Had to laugh at this bit though:
> “My girlfriend and I can simply enjoy our time together making memories and leave the rest to Mavic Mini.”
... followed by a lengthy video of them either centering their entire attention on the drone taking the video, or standing to "enjoy nature" while discretely flying the drone at the same time, so that it can take a video of them serenely enjoying their perfect moment in nature.
Yes, I also carry a camera and take a lot of photos, but I don't run off the tour bus or out of the car, in an effort to get a shot before anybody else gets there (various waterfalls in Iceland). Nor do I get verbally abusive when people wander into a shot, which I encountered repeatedly at Machu Picchu.
There is a sweet spot, since I'm at the far extreme other end of the spectrum, and have my own regrets.
I don't take pictures. I just looked, and there's probably between 10 and 20 a month in my phone over the last few months, but the vast majority of those are for stuff I got or sent in an message from my wife or a family member, and a few I took to document my MPOE after new equipment was installed.
I used to just say to people that I don't really see the point of pictures to remember something. Then I got a little older and realized that I have a crap memory for events, but unfortunately my ways are mostly set, and I'm just not the kind of person that thinks to take a picture (and I'll never post it on social media, that's for sure).
The downside is that unless someone else is around to document it for me, there's not much visual evidence to remind my of past events or help me reminisce. I've missed it at times.
They have the photo, I have the memory, I think I prefer my way.
Lol the one to respond to my comment might be the 1/100 ppl that actually print their photos and hang it in their house.
If DJI can better hook into porn industry than other drones - that could be a boon for them.
Ethical question: are DJI the good guys here working within the rules set out of the FAA, or are they running afoul of the spirit but staying within the letter?
This is true even in things as routine daily chit-chat and conversation. Think about how often tacitly express your opinion through the way you frame a discussion and how often those environmental cues bias other parties to respond in particular ways. Then, consider how often marketers, salespeople, and other manipulators intentionally frame interactions to provoke a specific biased response.
The light touch and the small nudge are grossly undervalued.
The part 107 commercial UAS exam that already exists requires a lot of studying and costs $150 to take, and this falls on the easy end of your typical FAA exam.
DJI is hedging that the recreational flyer test is going to be a massive barrier for recreational pilots, which is why they're pushing a <250g UAS into the market.
If you use the heavy battery you go over 249g I’m also not sure if their flight stats were measured with the heavy one or the light one I’ll bet that they are with the 100g battery.
This means that under most conditions you’ll likely have 8-10min of flight time with the light battery since the advertised max flight time is often 30-50% over real world scenarios with these drones.
I'm really not sure; and I could see arguments either way.
So no, I don't think DJI are being "bad guys" by kissing up to the limit because the rules were made by people who do think things through very thoroughly.
Edit: This wasn't posted as a judgement, it's just an observation of a trend.
Traditionally DJI drones have had very underpowered motors so they can get those high flight time numbers; seeing the 30 minute flight time quote here doesn't give me much confidence that it will fly well with anything other than perfect wind conditions.
I can't wait to tear one apart and see what kinds of compromises/trade offs they've made compared to their larger drones.
It's possible for the maneuver to require so much sideways thrust that you will bleed some altitude and start to fall to the ground (granted on a racing drone this is probably measured in centimeters for most maneuvers, but you get the idea)
Racing drones usually have a thrust:weight ratio of 8:1 or so, but the large Mavik Pro has a thrust:weight of 2.5:1, and their smaller Spark a ratio of ~2:1. You need a minimum TWR of about 2:1 to be flyable.
If the Mavic Mini has a similar TWR as the spark, then it's very unlikely you'll be able to fly it in any sort of windy conditions.
A simpler way of stating it is that when you have a heavy drone and a light drone with the same thrust to weigh ratio, the heavier drone will be able to hold its position much easier than the lighter drone in a gust.
It's good practice on forums with a global membership, especially when talking about a Chinese company's latest product, to specific where you are / which country's laws you're talking about.
Still conflicted on spending $1000 on the new skydio for what would mostly be a toy for me.
My dream for my Mavic was capturing new angles of family activities. However, the truth is that the effort required to capture those activities with a Mavic ruins the enjoyment of many of them.
Say I wanted to get video of my kids biking. I've got to make sure the drone is charged, have my kids wait around on the trail while I launch it, and then compose the shot and stand there looking at my phone, worrying about running into stuff while they bike.
The Skydio's pathfinding and sensors take a good chunk of that hassle away. I could theoretically hand the beacon to one of them, and say, "Ok, great, go ride." And for 20-minutes, the drone would do all the work of getting video, while I rode with my kids.
Assuming real-world reviews of the Skydio 2 come back positive, I think that'll be my Mavic's replacement.
Theres a certain predatory element to the flying the Skydio does while operating in trees that is awesome and creepy at the same time.
Edit: video in question - https://youtu.be/2UbRP5YsjuY
Flying starts around 4:30. Definitely watch it negotiate through the trees a bit then fast forward to the riding at the end if you get bored.
I think what we're running into though is the sheer size of North America. Even within the city here, there are a fair number un(der)developed areas with no/few people around. Out of the city, there rest stops or sometimes even just viewpoints. For all of these, with a bit of walking I can avoid annoying anyone.
Somewhere like Switzerland, that might not be possible.
Is a smaller drone going to even more issue with wind or have they improved this?
