- Jan 6, 2015
- 18,055
- 38,055
So yeah, I'm married with kids (and unemployed since early September) = small budget. "Santa" brought the family kids (Daughter 11, son 8, and dad 47) a brand new DI Discovery U818A-1 ($60) that comes with a built in HD camera.
Being in Pennsylvania at Christmas time, we were below freezing for about 3 weeks straight, so no flying outside. I moved the cars out to the driveway and used the 2 car garage space as a training room for me and the kids. The goal was to get good at hovering, controlling movement, and eventually camera control so that by spring we would be ready to head out to the local parks and fields. After about two weeks, the kids could manage flight control, but I'm still beating it against the ceiling and walls.
Pros: Relatively low cost, Blade protectors (training wheels as mentioned earlier in the thread), came with two batteries (hour to charge, flies for 5-8 minutes), built in HD cam stores onto microSD card you can swap out easy, replacement blades (haven't broken one yet), good lighting on the drone so you know front-back and when camera is on/off, lets you know when you have 40sec of flight left to bring it home before batteries die.
Cons: Short flight time, cannot self-hover (let go of sticks it will fall) or self-return (you have to control it); camera records to SD on drone so you don't know what you videoed until you land and remove the SD so there is no immediate feedback on what you are seeing during flight.
Overall I'd say it's a great trainer for the price, and if you beat the crap out of it you can replace it easily enough. My plan was for the kids to get good at this one and enjoy it; expecting I'd master it quickly and therefore justify spending a few hundred on myself. I think I've scrapped that plan for awhile. Still, I'd recommend it for someone wanting to try it out without the heavy investment and know if you can handle this, the more expensive ones that fly themselves will be a breeze.
My daughter (11) gave me $60 of her own so me and the boy can play with ours while she uses hers for 'professional' videos. :rolleyes: Then we spent an extra $22 for a six pack of batteries (each about the size of a stick of gum, easy to swap out) with chargers so we can fly for longer before coming home.
Being in Pennsylvania at Christmas time, we were below freezing for about 3 weeks straight, so no flying outside. I moved the cars out to the driveway and used the 2 car garage space as a training room for me and the kids. The goal was to get good at hovering, controlling movement, and eventually camera control so that by spring we would be ready to head out to the local parks and fields. After about two weeks, the kids could manage flight control, but I'm still beating it against the ceiling and walls.
Pros: Relatively low cost, Blade protectors (training wheels as mentioned earlier in the thread), came with two batteries (hour to charge, flies for 5-8 minutes), built in HD cam stores onto microSD card you can swap out easy, replacement blades (haven't broken one yet), good lighting on the drone so you know front-back and when camera is on/off, lets you know when you have 40sec of flight left to bring it home before batteries die.
Cons: Short flight time, cannot self-hover (let go of sticks it will fall) or self-return (you have to control it); camera records to SD on drone so you don't know what you videoed until you land and remove the SD so there is no immediate feedback on what you are seeing during flight.
Overall I'd say it's a great trainer for the price, and if you beat the crap out of it you can replace it easily enough. My plan was for the kids to get good at this one and enjoy it; expecting I'd master it quickly and therefore justify spending a few hundred on myself. I think I've scrapped that plan for awhile. Still, I'd recommend it for someone wanting to try it out without the heavy investment and know if you can handle this, the more expensive ones that fly themselves will be a breeze.
My daughter (11) gave me $60 of her own so me and the boy can play with ours while she uses hers for 'professional' videos. :rolleyes: Then we spent an extra $22 for a six pack of batteries (each about the size of a stick of gum, easy to swap out) with chargers so we can fly for longer before coming home.
