BUT, and it’s a big BUT on purpose, the Typhoon won’t avoid crashing into something on its way back home whereas, the mavic will use its sensors to avoid crashing!
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Again, yes and yes, but the Typhoon only has ultra sonic sensors on the front, none on the back. The MA2 has sensors front and back, and are way way better than the Typhoon’s. If you want a bigger drone, consider a Phantom 4 which has anti collision front and back, and if you go for a Phantom 4 Pro, you get side facing sensors as well, although they only come into effect while you use the Follow me type of features. The P4P has got a much much better camera as well.
You can get a good used P4 for less than you’d spend on that Typhoon on ebay, and for not much more (£100 or so) you’ll get a P4P. Hasn’t got retracts, but it beats the Typhoon hands down on everything else. There’s a video on youtube that compares the P4 against the Typhoon, and the Yuneec loses on every count.
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Not sure this entry level Typhoon has ANY sensors at all!
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It’s got ultra sonic (sonar) on the front but that’s it (the things that look like insect eyes). The later ones could be bought with the “Intelsense” module on the front as well but that put the price up by loads.
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Not sure if you bought the typhoon or not, but one more thing to consider…The typhoon falls into A3 category if I’m correct, which restricts you not being able to fly anywhere within 150m of people and buildings, etc. You could pay an extra (at the moment £99) and pass your A2 c of c exam which enables you to fly in the A2 category, but this only allows you to fly within 50m of people but still no closer to buildings than 150m. BUT, and it’s a big BUT, the A2 c of c only lasts until 31st Dec 2022 and the typhoon will revert to only being able to be flown in A3 category after this date. OR… buy a Mavic mini or mini 2 which falls into A1 category has no restrictions at all, can be flown near buildings or people even after 2022. Obviously the restrictions will have a bearing on the resale price of most larger drones, so what might seem a bargain isn’t. I think I’ve about got the categories and restrictions correct, the regs are so confusing at best of times and having COVID-19 really befuddles the brain, like a brain fog. If I haven’t, no doubt someone will jump in and correct me.
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Along with the already stated size and restrictions associated with such models one must also consider what the usable life expectancy you might get from your not so insignificant financial investment. Especially as spare parts and batteries become harder to find.
I’ll use my most recent purchase of a 3DR Solo as an example.
In it’s day the 3DR Solo was a very expensive drone that didn’t fair too well with the competition from the likes of DJI and may have been a major contributing factor to the near demise of 3DRobotics. It had a very advanced flight controller for the day and was touted as the ultimate videographers drone.
Today you can still pick them up on the used market but other than propellers you’d be hard pushed to find any spares or replacement parts, either new or used. Batteries for the Solo are no longer available and the gimbal, which was an optional extra, is currently being traded for ridiculous money.
Now the unit I bought (£80) was advertised as “As new”, which I took with a pinch of salt. However when it was delivered it was in fact new. The manufacturers seals on the box had not been broken and on opening the box all the electrostatic plastic coverings were on every components. Usually this would be a very good thing but in the case of the Solo not so good. This is because 3DR shipped the Solo out without any operational software installed. The idea was that the purchaser would download the APP and activate the drone via a firmware install on both the controller and the drone. Unfortunately 3DR turned off their support servers about two years ago relegating the unsold units to he paperweight category unless you were the geeky sort and knew how to SSH over WiFi into the drone and controller and sideload custom firmware. New APPS have been written for the Solo but these are not free. There’s also an opensource firmware available but you do run the risk of bricking the drone if you don’t follow all the steps to the letter.
So why the hell did I purchase this 3DR Solo?
Answer: If you look at the list of my current fleet (which is in need of a serious update) you’ll see I have a treatment resistant problem. I also knew what I was getting into prior to buying the Solo.
There are some exceedingly good “legacy” drones on the market but you should only consider them if you believe you have the skills to repair them when things go wrong as you’ll receive no love from the manufacturer. and you’ll be spending a lot of time trawling the auction sites for suitable donor auctions.
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Great point well made Nidge.
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