Proximity drone-flying through the woods

in drone •  7 years ago  (edited)

Surprisingly deer are not very scared of my little drone. Some of them seem even to be curious about the "big buzzing bug" so I was able to slowly stalk them up to less than 2 meters!

I flew this last July with a self-made 250-size miniquad. This sort of proximity flying in the woods is only possible in fully manual mode with a latency-free analogue video transmitter. Don't try this with a DJI Phantom or a similar video drones - you'll certainly crash it!

Setup:
Frame ZMR250 Carbon
Morors: Emax RS2205-2300KV
Props: DALProp CYCLONE Series T5045C
ESCs: Racerstar RS30A V2 30A Blheli_S
Battery: 4S 1400mAh
FC: AIO F3 V4
RX: TBS Crossfire micro
FPV cam: Runcam Swift
HD cam: GoPro Hero4

Music: "Wires Crossing Land" by Jani Rantanen

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  ·  7 years ago (edited)

So cool. I just got my first taste in drones by getting to fly a cheap mini-drone and I instantly got hooked. How much would a setup like this cost, without the gopro hd? 10km range sounds insane!

Also, how much flying time are you getting from this battery?

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

The components for the drone I used here were all together maybe 400 USD. But then you need a controller (Taranis ~ 200 USD), video goggles (Fatshark 300-500 USD), plenty of batteries (20-25 USD each), HD cam (100 - 300 USD), battery charger (50-200 USD). If you want to fly far away or behind obstacles you'll want a long range radio system (TBS Crossfire 250 USD).
The flight time of a miniquad like this is 4-7 minutes, depending on your flight style and the battery you're using. This short time frame is limiting your range, so if you want your drone also to fly back then you can expect to get ranges of 2 km, maybe even 3. If you want to fly long range you can do so with a plane or a flying wing. These have flight times up to 90 minutes, depending on the setup.

Thank you for sharing this valuable info. This might be a bit above the price range I was hoping for. I'll have to go for something cheaper as my first proper drone and see how the hobby sticks.

Awesome video, I'm surprised by the signal range, didn't expect you can fly so far.
You're a skilled pilot :)
I guess this drone is also quite stable even in some wind...

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thanks! I wasn't really far, just a few hundreds of meters. But the radio system I'm using is capable to go as far as 10 km and more. Yes, multi-rotors are quite wind resistant.

wow, you make the drone, or bought ? I would love to do this.

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I find it fascinating that you could get up so close to them. The Gämse certainly didn't like the drone.

Yes, the chamois in the mountains were scared. But this was probably because I flew quite fast and loud over them.

must be tons of fun 'flying' thru the trees and fields like that - how liberating it would feel! thanks for sharing this experience and your selection of music is quite nice as well!

Thank you!

I like it bro <3 thanks for sharing this!!

pss... by the way.. i do parkour posts!

Thanks!