Power Pylons are probably the highest things to get an idea as they are usually taller than trees, I have my drones set to 36m/118ft
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Ok, I’ll be first; 'You know when you’ve been Tango’ed…
My previous drone, the cheapo ‘Global Dornes’ P8, was prone (a prone drone!) to having to be landed before things deteriorated too far, and I found it handy that it was a fairly bright orange colour when retrieving it from the outfield. The Mini 2SE is light grey and somewhat neutral in style and colour, but it should be (hopefully) less prone to being landed in the long grass and has other methods of being located.
But it’s capabilties are far beyond those of my eyesight, or the limits imposed by the CAA’s requirement to keep the drone with VLOS. The fpv screen is good for 4km, which suggests that is it possible to fly the drone 2km before it needs to begin making it’s way home. It can make 38kph over the ground in calm weather, so battery is capabe of a run out and back of 9.5km.
In favourable conditions, i.e, against the sky but not into the sun in full dayling, I reckon I’d have difficulty managing VLOS more than about 250m, 300 tops. At 400m up it’s going to be a tiny dot. Note that visual LOS is not the same as LOS. Visual means eyes on, able to observe what is going on, and while I can see one end of the rec from the oher, there’s no way I could pick out a drone the size of my 2SE; I’d be in trouble at half the distance, and I can see reasonably well with my specs on.
No problem with the idea of skins to enhance the appearance of your drone if you want. but many of those available seem to be either complex graffiti-style multicoloured designs to make you look cool or camo to make you look tough (haven’t seen makeup to make you look hot, yet), the last thing you need for visibility, either in the sky or the long grass. Some are dayglo but that needs a light source to reflect to be of any use.
I found the P8’s bright led lights to be useful for visual, the best bit of the drone and visible against strong evening sunlight at 100m. The Mini 2SE has no such lights, just two eye-like vents up front above the camera that look as if they should be headlights, though there is a flashing indicator just below the battery hatch astern. Experience may prove that retrofit led lights are worth the bother, especially as I’m intending to do quite a bit of ‘golden hour’ shooting. We’ll see. I doubt the colour of the drone makes any difference once it’s more than about 10m away from you!
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If you do decide to go for a skin I recommend this place, I used them a few years ago & are of good quality & I’m sure if I can remember rightly they’ll also do them to suite your preference, just a thought !
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That’s really informative and helpful, thank you.
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Good to know this thanks 