Another newbie but with a twist

S

ShenandoahValley

New Member
Actually may not be a twist but it's a concern of mine. I've never owned or flown any type of Drone/Quadcopter or whatever term I should be using. The wife and I moved to the Shenandoah Valley where the views are spectaculars here in the mountains. I've had an interest in purchasing a unit and get some nice aerial views but not sure how to start. One issue we face here at times can be the wind. And I mean strong winds. It's not constant but it can come out of nowhere. We have a valley behind our house and I'm amazed how strong the winds can be. I don't plan on flying when the winds are at their peaks but I do not want to stay grounded just because of a little wind. So I guess i'm looking for something with enough quality to handle some wind and I don't mind paying for the quality. I don't need top of the line but I certainly don't want the cheap stuff on the market. I do want a camera. I'm seeing there are some with goggles? Is this just so you can see what the copter is seeing? Or do some of the controls have a screen on them to handle this?
Any recs on models that might fit what I think I want? Thanks.
 
For photography many would suggest a dji. I fly acro myself (freestyle)
So I'm on a different setup. But a phantom is a bit weighty & the camera setups can handle some wind.
 
Yes, Dji phantom1-4 pricey but worth it.
If you want all the stuff.
I hear a reconditioned P4 will cost about $400. It ain't going to fall out the sky but parts can cost a bit. If I wanted a quad for photography that would be it.
 
Unless you want to put a DSLR camera on it that is,you may need to go a bit bigger but dji have it covered.
 
Just a word of warning to anyone who has never flown a multirotor and is thinking of sinking a bunch of money into one: These things DON'T fly themselves, you will crash. I'd suggest starting with something under $200 so you can get a feel for stick control and gain some muscle memory. Something like the Holy Stone F181 would be great as it has an FPV screen so you would have some experience if you moved up to a Phantom or Yuneec.

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Stone-Wide-Angle-Quadcopter-Compatible/dp/B01IK37D3A
 
I'm completely new to drones (literally started this week) but the first drone I bought was the HS400, it's good sized with some weight, it can be had on Amazon for $180 and it has a cupon on the page for $40 off.

Might be worth it to look up some of the video reviews on it to see if it's something that may work for you.
 
Welcome!

Like you, I have interests in photo/videography. As one newbie to another - the best advice I've seen from the experienced folks around here is to get a cheaper drone to learn to fly. For me, this meant below $100 and I ended up with the HS 181c for just under $50 shipped.

It is not IF you will crash, it is WHEN you crash. When I saw that advice initially, I was "yeah, okay so I'm going to crash - but once or twice and then I'll be flying like a pro and never crash again". LOL. My first two days were in the house - I probably crashed 10 times in 10 minutes - but got some basics down. Next couple times I went outside and crashed another 10 times - but now my skills were getting a tiny bit better, so maybe in 30 minutes. Now I'm a week in and crash maybe once or twice in half an hour (the limit of all my batteries combined). I've learned quite a bit, but still have more to go before I feel comfortable spending a lot on either a racing quad or a video platform quad.

Whichever way you go, have fun and enjoy the learning process.
 
You've gotten good advice so far-- start with a cheap toy to learn to fly.

Later, you will want a quad with GPS to help you fight the wind in the Shenandoah Valley.
 
:rolleyes: ... To help with "muscle memory" AND developing skills I suggest a good simulator that uses your radio as the controller.
Both "FPV Freerider" (not bad) and "Liftoff" (much better) are excellent ways to gain valuable practice and skills without
the constraints of ... a.) battery flight times ... b.) crashing (just press the reset button) ... c.) weather
You get to fly non-stop for as long as you'd like in the comfort of your home without breaking anything ... it's a win-win situation :cool:
 
Gyro Doctor said:
:rolleyes: ... To help with "muscle memory" AND developing skills I suggest a good simulator that uses your radio as the controller.
Both "FPV Freerider" (not bad) and "Liftoff" (much better) are excellent ways to gain valuable practice and skills without
the constraints of ... a.) battery flight times ... b.) crashing (just press the reset button) ... c.) weather
You get to fly non-stop for as long as you'd like in the comfort of your home without breaking anything ... it's a win-win situation :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Doc. I'd seen that advice before, but had forgotten. I believe using these simulators require something better than the controllers that come with the toy quads. I guess I'll be reading up on decent controllers now.
 
Spork said:
I believe using these simulators require something better than the controllers that come with the toy quads. I guess I'll be reading up on decent controllers now.
Click to expand...

That's true, but at some point you'll be wanting a "real" radio anyway ... lol ... btw, with some mods you can still fly your "toys" with the better radio.
My radio of choice is the FrSky Taranis X9D Plus. It's one the best radios out there and it's also fun to play with by it's self too. I've programmed mine
to have the (sexier than stock) female voice talking to me about RSSI, flight modes, etc as well as Yoda (yes, Star Wars' Yoda) giving me warnings when needed. It will hold more models than you'll ever own, has more knobs and switches than you'll ever need, flight sims are preset to work with it, it's infinitely
updatable (open TX software), there's tons of YouTube videos on how to do different things with it, and it will be the last radio you'll ever have to buy. :cool:
 
The taranis is better than my fsi6 but I can't fault it. It was only a starter for me but it's got all I need with excellent range ppm & ibus, plus a $3 cable it will work with quad simulators for them rainy days but I play skyrim.
There are some decent receivers other than the stock one which are all pretty cheap aswell. 2km+ in some tests.
So for $40 it's a must. You could pass it on as a present in a year or two then get a taranis. Which is what I intend to do except I'll get a turnigy evolution this summer. Nice & small for the bag.
 
I always mod my "toy" radios and quads :D
Put "Honest to God" antennas on my X101's radio and quad which almost tripled the range ! It was originally just a small piece of wire
hot glued in the bottom of the radio (the stock "antenna" was just an empty protrusion for looks !) and another snip of wire in the belly of the quad. :eek:
Damned thing still flew away from me never to be seen again though. :(
 
Gyro Doctor said:
I always mod my "toy" radios and quads :D
Put "Honest to God" antennas on my X101's radio and quad which almost tripled the range ! It was originally just a small piece of wire
hot glued in the bottom of the radio (the stock "antenna" was just an empty protrusion for looks !) and another snip of wire in the belly of the quad. :eek:
Damned thing still flew away from me never to be seen again though. :(
Click to expand...

This interests me, I have many light weight extra antennas from small handheld HAM radios...
 
Gyro Doctor said:
:rolleyes: ... To help with "muscle memory" AND developing skills I suggest a good simulator that uses your radio as the controller.
Both "FPV Freerider" (not bad) and "Liftoff" (much better) are excellent ways to gain valuable practice and skills without
the constraints of ... a.) battery flight times ... b.) crashing (just press the reset button) ... c.) weather
You get to fly non-stop for as long as you'd like in the comfort of your home without breaking anything ... it's a win-win situation :cool:
Click to expand...

Um, not to sound stupid but what did you just say? LOL
 
Sounded to me like for the muscle memory, instinctual stick control for flying.

And then some simulators which allow for unlimited training without having to worry about drone training with limited run time with the battery needing recharged, crashing with having to reset the drone or replace parts, and it can be done from the comfort of home.
 
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