Is a drone worth getting?

[VAfooter]

You can get the VQ100 here:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32953990065.html

 

 

Order me one while you are at it!

[SWWASAS]

Hey thanks VAFooter.   You ordered yours yet?  Thanks for the better pictures.    Helps figuring out the mechanism to tilt the rotors.     The specs also give some information that might be useful scaling it down.    Three meter wing is vey big.   

Edited September 15, 2020 by SWWASAS

[VAfooter]

Got three on order, one to use, one for backup, and one just because I have too much money.....    

 

I thought that give you a little help when I found it. Funny thing though, I still cannot find who actually makes it. Oh well....

 

You plan on going half scale, or larger? Be sure to take plenty of pics as you build it so that you can document all of the steps.

[SWWASAS]

3 minutes ago, VAfooter said:

Got three on order, one to use, one for backup, and one just because I have too much money.....    

 

I thought that give you a little help when I found it. Funny thing though, I still cannot find who actually makes it. Oh well....

 

You plan on going half scale, or larger? Be sure to take plenty of pics as you build it so that you can document all of the steps.

The web site said not available for sale any more.  Thinking about it I might use off the shelf components like the wing from a kit.   Some likely have wing only kits.   If I could find a larger drone kit what would help with the drone components.  .    That way those that might want to build one will not have to design the wing and start from scratch on the drone components.   Easier if all the parts are already cut out.       I would want no more wing than would fit in the back of my pickup.   I will start a thread and follow the building process so anyone that wants can build one.   It will take a month or two to start since I have a couple of other projects I am working on.      Just finished a helmet that allows me to breath conditioned air when I mow my lawn that protects me from allergies.    My second project is a trailer for my canoe that came during the fires.     Kit is sitting in my shop and need better air to work on that.   Another project is a N-99 filtration system that feeds a mask.   That is just a miniturized version of my lawn mowing helmet.   Makes a trip to the store a lot more comfortable and safe with presurized air feeding the mask.    I need to clone myself to get some help.     

[VAfooter]

7 minutes ago, SWWASAS said:

 I need to clone myself to get some help.     

 

Start a thead when you do that as well!

 

Yeah, saw that it was no longer available. I wonder where is is made. I would not think a US product like that would be sold on that site.

[VAfooter]

Have few extra dollars laying around, could be even better than a drone.  

 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/europe-approves-first-flying-car-193052385.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hYm92ZXRvcHNlY3JldC5jb20vZm9ydW0vdGhyZWFkMTI3NDU2Ny9wZzE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF3Vrs3OWZp8zEZiSN8AsldAK-Zm0uDPPa0Mt2eZcne8ImCBAxecVwL_pYRMZj-8LqSCGWocUMlFNE3itjyMKbWpKa8tSpSkt4ukVNcuvbGYlNQXHujNe9zFpe-1J6ZmsvaOn-BKyQquGrhGJ6lStzDNvG8lr770TH5uymI1dhom

[SWWASAS]

Here you need an autogyro rating along with a pilots license.      They are not easy to get because there are so few places that do the training.   The flying car thing has been a much promised but few produced thing for many decades.    I think the man carrying multirotor drone thing has more liklihood of being practical and commercially produced especially if the licensing issue can be resolved.    The FAA seems more likely to support an non piloted man carrying drone since they have already approved large unmanned drones.  They have always been more concerned about public safety than pilot safety.  

 

This flying car prototype just flew.     Looks like a good planform.    www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/watch-this-flying-car-complete-its-first-flight/vi-BB1aAG2H?ocid=msedgdhp

Edited November 2, 2020 by SWWASAS

[VAfooter]

While said mostly in jest, I think the issues with training/licenseing and cost will prevent all but a very few from ever owning one. I agree that a "drone" carrying 2-4 passengers with tons of built in safety and fail safe features is much more likely to be the way to go. Probably too noisey for BF research anyway, although it could be a way to more easily access remote areas. 

[SWWASAS]

Speaking of BF research vehicles I finished my Treck Farley fat tire bike electric conversion and did some trail riding yesterday.    It will really open up some areas for me that I have not been able to get into.   I was delighted to note that most people were not aware I was coming up behind them on the trail until I was just a few feet away.    That seems to show that it would be easy to catch a BF crossing trail in front of me because it might not hear me coming.     Equally delightful was being able to accellerate going up a steep hill just with moderate pedalling to assist the motor.    I decided to do a front wheel drive because of simplicity and weight distribution carrying gear on a carrier in the back.     The added benifit is that in high torque situations the bike has no tendency to do a wheely.   It just pulls the bike through loose dirt and gravel sort of like a front wheel drive car does well in snow.  My range appears to be in excess of  50 miles in mountainous areas.      Supposedly the battery picks up some capacity after a few charge cycles.  I got a 21 AH battery which is large for a bike.    That range is both good and bad.      Good in that it opens up more backcountry for a day trip but bad if something goes wrong and I cannot make it out before dark.  I probably should mount a headlight just in case.   

