My delve in to the world of the DJI Inspire

Damned straight! You weren’t wrong!

The biggest PITA was trying to dismantle all the batteries without shorting something or blowing myself up.

Oh, that and being grounded for a couple of weeks :smiley:

Full write up to follow :+1:

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Yes - when I was in gimbal mode a few weeks ago, with the lid off the MP, I did have a bit of a poke about to see if something might be possible.
But, after getting it back together again and all working, I decided I’d leave stripping it for a hydro-dip.

Thankfully the body shell of the Inspire is purely cosmetic, you could probably fly it without the shell.

Definitely not the case with the Mavic - believe me, I looked in to this too :smiley:

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I managed to muck up a perfectly good ribbon and video cable just “tinkering” with the gimbal. I dread to think what the cost of a full MP strip / hydro-dip / rebuild would be. :rofl:

Just to update my delving thread a bit!

As promised, the hydro dipping write up is over here:

And also, I was playing around with the Zenmuse Z3 camera (the Z standing for zoom) I got for it too.

Keep your eye on the blue car…

Here’s a regular shot, with no zoom:

Again, watching the blue car.

This was taken from the exact same point in the air, but fully zoomed in:

This would probably be ideal for aerial inspections of things like cell towers, church spires etc, as you could maintain quite a safe distance from the object in question.

Actually, I’ll try that next time I’m out :+1:

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That’s a good bit of zoom! :+1:

Not that I’m interested …. no, really I’m not …… but what did the essential bits cost to get to a flying Inspire 1 with the Z3?

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Brilliant level of zoom - how to ruin a new MP2 Zoom owners week! :wink:

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After looking at that I’m feeling that my Yuneec C23 is a little inadequate…

Don’t sweat it @Turbys9, you’re pulling photos at an impressive 20MP and 4K video at 60fps.

I’m running about half that, on both counts :blush:

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Right I’m up to speed, you didn’t get a spark, you messed up am I right?
Good story that Rich
Look forward to seeing it over Chorley

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But with a zoom to die for

Another update :slight_smile:

I’ve been getting increasingly unhappy with the DJI “suitcase” for the Inspire. The zips are fragile as hell, check any review, you’ll see how many break.

Also, the real bug bear, storing the drone in travel mode. I thought I could live with it but the more and more I used the Inspire the more and more frustrated I was getting with it.

When in travel mode the drone is “flat”, so it’s very low profile and ideal for storing. The downside to this is you can’t leave the camera attached. Which means you have to go through bit of a song and dance each time:

  1. Power up controller
  2. Power up drone
  3. Take drone out of travel mode
  4. Turn off drone
  5. Remove gimbal mount dust cap
  6. Remove camera (connector) dust cap
  7. Attach camera to drone
  8. Power up drone

It did my head in eventually :confused:

I went off in search of a “landing mode” case which allows you to store the Inspire in landing mode, with the camera attached. The only down side to this then in the sheer height of the case that’s required.

I found a cracking case on Mr Axessories (or however its spelt) but I don’t think he’s trading anymore, emails just bounce, phone is dead.

@MementoMori mentioned the Inspak case which I thought was too small (I’ll come back to this in a minute) so I continued my search and in the end opted for a HPRC INS-2780W case:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HPRC-INS2-2780W-01-Wheeled-Inspire-Black/dp/B06X9D1FKR

Note, there is a “INS-…” and a “INS2-…”, the 2 being for the Inspire 2. Same outer case, different foam moulds inside.

Also no, I did not pay £529 fucking quid for it :scream:

Anyway, it’s an amazing case but I what I wasn’t quite ready for what the sheer size of this thing. Yes, all the measurements are clearly displayed on various sites when ordering, but who pays attention to that?

When this thing arrived I questioned the delivery guy thinking he’d given me the wrong parcel.

This thing is HUGE.

Panic set in… my gaff wasn’t big enough to store a crate this size. I literally had no where to keep it in my house!!

Anyway, luck was on my side, I opened the case and found an Inspire 2 foam inside, so it didn’t fit my drone anyway!! Thankfully the firm I bought it from were great and collected it FOC two days later with a full refund.

