Your all are wondering what I got for a birthday present? MoparMom suggested I pick up a drone. Yeah, I said a drone... It came today and got to fly it twice now. rather fun to fly and feature rich. I got a udiRC FPV drone. Really quite sturdy drone. Flying time is about 6-8 minutes per battery charge. It charges off a normal USB port so I can even charge the batteries in the truck. It can with a portable charging pack too. The camera function works on your cell phone over WiFi. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/U818A-WiFi-Quadcopter-Drone-Camera/dp/B00SH3MU0U

 

As for flying this little craft it not really hard but it does when you get some distance away from yourself. I'm enjoying this drone eventually I'll be able to fly by using the video footage. 

Edited November 1, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

Launch in headless mode. The fly out a short distance and then yaw 90* to the left with the left joystick then fly forward again I bet it fly forward still. If it in headed mode if you did the same thing then it would fly to the left if you flew forwards.

Where is Orville and Wilbur when you need them?

Drones are weird animals. Like model airplanes you know the direct of flight because a plane flys in one direction. Drones do have a head to them but very hard to tell which way the head is pointing if you not able to see the head light or the underside LED markers (blue and red). So if you yaw the drone even a little then all your control get confused. Like I got high up one day and a gust of wind spun mine and confused my controls. So trying to save the drone I shut the throttle down to let it fall. Slammed in yo a tree way high. Then tumbled down to the last limb.. It took a 35 foot long 2x4 to knock it out of the tree limb. Now try to balance a 35 long 2x4 you'll understand how hard that was.

Not sure I have ever seen a 35' 2X4. Maybe I live a sheltered life.

1 hour ago, dripley said:

Not sure I have ever seen a 35' 2X4. Maybe I live a sheltered life.

 

Take all your 2x4 scraps and screw them together.

12 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

It took a 35 foot long 2x4 to knock it out of the tree limb. Now try to balance a 35 long 2x4 you'll understand how hard that was.

Now that would have been something to see

8 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Take all your 2x4 scraps and screw them together.

That sounds more like 3/4 of 4X4.

 

7 hours ago, 01cummins4ever said:

Now that would have been something to see

I would have to agree. Thats a lot a wood!!!

All my scraps would make maybe 10'

The moral of the story is if you newbie to drone don't think of flying high up and getting wild because if you caught off guard like I was you fight to gain control of the drone in a wind gust and lose the battle. The best thing to do is to cut the throttle instantly and let it fall out of the sky. At the last second you can throttle back up to catch it some what. Still in all you need a plan of what to do if things get out of control and how to deal with the condition. 

 

I've not flown my drone since the snow flew. I know the center hub with the electronics wouldn't tolerate the snow and getting wet. So waiting for the snow to leave then back to flying the drone again. I've got plans on places I want to fly it already. 

It's working correctly now, it's just a booger to get used to flying and any amount of wind makes it hard to control. I flew it up high out of the backyard the other day and the neighbor dogs were all barking so I knew if it crashed in one of their yards it would be trashed by time we got to it. The battery was dieing and I pushed the home button but it started going down in the neighbors yard. I throttled it up and luckily got it back on our side of the fence for a nice crash landing.

LOL... I want to play with mine so bad but got to wait for the snow to leave. I'd really hate to get snow into the electronics and have a crazy flight due to moisture in the electronics.