Hi newbie here We run a 850 ha farm in Africa and poachers are decimating wildlife on the farm and more worryingly rustling cattle (stealing or killing them) Can you please suggest a drone that would allow us to patrol the farm remotely to allow us to film them in the act. We try patrolling by car but they hear the sound and gakenoff befpre we get there. Roughly length of farm is about 1.6miles either way from the centre Desperate
Hey bud, there are many options you can try, Phantom 3 and 4 both have great range, I have read some comments where their phantom went as far as 2 miles and I've seen others say the signal went out as little as 1 mile. I can say DJI makes great products and the fact that you have return to home feature is always great because in case you get in trouble you can always bring the drone back to you by the flick of a switch. Now battery time you can expect anywhere from 15 mins to 25 mins of flight time to be on the safe side. So you might need a couple batteries. And the fact that it records video as it flies to your mobile device is perfect for your use. Good luck out there bud!
Well this should work, and unlike various cheaper quads it's pretty easy to fly and maneuver due it's high level of sophistication and failsafes. It will also give you stunning images. It's got the range you mentioned more than covered and with the live view you can observe in real time. http://www.amazon.com/DJI-Phantom-Advanced-Quadcopter-Battery/dp/B00VYALU9A/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=droneflyers-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=FXRCZ4JVXHXQOJZH&creativeASIN=B00VYALU9A
As I said I know next to nothing about drones and have been watchin youtube videos to learn about them. I am curious to know can they still maintain flight in a sudden gust of wind
As I said I know next to nothing about drones and have been watchin youtube videos to learn about them. I am curious to know can they still maintain flight in a sudden gust of wind
Is there a way to run dual batteries in parallel to increase the run time/ distance for darkchild101 ? Or would this be too heavy of a payload ?
Could two batteries be hooked up in parallel to increase flying time? Or is that too much weight for these drones .
You end up using a large % of the 2nd battery just to lift it up. The DJI Phantom 4 can easily fly that distance and back again - in fact, flights longer than 5 miles have been recorded. I think in the end a stock unit may serve you best - although once you get a lot of experience you could buy some of the commercial units (very expensive) which may have 5 minutes longer of a flight time. You can use a 3rd party application like Litchi to fly complex missions (waypoints). DJI themselves have come out with a very expensive commercial unit with a longer flight time.... A number of firms are addressing the commercial and agricultural market with larger units but you really have to weigh out exactly what you get vs. what you spend. With a lighter camera, DJI claims up to 35 minutes http://www.wired.com/2016/04/dji-m600-drone/
Thanks. I think DKI phantom is best option though cost is a bit high. I am not looking for a complicated drone, all we need is a good light time of around 20 mins, a camera (it doesnt even have to be an excellent camera). We just want to be able to run reconnaisance missions from the air to see who is on the property and whats happening to livestock/animals at any one time
Did you end up adopting a Phantom for this purpose? If you want endurance, then I think a fixed-wing aircraft may be better, like the Parrot Disco. As with man-carrying aircraft, fixed wing designs generally have better endurance because the propulsion system doesn't have to bear the entire weight of the aircraft. The Parrot Disco has an endurance of 45 minutes, max speed 40 mph, range 1.25 miles. You'd need a large area to land it but it sounds like you have that.
