My new toy has kept me busy - Dji Mini Se

[jimnyc]

I got myself a drone last week! Best money ever spent!!

I bought a few of these suckers back in the day and it left me hesitant. Turn it on, move up and the things instantly crashes, no control over them.

But this thing, lets just say that they have improved over time. A controller with 2 joysticks. The left one moves you up and down, and also rotates it left and right. The right joystick, moves you forward and backwards, left and right. And if worried or confused, take hands off of joystick and it will hover on a dime!!

Runs in different modes, where the slow "cinemode" ran me about 21mph. Then the sport mode, sucker went 30mph, and still just as easy to control.

So been in a big ark testing since. It's weird as you can barely hear this thing. And if you go straight up 120 feet, you can't see it. Then fly at 300 around the park and its easy to fly with your phone, but you realize much much more when you watch the videos afterwards.

This one, at the park again, mostly at like 150, then when you see it smoothly rise much higher and gently come back, then hover over me, then come straight down. It's got RTH, which is "return to home" and it will basically come back to you and land quite close to where it took off from!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgAE7JYmxI

[fj1200]

Cool. Does that have the feature that will follow you as you walk or ride?

[jimnyc]

Cool. Does that have the feature that will follow you as you walk or ride?

With a 3rd party set of software I was able to do so. But I'm not sure it's meant to, this model, as the regular software doesn't have those options.

You have the older Dji mini, then the mini 2 which has occusync (goes much farther and carries signals via GPS and much stronger), but the mini SE is basically the mini, but in a mini 2 shell, and has upgraded features such as the same motors as the 2 and other options.

My Dji Osmo pocket has all those features!! But that's just a handheld gimbal 4k camera. The drone is max 2.7 but takes better video at 1080 and 60fps.

It will still go about 4km away supposedly, but may have issues if you go behind a building or a bunch of trees.

[Gunny]

I got myself a drone last week! Best money ever spent!!

I bought a few of these suckers back in the day and it left me hesitant. Turn it on, move up and the things instantly crashes, no control over them.

But this thing, lets just say that they have improved over time. A controller with 2 joysticks. The left one moves you up and down, and also rotates it left and right. The right joystick, moves you forward and backwards, left and right. And if worried or confused, take hands off of joystick and it will hover on a dime!!

Runs in different modes, where the slow "cinemode" ran me about 21mph. Then the sport mode, sucker went 30mph, and still just as easy to control.

So been in a big ark testing since. It's weird as you can barely hear this thing. And if you go straight up 120 feet, you can't see it. Then fly at 300 around the park and its easy to fly with your phone, but you realize much much more when you watch the videos afterwards.

This one, at the park again, mostly at like 150, then when you see it smoothly rise much higher and gently come back, then hover over me, then come straight down. It's got RTH, which is "return to home" and it will basically come back to you and land quite close to where it took off from!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgAE7JYmxI

All ready on the right? All ready on the left? All ready on the firing line. Shooters, you may commence firing when your drone target appears :drillsarge:

:sniper:

[jimnyc]

All ready on the right? All ready on the left? All ready on the firing line. Shooters, you may commence firing when your drone target appears :drillsarge:

:sniper:

I've seen video of many taking a shot or 2 at them!! But that's usually people flying where they aren't supposed to and annoy others.

[NightTrain]

Really need one of these at L5 to locate the bear when the dogs have alerted! We would have located it in seconds with this thing when you all were up. And then.... Abbey & Sassy & Tootsie would have learned how to skin a Griz!


So, if you'd had this and we'd have flown it downriver to scout O'Brien creek and had flown out of range - is it smart enough to fly back to your starting location?

[jimnyc]

Really need one of these at L5 to locate the bear when the dogs have alerted! We would have located it in seconds with this thing when you all were up. And then.... Abbey & Sassy & Tootsie would have learned how to skin a Griz!


So, if you'd had this and we'd have flown it downriver to scout O'Brien creek and had flown out of range - is it smart enough to fly back to your starting location?

I thought about L5 some more and here are some issues I am learning.

Up there rules/regulations don't count. :) BUT, it still has to work properly. With the good signal up there, the drone should work fine so long as it is in VLOS as they call it, visual line of sight. The dual antennas kind of have to have a clear path to the drone. Otherwise, obstructions will be a problem. But that's because of the style I chose, to save money, and because I'm a beginner.

The next few models and going forward all have built in "occusync", which is a new and better way of transmitting signal between the controller and the drone & a better camera (4k).

Mine now will currently travel approximately 2.5 miles or 4km. The next model up, the one my Dad has, the Dji mini 2, will travel approximately 6.2 miles or 10km, so it makes a pretty big difference. More importantly, mine can get obstructed by large trees or buildings, whereas the 2 will go right through them.

You cannot fly over 400 feet without clearance (and that is much higher than you think), and technically you're supposed to be able to see it at all times. Yeah, right! Not at L5 places! :)

So it would be possible to reach O'Brien, Clear Creek & maybe even Disappointment (mileage?) if I were to upgrade. I think - still learning here!!

[NightTrain]

O'Brien is less than a mile downstream... and Disappointment is about 5 miles upriver.

What happens when you fly it out of range? Kamikaze mode?

[jimnyc]

O'Brien is less than a mile downstream... and Disappointment is about 5 miles upriver.

What happens when you fly it out of range? Kamikaze mode?

If you should keep going until completely out of range, it will simply rise to the preset height in RTH, and then return to you!