PHEW!

Honestly, I shit you not, it was ridiculously big. It has a handle on each side for TWO PEOPLE to lift it :scream:

Anyway, it was indeed an amazing case, EVERYTHING would have fitted inside it, with room to spare. But it weighed +16KG when empty!

So the case is gone, I was disappointed because it was an amazing case, but I was relieved at the same time as I literally didn’t know where I’d store it in my house, nor how on earth I’d lift it from the house to the car.

Heads up people, don’t buy a HPRC 2780W case unless you have two people to carry it and a spare bedroom all on its own to store it in :+1:

I have since another case sorted, more news on that shortly!

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Or dont buy an inspire save all this hassle…

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I very nearly bought a HPRC secondhand, it was only after I saw a video of it and the bloke saying it won’t go through certain doors in his house I decided against it :smiley:

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I hope you went for the one with the frame like I did.

Plenty of room in mine apart from no room to put a 9.7 iPad :disappointed:

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Carbon fibre props next then :laughing:

I mentioned the Inspak case that @MementoMori put me on to (and I dismissed as being too small) but I was fast running out of options.

So I took a punt…

There is an X3 and an X5 version of this case, depending on which camera you have. I awkwardly have the Z3 :roll_eyes: so rather than get an X3 and hack it to pieces I went with the X5 as that would afford me more room for the Z3 camera.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestem-Aerial-X5-Unique-Hardshell-Waterproof/dp/B01J8CC5V2

This case is compact, it’s actually narrower than the DJI suitcase, but it is taller due to storing the drone in flight mode.

First things first, no case would be complete without a Titan Drones badge, right? :wink:

Raised profile on the lid which actually looks pretty cool :+1:

Incredibly, this case comes with straps on it, they expect you to carry this on your back like a rucksack :scream:

They’ve clearly no idea how bad my back is these days so the straps got cut off pretty quickly…

There’s an earlier model of this case with zips, this is the later model with catches.

Note the coutour, designed for your back, but this actually works really well when being carried as your leg fits nicely in the gap.

I’m impressed with the build quality of this case too, and despite that it’s still pretty lightweight :+1:

Anyway, on with the photos.

Inside the case is the drone, in landing mode, with the camera attached :+1:

There is space for two remotes but as I only ever use one I have put the CrystalSky, it’s charging hub and a second battery for the CS in the other controller cutout. Thankfully the Inspire 1 charger also fits the CS hub.

There is no room for my Inspire battery charging hub though and the 180w charger brick does not fit either so they both stay at home on the desk and I just carry the standard 100w charger brick in this case.

You can store four batteries in the top, one in the drone and one under the drone, so six in all.

Inside the lid is four cutouts, each of which is capable of storing 4 props. Who carries 16 props?!

I have my regular four, and four spare, so I have an empty slot here and on the right is my soft case containing 8 x Polar Pro filters.

The case even comes with a gimbal lock!

But the lock is for the X5 and doesn’t fit the Z3 so I sourced a gimbal lock elsewhere for the Z3.

Here’s a hidden spare battery, stored under the drone.

The CS with battery fitted, a spare CS battery, the CS charging hub and lanyard.

So in summary it’s a cracking case, very compact and the only things I can’t carry are the 180w charging brick and the charging hub. No biggy really.

If I wanted to carry both controllers I’d simply put the CS back in its own case and carry it separately, again that’d be a rare day anyway.

So thanks again @MementoMori for the recommendation, I take it all back mate :blush:

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Come on Jeff, we know you’re tempted :wink:

Anyway, it’s not hassle, it’s all part of the fun eh?

And if I say that often enough I might even start to believe it :wink:

I know!! It’s crazy isn’t it!

Great case, but where the hell would you keep it?!

Nooooooooooo :see_no_evil: :hear_no_evil: :speak_no_evil:

Although… they do fold like the Mavic props… wonder if you could leave them on in this case? :blush:

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Ok I admit I am looking on eBay FOR A FRIEND :crazy_face:

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