My Christmas Noob Story 2 drones in 2 days

Matthew David Gholson

Matthew David Gholson

Member
Hello, so I've wanted a quadcopter/drone/UAV for years but had avoided them for a couple reasons. I get obsessed with techy things easily and didn't want to become a addict, and I also was under the impression the costs were outrageous. From around 2002-2008 I was racing RC cars, mostly trucks, and driving hours for races. I eventually got sick of having to drive an hour just to get some practice time and sold off everything.

This year my Dad was going to buy a Promark GPS drone from Wal-Mart on black friday sale for 90 dollars. I said, if you get a chance get me one. It ended up being a Christmas present. I got the drone in the air on Christmas Day in a near by parking lot by my house. I took to to my Grandparents that evening after charging the battery for about 3 hours after my first 3 minute flight. With all my family around I launched the drone in a big field behind their house, "I'm not a beginner this is my second flight," I said and turned off beginner mode and flew it out maybe 150 meters.

As I begin to return it the video feed froze on my phone. I thought I was flying it back but I ended up flying it about 30 degrees off course. About 4 minutes into the flight red lights started flashing on the drone and it began to auto fly back, except now it was heading for a big tree. I hit the land button but nothing seemed to be happening so I hit emergency stop. The drone fell out of the sky about 30 feet. The landing gear was broke and one arm cracked but it still flew and the camera still worked so I was impressed.

My Dad wasn't impressed and decided to return his, especially when he saw how important the phone ap was. He asked to return mine and give me his new one, good ol Wal-Mart didn't even ask if it was broke. On the 26th I flew the new drone up and round the parking lot again and took a video. Wasn't really all the happy with the quality of the camera and DRONE FEVER was setting in. I already wanted something better. It got really cold and I was messing with it in the house trying to figure out some of the functions when I accidentally started it up. It flew up a foot then a rotor smacked a wall. The motor died. Took that one back on the 27th.

So I researched drones all day and watched countless youtube videos. I ended up taking some other money I got and buying a Hubsan H501c ss pro from banggood. I strongly considered buying a Wizard racer, or a flaming wheel style kit from ebay and building one. I have good soldering skills and built many RC car kits., plus I still have my LiPo balncing charger and some packs that I bought for DIY LED headlamps I built. I decided I wanted to be flying as soon as possible, but I'm strongly considering the flaming wheel style kit to be working.

So in conclusion, I feel bad about breaking two drones in two days, but I'm totally hooked on quad flying now. Did I make a good choice with the Hubsan? Any suggestions on a first kit. I think my ultimate goal is getting FPV googles and a acro quad, but I'm also really wanting to get a gimble, I already have a nice action cam.

THANKS!
 
My buddy has that Hubsan, it practically flies itself. I tell this to all noobs- BALANCE THE PROPS! It will fly better and you will get a better quality video and photos. AND make sure you go through all the calibration steps- each and every time! Especially with the Hubsan. For more flying experience I also recommend to everyone that you buy a Syma X5C-1 or a clone. The parts are dirt cheap, and readily available and they are so light you can crash them hundreds of times without damage. I have 16 drones, many much more advanced than the X5C, but that is still my favorite to fly.
 
Got the Syma drone on Friday and it's great, I've flown in around the house and a few times outside. Got almost 10 minutes of flying with guards, camera, and skids on while recording video the entire time. No major crashes yet but lots of banging it into stuff with zero trouble. Orientation is still a problem for me. I really want to stuck a tail on these things so I can figure out what way its facing.
 
2 recommendations for the X5C-1: Get some either stock or X5HC props for it, and buy them with contrasting colors as Jackson suggested. You can buy the HC props on Amazon, and I would suggest putting a brighter color on either front or (I suggest) rear. This really helps with orientation when you're learning. The HC props perform better on the X5's, and I don't know why they don't use those on all of them.
 
Well the syma drone is in a tree. Yesterday flew it around a parking lot near my house and felt like I was getting a hang of it. Charged up the battery and went out for another flight near the end of the day. Was doing slow circles and gaining altitude and before i knew it I was probably 150 feet. I'm starting to bring it down and it just starts to fall out of the sky. Wind grabs it and it floats 100 feet and into a nearby tree at 50 feet. No luck getting it unstuck under its own power. I constructed a crazy long pole and was able to smack it but was unable to dislodge it. Forecast is 15mph wind tomorrow so I'm hoping it will get blown out.

Wife has already declared I can't fly the Hubsan around any trees when I get it. She's much smarter then me.
 
Try a fishing pole with heavy line on it and a heavy spoon lure. Like a big red devil. Without the treble hook! I like 20LB test line.
 
Matthew, may I make a unsolicited suggestion to you? And this may be helpful to a lot of Noobs with other drones. A suggestion that I wish someone made to me.

When you get your hubson, I would suggest you go through the start up, and calibration sequence at least once or more .....WITH THE PROPS OFF! It will still start up and the motors will spin, but it will give you the experience of what you must do, in what order, without the chance of it taking off too fast or tipping over and possibly doing damage. After you master the start up procedure, and calibration ritual, then put the props on! It may save you a bit of anguish in the long run!


Rick M said:
At least someone found a good use for a Red Devil lure. :D
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Due to my lack of piloting skills I am becoming quite the expert at drone recovery!
 
OMG praying for wind to get a drone back.
Well it's 60mph winds here last few days but to cold to fly & wet.
But I've flown in 40-50mph winds before with a 600g quad. Soccer pitch in 2 seconds. Crazy speed, so would a 6S lipo.
 
If you have been giving it loads of throttle trying to work it loose then it's probably not going to fly. Shane McGowan probably has more teeth than them pinions.
8678148_shanemacgowan--768x955.jpg
 
@stony99 I followed your advice and went through the procedures without propellers for the Hubsan.

3 flights now, second flight out to 1.2KM! love this quad. It's so much more stable then the promark so much easier to fly.

My Dad was successful in getting the syma out of the tree, he was really exctied about seeing if he could get it out. Sadly it suffered a dead motor. All the gears look good, just soldered in a new motor. 6 bucks on amazon for a rebuild kit.
 
I gotta ask .... How did your dad get the drone down? To me, a chainsaw is not out of bounds! LOL! You are gonna love your Hubson!
 
Well, it looks like you are in!
It is pretty hard to turn back now. Won't be long and you'll spend your work days deciding what parts to upgrade to next or thinking about flying :p


stony99 said:
I gotta ask .... How did your dad get the drone down? To me, a chainsaw is not out of bounds! LOL! You are gonna love your Hubson!
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I second that, I've heard a lot of different methods. At this point very little is out of bounds.
 
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