Anyone using Drones from the Mac

[kadet]

If none of the Lily type selfie drones appeal you convinced me I will just drown the phantom in this stuff just in case

https://www.nanoprotech.com.au/products ... nsulation/

[Flightfollowing]

We used a dji phantom 4 many times from the boat the past several weeks, and periodically had a problem initializing it from the boat if we had too much motion, but didn't really determine if the problem motion was rolling swell or lateral movement, happened about 25% of the time. A few times we initialized from shore then left the drone turned on while we headed out on the boat to ensure proper initialization.

[Russ]

I'm still terrified to fly it over water, let alone launch and retrieve from the boat. Especially after Doug's disaster.

Floats huh? I have this "getter back" thingy that I was going to try.
https://www.amazon.com/GetterBack-Recov ... B00GIYIU8Q

What kind of bird do you have? Gimbal?

My gimbal sometimes gets wonky and starts fluttering. I think the compass gets loose or the wire tangled and it jitters like crazy.
As for calibrating....they claim you don't need to do it very often. I haven't re calibrated the thing. Do you feel this is necessary when launching from the boat?
I have read that launching from a steady place is important, yet I've seen LOTS of boat launched drones.

--Russ

[sailboatmike]

We used a dji phantom 4 many times from the boat the past several weeks, and periodically had a problem initializing it from the boat if we had too much motion, but didn't really determine if the problem motion was rolling swell or lateral movement, happened about 25% of the time. A few times we initialized from shore then left the drone turned on while we headed out on the boat to ensure proper initialization.

I find you get that with my little drones, the gyro doesnt initialize correctly if there is any movement on startup and they wander around the sky like drunk sailors and no amount of trimming seems to help.

Mine are only toys in comparison to the DJI units, but if I lose it in the drink its only $100, of course the chances of losing in the drink are much higher because it doesn't have all the wizz bang features

If you want to learn to fly one of these beasties (and it is easier than you think) I would highly recommend the Syma X8W, great unit, has FPV, its about the same size as the Phantoms and only cost me $120Au,

http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-RC-Qu ... -1848.html

[Mac26Mpaul]

Russ, I have the Phantom 3 Advanced. I still reckon its the best bang for buck at half the price of the Phantom 4 and the only differences being no collision avoidance and no 4K camera. Collision avoidance is new and not perfected yet and I dont really need it anyway, and I dont need 4K as I shoot in 1080p anyway like on my normal video camera and it is clear and crisp and looks just lovely on my big screen TV. The phantom drones, with the third party Litchi app, can do some amazing things, and,,, I couldn't get by without lightbridge

I was at first very worried about flying over water, I had to slowly ease myself into it but now I dont think twice. I dont see the point to those get back things because the only thing that will be any good after salt water is the shell and props! I think you just have to get it in your head that sooner or later you will lose the thing, and that dont matter if you are flying over land or water!

Just the motion of the boat ?? A possibility I guess, but it was very calm when I calibrated. I saw another video online where a guy was on a cat and it launched and went straight into the rigging and in the water. He said that it just went crazy.

As to calibration, I do it every new place and every new day I fly. No idea if its needed, but I seem to remember DJI recommending it in a new place and the "experts" on the Phantom pilots forum seem to attribute "flyaways" to not calibrating.

[sailboatmike]

I do love your drone videos Paul, makes me very envious down here in Victoria of all the great cruising spots you guys in Queensland have on your back door.

I cant wait till it starts to warm up so we can sleep on the boat again

[Mac26Mpaul]

I'm glad I almost convinced you Kadet The Lilly is very limited in what you could do with it compared to a drone you can actually fly and get shots of whatever you want. The phantom does everything it does but MUCH more, only issue is the waterproof thing

I think the Phantom Standard can be had for AU$600 or so, but I watched a new with spare battery Phantom 3 Advanced go on ebay for AU$860 I did one shot where I flew in from about a km in front of my boat. The intention was to speed it up and use it on the start of that last video, but the jittery camera problem made the footage useless, anyway, the point is, you need lightbridge for those kind of epic shots

[Mac26Mpaul]

Thanks Mike, weather is not always perfect here In fact its bloody freezing outside now at 17 degrees C - I wanted to go out and check the boat today because its blowing 20 knots, but its too cold to paddle my kayak out there

[dlandersson]

Ditto

I do love your drone videos Paul, makes me very envious down here in Victoria of all the great cruising spots you guys in Queensland have on your back door.

I cant wait till it starts to warm up so we can sleep on the boat again

[sailboatmike]

Thanks Mike, weather is not always perfect here In fact its bloody freezing outside now at 17 degrees C - I wanted to go out and check the boat today because its blowing 20 knots, but its too cold to paddle my kayak out there

You absolute wooz, 17 degrees, we would kill for 17 degrees, its not the actual temp thats bad, but because it doesn't get cold enough its a wet damp cold at the moment, I used to ski a lot and walked around in minus 2 or 3 in a T shirt and shorts, but gee down here it gets to 6 or 7 with a wind blowing and all the damp in the air and it just chills you to the bone.

[Mac26Mpaul]

I did my Navy training down there, in Westerport Bay HMAS Cerberus in June 87 Mike. Being a Gold Coast boy, I'd never seen anything so cold, We had to get up at 5am and do a mud run with the mud pretty much frozen. I'd never seen frozen water before except for that which was in cubes and I put in my scotch and coke

Daytime winter temps are generally around 20-22c here. I am happy to go boating in that, 17 is a bit much

[sailboatmike]

Did I mention "'I HATE YOU" Paul

[taylormade]

Really good stuff there, Paul! Thanks for sharing, looks like the family is really enjoying their time on the boat and that's what it's all about.

I have a P3 Standard that I've been having a blast with but this past week, while on vacation, I had some scary moments. For a week I'd been flying my drone all over the place. Over water, the beach, tall trees half a mile away, with no problems. Then one day I thought I'd get some nice sunset footage and the darned thing took off, and started listing to the right! AHHHH!!!

I tried to sit her down as quickly as possible, but it just ended up burying itself in the sand. I took the battery out, did my best to get all the sand out and started over again. Same thing! I just knew this thing was doomed now, but I took it inside, calibrated the IMU and would you know? She's flying again!

I took it out a few more times after that with no problems, but each time I take off now, there's a bit of me that's worried it's going to happen again.

I saw in Casey Neistat's VLOG where he lost a brand new P4 trying to take off from a cat... is that the video you're referring to by chance?

[Mac26Mpaul]

Yeah that was the one, Casey Neistat.

Thats odd, wonder what put your IMU out. I only had to calibrate that once, after one of the first updates when I first got it, it let me know it was out and needed re calibrating.

Glad you got it sorted without trashing it.

I know that sooner or later (preferably much later), I'm going to lose this thing. I'v kind of already got my head around that, its my wife that will go crazy when I do it, especially when I start pestering her for the next one

[Neo]

You can just let go of the sticks with the phantom even in 25 knots - , and it will just sit there in the sky where you leave it, in fact you can put the controller down and go take a leak and its still sitting there in the sky when you get back

Wow you can film yourself taking a leak

You guys are making me jealous ... I will have to buy one eventually .... Hmmm Whats the lifting capacity of the Phantom?