Lots of good info here, but I am looking for some specific opinions from experienced folks. I have been planning to jump into the quadcopter/photography world for a while now but I have just not puled the trigger on a machine. I am an avid boater and I spend many days a year out on the protected inside passage in Alaska. I intend to use my quadcopter to capture overhead photography of these trip. This means lots of flying over water from a moving base (my 22' boat). I have done quite a bit of research on small quadcopters (Phantoms and 3dr solo mostly) and I am left wondering if my plan inevitably ends with my drone and camera sinking into cold, salty water after some mishap. My questions are: Is a loss just a mater of time? Is there a machine that is better suited for this type use? What actions can I take to minimize the possibility of loss over water? I spent some time searching, but if there is already a thread that I should read about this, please direct me that way....
Answers to your questions..... Yes...been there done that... Yes......the Mariner...totally waterproof and can be submerged briefly... Yes....Minimize the amount of time you spend over the water....
The real question becomes "how long until.." or "how reliable"? So the idea here is to pick a model that is the most reliable - and perhaps consider the budget also. Based on a lot of study and experience, I'd say stay away from the Solo (not a good value - company is likely done with).... The P3 is the most reliable machine I've seen in that price range. So, then it becomes a matter of budget. If you spend $499 for the Standard model you can buy 2 or 3 and likely they will last the entire trip. Or, you can buy an advanced ($799) and perhaps a Standard as backup ($499) and that's still way less than one Solo - with lots of reliability. That would probably be the way I attacked it.....
Take a look at the Lily. Don't have one, just seen video. New product, but looks like it might meet your needs.
I didn't realize the videos had been found to be a fake. Could you provide the documentation so we can all be educated. I just thought this project was interesting and would have some practical uses, but I will ignore it if it is a fake.
Lots of snake oil in this industry - do you assume that videos, unless proven otherwise, are real? How about this one? Or the entire lead-up to the 3DR Solo launch - check out this video. To this day - well over a year and tens of millions of dollar later it can't really do this stuff well. Remember, these companies are raising millions of dollars based on those videos. How much do you think it cost to create CG videos these days? I think they can get something real nice for $10K to 20K depending on how much they want faked. Faked is only the right word if the public is fooled. If you know the history of these things, the right word is "marketing".
