Drone debate - big or small?

[JuiceTheGator]

Big, expensive, durable and feature packed versus small, light, less expensive and convenient? What say you??

Prime examples:

The big and durable "Lily" for $1,200. Does everything.


Hubsan's follow me camera. $250. My choice.

The tiny and incredibly clever Nixie watch still isn't for sale.
Nixie Looks Like A Watch, Stays On like A Bracelet But Acts Like A Drone - TechTheLead


$40. Fast, tiny and takes a damned picture.

 

[WizardHawk]

Well I wouldn't personally spend $1,200 on one unless there was a real need for it like doing video for football practice or something. Those small value ones look bad ass. Might just have to think about picking one up.

 

[TheDayMan]

Well I wouldn't personally spend $1,200 on one unless there was a real need for it like doing video for football practice or something. Those small value ones look bad ass. Might just have to think about picking one up.

This.

 

[night]

Well I wouldn't personally spend $1,200 on one unless there was a real need for it like doing video for football practice or something. Those small value ones look bad ass. Might just have to think about picking one up.

Fuck that. Buy the awesome one and return it after a few weeks or sell it on eBay when you get bored of it in a few months. The only bad thing is if you let it sit around for a little while and it becomes worthless because it's likely that the technology is going to get a lot better very quickly.

 

[williewilliejuan]

A lot of drone owners are complete fucking morons. On the news the other day there was a story about how the planes dropping flame retardant on some of the wildfires here had to suspend flights because some idiots were flying drones in their airspace. The need to find those people and shove their drones up their asses, motors running.

 

[WizardHawk]

I have a tri-level house. I'd love to have a small drone for inspecting the gutters and roof. Outside of that it would be a fun toy to take to the park on a non windy day. Neither make it worth spending a bunch of money on.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

I really like the "follow me" feature. That Hubsan is about the cheapest and highest rated I've seen with that feature.

The only thing about the 1,200 dollar one is 20 minute flight time and water proof. I was thinking about getting one for my assistant at work for Christmas. She does a lot of kayak fishing. So, I thought it would be cool if when someone hooked one, the thing flew around for 10 minutes filming the catch. But you know salt water will get all over the thing.

So, screw it. I'll just get one for myself and use it once with the kids on the beach or whatever.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

Drones that follow you (follow me mode)

 

[WizardHawk]

Amazing how far they have come and I'm sure more features are just on the horizon. Really didn't know the prices have come so far down on the smaller ones. Makes it much more worth taking a test spin on. Damn it, now you are making me want to go get one.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Be fun to have, but doubt I'd use it enough to justify the cost.

 

[night]

Nixie | The first wearable camera that can fly

That one would be pretty cool but I don't think it is available yet.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

Nixie | The first wearable camera that can fly

That one would be pretty cool but I don't think it is available yet.

They've been talking pre-orders forever...don't know what's taking so long.

It's gotta be waterproof. It's gotta do the follow-me deal. It has to fly for 15 minutes on a charge.

Other than those, I don't care. Put it in a tiny, cheap thing and let 'er rip.

 

[WizardHawk]

Had to go out and buy one of those lil cheap hubsan drones. Just got it and fired it up today. Fun little toys to be sure. Haven't tried out the camera yet, but not expecting much out of them from what I've seen online. Still a good little trainer for getting your toes into the water of flying drones.

 

[WizardHawk]

After playing with that little x4 107c for several days I can say it's a fun little toy. I mean it's not worth much more than use as a toy, but it really does help you learn the basics of flight that should carry on to larger more expensive units.

With the stock battery if flies for around 6 minutes or so taking video, little longer without filming. The larger aftermarket batteries move you to around 10 minutes so buying a 4-5 pack of batteries and multi battery charger are a must.

Saw a few vids online with people complaining how hard they are to fly indoors and I'm sort of baffled by that. As long as you set your trim right they are a breeze to fly inside, but obviously you aren't going to hit high speeds unless you have a long indoor space.

Outside you can really see how fast they fly and they perform pretty well in mild breezes. Was worried about them kind of being picked up easily and that's not really the case. You do have to react to the wind, but they can fight through what little wind I've been working it in.

If you've got kids, or are just a big kid yourself, and want something fairly cheap to learn to fly on, this bad boy kind of hits that mark. All totaled I think I'm out around $70 and that included extra blades, 5 extra high capacity batteries, and the multi battery charger. Not bad for a little toy that can take video and is a solid flight learning vessel.

As for that video, don't expect much. It's a pinhole camera so while it's HD it doesn't handle lighting changes or complex lighting very well, but for the price at least it has video. The footage of me chasing the dog with it are worth the money alone.

Damn you juice, now you've got me going down this path it's really only a matter of time before I move up to one of those more expensive units with the FPV screens and follow me mode.

 

[cmc_rebar]

Had to go out and buy one of those lil cheap hubsan drones. Just got it and fired it up today. Fun little toys to be sure. Haven't tried out the camera yet, but not expecting much out of them from what I've seen online. Still a good little trainer for getting your toes into the water of flying drones.

still flying?

looking/thinking about getting one...we have a drone club here in the compound, with quite a variety of drones to watch

 

[WizardHawk]

still flying?

looking/thinking about getting one...we have a drone club here in the compound, with quite a variety of drones to watch

Flew that one quite a bit over the summer. Haven't had it out much over the winter. While you can fly it inside, it's a whole lot more fun outside.

The biggest downside to these small ones is how hard it is to see them once they get more than like 25 feet from you, even with the lights on. They do fly pretty fast and you can turn off the noob mode and do rolls and other tricks with them, but I just like flying them as is. That camera is ok, but you need to fly in full light.

I do highly recommend them for someone not sure if they want to get into drones or not. I've flown a few other in the toy size range and this one is much better than any of the others. Even with slightly messed up blades you can keep pretty good control of it.

 

[ill]

I have the Hubsan one in Juice's post. I like it, but I haven't gotten it outside much.

I also have a Phantom 3 Standard that I am playing with. While it is cool to fly around and take video, I think something like a Mavic by DJI would be a cool drone to fly around. I have a couple friends with them so I am hoping to take them for a spin sometime soon.

So I say something between a P3 and a Hubsan would be ideal for me.

 

[ill]

Parrot has a couple good ones too. I would look into them.

 

[WizardHawk]

FYI, the one juice listed for the Lily has gone bankrupt and is an example of a few promising ideas in this space that bombed.

Might be best served to stay away from the startups no matter how attractive they may appear.

They raided the offices of the Lily looking for evidence of fraud in how they represented their product. They have been accused of using footage of other products in their videos in an attempt to make it look like their product was farther along than it was.

 

[ill]

FYI, the one juice listed for the Lily has gone bankrupt and is an example of a few promising ideas in this space that bombed.

Might be best served to stay away from the startups no matter how attractive they may appear.

They raided the offices of the Lily looking for evidence of fraud in how they represented their product. They have been accused of using footage of other products in their videos in an attempt to make it look like their product was farther along than it was.

I remember seeing a commercial for the Lily drone and thought it was cool as hell. Never saw one though. Seemed a little too good to be true to me.