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On the fence

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godale03

godale03

Awesomer!! Than Rolex!!
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Hey Drone experts!

I have been on the fence about getting a drone for a while now and I am as confused as ever at this point. This is what I would like to do... In no particular order. I would like a drone that will be able to shoot video. I want something that is fun to fly and I can fly somewhat aggressively once my skills improve. I can't afford a $1000 plus drone. I don't want to drop $1000 on a drone to be honest. I am a hobbyist looking for a solid aircraft with the ability to take photos and have fun flying. I was looking at the Phantom 3 Advanced. That is about the threshold my wallet can handle. Is this a good all around drone... or is this just a flying camera platform? If so... what do you guys recommend? If you have any questions just let me know and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

Tom
 
Don't have any drones (I hate that word), but I've built a few multi rotors. I personally wouldn't do anything RTF (ready to fall / fail), as I trust my building and soldering skills way more than the 7yo forced labor that builds those things. Every RTF aircraft I've ever bought has needed attention before flight, some of the helis were so far off they would have been a nightmare to fly. None of the DJI flight controllers that I've owned or flown can be tuned to fly aggressively, at least not what I'd call aggressive anyway. And it's all personal preference, but after flying other flight controllers, I don't care for the "feel" of the DJI flight controllers, they just feel loose to me and unresponsive. Best deal going today is a DJI F450 frame (the knockoff frames are a more brittle plastic), CC3D flight controller, and your choice of motors and ESCs. I do recommend SimonK flashed ESCs though, as they're more responsive to flight controller inputs. You can build that quad for about $150 or less these days. I can tune my F450 to flip almost in place it flips and rolls so fast, or be very gentle and forgiving, or have both depending on flight mode switch settings.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that by building your own, you'll be much better prepared to troubleshoot when things go wrong, and as we all know with aircraft, they will eventually.
 
I haven't built one yet but that is my plan on my next multi-rotor (Either a Flamewheel 450 or 55). As @HPIguy mentioned I think the benefits of building one has far more positives then buying a ready to fly.

The maintenance and repair alone is what has me sold on building. I had a Blade QX 350 at one time and it was pretty darn cool, while learning to fly I did manage to crash it and crack one of the arms, but you can't just replace a single arm on these RTF because most (all?) use a unibody setup which means everything has to be stripped out, a new body/frame purchased, then everything re-installed. Whereas with say a flamewheel I could have removed one motor, cut a few cable ties and removed a few screws holding the one arm and purchase a new arm at the fraction of the cost of a body/frame of the RTF models and been ready to go.

All the while gaining better knowledge and experience of my multi-rotor. The only thing that's really stopping me now isn't the building one but the uncertainty due to all the idiot flyers out there flying them at airplanes, firefighters, forest fires, the empire state building, etc etc etc and the new laws already and in the pipe.
 
I am hoping they don't become illegal. I live on a 340 acre farm so finding a place to fly isn't a problem. The idiots giving quads a bad name are killing us. I guess it's true what they say.....it only takes a couple of bad apples to spoil the entire crop.
I have a bunch of eBay gift cards I have been saving up from Christmas ect. And I was going to get a flame wheel with the naza m setup, but the damn thing has been out of stock forever. I guess it is like ammo was the last few years. People think the government is going to ban them so they are buying them up. I just can't seem to find a real dji. There seem to be a bunch of knock offs, but I'm not buying one of those.
 
godale03 said:
And I was going to get a flame wheel with the naza m setup, but the damn thing has been out of stock forever. I guess it is like ammo was the last few years. People think the government is going to ban them so they are buying them up. I just can't seem to find a real dji. There seem to be a bunch of knock offs, but I'm not buying one of those.
Click to expand...

I doubt that's it. Part of it is China is currently on holiday or some shite, the other part of the equation is that most people want the easy way out and don't want to have to bother to learn anything. They just want to charge a battery, click a couple buttons, and go fly. There's nothing wrong with that if that's all you'll ever want, but once you start wanting more tuning options to tailor the feel or agility of the aircraft, the Naza just falls horribly short.
 
The thing is at this point I'm not sure what I want. I'm still to new. I know I want one and want to learn to fly one, but after that I will have to see how it grows. The naza will get me flying and if I find out I like it,and if I can get the flame wheel I can always sell the naza and move up. I completely understand what you are saying but I don't want to sink a ton of money into something just to have it sit. At this point I may only be the guy that wants to push buttons, charge and fly, but I think that is ok at this point. If history has taught me anything it's that as my interest and skill improve so will my willingness to want to learn more and advance my equipment accordingly. At this point I just want to learn to fly and see where it goes. I hope that makes sense?

Tom
 
Hey Randy, If you're interested I've been tempted to sell the Blade 350QX3 AP combo I just bought a month or 2 ago. I'm more interested in helis than quads. Its only got about 7 flights on it and the only "crash" (if you wanna call it that) was from about 2.5 ft off the ground. I was to close to my fence and it clipped the fence. No damage was done to the unit and the camera wasn't even on it at the time. id make you a good deal on it. If you're interested PM me and we'll talk about it.
 
HPIguy said:
Yep, as I said, nothing wrong with that Tom. Good luck and keep us posted on what you end up with for sure.
Click to expand...

Would you be ok if I just picked up the kit and then talked with you about what flight controller and gps unit to put in it?
 
Greywolf74 said:
Hey Randy, If you're interested I've been tempted to sell the Blade 350QX3 AP combo I just bought a month or 2 ago. I'm more interested in helis than quads. Its only got about 7 flights on it and the only "crash" (if you wanna call it that) was from about 2.5 ft off the ground. I was to close to my fence and it clipped the fence. No damage was done to the unit and the camera wasn't even on it at the time. id make you a good deal on it. If you're interested PM me and we'll talk about it.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate the offer, but I'm good on RC stuff for now. Haven't really touched much of anything since buying the new MTB in October to be honest.

godale03 said:
Would you be ok if I just picked up the kit and then talked with you about what flight controller and gps unit to put in it?
Click to expand...

Absolutely it's OK, I'm more than happy to give you all the help that I can, and any knowledge that I have or have gleaned from others over the years. I got two of the guys at work flying now, and seeing things click for others and how excited they get about it is really cool
 
HPIguy said:
Absolutely it's OK, I'm more than happy to give you all the help that I can, and any knowledge that I have or have gleaned from others over the years. I got two of the guys at work flying now, and seeing things click for others and how excited they get about it is really cool
Click to expand...

Thanks my friend. I appreciate it.
 
HPIguy said:
I really appreciate the offer, but I'm good on RC stuff for now. Haven't really touched much of anything since buying the new MTB in October to be honest.
Click to expand...

Sorry, Did I get peoples RL names mixed up? I thought godale03 was Randy.
 
HPIguy said:
Nah, that's Tom, I'm Randy. :D
Click to expand...
My bad, somehow I got it mixed up. The offer was directed at Tom then :)

Rolex said:
No, Godale's name is Junior. Randy's name is Guy.
Click to expand...
you're not helping Ralph! I know your real name...I dont think that a positive thing either :P
 

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