I'd say rule of thumb is if you wouldn't want to eat a nice brunch in it, you don't want to fly in it.
edit: Pretty sure it uses GPS, compass, and gyro to stabilize itself relative to the wind.If gentle winds are causing it to drift too much, you might be having trouble with one of those. You might want to calibrate compass and make sure you're getting good GPS reception. I've found stabilization is not good in WiFi control mode either.
I've flown P4P, Mavic Pro, and Spark. Only the big, heavy P4P was stable in strong winds. Even with the larger cross-section the bigger motors in the P4P make a remarkable difference.
They still list the Spark on the site but no stock, unless it will have an update shipping soon. Still, this looks good.
I have a Spark and I'm really looking forward to this and being out from under the thumb of the FAA (<250g). DJI has knocked it out of the park this time.
If there is a forum out there for hacking DJI's stuff, I haven't found it yet.
On my personal wishlist for future drones are more sophisticated and precise physical controllers with better pressure gradients, and especially the ability to program flight routes to allow mixed human/automated controls – e.g. "Respond to flight controls normally, but when I press this button 1) increase altitude to 90m over the course of 15 seconds 2) rotate camera downwards by 30 degrees over 15 seconds 3) begin rotating aircraft left by 1 degree per second"
Only thing I'd be worried about a bit is if they have the potential to go the same way as GoPro. DJI reminds me a lot of how GoPro was a few years ago.
But for a while, GoPro had fairly explosive growth, in my perspective anyway. But after some time they stopped really innovating and some other brands with cheaper products but similar quality began getting some traction. So GoPro kind of dropped the ball. I think they've been getting better again the past year though.
But again, not a market expert; this is just what I can remember seeing and reading about.
To the people that are excited because this is outside some regulatory limits. A few years ago there were no or few drone regulations and people abused this; the result was strict national and city regulations to the point that flying a drone is almost impossible (legally) in some cities in the US.
If people abuse the regulatory limits expect more strict regulations. I fly drones and I support such regulations.
BTW, a 249g drone would likely take down a small airplane.
Quite false. Although the resolution isn't different, the camera sensor in the phantom is twice the size and has better optics on it. In terms of photography, it's a no-brainer.
We still use a Mavic however due to the ability to upload a CSV of coordinates and camera angles, which is a much better fit for the photogrammetry we use it for.
The rest though? DJI had years to improve the Spark and instead they made it worse for photographers. No more panorama? Really?
That was the only way to get a bit more resolution of of that tiny 12MP sensor. Frankly without it there is no point for me to own it.
No DNG support. Of course. Yea so difficult to do. No 24fps for video folks. Sure...
> 4 km for FCC compliant Model (MT1SS5) and 2 km for CE compliant Model (MT1SD25).
As it weight 249g you don't have to register with the CAA and as long as you keep it under 400ft altitude and within 150ft from other people and private property you can fly it anywhere where there isn't a local limitation and it's not restricted airspace.
In places where there are limitations e.g. London and other big cities you can fly it on private property.
Please note that in the UK the entity that manages a park or other public spaces can impose its own restrictions e.g. you can't fly drones in Alexandra Palace despite Barnet Council not having a wide ban on drones.
For the most part don't be an idiot the police doesn't enforce these rules for the most part outside westminster where the cops do chase down drone flyers especially around the tourist spots since you aren't allowed to fly anything within 150m of a congested area which is pretty much any spot in central london.
My browser sends the correct headers, accept-language: en-US,en;q=0.9,da;q=0.8.
If I buy a tool, and the tool now belongs to me, the manufacturer attempting to restrict my use of that tool is morally unjustifiable.
(Yes, I have an iPhone, and yes, I'm pissed off about that, too.)
Too bad, I was considering one in lieu of a full frame dslr. Looks like hi-res, poorly shot photos are back on the menu.
I've been flying various multicopters for a decade and the mavic pro was the last DJI product I'll ever purchase. Every software update for DJI products restricts their functionality to a subset of what they shipped with. This has been going on for years. People buy dedicated phones/tablets for their DJI product and keep them in airplane mode to prevent this. That's nuts.
Otherwise it’s not my tool, it’s in service to the manufacturer, the government, or some shade in between. Those aren’t good tools, because they can only be used for certain purposes, in certain circumstances.
I prefer tools that do exactly what I wish them to do, for better or worse.
The iPhone is another question entirely, I agree with you there.
as a matter of principle, I don't accept that a device I own should do anything more or less that what I tell it to do.
I don't expect HN to agree with me on this principle, so I will also present a practical argument. these kinds of controls that protect users from wrongdoing tend to be implemented incredibly crudely. my house is close enough to a major airport that it triggers DJI's flight restriction. if the drone happens to get a GPS fix inside my house it will deactivate itself and land. there's no way a small drone can be a threat to the public when it's hovering inside my living room, and I'm pretty sure the legal restrictions don't apply inside of a structure anyway.
In most jurisdictions, the regulatory burden of a small quadcopter is significantly greater than that of an AR-15. The potential harm vs utility argument doesn't even register here.
There have always been tools of mass destruction available in our society. You can buy unlimited quantities of gasoline and propane without the nozzle tips doing a cryptographic handshake ensuring that you’re putting it into a car and only a car. Same goes for explosives. They’re readily available, without scrutiny. It’s sufficient having laws against murder and blowing things up.
We don’t need technological restrictions. Indeed, the law does not require them for drones. This is purely DJI being proactive and fucking their customers.
I am complaining about the equipment, not the NFZ. You would, too, if your aircraft ignored control inputs under certain opaque, manufacturer-supplied (and signed) network-updated conditions.
The hardware’s job is to obey the operator. The operator’s job is to obey the law.
