive drone, when the batteries were low, the lights flashed for about 10-seconds and then immediately landed, no control at all... So I would start the video just so it would show how long it was flying and at about 10-minutes, I'd bring it back and land it. before it went into its forced landing routine... Then I just deleted the video... I am not a photographer but I wanted to take photos from on high, and I watched a lot YouTube Video and was torn between the Mini 2 and the SE. The Mini 2 won out and my Photography progressed to shooting Photospheres and publishing them on Google Earth nd Google Maps... I'll post a link to one below and you can use your mouse to scroll all around 360 degrees and even zoom in...

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I am also wondering if I can start with an inexpensive drone.

 

[LoudThunder]

I am also wondering if I can start with an inexpensive drone.

Know this, there is a world of difference between inexpensive and cheap. If you decide to go with a non GPS "inexpensive" drone, really research your options on YouTube. As I wrote earlier, my first drone cost me $30 a year ago, but it was worth it. Maybe I was lucky, but I did check it out on YouTube many times before dropping the "Dime"

Finally, do not be embarrassed about asking for opinions from us before buying. Many of us have less expensive drones for our kids, relatives, neighbors, etc… to fly rather than risk our more expensive drones to novices.

 

[Kywon McCain]

I've got my first drone when I was 10 or 12
It was a sky viper streaming drone
I thought since it was a drone with a camera my little mind thought it had unlimited range and could fly a long time

The thing barely got 10 feet away before the wifi reception cut out

 

[Chaosrider]

I was inspired to buy my first drone by the flight of the Ingenuity helicopter (drone) on Mars.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I had a good friend who over the years has bought numerous cheap radio controlled planes and helicopters which were all rubbish, at best you could get them in the air for a few seconds before they crashed to the ground. One day he bought a DJI FC40 and I was amazed at how well it flew although I didn't want to fly it in case I crashed it. My friend convinced me explaining I could just let go of the controls if I wasn't happy with it and the drone would hover, within minutes I had a good feel for it and found it a lot of fun. I definitely wanted one but it was too big for me.

A while later DJI released the original Mavic with the portability I was after so I immediately bought one and then upgraded to the Mavic 2 Pro when it came out for the bigger sensor. I was wanting to capture aerial photos and videos and I wanted something that could easily do that which the Mavics certainly can, it still amazes me how easy it is to fly them even in quite windy conditions.

I've had the Mavics for a few years now and still find the aerial views they provide fantastic and more unusual since most people will at best only get a quick glimpse from the air when on a passenger flight,

 

[Glenh]

During a pandemic lock down (remember?) I went down to the local to get some headphones for online meetings. They were sold out (haha) but some drones were on a special. New world

 

[Merrillie]

I bought my first drone DJI Air 2, then I upgraded to the Air 2S for the 1 inch sensor when it came out, finally I invested in the Mavic 3 purely for the camera photography capabilities the micro 4/3 camera and zoom, all within the past 2 years. I do a few videos but mostly I use my drone for photos.
I am a keen photographer especially sunrise over the sea and waterways on the coast where I live. The drone also makes it easier for the arthritis in my knees saving me many walks up the beach and over rock platforms. Now unless it is very windy I get to sit and chill out and get the drone to do the hard yards for me I am 58 and was very nervous about getting a drone and crashing it especially as the ones I have bought are pretty expensive but they are easier to fly than I expected and I really love it.

 

[Rchawks]

I started flying rc gliders at age 22 or 23 and flew every chance I got for about 15 years straight. Then moved to the midwest and put in another 10 years and had a crash that I didn't want to rebuild. it took about 11 years before I started flying again this time with drones. My first was a Mavic Mini. My 2nd Mavic Air 2, and now a Mini 3 pro. Think about it everyday, just like with the gliders. As far as your first Drone, I don't know, I like the Mini 3 pro myself and I purchased it with the fly more package. It's a lot less work than my MA2 with the tablet holder and cable and iPad mini 5. I've always loved to take pictures. Even more so from the air.

