Total newbie here

[dondford]

I just received my new Attop X Pack 18 today. I plan to use this drone to learn the skills and if things go well, will get a nicer model. Knee deep in reading manuels, charging batteries, etc now and plan to start playing around with it in a day or two. It appears the learning curve will be fairly steep. Retired old dude from the Deep South and looking forward to the journey.

Don

 

[davidhk129]

Your Attop x-pack 18 is equipped with GPS.
GPS = Global Positioning System
One of the great features of GPS is that once the drone is launched it will "stick" in mid-air motionless as long as you don't touch the controller sticks.
That means the drone will never drop from the sky by itself .
That will relieve the pressure of trying to keep the drone in air. Without worrying that the drone will drop from the sky, you can concentrate on piloting the drone i.e. moving forward, backward, sideway to the left, sideway to the right, upward and downward.
You drone has 3 flight modes .... automatic, semi-automatic and manual. ( I never have a toy drone with that features. I am not sure how that works.)

Excerpts from what I googled :
Automatic mode is great for those who want the drone to do all the work.
Semi-automatic mode is great for those who want some assistance when flying their drone.
Manual mode is great for those who want to fly their drone without any assistance.

Suggest that you start with Auto mode. When you feel more confident, move on to Semi, and lastly Manual.
Walk before you run.
Good luck and have fun.

If you have questions about operating the drone, feel free to post back....... as often as you want to.

 

[dondford]

Thanks!

 

[dondford]

davidhk129​

Thank you for your reply; I have checked my X Pack 18 and it does not appear to have GPS. Turns out there are at least two versions of the X Pack 18, the X Pack 18 for around 50 bucks (that I ordered) and The X Pack 18 FPV for 30 more bucks more, that is GPS. When I was researching which drone to start with it was very confusing (made worse my being a rank newbie). Had I known I could add GPS for 30 more dollars I would have.
On a related note: I have been looking at better drones for later and noticed that many ads are not very clear about the capabilities of the units. One example: I started to plot the "flight times" of different, It appears that many fudge the flight times. Many include two battery packs with the drones and with careful reading and/or future research it seems that many claim a "flight time" as the total flight time for both battery packs. That just doesn't seem kosher. I don't consider it flight time if you have to return the drone, exchange the battery pack then start over. IMHO, two 15 min battery packs do not equal a 30 min flight time. I haven't flown my X Pack 18 yet but am a little disappointed in the 9-10 flight time per battery pack. I suspect that time is for the slow speed setting.
Still enjoying learning more about drone and look forward to the rain stopping so I can get starting learning to fly the thing. I do intend on going to a big fiels and taking it very very slow.

D

 

[davidhk129]

RE : flight time
Yes, one has to be careful of the misleading if not downright deceitful ads.
There are a few factors that will affect the flight time, most important of which is the status of the battery .i.e. new or old battery, fully charged or partially charged. Weather also affects flight time. Windy or cold temperature will reduce the flight time because battery will have to work extra hard to combat the weather effects. A camera drone capable of recording will also reduce the battery power faster and therefore lesser flight time than without recording activity.

RE : Big field to learn to fly
Not necessary. For an absolute beginner, you don't need a lot of space. If you have a decent size backyard, you can start there. When you start on day one, you do not want to fly the drone more than 3 - 4ft high. You priority is to learn how to control the drone without crashing it. Learn to move the drone a few feet forward, then a few feet backward. Then a few feet sideways. That's all you want to do. When you can do that without crashing the drone, then you might consider trying out on an open field.
Remember one thing. Crashing is part of the learning stage. Nobody can avoid that. Don't get discouraged. We all have our fair share of crashes.