Drones

[deltadukman]

Total bullskrimp if you ask me.

[SNOT]

I bought one of these back in June for $480. http://www.dji.com/product/phantom

Planned on buying a GoPro for it and doing some videoing - when it was finally delivered I put it together but couldn't get it to calibrate, got irritated with it, stuck it back in the box and that's where it's been since....don't know if there was something wrong with it or if I'm just a moron that can't follow instructions (going with the latter) - $300 gets it if anyone wants it....and if the buyer can't get it to work either I'd refund the money....sick of looking at it...my dreams of stalking a booner will have to wait....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6mupfi21Ys

[donia]

how to get licensed:

http://gpsworld.com/so-how-do-you-get-t ... mercially/

[novacaine]

You are limited to 400 ft on these small drones............................according to all the surveying equipment companies i have talked to.
The models i looked at while at a conference last year range from $2500 to $ 175,000. Of course the high dollar model included topo survey software, georeferencing, multi-spectral imagery and all the bells and whistles.
I'm gonna wait on pulling the trigger on that one....

[donia]

one of the related articles says that the software required to process the data (for gis purposes) costs $7500 in addition to the cost of the drone. start-up for commercial use right at $10k.

[jtdumallard]

[teul2]

[JDgator]

Any drone invading my personal space on my private property will be mistaken for a enemy combatant and neutralized.

[donia]

one of the related articles says that the software required to process the data (for gis purposes) costs $7500 in addition to the cost of the drone. over-all start-up for commercial use at around $10k just for the drone (they used $2500 drone in the example, so could be $20k if you go with the top of the line model...and could be exponentially higher for a multi-band hi-res camera onboard).

[99beers]

[donia]

found the article referenced in blog i read...i bet if you look hard enough you can find an ad for one of the 2 companies mentioned with the exemption (that engineered the $7500 software) somewhere in the same issue of geospatial solutions magazine online.

http://geospatial-solutions.com/faa-iss ... xemptions/

[wudduk]

I've got one of the dji phantoms that comes with the camera. There is an app that you download where you mount your phone on the controller and you can see in real time what you are flying over. Can take video or still shots, and it is good quality pics and video. Havent used it to scout duck holes or deer fields, but I think you could. Its a pretty neat toy. I'm going to take it to my property and fly over and take pics and videos just to have for a reference.

[stang67]

What is the range with that DJI? They have that new "ground station" where you can program waypoints for autonomous flight. I can't figure out if it still requires the wifi connection to the controller while flying that programmed route or not.

I could tolerate short flight time but can't maintain line of sight, if that's required, what with all the trees.

[Johnboy114]

[Wingman]

what happens when you fly a drone out of sight and an airplane hits it?