Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Interested to see DJI have finally realised the A3 controller and a Ronin MX gimbal designed for aerial use!

No idea how much they'll cost but I'm glad I've held off buying anything as if nothing else it might lower the price of the A2 etc

Edit - looks like pricing is pretty good!! A3 is cheaper than the A2 was at around £829 and they've halved the asking price of an A2!!
 
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Yeah, the pricing is excellent. Not sure what the price is of the extra two upgrade kits to take it to the triple redundant configuration though. Even if they're £400 each it's still cheap for that level of resilience.

The Matrice 600 looks like an incredible platform. 6 batteries and with the A3, can still fly with 3 motor failures when using the A3!!!!
 
It's really interesting what they've done to their pricing - all the Zenmuse gimbals are now the same price as the Ronin MX (£1359 - even the 5DIII gimbal!) so it seems they're assuming more and more people will just plump for the MX over a custom gimbal which ties you to one specific camera!

Very glad I waited - am sorely tempted to pick up a Ronin MX now!
 
Travelling with a Drone.

I am going on holiday to Portugal in June. I want to take my Phantom 4 (batteries in separate lip bags etc)

Can anyone offer advice on how they travelled and what issues they may have come across.

Thanks
 
Tone1979 said:
Travelling with a Drone.

I am going on holiday to Portugal in June. I want to take my Phantom 4 (batteries in separate lip bags etc)

Can anyone offer advice on how they travelled and what issues they may have come across.

Thanks
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Take LiPos as carry-on in your bag. Don't put them in the hold.
Check with your specific airline whether they have restrictions regarding LiPo batteries.
 
Tone1979 said:
Travelling with a Drone.
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As above, and to add that I wouldn't even mention the word LiPo in the airport. I've had hassle with two airlines now when disclosing I was carrying on batteries, despite checking the regulations myself before hand. Seems most of the staff haven't a clue and it can literally take hours before they sort it out.
 
Do any of you guys have a (non-competitor) link to a cheap 808 keychain cam which is actually worth buying? The 1080 ones listed on places like the bay seem to sell for almost the same as a Mobius (which I've read in a few places is an evolution of the original 808 cam). I've got an old one here but can't get it working so fancied picking up another one to try. There are loads available in various different model revisions and it seems like its a bit 'hit or miss' whether you end up with a half decent one or not. If anyone has bought one reasonably recently and is pleased with it, could they hook me up?

Reason I'm after one is I'm still waiting for my mount to arrive from China for my SJ4000 and in the meantime I fancy trying something lightweight until it arrives. :)
 
The mobius is less than a go pro, fyi.

As for keychain, you need to ensure what you're buying records/runs with H.264 or whatver it is.
 
Cosimo said:
That could do some damage in the wrong hands.
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It's certainly bigger than I'd initially expected! Not that it's too surprising as being a hex it'd have to be big diagonally to accommodate the massive 21" props :o :p

The thing concerning me at the moment is batteries as a full set of backups would potentially cost nearly a grand on their own!!!

Unless they work out a way for it to also run off regular lipos - which given the design I'm not thinking is likely!
 
The batteries are the same as the ones that the Inspire takes by the looks of things (TB48s). These have been modded by people to piggy-back some normal LiPos off them for extended flight times so I don't see why it wouldn't be possible here too.

You will want 3 sets of batteries as a minimum for pro work. Two flights to get the shots and a backup set just in case there's a problem.
 
Has anyone every ordered anything expensive directly from DJI before?

I'm not sure my normal go to shops (BYOD/RC Geeks) will have stock any time soon - likely sometime in May but no one knows for sure.

I will have to phone them both to check what their ETA is for the A3 etc.

Am now thinking that an S1000 with A3, LB2 & Z15 gimbal will be a decent bet given all the price drops which allows me to factor in buying lipos etc

I just hope they release an adapter for the S1000 to take the Ronin MX!
 
Tone1979 said:
Travelling with a Drone.

I am going on holiday to Portugal in June. I want to take my Phantom 4 (batteries in separate lip bags etc)

Can anyone offer advice on how they travelled and what issues they may have come across.

Thanks
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Aside from travel issues, have you checked what restrictions exist in Portugal for UAV usage? Currently in Spain and it's a no-go; they completely banned them until last year and even now it's difficult with medical requirements etc. Add the language barrier and if you get stopped or questioned you best know what you're doing.

Good to see the Ronin MX. We were about to buy another -M but probably opt for that instead for ground and future aerial use with the S1000.

The Matrice 600 looks good but unsure about that many batteries. Of course redundancy is good but charging up sets of those things etc and keeping battery logs is just added faff!
 
So today I fitted a carbon fibre anti-vibration gimbal along with my SJ4000 clone camera. I also fitted extended carbon skids. And after I took these pics I removed the rotor guards as I'm confident enough to be flying without them now after a couple of weeks practice. Look's the part, eh? Pity it now fly's like an elephant. :(

So, despite many folk on the Syma Owners FB page claiming they can fly fine with GoPro's, SJ4000 etc cameras, I'm ditching it all and going for a much lighter weight setup, camera wise. Mobius, Runcam, 808 1080 are all possibles. Who's got any of those? I know Delvis has a Mobius, whats best for quads - the Mobius C or C2? One of those is wide angled, I think?

The carbon landing skid extensions work perfectly but despite being shiny carbon fibre, they do add considerable weight to the X8. I guess with it being just a toy drone, I shouldn't have expected it to zip about in the air like it does straight out of the box but I really didn't expect it to feel as sluggish as it does with all this fitted. Learn your kit's limitations is the lesson learned here, I think. :)

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amigafan2003 said:
How long until you spend enough that you could have just bought a Phantom in the first place?
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SJ Camera - Already owned it = £0.00
Carbon Gimbal - £12
Carbon skid extensions - £13
DJI Extended width legs - £3.50

Don't think I've broken the bank yet.....lol. :D

Compared to my other hobbies (riding motorcycles and mountain biking) this drone/quadcopter business is inexpensive at this end of the market. So far anyway. :p

Delvis said:
The Möbius c2 is wide angle yes, but it does narrow angle also
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What would you recommend for a quad m8? What version you running?
 
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