My GPS Quad Journey - From the Crash to Grief Recovery

[Gadget Inspector]

This is a story about my experience with GPS quads told with a series of videos. Comments, questions and feedback are welcomed.

So, my first ever GPS quad was the XK Detect X380-C. I caught an amazing deal from HobbyKing for about $200! I was so excited for this thing, but I didn't actually take it out for its first flight for about a week until I felt comfortable with all of the functions. Well, watch the video for what happened during flight #2.

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Post Crash Recovery
After getting my refund from HobbyKing, I was on the hunt for another quad that would not bust my budget. I went with the Upair One 2K and I am so happy I did. It made it past 2-flights, so my enthusiasm began to return. I had fun with unboxing, setting up and getting familiar with flying this thing. I decided to chronicle the entire experience with the Upair One. Here is episode #1.

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Confidence Slowly Returning
I was probably a bit more critical than I normally would have been considering the circumstances that preceded my flight with the Upair. The stability issues didn't help of course. A GPS quad with no manual method for calibration...hmm, whose idea was that? Well, since this second flight, I have grown accustomed to the Upair's quirks, but also its awesomeness. This thing puts out amazing video footage, but it would definitely benefit from a filter in bright sunny conditions. Nonetheless, I was having a lot of fun learning more and more about the Upair, aerial photography and GPS quads in general. Here is episode #2.

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Time to Find Out What We Can Really Do With This Thing
For my 3rd flight of the Upair One, I wanted to see what kind of video footage I could capture. I was already impressed with the stability of the video from my previous two flights, but I wanted to be a little more deliberate this time. The 2-axis gimbal works really well and the 1080p at 30fps looks great. Now, this is all raw footage straight from the quad to post-production. The sun glare is not as prominent in this video as it was during the "golden hour" of sunset. After capturing this footage and editing the video, I was excited again about flying and thinking of interesting places to shoot and creative ways to edit. Not too bad for a budget GPS quad, not too bad at all. Here is episode #3.

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Range Test (Still a little chicken)

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Time to go Higher (Low-light)

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Pretty Comfortable Now (Enjoy the Music)
You gotta' wait for the "bird shot" towards the middle of the video. I got lucky on that one.

 

[RENOV8R]

Wow, that's quite an improvement! I noticed in the 4th video you commented that it was flying better and you thought it might be because you waited until the GPS locked on and the green light went solid that time. You should do this every time. I don't know if it makes a different in flight, but it probably doesn't record it's home position until it's totally locked on with solid green. Wouldn't want your Upair decide to go rabbit hunting instead of coming back home if something went wrong

 

[Gadget Inspector]

Wow, that's quite an improvement! I noticed in the 4th video you commented that it was flying better and you thought it might be because you waited until the GPS locked on and the green light went solid that time. You should do this every time. I don't know if it makes a different in flight, but it probably doesn't record it's home position until it's totally locked on with solid green. Wouldn't want your Upair decide to go rabbit hunting instead of coming back home if something went wrong

Yep, I have the pre-flight routine down pat now. Really comfortable with this quad now. I know what to expect out of it and what not to. Puts out some pretty good video.