@Ned are these glutton crees?
Erm, no … damned autocorrect! 
Strobon Cree Standalones
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Bloody hell. I meant flytron crees. Yeah bloody auto correct 
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Test #1
Single strobe, rear mount
I flew until I lost RC. So 4500ft / 1371.6m during civil twighlight… and I could still see it!
Ned
Just going to throw it out there and make a claim.
So many drone videos I watch on here and youtube are brilliant, but let’s face it people don’t keep visual line of sight. How can you keep track of a DJI mini (2/3/4) and fly it at such distance, it a tiny spec. Or over trees, hills etc where you couldn’t see it.
Just seems like people don’t care, as they still post the video and we all just comment how great they are.
Is it just one of those things we all just pretend isn’t happening?
from the FAQ
That’s a wee bit harsh as I think TM was just making a statement as, indeed, the OP (me) did back in November 2019 .
VLOS depends on the individual, the weather, where the aircraft is being flown and the size. I can see my S1000 a little bit further away than my Mini in the same conditions. The larger craft isn’t too easy to see amongst trees, the Mini against a clear blue sky can be seen at 300m or more.
My latest aircraft has built in strobes and a warning in the manual not to look directly at them when standing by it.
VLOS is an individual thing, mine has increased since my cataract operations 
I hope that we don’t get into the situation where the CAA sets an arbitrary distance irrespective of conditions, pilot’s eyesight or type of aircraft involved.
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it wasn’t an admonishment, just an answer to the question
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And everyone who ever looked down at a screen is as guilty as the next man
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Depending on conditions depends on distance.
One day i WILL struggle to see the mini 3 at 100m or the mavic 2 at 200m. On another day i have been able to see both easily at 450m / 500m ( but that is very unusual) it depends on sky colour, how tired I’am, time of day plus a plethora of other variables. On Friday i flew the mavic 2 out 500m and even though i kept checking the screen and my surroundings i was able every time to look up and immediately spot it. Today i flew out to about 250m filming wing surfers with the mavic 2 and quite often struggled to spot where i was even though i knew the surfers were right below me so knew where i was i found it hard to spot the drone.
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What I was trying to put across was am I alone in these thought or do others agree. I am as guilty as the next person. You follow you drone then look down, at the screen and then look up again and gone.
I guess the laws are less about can I see the small spec in the sky and more can I see the massive helicopter, plane, other flying object over where my drone is.
It just seem if the CAA were that bothered they only have to check YouTube for ten mins and see the amount of people that can’t actually see there drone.
From that video prove the pilot hadn’t followed the drone. Or in the case of some had 2 pilots staged at different locations. ( the mavic 2, if you have 2 controllers can have a master and slave controller which aren’t physically connected. So i coild have one and fly 300m out to where you are take over and then you fly a further 300m. Past you. There is very little chance of me seeing the drone past you but you could see the whole flight. Now if my son had taken the drone 300m away from me to launch i could see it take off, + the 600m while i control it. Then you take over for 600m and hey presto the drone has flown 1.2k in full VLOS. So the CAA won’t just jump in and waste manpower chasing speculation.
I must admit though i have watched some videos and thought thats well beyond vlos. I may also or may not have bent the odd rule in life as well.
I think it is very sad , that with all the inbuilt technology of drones in the last few years they still say line of sight . modern drones are very safe ,flown sensibly and I am sure anyone paying hundreds or over a grand for a craft is going to fly carefully. just my personal take on this . Lets be honest here , we all want our aircraft safely back.
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What bugs me about the rules on VLOS is the bit about knowing the drones orientation at all times. To me ( personally) this is pointless, given the size of the sub 250gm drones these days. If there’s a helicopter approaching ( let’s face it, you’ll hear it before you see it anyway ) , there’s only one safe direction for your drone to take ( and that’s not away from the helicopter) Down is really the safest option. There’s also the argument that the CAA should start trusting the tech we have at our fingers and allow us to utilise it. As far as I can see, when you’re framing a picture, or executing a move around an object for video, you’ve got to look at the bloody screen.
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Orientation to me is the absolute most important part of it. Without knowing that you cant take safe evasive action or hazard avoidance.
If you’re up at 400ft its perfectly possible a helicopter or military aircraft can pass under you. In which case, for example in a valley, the safest option is move nearer to the valley wall and not down.
There is no guaranteed safe direction for all situations.
Anything to do with a screen immediately means a lack of situational awareness and depth perception so really isn’t going to be adequate until such a time where drones have proper 2 way detect and avoid.
All of these rules stem from manned flight VFR basics which deal with the what and why. Full 3D spacial awareness around the craft, with depth perception is required at all times. You can’t get that without knowing the orientation and certainly cant get it on a screen.
And yet there have not been any reports of damage or injury to persons or property in the 15+ years that people have been flying BVLOS.
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Firstly that assumes reports are made with that knowledge (other than just crash).
Secondly currently the number doing it are low - far lower than if it was legal.
Finally risk management involves identifying and reducing potential problems before they cause an incident.
I keep seeing 500m mentioned and I laugh.
I have a Mini 3 Pro. The greatest distance I have ever seen it was 940 feet away at 100ft up, but that was a one off.
600ft at about 100ft altitude is normally about the limit of me seeing it.
I “lost” it the other day. I could hear it but not see it. Altitude was 200ft and the map showed it was near me. I looked all around but still couldn’t see it. I dropped the height to 100ft, still couldn’t see it, down again to 50ft. Still no sign. Tilted the gimble straight down, zoomed in and saw the top of my head. Walked back a few steps looked up and there it was.
Seriously thinking an Inspire sized drone might be better for me. 
Or younger eyes 
Have you thought about an Apache helicopter ? sure you would see that at 600ft ? 