[iacozizzle]

A friend was visiting earlier this month and showed me his drone, a Mavic 2.  It has collision avoidance, can fly home and lands itself.  There is a camera view screen on the controller.  It was impressive the way it zipped around in the air, very quick and agile.  

 

 

[wiiawiwb]

That's a well-equipped drone. I believe it is one of the few models in its class that has collision avoidance in all directions.  Does night time offer any challenges for its collision-avoidance capabilities even though it has infrared sensors on the top, bottom, and side?

 

Where I go, the forest is dense and there are no open fields/areas as you would see in states like Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.  In areas like that, you can glass the mountain and then send a drone to cover ground quickly if you see movement. It would well suited for areas like that. That said, I was looking into drones for early Spring and mid-to-late Fall where the drone it might be able to pick up movement below.  It would also be really helpful for those times when a tree just happens to come down near you. Get the drone aloft with haste and send it over to see if there is movement any where near the tree-fallen area.

 

I'm going to wait until I can get an affordable (whatever that term means) drone with thermal-imaging capabilities. Probably a significant investment of both time and money and one you don't want to get hung up in a tree 100' off the ground or in the drink 20' deep.  Until then, I'll rely on my legs and a hand-held thermal imager.

 

 

[Believer57]

4 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

Until then, I'll rely on my legs and a hand-held thermal imager.

I think that is a wise choice. I've built and flown more drones than most people in the last decade. The DJI Mavic would be a good choice but you need to afford the possibility of losing it. It takes a fair amount of skill and training to keep things safe. Some of my older builds/designs are in the link below from the earlier days of quadcopters. I don't even bother posting my newer store bought drones which have come a long way in just a few short years! You no longer need to know how they even work.

 

Multi-Rotor Copters

Edited February 23, 2021 by Believer57

[wiiawiwb]

A buddy of mine, I've known for many, many years, is someone who goes sasquatching with me much to the chagrin of his wife. Earlier this year, he got a drone and brought it to one of our spots that we do overnights.  He's the type of guy who has exceptional hand-eye coordination and had practiced a fair amount with it.

 

He launched his drone at the pond's edge and had it zooming across the pond. He directed it along the pond's edge into a bay area causing us to lose sight of it.  The everything went silent and we realized that something happened. It got stuck in a tree, or so we think.  We bushwhacked through a cedar swamp to try to find it. No luck even though we searched every tree and in the water as well.

 

He bought another drone and he gave it its maiden voyage at another pond we go to. Just before dusk a tree came down across the pond from us. He launched it in a heart beat and it was scouring the area of the tree fall. We couldn't see much through the tree canopy but it did show me how a drone can be useful even at the spur of the moment.

 

[BC witness]

I've posted some drone footage in the field trips thread, taken by a friend who has brought his Mavic along on a couple of outings last fall. Our areas are usually steep and heavily forested, being in the Coast and Cascade ranges, so it mostly shows treetops everywhere, but it's very useful for following the creeks and rivers in the valley bottoms, which are usually the only open area around, other than the logging roads and cut blocks.

[Believer57]

12 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

Then everything went silent and we realized that something happened. It got stuck in a tree, or so we think.  We bushwhacked through a cedar swamp to try to find it. No luck even though we searched every tree and in the water as well.

That's the same thing that happened to the "Finding Bigfoot" crew. On the new special "Return" episode, I have only seen the promos and it looks like they used professional drone guys this time...which is a good alternative if you can afford the $2K-$6K cost per day.

 

It sounds like you are having fun out there so good luck!

 

4 hours ago, BC witness said:

Our areas are usually steep and heavily forested, being in the Coast and Cascade ranges, so it mostly shows treetops everywhere, but it's very useful for following the creeks and rivers in the valley bottoms, which are usually the only open area around, other than the logging roads and cut blocks.

Those are safer places to be as long as the wind cooperates. Even a little wind flowing over the tree tops is enough to make it more challenging.

 

Cheers!