 

[Yaros]

So, here's my story, it's long and complicated, I bet not many of you went the same path I did.

I got into drones in late 2020 after watching a YouTube video series from AlexGyver, a russian youtuber who built a F450 drone himself, and decided to buy the parts and build the drone following his video.
I completely ignored the fact that the videos were very outdated, released in 2014-2015, and all the information was very, very outdated, same thing with the components. I realized that when I already started building the drone.


First day building F450 drone

Building the drone was painful to say the least. The flight controller as an APM 2.8, old Arduino-based controller that ran Arducopter 3.2.1, discontinued several years ago, so no real support and help from the Ardupilot community, everyone was telling me to go and buy a new FC, but I spent all the money I had on the parts for that drone.
Not knowing anything about drones, configuring them, and building them, I crashed my drone on its first flight, because I didn't know I was in manual mode (something like angle mode in betaflight), the video guide I was following was missing A LOT of crucial info, like which propellers go on which motor, basic GPS configuration, compass calibration, and so on... So it was basically a "mess around and figure out" situation.

The drone was later upgraded to have analog FPV system and a camera, here is a photo:


F450 drone built, flysky controller, landing gear made out of pipes

Yes, the landing gear is made from pipes to reduce weight, nonetheless the flight time was kind of awful, 6 minutes at most. Though I was happy for what I had, it was fun when it worked.

Also, right, VLOS... At night it was very easy to spot it in the sky. Why? Oh, LED Strips all around it!


F450 arducopter at night. VLOS EZ!!

Here are some photos taken with it:


Photos taken with F450 and SJCAM SJ8 PLUS

After about half year of flying that drone, I decided to rebuild the drone with another frame, new motors & propellers, and finally a gimbal!


Rebuilt F450 drone into S500 frame with upgrades!

The S500 could fly very fast in sport mode, up to 85km/h (50mph)! But the camera wasn't very stable, as you will see in the video below.

On the new drone I started actually learning now to fly a bit, I didn't know much, but I could do some simple photos and videos.
But I still had crashes often, most of them minor ones that didn't result in any broken parts.

Yeah, nowhere near DJI camera quality, but something is something, I thought...

Finally, in August 2021 I bought a Mavic, the Mavic Air 2.
And I couldn't be happier flying this drone!


My current drone - Mavic Air 2

In 2023 I'm planning to get an FPV drone, and maybe the Mavic 3!

Oh, and here is a video I made with my Mavic, of my S500 flying, I flew the Mavic, my friend flew the S500:

 

[Chappy]

Me,well I’ve always been interested in photography and aviation as far back as a kid.
So when I got into high school I got involved in media studies and also rc planes and helicopters,at the time I started in rc I read an article in an English rc magazine about a gentleman who was experimenting with fitting a video camera to an rc helicopter.
This piqued my interest and invested heavily into rc helicopters in order to raise my skill level ,fast forward to 2012 I had been reading alot about dgi’sF450 and purchased a kit and
after assembling it lost interest.
Then I came across Hobbykings drone brought that learn’t to fly and had a ball with it,nut it limited asfar as a video platform due lack gimbal seeing what’s happening though the lense I also was having a few technical issues with it.
Next I purchased a Blade Chroma and loved it,again there were limitations,so in 2017 I purchased my first DJI drone Mavic Pro , which disappeared along with our luggage 2019.
After purchasing an Mavic Pro Platinum then Mav mini a couple of years ago and finally anM2 I’m loving these things as I get to do two of my interests at the same time.

 

[TwoSticks]

My wife and kids bought my first drone 2 years ago at Costco for Christmas, an original DJI Mini. I watched YouTube videos for a while prior to a shopping trip when they started stocking them. I talked to her about it at the store and said maybe sometime in the future. She went back a few days later to buy it and gift it. I have had several others since then and its what got me started in the hobby.