Hugh Hemington
Well-Known Member
Can I get some recommendations...
A month ago, I got a refurbished Parrot drone 2.0, thinking it would be fun to see what some things look like from the air. And it has worked, to a point.
It has an effective range of 25 meters vertically, and/or 15 meters horizontally (for me, using an Asus Transformer 700 tablet). I won't go into all the pros and cons -- I'm sure everyone has heard them.
It has confirmed for me that I would enjoy using a quadcopter (with range and stability) as a video platform. Although FPV hasn't been very useful on the Parrot apart from getting an idea what the camera is aimed at, I think it would be a lot more important on a "real" quad that can fly out of sight.
Hopefully it won't be too presumptuous to breakdown how my priorities stack up...
Range: 300 meters would be great
Speed: don't care, I'm not racing it
Duration: 10-12 minutes or longer
Looks: a flying dog's butt would do nicely
Size: <1 meter diameter
Night flying: No
GPS: Yes
RTH: Yes
FPV: Yes, but low-res at full range is preferable to high-res that's flakey or half-range.
Stability: As much as I can get. I don't care how high or far it can go unless I can record it.
Payload: Good HD cam and gimble
Cost: less than a DJI 2
RTF vs. Kit: I can build, not a problem
Having an extra channel or two, so I can McGyver extra fun things would be a plus. Later on, possibly a powered gimble in flight?
I've watched got-to-be 100 hours of YouTube videos on quadcopters trying to get a handle on what is available, but the field seems too new to have become sorted out. Even websites dedicated to quad parts are rare. I've been to my local hobby shop and they have a few quads, but they sell what produces a profit, not necessarily what would work for me.
A month ago, I got a refurbished Parrot drone 2.0, thinking it would be fun to see what some things look like from the air. And it has worked, to a point.
It has an effective range of 25 meters vertically, and/or 15 meters horizontally (for me, using an Asus Transformer 700 tablet). I won't go into all the pros and cons -- I'm sure everyone has heard them.
It has confirmed for me that I would enjoy using a quadcopter (with range and stability) as a video platform. Although FPV hasn't been very useful on the Parrot apart from getting an idea what the camera is aimed at, I think it would be a lot more important on a "real" quad that can fly out of sight.
Hopefully it won't be too presumptuous to breakdown how my priorities stack up...
Range: 300 meters would be great
Speed: don't care, I'm not racing it
Duration: 10-12 minutes or longer
Looks: a flying dog's butt would do nicely
Size: <1 meter diameter
Night flying: No
GPS: Yes
RTH: Yes
FPV: Yes, but low-res at full range is preferable to high-res that's flakey or half-range.
Stability: As much as I can get. I don't care how high or far it can go unless I can record it.
Payload: Good HD cam and gimble
Cost: less than a DJI 2
RTF vs. Kit: I can build, not a problem
Having an extra channel or two, so I can McGyver extra fun things would be a plus. Later on, possibly a powered gimble in flight?
I've watched got-to-be 100 hours of YouTube videos on quadcopters trying to get a handle on what is available, but the field seems too new to have become sorted out. Even websites dedicated to quad parts are rare. I've been to my local hobby shop and they have a few quads, but they sell what produces a profit, not necessarily what would work for me.