What is BEST Quad for my needs?

A

AT Customs

New Member
Hello all. I've read multiple reviews and articles but they all seem to have bias's or links to a particular "brand." I have never flown a quad nor even seen one in person. I am looking for a quad (hope I'm using the correct terminology) to buy and I think the best people to ask are those who have a lot of experience with them. I've read about the Phantom 2 and it seems like a good purchase but I want experienced, non-biased opinions. My needs: My family does a lot of water sports- wake boarding and wake surfing. One question I have is can a quad be piloted from a moving boat at speeds up to 25 mph? Can the person in the boat fly and film the person behind the boat? Next Question- I have a go pro so is the video quality of that better/worse than quads with built in cameras? Obviously I would like to get the most bang for the buck but I want something that will work and is durable and reliable. Any suggestions, comments or direction will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Ok, well to start I am going to suggest getting/building a quad with a waterproof frame. That way if it takes a dip it will not ruin any of your equiptment. An x8 or hex may also be nice as they have motor redundancy and are generally more stable, but there may not be any waterproof frames/RTF quads like that. Can you elaborate a little more into what your looking for? Do you want any FPV with it, and would you consider building one? Also what type of budget are you looking at?
 
Thank you for replying. I like the idea of building one, I am an avid woodworker and I love making other things as well. My challenge is that anything with electronics and small motors intimidates me, I have no experience with those things. I have seen "how to" videos listed on YouTube just have not had a chance to really research that idea. I like the FPV feature. I would love to get into a really good quad for $300-$400 which may be a possibility if I build it I think. My max budget would be around $800. My wife and daughter participate in a semi-professional equestrian drill team. I think it would be cool to video their performances from a quad also. Are they hard to build from a technological perspective?
 
From the technological side of things: no. If you can do a few solder joints it will be just fine. If your into wood working I'd suggest you build an H quad with a wood like balsa. You could even use heavier woods, maybe not like oak but just a more common wood. But if you are going to be flying over water I would really advise a waterproof frame, though there are ways to waterproof the parts that need it. Just google "waterproof quadcopter frames" you should be able to find one you like. Opt for something that is around 400mm or bigger.
 
Thanks again. This gives me a really good place to start. I'm going to keep researching a bit and will probably have more questions!
 
Haha, anytime. So to recount your needs are: water proof, small payload, and ~$350. Anything to add? I'll keep a look out through my internet searching. I will say it is possible to waterproof the components rather that the whole quad, but I suggest getting or making a waterproof frame as it would be a little work and some soldering(removing headers and just direct soldering the wires on).
 
I think water footage is the best!

As GJH recommended I think water proofing would be a necessity. I am planning on adding floats to mine like the ones attached to this one. (Cheap effective floats lol)

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I do water footage all of the time with mine.
Its a custom built 500mm. If your interested I can post a parts list. (I think total was around 900, but its a really nice stable quad, and you could save money with lower cost items to get under your 800 budget)

Here is a video I recently shot with mine. The quality diminishes some on youtube.
 
Hi mate , horses and quads dont mix well , small quads scream big quads drone and spook horses , so you may need to fly high and use zoom on a camera to get the image close , also fail safes like the ones the Phantoms have will not work off a boat if moving , they work on a 7 point GPS lock to know there fail safe point

Well I just worked out the boat part mount a go pro on the traxx its a RC brushless boat does 80 kph , then use the quad for land based work
 
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May be able to set the fail-safe first on land, or pray you can find it if it lands on the water.
 
The Phantom and now others have the fail safe of return home and land if you set up on the shore that may be 2 miles away and if it goes to fail safe it will fly home but will not make it as its now to far, it will need the floats the other guy had , its some thing to be aware of
 
It would be interesting ot make a modification to firmware to where it set the RTH point every minute or so. That way it would land on the water near you. Or maybe have a little RFID beacon on your boat and have it home in above that, ore even home in on that after it gets close enough based on the GPS coordinates. Such complex fail-saftes may not be safe as they may fail because of whatever triggered them though.
 
This is where LILY would be good but costs too much
 
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Haha, if nothing else there are open source programs that will do individual parts of what the Lilly does, like object tracking with a regular camera.
 
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