DJI FPV Race/Freestyle quad

WHAT! There’s more than one of him ?

1 Like

@Nidge. What is your favourite drone in your humble collection?
Ignore the above two infidels.

1 Like

It changes from day to day.

My favourite cameraships are the Parrot Anafi’s and the PowerEgg X. I recently picked up a DJI Mini2 but I’ve not had the opportunity to really put it through its paces. I’ve only played with it in the driveway as I can’t leave the property at the moment, and even though it might be legal I’m very hesitant to send it out over the neighbourhood. At the moment I’m rather ambivalent about it. I don’t consider it to be the wonder drone everyone else does as there are quite a few things that DJI need to improve on it’s flight characteristics.

Race quad wise it’s the Emax THFS and the Eachine Twig, again because I can’t leave the property at the moment so I whizz these around the garden.

I have been building but again I need to wait till I’m upwardly mobile again before these get maidened.

4 Likes

https://youtu.be/VOKTcMWom18

I think someone has broken their NDA :open_mouth: full unboxing video of an unreleased product.

3 Likes

Ya Going To Go Far, Kid.

And just like that, Dominion Drones lose their DJI authorised dealer status​:joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy:. I’ve seen some desperate stunts to get YouTube subs and likes but this one is the most transparent. At the time of viewing SpiderMonkeyFPV had made it up to 361 subs since starting his YT channel in 2013.

I’m hypothesising that “SpidermonkeyFPV” works for Dominion Drones and he sneaked the box out on Friday after work, whereupon tomorrow he’ll be clearing his desk out.

2 Likes

Great spot Deano :grin: Do you reckon they will do DJI Care on this? I would imagine it’s in for a few crashes :thinking: :joy:

1 Like

Haha I suspect you’re right Nidge :grin:

1 Like

“Since spending both kidneys I’m trying very hard” :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil:

1 Like

Official line hasn’t changed: leisure flying still banned by CAA and DFT (the recent update only allows for professional currency requirements).

He even left the serial numbers readable! :see_no_evil:

I think this is specific to General Aviation (GA). Drones, and especially recreational drones, are not considered as General Aviation, hence why they have their own category of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAV’s). While flying drones might be frowned upon during this period, especially out in public, the actual act of flying a drone is not against Lockdown rules. I sited my Mini2 as an example because I meet all the provisions for flying it, and some heavier craft, in an urban environment, I am hesitant to do so because I have yet to ascertain its true abilities. This is because currently I am restricted to travelling no further than the end of my drive for health reasons, and no not COVID health reasons.

Representative bodies, such as the BMFA, have issued guidelines to its members that during this lockdown period we refrain from our flying activities, which most clubs are adhering to. This isn’t because the act of flying is prohibited but because as clubs we meet in groups and risk community spread, especially as the majority of members are in an age group which is considered high risk.

1 Like

On the original question of whether I’d buy one of these… I can see the appeal.

I’ve had this “You could do that!” voice in the back of my head fairly frequently since seeing that John Deere advert.. Usually a bad sign when that voice lasts more than a week. It’s how I ended up with my first drone!

But… that footage is definitely shot on something a lot smaller than this (a Ciniwhoop? Is that likely?), so I think I’d end up constantly disappointed (for twice the price).

The temptation comes from my lack of engineering nonce and my less-than-dexterous fingers and thumbs. I’ve tried following along with some of the threads in this bit of the forum and can honestly say most of it goes right over my head. Could I learn? Probably. But I barely have the time most weeks to fly the drones I have, so I’d be kidding myself if I thought I had the time to learn how to build one as well.

So yeah, I can see the appeal of a pre-built FPV drone… and I know they’re out there. More than £1k for DJI to stick a logo on the side. Guess it depends what the extra bells and whistles are and whether they’re worth it. For now, I’ll just watch from afar and daydream.

I couldn’t see any reason why you couldn’t do it @JoeC. Like everything it just takes practice. It’s very doubtful the raw footage in the advert looked anything like that as there’ll have been some post processing tricks to make it so smooth. Many YT FPV celebrity types post process their footage with tools like RealSteady to get that consistent smooth motion.

1 Like

I thought the preferred term used by ICAO and CAA was “unmanned aircraft system” (UAS)? see, e.g., CAP722

I also wasn’t able to find anything in the definitions offered by the Operation of Aircraft Part I, International Commercial Air Transport – Aeroplanes about UAS not falling under GA but accept you probably know more.

Anyways back to the topic in hand, the DJI FPV drone.

I don’t think I’ll be bothering to buy one. I’m happy with what I’ve got and what I’ve built :grin: I can see the reason behind DJI dipping into the FPV market as they already have the HD system. But I still think it’s over priced.

1 Like

I’m curious to see what this brings to the party that you don’t get on a ‘normal’ FPV quad? Are there going to be anti crash features? If there are, will they inhibit flying close to objects, buildings etc? Will it be easily repaired by the end user? Or will it have to be sent away like other DJI drones? All these things could potentially make it very inconvenient :thinking:

1 Like

Yeah I’m interested to see what approach they take here as well, as half the fun of FPV is repairing your quad after a gutsy move went horribly wrong lol

A wise man once told me “Crash a quad hard and see what breaks strengthen it and repeat the process and eventually you’ll end up with a tank!”

Ok ok it was @notveryprettyboy that said that but the point still stands :rofl:

3 Likes

Modular parts to swap out maybe? But traditionally DJI don’t make parts available for home repair so will be a big change in policy.
I want to see if you are able to fly it unrestricted too? Or whether the built in sensors will override your control inputs if it sees fit?

Personally I think its gunna be more of a cinematographery drone rather than a freestyle/racer quad. As in designed not to be crashed.

1 Like

Yeah I think that sounds more likely to honest. But what will it do that an existing Mavic 2 Pro won’t do? I’m no FPV expert as you all know but surely by giving it FPV flying characteristics that will instantly make it more crashable?
Also do you think it may be the first Class rated drone? Who will go spend that kind of money on a non Class rated drone, knowing you’ll be relegated to 150m from anything as a legacy drone in around 22 months?

1 Like