Probably nothing unusual about my experiences so far; complete noob, started with Simrex X300 which flew off into the wide blue yonder because I didn’t realise how to calibrate it properly (part my fault for jumping to conclusions, part the fault of Chinglish instructions), replaced it with a Global Drones P8. Both these are low-end cheapo (though the build quality is reasonable), and quite difficult to fly. I’m getting better, though…
Thinking about it, I’m asking a lot of the P8. It is a problem in any sort of wind, even the lightest, and does not like hovering. I can fly it around in a vague sort of manner which is great fun, but not with the precision I want and not for any length of time. I attempt to hover, which requires correction because of wind, even very light wind, and because the control is all-or-nowt and not graduated, I can’t hold the a/c in a position over the ground because I have to move it forward to counter the wind and then allow it to be blown backwards, then repeat the sequence. I am flying into the wind which feels like the sensible thing to do to maximinse what little control I have.
Of course, inevitably, I cannot hold it perfectly head-in to the wind and it drifts off one side or another, leading to a sequence of overcorrections until I have to bring it down. The answer, obviously, is GPS. But first I want to examine the actual mechanics of what is happening. I doubt I will be able to master flying the P8 outdoors, certainly not to the point at which I can shoot acceptable video, which is the ultimate intention. I am making some assumptions here, but I am assuming that the basic principle of keeping it in the air is that there is some sort of gyro device built in to the a/c. In a perfect world, with no input from the contols, it would maintain postition in a level attitude, until I want it to go somewhere, at which point I push the lh joystick up, the rear rotors speed up, the a/c puts it’s nose down, and moves forward, &c. But this isn’t a perfect world, there are always air currents and disturbances, and she drifts; what do I expect from something that weighs less than 250g and is basically a powered leaf?
So, GPS. I’d love a DJI, of course, but this is well outside of my price range, and I will have to compromise on quality and go for something cheaper. Narrowed it down to 4 possibles on the 'zon, between £50 and £150; all have pros and cons, and the reviews & ratings correspond to the increasing prices in much the way you’d expect. GPS offers obvious feature advantages, but I can’t imagine a £50 item would be all that good. Let me see if I understand how they work; the drone triangulates itself with reasonable accuracy using the available satellites, and therefore ‘knows’ where it started from and where it is, meaning that it can find it’s way back. This is triggered by the pilot actuating the RTH button, low battery, or signal loss from the controller/smartphone. The drone has a degree of autonomy. It can also perform tricks such as ‘follow me’ and ‘fly around an object filming it’, both of which I think I would find useful.
How does it know how high off the ground it is, and how far off the subject to follow or circle around? To what extent will it improve the accuracy and precision of my piloting, and to what extent will it improve the camera steadiness (only one of my options has a two-way gimbal, and not the most expensive one!). Will I be able to land ‘on the spot’? I am assuming that higher prices=better capacity to cope with wind, but that doesn’t necessarily follow if all that happens is that the drone is more powerful, develops more thrust, because the same conditions of full-on/full-off controlling and inability to accurately assess wind strength and direction from the ground 20 feet down and 60 feet away apply as to the cheapo non-GPS drones.
I’m expecting GPS to solve some of my issues, but have little faith in it’s ability to tick all the boxes for me given my compromised budget. I’m not expecting to be able to fly in much higher winds than the 5mph/10mph gusts I’ve set myself for the P8 at present, but I would hope to be able to to pilot the a/c more steadily and accurately. If I were spending, say, £120, how realistic an expectation is this?
Thank you alll in advance for any helpful comments!
