of using a drone to assist me in work out in the field. What I would like a drone to do (eventually/if possible) - follow a track , where there are ground stations at every 100m and be able to view them , one place I work has about 40 stations over about 5 kilometers of track, each station is gps'd. I envisage carrying this out from various vantage points and having to move a few times. I would also like to use a drone and video camera to do ground surveillance over a large an area as possible , view as it went along and store the video so I could view it later and check. I would like to fly the drone to various gps points over a small area (battery limitations and flight time) and build up the small areas to one big area. I see my limitations of being able to fly close enough to the ground to view what I would like to see, and camera field of view, also the ground could be quite undulating. Part of my job is checking for weeds in a nature reserve, mostly gorse and broom and they have bright yellow flowers to assist ,and looking for signs of various animals possibly viewing the animals . Also like to video my dogs working, from above, on the odd occasion. To start myself off I was looking at the Phanton 2 , vision +, but when I popped into our local RC store for a chat the guy there reckons I would be better off with a Flame wheel F550 with a go-pro mounted, that put me in a quandary, thought I had things sorted in my head that the Phanton would do to get started. The asking price for the Flame wheel was $3000 + no go pro or gimble included. I have done a bit of research on the net , I'm confident I could build one myself and save a bit, once I find out all the parts I need. The other thing I was informed, was that the flame wheel would only be in the air for 10-12 mins, so I would need a lot of batteries for 2 hrs work ! Any body have any thoughts as to what would be an ideal starting drone for me ? If I had to choose it would be for the ground surveillance work to start and build up to the rest of the work, if it was possible, with whatever equipment is required at a later date . I live in New Zealand and have never flown a drone or the likes, but I'm full of ideas as to how I could incorporate a drone and camera into my work and hobbies . Cheers Steve
Take the drone quiz: https://www.droneflyers.com/talk/threads/drone-quiz.700/ Read this: https://www.droneflyers.com/2014/11/beginners-only-the-best-first-quadcopter/ IMO, I would lurk on the forum for awhile before investing $3000 on a vehicle. Since you are new to RC start with a Hubsan Quads X4 or Syma. Additional parts are available and not proprietary if you crash it it's only $50~ USD. Good luck.
The plan you have laid out is probably out of the realm of the hobby drones we cover. That is, you may be able to do SOME of those things with a consumer level machine, but the reliability and total features are not likely to be there. There are lots of questions you need to ask yourself....for example, are you 100% able to retrieve the machine if it goes down? If there is a lot of water or high trees you may find yourself losing a couple drones! Also, most are not meant for heavy use - battery after battery. They may overheat. There is a big difference between a machine that we take out to the park and fly for an hour...and the machines which are designed for actually getting work done. One of the forum mods @IceFyre13th builds semi-custom UAV's and knows something about the subject. My thinking is that you are more in the realm of machines like this...and others hitting the market in the near future: https://www.sensefly.com/home.html It may be that an "APM based" machine has more flexibility for you - but flight times are always going to be a concern. http://3drobotics.com/landing-product/
Webman has covered the basics, and you do need to get some flight time with a less capable UAV before you attempt the more complicated ones. When you do want more information on the advanced UAV's let us know.
Thanks for that , I will do as suggested , although I can't help reading up on the various models and variations I think will be useful to me. Typical of me to want to jump in . Other info I have gathered is that the flamewheel 450 has a longer flight time than the 550 but less stability in the wind . Found reading up about the other type of models that webman advised to look at were fantastic , hell of a world out there . Cheers S
I never got anywhere , got caught up in another project that took a lot more finances and time than I expected . Will complete that project this wk'nd . I started looking again this week to see what is about. Never dismissed the idea of getting one and the outfit I work for put out a survey across it's NZ employees to see what uses could be made of a drone. Seems like my ideas were taken on board along with 13 other people and their ideas and these are being put to upper management to see what comes of it. I have been thinking of getting a Hudson x4 as a training quad and building myself a DJI Flamewheel 450 , but that depends on what software I can run it with, that bit I need to look into . I like what I read about the Iris software .. Cheers
I've only flown toy multi rotors. I just ordered the Phantom 2. There on sale price is reasonable. I also was looking into building a copter, when you start adding up the $$ you spend on parts its hard not to go the pre built route.
The Phantom 2 was top of my list for a while , I think I like the idea of being able to chop and change a bit so the build it yourself appeals to me . Keep me informed on how it goes with the Phantom 2. What will you be using it for ?
